Between North and South

My computer is still down. The company I bought a new charger from had to order it themselves, so it'll probably get here in May sometime. Speaking of May, I have an announcement. I'm not coming home, until August at least! I've been offered an internship at the Amideast office here in Tunis, so I'll be living in an apartment with another intern and working there during the day. Amideast's mission is to promote understanding between Middle Easterners and Americans, so they run exchange programs, English classes, and culture nights where students can come to practice English, watch American films, and check out books. I can't wait. I'm going to get to take responsibility for one of the programs, and I hope to work on the culture nights. It's a lot of fun talking with Tunisians, helping them with English, and learning about their differences. It still hasn't wuite hit me yet, but I get a week off after my program ends, and then I start work until August 7th. I'll miss you all, and I'll still keep up with my blog and getting on Skype so I can stay in touch.

My trip south was amazing, and exhausting. I can't believe we're taking another one, this time to the north and west, a week from today! Our first stop was in Kairawan, where we saw the Great Mosque and a saint's shrine (as well as ate the best maqruth (spelled makroud here) I've ever had). We moved on from there to Sbeitla, the ruins of a Roman town. It had ruined baths (with great mosaics), three temples, and a door to the city that still had an emporer's name on it.

The next day we took a train tour called the Red Lizard, which snakes into the mountains outside Touzer to an old phosphate mine. The train was full of tourists, but it was amazing. We went through huge canyons, tunnels, and valleys. The rocks were all covered in white, yellow, and purple flowers from the recent rain. We stopped at one point and got to walk around a canyon with 150 foot walls with a muddy stream running through it. After the tour we went to Touzer and saw a museum about traditional modes of dress. It was interesting, but difficult to get past the creepiness of the wax dummies.

We spent the next day around Touzer. We took four-wheel drive trucks up to some abandoned mountain villages like Chebika. The government made everyone move out of them and down into the valleys in the 70's so it could give them water, electricity, and education. Later, we took the same trucks out across the desert. Our driver hit some really cool bumps and hills, just for kicks, on the way to the Mos Eisley set from Star Wars. It was cool, but the buildings were empty, so we played on the sand dunes nearby and watched the sun set. That night we played cards and pool with a bunch of guys down in the lobby of the hotel. They taught us a game called Shkoba, which is fun and relatively simple. I'll bring it back with me. We tried to teach them BS (in which you have to lie if you don't have the right cards), but whenever it came to one guy's turn, he said, "I don't have it." We were unsuccessful.

Thursday we drove to Douz and went to the weekly market. Every Thursday, mercahnts come to town and set up a city of shops, selling everything from fruit to scarves (we bought some to be turbans later). It's a lot of fun; you get to haggle with shop owners and get the real price. We went from douz to a spot in the middle of the desert where we got on camels! Mine's name was Michel. We rode them a mile or two, as a novelty, to an encampment in the desert surrounded by dunes, but near a road. This place had two dining tents, bathrooms with running water, big tents with beds, heaters in all the sleeping quarters, and a full bar that played dance music for us that night since we were the only guests. We watched and even better sunset from there, and later went out to see the stars. They were amazing. I've seen them that bright before, but never that many of them. The camp managers wanted us to come back, so they told us there were scorpions (vipers were next if that didn't work).

The next morning, it was freezing! We had to start a fire to keep warm. We spent the day traveling, seeing a troglodyte home (like Luke's house in Episode IV. Underground with a room open to the sky), and Luke's actual house along the way. We arrived in Djerba at about 4:30. Lee, Rachel and I wanted to go to Jewish services at El-Ghriba synagogue, one of the oldest in the world, but we didn't have nice clothes, so we bolted out of the hotel and bought suits in about 20 minutes. We got there at 6:30, and were way too late, so security told us to come back in the morning. There are 3 or 4 guards there at all times since it was bombed in 2002. We spent the night hanging out at the hotel and resting.

We got up on Saturday morning and got back to the synagogue at 8:30, and this time we were too early! At 9:30, after we persuaded the guard, he took our names and passport numbers and let us in. The rabbi greeted us and gave me a yarmulke. Rachel had to stay on the women's side (it's an orthodox temple), and Lee and I went into the main room with about 12 other guys. The service was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I couldn't follow it at all, because it was entirely in Hebrew, and they didn't wait for us to catch up. The synagogue was beautiful inside though, with multi-colored windows, ornate stucco decorations, and reed matting on the floors. I learned a lot, and it was really interesting to see the differences between services in the states and here. I spent most of the rest of the day resting because I was sick by then, but I did see another creepy wax museum, this time with a couple of live camels. They were chained up, so I petted them to make them feel better.

On the way home on Sunday, we stopped in Al-Jem, which has one of the best-preserved Roman coliseums in the world. It was really cool, we got to climb up to the top, and go underneath it to see the cells they used to use. We didn't get home until about 8:30. I was exhausted.

Since then I've gotten back into a routine. After we got back I went up to a music conservatory near my school and signed up for Oud lessons. I have had three so far, and they're going swimingly. My teacher, Adnan, plays for me while he is tuning it for me (I know how to tune it, but he doesn't know that). He's amazing at it, and I want to be as good as he is. The sounds is gorgeous. Each string is doubled, and the tuning is very conducive to inprovisation. I bought an oud from him for 160 Dinars (about 110 USD). It's old and beat up, but I love it. The lessons are cheap too. 50 Dinars (34 USD) per month! I've learned a couple of western scales so far, but now I'm moving into some Middle Eastern scales. Pretty soon I'll get into half flats, which sounds totally strange to my western ears.

The other day I went out with some of my friends and one of the women who works at SIT to an Engineering college in Tunis. She teaches and runs an English club there, so we went to talk to the students. They were all incredibly interesting and curious. They asked us great questions about why we chose Tunis, what we think of the country, and a lot about the differences between us. We got a lot of contact information, and we're going to be hanging out with some of them soon.

Other than that, I spend my days at school, and my nights at home doing a ton of homework. We always have lots of things to do for Arabic, multiple articles to read every week, and essays to write on the cultural movies we watch. On the weekends I go out at night with Maher or my friends. Last weekend we went to "Le Boeuf Sur La Toit" (The Beef on the Roof), a trendy restaurant that guards its doors with bouncers. We had pizza with Malik, the son of our academic director. At around 10:30 (people eat dinner late here, like 9:00 or 9:30) the place started to fill up, and at 11:00 a band went on right near our table. They played all American music, like Creed (I never thought I would be so happy to hear "With Arms Wide Open"), Radiohead, and AC/DC. It was a great place, almost like an American restaurant. I always enjoy the little bastions of America that make it here. I appreciate the break from observing, learning, and speaking Arabic.

I hope you're all well. I miss you, and I hope to hear from you soon! Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you. I'll get your message within a few days, but it may take me a while to write back. I wish everyone a wonderful week, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Ryan

As Always:

• Tunisians do not mix salt and sweet in their food. I made my family french toast with bananas, sausage, and maple syrup I brought from home. Maher and Noura (my host mom) said it was bizarre and ate different food. Fathi and Jamila (my housekeeper) said it was good, but they, too, ate other food with it. Only Sami, who is home for two weeks, liked it. He ate about 5 pieces with no complaint. He doesn't like spicy foods though, which is practically all Tunisians eat, so I think his palette might be a little off.
• Personal space here is almost non-existent. Guys walk around holding hands, or with their arms around one another, and you give a kiss on both cheeks as a greeting and a salutation, even when you just met someone. When I'm talking to guys, they tend to get right up in my face, literally only a few inches away. It came off as insanely creepy at first, but everyone does it, so I'm adapting. I just hope I'm not a close talker when I get back.
• Privacy almost doesn't exist either. Fortunately, my family knocks when they come in my room, but I don't think they would stop, even if I yelled, "I'm naked!" Also fortunately, I haven't been when anyone has walked in.
• Taxi drivers are not chauffers. If you are male and alone, you sit in the front seat and make conversation.
• The police are everywhere. They have little, red-and-white striped booths on most streets. Also, they aren't trained how to hold their weapons. Automatic rifles hang off their shoulders, pointing at passers by while they smoke or drink coffee. They're there to protect me though. There's even a new brigade of plainclothes cops who keep tabs on all the tourists in the country and monitor their travels to prevent harm from coming to them.
• No one here burns in the sun. I scoured every store and supermarket I could find, including Carrefour (a German chain) and found no sunscreen. I had to pay a phramacy 30 Dinars for a 150 ml bottle.
• Since a lot of those seemed like complaints: The most interesting thing I saw in the last week was a circumcision parade. Muslim boys are all circumcised in a rather large ceremony between the ages of 2 and 5 to which the entire family comes and after which there is a huge feast. On a side note, I get to attend one this July. My parents' daughter, Almas, lives in Paris with here husband and son, Sanad. This summer, he's coming back here for the ceremony, so I'll be attending as well. Anyway, the whole thing can be quite expensive, so a lot of families can't afford to have it done. Thus, on March 8th (and possibly other days), the day before the prophet Muhammad's birthday, a parade marches around town, either picking up kids or after the procedure gets done. Basically, the government subsidizes the circumcision of all the boys who can't afford it, only it happens all at the same time. Am I glad I'm wasn't a Tunisian child? You bet.