Thursday, May 26, 2005
always ask your driver first
serge at the keys today. we are actually in rome right now, somewhat unexpectedly, after the ferry schedule--which has mystified us for some time now--worked out so that we were able to include a quick visit to the eternal city into our journey to tuscany. very nice and all that.
so, a quick bit of background: a very good friend of mine, katherine, was in the peace corps in tunisia in the early 90s, and lived in a town called ain jeloula, where she made many friends with whom she has not kept in very close contact. she told us before our trip to go visit them. so, last saturday, we decided to do it.
we were in kairouan, a very nice and very conservative town a couple hours from tunis and, after some discreet inquiries, we learned that ain jeloula was about an hour away by louage, the shared taxis we use to get around where there are no convenient buses or trains. when we tried to get a regular taxi driver to take us to the station, he was flummoxed for a bit, thinking we were mispronouncing another town that was more popular with the tourists, but we eventually were able to convince him that we wanted to go to AJ, and we found a louage and we were off.
we arrived in AJ after a drive through some beautiful non-Saharan countryside, armed only with the names of two sisters, we just started asking people if they knew them. slowly but surely we were directed around the (very small) town until we were given a 2-block ride in a pickup to meet their brother. brandishing photos of me and katherine together to establish my credentials, we tried to explain who we were. in typical tunisian fashion, he invited us into his house and started calling his siblings to tell them about the surprise visitors. in short order the house was full of brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, all excited about the friends of katherine who had appeared so suddenly. some old photos of katherine were trotted out and we updated every new arrival on the details of her life (married, living in LA, and she has a brand new baby, in case you're curious) and the story of how we had arrived. my favorite moment came when we realized that the driver of the louage was one of the brothers of the family, who we had never thought to ask for directions.
the two sisters who we had initially asked about both live in other towns now, but they told us to sit tight because they wanted to come talk to us. while we waited we had lunch and watched the videos of the party preceding the circumcision of two boys from the younger generation. then we watched the actual circumcision. good times all around. several of the family members speak excellent english, so we were able to communicate much better than we usually do.
the missing sisters eventually turned up to much fanfare. stories were repeated, hearts were warmed, cokes were consumed, many photos were taken. also, we were given some "natural gum", which i can say without hesitation was the worst chewing experience of my life. naturally, of course, i played it cool. in fact, i was playing it so cool all day long that nobody realized that i was a bit ill (not from the gum or the lunch. also, mom, i'm feeling fine now) until i rather loudly started throwing up in a small bathroom with, as it turned out, excellent acoustics. i was prescribed a healthy dose of the locally-made honey and all was well.
we agreed that it was one of our best adventures, and it was especially rewarding because we were not overly confident that we would be able to find these people with as little information as we had. imagine our pleasant surprise at receiving such a heaping helping of tunisian hospitality.
so, a quick bit of background: a very good friend of mine, katherine, was in the peace corps in tunisia in the early 90s, and lived in a town called ain jeloula, where she made many friends with whom she has not kept in very close contact. she told us before our trip to go visit them. so, last saturday, we decided to do it.
we were in kairouan, a very nice and very conservative town a couple hours from tunis and, after some discreet inquiries, we learned that ain jeloula was about an hour away by louage, the shared taxis we use to get around where there are no convenient buses or trains. when we tried to get a regular taxi driver to take us to the station, he was flummoxed for a bit, thinking we were mispronouncing another town that was more popular with the tourists, but we eventually were able to convince him that we wanted to go to AJ, and we found a louage and we were off.
we arrived in AJ after a drive through some beautiful non-Saharan countryside, armed only with the names of two sisters, we just started asking people if they knew them. slowly but surely we were directed around the (very small) town until we were given a 2-block ride in a pickup to meet their brother. brandishing photos of me and katherine together to establish my credentials, we tried to explain who we were. in typical tunisian fashion, he invited us into his house and started calling his siblings to tell them about the surprise visitors. in short order the house was full of brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, all excited about the friends of katherine who had appeared so suddenly. some old photos of katherine were trotted out and we updated every new arrival on the details of her life (married, living in LA, and she has a brand new baby, in case you're curious) and the story of how we had arrived. my favorite moment came when we realized that the driver of the louage was one of the brothers of the family, who we had never thought to ask for directions.
the two sisters who we had initially asked about both live in other towns now, but they told us to sit tight because they wanted to come talk to us. while we waited we had lunch and watched the videos of the party preceding the circumcision of two boys from the younger generation. then we watched the actual circumcision. good times all around. several of the family members speak excellent english, so we were able to communicate much better than we usually do.
the missing sisters eventually turned up to much fanfare. stories were repeated, hearts were warmed, cokes were consumed, many photos were taken. also, we were given some "natural gum", which i can say without hesitation was the worst chewing experience of my life. naturally, of course, i played it cool. in fact, i was playing it so cool all day long that nobody realized that i was a bit ill (not from the gum or the lunch. also, mom, i'm feeling fine now) until i rather loudly started throwing up in a small bathroom with, as it turned out, excellent acoustics. i was prescribed a healthy dose of the locally-made honey and all was well.
we agreed that it was one of our best adventures, and it was especially rewarding because we were not overly confident that we would be able to find these people with as little information as we had. imagine our pleasant surprise at receiving such a heaping helping of tunisian hospitality.
