Tedx Carthage

I had the opportunity to go to a TEDx event in a nearby city because I happened to know someone who got me VIP passes. I had tried to get tickets on my own, but they sold out in less than twenty minutes. So I got lucky.

A friend from knitting club went with me and was completely inspired. She has chosen to go against the status quo and at age thirty she quit her job and decided to pursue her dream business. She often feels like she’s the only one and feels crazy in a culture where a woman’s success comes from being married and having kids. She was so encouraged to hear speaker after speaker share stories of how they had quit the normal life and gone after their dreams. She especially liked three of the fifteen speakers. One, a woman who shared that real success doesn’t come from being married and having kids. Another, a teenager who shared about how he almost died and realized he wanted to make the most of every moment of his life from that point on. And thirdly, a young man who shared how he combined the education his parents wanted him to get as a pharmacist with what he really loved doing --movie animation, and is now making pharmaceutical animation videos.

I really didn’t understand all that much because I don’t understand very many academic words in Arabic yet, not to mention that a number of the speakers spoke in French as well. Yet, fortunately my friend was there to help explain the main idea of what each speaker said. It was a great experience seeing my friend get so encouraged, as well as seeing so many other young people get inspired that change is possible in their lives and in their country.

Some of the speakers spoke Tunisian Arabic, some spoke in French, one spoke in standard Arabic, and they even showed two TED Talks videos in English. Check them out the English videos, they’re pretty good.
TED Talks Video: Living Beyond Limits
TED Talks Video: The Happy Secret

First time in Asia

I went to Turkey for a visa trip about a month ago. It was my first time in Istanbul and my first time traveling to Asia. (Just in case you didn’t know, the city of Istanbul sits on two continents: Europe and Asia). While I was there……

I relaxed for a few days at the sea with some friends.

I checked out lots of mosques, palaces, and other touristy places.
    

I found some great places to get fresh juice, tea, and delicious Turkish food.
 

Took a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul where I went to a very large outdoor market and then took a bus to IKEA and a mall.  

Though I stayed pretty busy seeing all the sights and shopping, I also had a great time “people watching,” observing a familiar but different culture. 
 

Fishing trip #2

Six girls, five fishing poles, lots of food and lots of laughter!

 We caught four giant fish (you can see one of them in the picture)!

 
A great lunch finished off with a little tea party!

 
Many more fishing trips to come in the near future!

Lunch Party at my house

As you probably know, the knitting club I’m a part of doesn’t just knit. We also have lots of good discussions, have lunch parties and go fishing. Last week we had a lunch party at my house. We enjoyed a few different pasta dishes, two couscous dishes, quiche, cheesecake and apple pie. We also made cards and played games.

Spring is here!

Leaves on the fig trees are starting to bloom and so are my flowers. It’s almost time to start wearing sandals and shoes without socks. And soon I’ll no longer have to wear a sweater and a down vest inside my house. I love the spring!

         
Look at the difference from one week to the next. In just another week this fig tree will be completely full with leaves.

 
A few of my flowers.

Volunteering

I had a chance to take two Tunisian friends of mine to the the hospital with me this week. Being that volunteering isn’t very common here it’s really fun talk about it with my local friends. Both of my friends loved hanging out with the kids and expressed that they would like to volunteer somewhere. They both also said that it would be good for their society if more people did volunteer work. It was fun hearing their thoughts and ideas.

Where am I going again?

I met a lady at the hospital that invited me to her house. She was extremely friendly and had a unique ability to understand what I was trying to say as I stumbled through broken Arabic. She tried to tell me where she lived but I really didn’t understand because I’d never heard of that small town before, but she told me I could call and ask for directions when I was on my way. So a few week later I decided to go. I called her but I couldn’t understand her very well, her high voice and my cheap phone didn’t seem to like each other. I wasn’t sure if she told me to go to Sidi Boholid, or Sidi Bousalid, or some other place. But I decided to go ask around at the public transportation anyways.I went ahead and got in a car heading to Sidi Bou Ali. I figured that if it wasn’t the right place I could just take another public car home.

Luckily, I did go to the right place and had a great time getting to know her family. She fed me and my friend couscous with homemade sausage, showed us how to make clay pots used for making tea in, and introduced us to a lot of people. It was a fun afternoon.

   

Knitting Day

We didn’t have very many visitors come to our Knitting Day but we had a great time anyways. It was fun seeing how much everyone has made this past year. It was really impressive seeing it all together! It was also great to have a whole day together to chat, relax, eat and knit.

 

Representing America with cookies

I got a Facebook message early Saturday morning from a friend I know from a local language club inviting me to bring some American food to a culture event at a local retirement home in the afternoon. I was intrigued because I didn’t know retirement homes existed in Sousse. Also, I just so happened to have some cookie dough already made, so it seemed like perfect timing. I showed up a little late because baking lots of cookies always seems to take longer than I expect it to. But I was received warmly and so were my cookies. There was singing, dancing, eating, and lots of laughter.

  

Knitting Event

In celebration of our Knitting Club’s one year anniversary one of the girls organized a special event. This Sunday we’re going to have a mini exposition of all the things we’ve knitted this past year and just hang out and knit. If anyone wants to learn how to knit or crochet we’ll have extra needles and yarn ready to teach them with. Should be fun!