English Club

My Arabic teacher is also an English teacher at the local Engineering University. Her students started an English club a few weeks ago, so she asked me if I would want to come along to one of their meetings. I didn’t realize I was going to be the “special American guest” though. I was a lot of fun. We played a few games: like who can name the most states of America and who can name an item in both American and British English.

Then the students asked me a lot of questions about American life. One student asked if life is really like what they see on TV, specifically like the movies Hangover or American Pie. I said “I hope not.” Another student asked if I was afraid the first time I came to Tunisia because it’s a Muslim country. I said “I wasn’t afraid but I thought people might not like me because I was American.” A number of the students reassured me how much they like Americans and how they know the people of a country are not the same as the politicians of that country. Then another student asked if I have facebook and if we could be facebook friends. Hahaha.

Towards the end of the club I asked a few questions about gender and technology to help get some ideas for an online class I’m taking right now. They told me that the majority of the students at the Engineering University are women and that women usually do better in the classes. They explained though that many of the women focus on computer engineering and not mechanical engineering. The class got quite lively as they girls talked about how much work a working mom has to do and how little the husbands usually do to help around the house.

Volunteer Work

A few weeks ago a friend of mine mentioned that she used to volunteer at the local Autism Center. Now that I’m taking a special education course online I thought I had a good excuse to start volunteering there as well. My friend arranged everything for me. Today she took me to talk to a psychologist who interviews people before they work or volunteer at the center. After I got his approval my friend took me to the center. It’s a lovely place with lots of friendly staff and cute kids. I didn’t meet anyone who speaks English, so it might be a challenge to go there on my own, but I like challenges.  I’m excited to see how I can be a help.

Knitting Club

Knitting Club is going well. We meet every Sunday afternoon for a few hours. We drink coffee, we try out new knitting techniques and we talk a lot. Some of the girls decided we should start calling it the Talking Club because we do more of that than anything else. More and more people are getting interested in our group, so it might continue to grow!

A Day With May

I went to May’s house last Saturday, a ninety train ride. Once I got there I found out that they had changed their plans, and were getting ready to come up to the Sousse for the day. So, after my arrival we hung out for about an hour, I ate some good Tunisian food, then we all got on the train and headed back to Sousse.

May’s husband is from Palestine and he had two friends visiting from home. Discussions about their country’s politics got a bit lively on the train ride. I wish my Arabic had been better so I could have understood what some of the other passengers were saying.
After we arrived in Sousse we got in a public car and headed to another town. I thought we were going to one of their friends houses, but I obviously misunderstood because we ended up at a political rally.
 
There was music, long speeches, dramas, and some Tunisian sweets. May’s husband shared about the pain and suffering he saw when he lived in Palestine and then led the crowd in a few cheers.

On our way home I noticed that I could read the sign in the front of the public car even though it was backwards. Soon I’ll be reading complete sentences!

Hergla

Though I love going for walks along the Mediterranean sea, I rarely do because I sometimes get too much  attention from men who are used to flirting with tourists. It’s not very relaxing. That’s why I love Hergla so much. It’s a small town just about thirty minutes away (in a public car), it has a quiet beach area that usually has one or two local families relaxing on it, and there’s a few great restaurants in town. I went there last week for the first time since I moved here in November, it was just as beautiful and peaceful as I remember it.

 

  

  

 

A Coffee Shop for Moms

Though I’m not a mom, most of my expat friends have young kids, so I understand how difficult it can be to take kids to restaurants and coffee shops. Thanks to my friend Nour we now know a great coffee shop that has a large play area for kids. Yes, these sorts of places do exist in my city!

 

Art Sale in Sousse

A few months ago after I taught my friend Mary how to make designs using polymer clay she told me I should start selling my jewelry at her friends bi-monthly art show. Her friend owns an old house in the Medina which he has turned into a coffee shop. There’s no signs telling you it’s a coffee shop, the only way you’ll find out about it is if someone invites you there. 

There was supposed to be an art sale two months ago so I started to make a few different items to sell. Unfortunately, the event got canceled because of a national strike and was scheduled for the third week of March, a weekend I was going to be out of town. I stopped by the coffee shop last Thursday to find out how the sale had gone and found out they hadn’t done it yet but that it was taking place on the coming Sunday (yesterday). I quickly tried to make a few more items to sell and made plans to hang out at the coffee shop all day Sunday.

 

There wasn’t a lot of publicity so there weren’t a lot of shoppers at the event, but I did sell a few bracelets to a group of Tunisian girls and a bunch of stuff to a few of my expat friends. When business was slow I had fun getting to know the other vendors and also had fun playing Uno with the coffee shop groupies.

Art Exhibit in the Capital

My friend and I naively thought it would be easy to find the Expo center in the capital. We knew we had to take the metro just across the road from the train station in Tunis and we assumed we would see the large building from the metro line and just walk to it. Luckily the first person we asked for directions was a vendor at the art exhibit who offered to take us there. We would have gotten lost without her! We had to take two different trams and then a taxi to get there, not at all as simple as we’d assumed. Our new friend even let us in the back door so we didn’t have to pay to get in to the exhibit.

 

The exhibit was massive. There were over one thousand vendors, selling mostly hand crafted items but also factory made furniture and art supplies. There were three large rooms and it took us nearly two hours just to get through the first one.

 

After a quick lunch we finally found my friend Mary, the ceramic artist. Just in case I haven’t told you yet I met Mary during my first week here back in November. She owns a ceramic shop in the Medina in Sousse and through the past few months I’ve been able to teach her how to make things with polymer clay and she’s taught me how to make stuff with normal clay. She’s very patient with me as I try to speak Arabic and has become a good friend.

After a long day of being inspired by all the Tunisian art we slowly made our way home. A thirty minute taxi ride back to town, an hour wait, and a two hour train ride back to Sousse.

 

London Trip

I had a great time with my friends in Harlesden, a suburban town in the London Borough of Brent. Their house was behind one church building and right next to another.

 

I got to hang out with my friends’ three lovely kids. Their oldest happens to be my one and only pen pal.

 

I had lunch and went shopping with a friend from college in the cute town of Wimbledon. I got some great deals on jeans there (I can’t find jeans that aren’t “skinny jeans” in Tunisia).

I explored central London in a double decker bus and on foot. I got lost a lot but did manage to find Covent Gardens, China Town, the National Gallery, and a few other fun touristy sights.

   

On my last night there I got traditional fish & chips from a little whole-in-the-wall restaurant. It was a giant serving sprinkled with  salt & vinegar, and wrapped in brown paper to go. It was great!

Then at the airport I waited till just minutes before my flight was supposed to take off to find out which gate I was supposed to go to. The anticipation grew. I was ready get “home.”