Zgougou

Today is a holiday in Tunisia called Mawlid (or Mouled), it’s the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Some people like to celebrate this day with parties, decorations, and parades; others prefer to mark the occasion by spending more time reading the Quran.

One thing that everyone here seems to agree on is that you must make the time-consuming dessert called Zgougou. I tried this grey-brown colored pudding 6 years ago during my first visit here. It tasted just like I imagined a pine tree would taste like, and later found out that it’s made from the seeds of an Aleppo pine. Find out more on Wikipedia.

Most people spent all day yesterday preparing the dessert and are probably enjoying it cold for a breakfast treat right now. I will not be participating in this tradition this year being that I’ve locked myself inside today in order to get some homework done.

A quick overview

There has been a lot of fun things that I’ve wanted to share with you these past few weeks yet without a working camera I’ve felt less motivated to blog about it. Here’s a quick overview without photos to give you a bit of an idea of recent events.

Christmas: I spent Christmas with one of my favorite ex-pat families. We had traditional British Christmas food, opened presents, watched lots of good movies, and just relaxed a bit. Of course I missed my family but thanks to Skype I got to spend some time with them.

New Years: On New Years eve I went to my friend May’s house, just over an hour away on the train. She’s a newly wed and loving married life. Together with her husband and his friends we went out for coffee in a nearby town. Then we went to her parents house where we ate lots of sweets and watched New Years specials on TV. Then at 11pm her husband wanted to go home. Both May and I thought he was really tired, but it ended up that he had a little surprise waiting for her at their house— a little present, her favorite kind of cake, lots of other special treats, and a few close friends. That’s where we counted down the last minute before the new year.

My Birthday: I had a birthday…. I can’t believe it…. each year is going by so quickly!!! In the morning I went out to breakfast with one of my good friends and her three year old son. Then in the evening my expat friends had a nice dinner party for me. It was a fun and relaxing day!

Someone else’s Birthday Party: My friend from paint class invited me to her nephew’s 10th b-day party. It was just a small party, his family and one of his friends from school. We ate lots of little cakes and treats, everyone opened his presents for him, and then we all danced. Their family is so close, it was so much fun to be a part of that.

Food: I’ve had so much good food lately. I’m loving Tunisian food more and more.  I recently had some really good fish from my favorite restaurant in the Medina, I found a new sandwich place that makes the best kebab sandwiches, and oranges are in season so I’ve been making fresh orange juice almost everyday!

The Olive Harvest

My friends harvested their olive tree yesterday and I got to help. They put sheets on the ground and everyone used mini rakes to pull the olives off the branches. Occasionally some branches were sawed off to make them easier to get to. Once an area of the tree was olive-free a few of us would sit together on one of the sheets and clear away some of the leaves and branches before putting the olives in large sacks. This was an all day effort; by 5pm we finished with nearly two and a half sacks of olives.

Today my friends will take their harvest to a place that makes olive oil, and will probably return with more than 20 liters of oil. I tried a fresh olive once; it tasted like poison. It’s strange how something that tastes so horrible can turn into really good oil.

The Wedding

I finally relaxed once I got to my friend May’s house . My heart had been racing the entire 90 minute train ride. Why? Well, I was afraid I would miss my stop; I was nervous about going to a new city and meeting new people all by myself; and I was worried I might do something culturally inappropriate at the wedding and embarrass my new friend. However, the sweetness of the girl that met me at the train station calmed me down almost immediately and I felt at ease for the rest of my stay there.

That afternoon I sat around in the living room greeting guests while May got some beauty treatment done. (They used some kind of sugar mixture to remove ALL the hair from her body). Once it was dark she got dressed up in a traditional Tunisian wedding dress. (This was just the second night of the wedding, the third night is the night she gets her make-up and hair done, and wears a beautiful white wedding dress).

Once she was all dressed up in many heavy and stiff layers of clothing we headed downstairs to her uncles house where roughly forty women were waiting. There a DJ played some music while she danced a little and showed off her traditional clothes and the henna dye on her hands. Then all the women started dancing. (The men were upstairs doing something else).

 

After a few hours of dancing, mingling, and eating sweets people started to go home. At the end of the night some people complained about the untraditional music (I guess a DJ isn’t traditional) and four women argued over which of their sons I was going to marry. I didn’t understand what was going on but I was told later that they decided I would meet their sons the following night and decide for myself who I would marry. Luckily, I couldn’t stay for the last night of the wedding.

Meeting people

The first weekend I was here I met a young lady in the medina shopping for her wedding. She spoke good English and noticed that I didn’t know any Arabic, so she offered to help me out with anything I needed. She called me a month later (yesterday) and invited me to her home town to attend her wedding. She wanted me to stay for all three days of the wedding (Friday- Sunday) but I could only arrange to go for one night—so I’m going tonight. This will be the first Tunisian wedding I get to go to. I’m a little nervous because I’m going to a new town for the first time and staying with people I don’t really know, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun stores to write home about. Wish me luck!

Something Sweet

I’ve heard it said that when you move to a new country you should find local places and things that you enjoy as a way of bonding with the new culture. That’s very easy to do here. If I had taken a picture of every cake, crepe, croissant or other dessert I’ve eaten since I’ve been here, there might be nearly 100 photos. Unfortunately, I am often so excited about eating sweets that I forget to take pictures. Also, now that my camera is in the shop it might be a while before I can share pictures of what I eat with you. (You would be jealous if you knew how good I eat). So here’s a few pictures to give you a vague idea of the delicious sweets I find all over town. 

A mousse cake with a really good hazelnut macaroon on top and a cake made from the same dough used to make croissants and a few layers of pudding filling.

This is a cheese crepe –- which technically isn’t a dessert, but you can find a restaurant that makes chocolate crepes and other dessert crepes on practically every block in town.

My favorite dessert back home is a good fresh fruit tart and so far I’ve found two places in town that make them. They’re so good.

Ok, that should give you a basic idea of what I eat when I’m craving something sweet. You should also know that I’ve joined a gym in town to make up for all the extra calories!

Language Learning

I finally have a language coach! Her name is Kawther. She’s very nice and a very good teacher. She comes to my house 5 times a week for either 2 or 3 hours at a time. Right now I’m building up my vocabulary by listening and pointing to lots of different objects (the way a child learns language). I learn anywhere from 20 to 30 new words a day. I’ll do this phase of language learning for a few more weeks. Once I learn 600 words I’ll start talking in class. 

A Few Pictures From Around Town

The alley ways of the Medina.

Any guesses what that sign stands for?

A good place to relax and reflect-- just minutes from my house.

An old fortress inside the Medina walls.

Tourist shops also inside the Medina walls.

My favorite restaurant in the Medina.

LOTS of Good Food

Shawarma plate at a hole-in-the-wall fast food joint in Monastir. (Look up shawarma on Wikipedia if you’re not sure what it is).

For roughly $2 I can get a large container of Leblebi and half a loaf of French bread to-go.  The spicy garbanzo bean soup is traditionally eaten on top of pieces of bread.

There’s nothing like traditional Tunisian couscous. It’s hard to tell in this picture but that bowl was about 14 inches in diameter. One big bowl for three people!

Marqa, a delicious slow-cooked lamb & potato stew, from my favorite restaurant in the Medina. The owner recognized me, so he gave me and my friends a free bowl of couscous! We ate it all…. everything is so good there.

It’s getting colder

As you know, I’m in Africa. You probably think the weather is quite hot here-- because it’s Africa. Though the days are quite nice and sunny, the nights are getting down right cold. Considering the fact that most people don’t have indoor heating, 40 degrees feels very cold indoors. Even when it’s 60 degrees outside in the middle of the day, the inside of the house usually stays about 15 degrees less. Sweaters, jackets, and hats are needed indoors but not outdoors, at least not yet.

Happy Thanks Giving

I hope all of you had a great Thanks Giving Day! I got together with roughly 14 other Americans who live in Sousse the Friday after the holiday. We had a great time of eating, chatting, and playing games. On the day of Thanks Giving I did manage to eat some turkey late at night. Turkey is actually very common here, but usually sold as boneless pieces of white or dark meet. Tunisia used to be the world’s largest turkey consumer per capita a few years ago. (Not sure who it is now).

A Trip to the Countryside

A few of my expat friends invited me to tag along on their afternoon trip to visit some friends in the countryside. It took just about an hour on bumpy roads and a few wrong turns before we arrived. Once there, we were greeted with many kisses and ushered in to a comfortable place to sit. I ended up wandering around the fields with the kids while the “grown-ups” were talking (Arabic speakers) and tried to take lots of pictures before the sun went down.

Fresh Fruit for Breakfast

There’s a few pomegranate trees in my garden so I’ve been enjoying fresh pomegranates in the mornings. I’ve experimented making fruit salads with them, enjoyed them by themselves, and even  made a cup of pomegranate juice this morning. It was very sweet. Thanks to Wikipedia I just learned how to get the seeds out rather quickly!

 

Nice visit with an old friend

It was so nice to greeted with laughter and kisses (four kisses for good friends) when my friend from three years ago came to pick me up. She was still in her pajamas and so was her 3 year old son who was standing on front passenger seat – and wasn’t about to let me sit there. At her house we watched American TV shows with Arabic subtitles (Grey’s Anatomy and DR. Oz), she gave me Tunisian mint tea with pine nuts in it, some really good cake, and some juice. Her mom was a little disappointed that I didn’t speak better Arabic than three years ago but we had a few good laughs together anyways.

After a few hours my friend asked me if I wanted to go get fast food. By fast food, I thought she meant street vendor food, but she meant an American-looking restaurant called Planet Food that serves hamburgers. (The ambiance is kind of like Planet Hollywood). We hung out there with her friend and her oldest son for a few hours. I mostly just tried to soak in a bit of the Arabic being spoken around me, and wasn’t too worried about getting everything translated. At the end of the night my friend insisted on paying for everyone, I guess that’s pretty customary around here.

Walking Around Town

I haven’t taken a lot of pictures yet but here are a few.

The Medina walls. There’s lots of shops, restaurants, homes, and people inside those walls. It’s one of my favorite places to hang-out.

Just down the street from my house.

My first Shawarma. This one has chicken meat, vegetables, French fries and hot sauce in it. It was great!

The view from the train station. Lots of white buildings and an old Catholic church.

Any Changes?

Someone asked me today if I noticed any differences here since my last visit in 2009. If you haven’t heard, there was a revolution in 2010 and the president was forced to leave the country, and yes there are some differences I’ve already observed. Mostly I’ve notice that more women are wearing the hijab (head covering) and more people are talking about politics. Before the revolution women weren’t allowed to wear the head covering in government places but now they can, so they are. Before the revolution people could get arrested for complaining about the government or appearing like extremists, so people didn’t say much. Now politics seem to come up regularly. 

Just yesterday, as I was looking for scarves at the tourist market, I met a girl who offered to help me with Arabic and help me understand the culture here. We shopped together and chatted for nearly an hour. She openly told me about her views about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, about her religion, and about how things are better now that the government allows women to follow the Quran by wearing the hijab. Women are not allowed to wear the complete body/face covering at universities yet (Burqa or Niqab), but she hopes that one day they will. 

I’ve only been here a few days but I'm sure I have many more conversations like that one.

Safe Arrival

I’ve finally arrived in Sousse. I first stopped in Boston where I met up with old friends, went to all the tourist sights, ate Boston cream pie and New England clam chowder, and saw Aerosmith live in front of the building where they made their first record. Then I spent one night in London with a friend from college and her Oregonian husband. Then I flew to Tunis. I got to my house at nearly 11pm (just 2pm Oregon time); I was greeted by my Norwegian neighbors and their two Labrador puppies. Though I was pretty groggy from my travels and bit jet-lagged, I unpacked all my bags and started to get settled into my new home.
Thanks for thinking of me as I traveled and for all your encouraging words. I made it safe and sound!

The puppies (Rex & Rosita).

Ten facts about Tunisia

I did a quick search online to find some facts about Tunisia to share with all of you. Here’s a few. Let me know if you find any fun ones.
10 Facts about Tunisia

Fact 1: The currency of Tunisia is Tunisian Dinar.

Fact 2: The life expectancy in Tunisia is around 75 years.

Fact 3: 98 percent of the population are Muslims.

Fact 4:  The highest point in Tunisia is Jebelech Chambi with its 1544 meters.

Fact 5: The official language of Tunisia is Arabic, but French is also widely spoken there.

Fact 6: More than a quarter of Tunisia's population live in the capital Tunis.

Fact 7:  The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis; a city and capital of modern-day Tunisia.

Fact 8: The Tunisian oasis at Kebili has been found to be containing evidence of Stone Age settlements.

Fact 9: The city Kairouan is the fourth most important city in the Islamic world after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.

Fact 10: The city Hammamet is Tunisia's largest tourist resort and has been attracting holidaymakers from all over Europe since the 1960s.

I also found another site that gives interesting facts about the different cities in Tunisia. There’s so many interesting places to visit! Check it out.
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Geography/Tunisia-20381.html

My Favorite Photos

I hope you enjoy these photos my friends and I took!