borogove

this is just to let everyone know that we are back home in one piece. you may yet hear about our adventures in london and other parts, so don't cancel your subscription to our blog just yet. ok, must get back to the unpacking.

sabrina here again. so we leave for london in less than two days, and i must say that i, at least, am ready. i finished my stint at the El Walid school for disabled kids last Friday, and since then, serge and i have been taking full advantage of living so close to the water -- going to the beach, visiting friends who live near the beach, and sitting at the cafe sidi chabaane so we can look at the beach. it's been great fun, but our beloved apartment started acting up a few days ago and leaking water in various places, so keeping house has become much more of a chore. and i'm looking forward to having more diversity in my diet (though yesterday we did find the Hong Kong restaurant in tunis! it's a branch of the one we'd tried to go to in sousse. it's owned by a tunisian and has tunisian staff, and the food was really pretty good).

these past few weeks have been lovely, though. my time at the el walid school was frustrating in some ways -- i didn't often feel like i added much to the equation, as there were plenty of staff for the number of kids in attendance (there were even 3 german volunteers living at the school doing their 10 months of national civil service -- in germany, apparently, you can do civil service instead of military service, and you can apply to do it abroad!). i was supposed to serve as a teaching assistant for the pottery classes as well as do some painting of the facility. they decided not to have me do any painting, though, and given the number of staff, i wasn't really needed as an assistant. so mostly i just tried to help set up and clean up and interact with the kids, who were great fun. most of the kids only speak arabic though, so we had to make do with lots of hand gestures, occasional teacher translations, and singing -- i think i did more singing than pottery, in fact. we sang frere jacques and alouette, as well as old macdonald, which they sang in arabic while i sang in english. and, at their request, i sang a few of the taiwanese folk songs i could remember. i also learned a few arabic words and got pretty good at shouting "le le le le", which means "no no no no", at them when they'd pick fights with each other. the kids were mostly in the pre- to late teens and had a wide variety of disabilities. many were autistic. some had physical disabilities only. others could not communicate verbally at all.

the kids were lots of fun, and it was also fun getting to know some of the teachers and other staff, many of whom were in their twenties and early thirties. two were planning to get married this summer, in "small" weddings of 200-250 people, and graciously invited me, but alas, we'll be gone before they take place. so anyway, i'm disappointed that i didn't add much value as a volunteer, but it was a fun experience for me in many ways.

so everyday i'd come home to our apartment, which serge kept immaculate -- he was a wonderful househusband -- and we'd take walks by the harbor or go shopping at carrefour (where i found one other asian restaurant, in the food court) and then cook dinner, watch tv, go to our cafe, and, if they were open, go to the bombaloni (kind of like a fluffier zeppole) stand (note to talat: still haven't found yoyos but have at least learned that they're like bombaloni but with less sugar). it's definitely been a very nice life.

well, it's been a while since we've written -- our lives are not as eventful now that we've settled down. but we've been taking a couple of weekend trips, and we're now in tabarka, on the northern coast a little over 3 hours west of tunis (by louage, that is-- we just found out that it's a mere 16 USD and 30 minutes by plane, which we may take to get home), not far from the algerian border. it's the best beach we've been to so far -- a curve of sand backed by green mountains, with a view of a genoese castle on a peninsula jutting out from the harbor. and not much in the way of hotel development, yet. rough guide says that tabarka is still mostly a tourist destination for tunisians rather than europeans but that it's being promoted more and more to foreigners. we haven't seen many tourists here at all, though, tunisian or otherwise. now that we've been getting closer to the supposed high season months of july and august, we've been expecting to see a lot more tourists everywhere, including in our town of sidi bou said, but there still haven't been very many at all.

although the beach here in tabarka hasn't been too crowded, the ones near sidi bou said have been full of people, most of whom are tunis area residents. tunisians young and old, male and female, seem to love the beach, though the dominant demographic is young men who come in big groups and kick around soccer balls or throw each other in the water. we've seen a fair number of young women, some of whom go swimming fully clothed, jeans and head scarves included. but enough of them wear bathing suits that i feel comfortable wearing mine.


tabarka's also meant to have some of the best diving and snorkelling in the mediterranean, so tomorrow we're going on a boat trip so that serge can do some of the former while i do some of the latter. and just so that we would be sure not to get too tired of the sea, today we took a quick trip up into the mountains just behind us, to a hill station built as a hunting retreat by the french, called ain draham. our rides through this part of the country have made us feel like we were back in italy -- lots of green hills, cypresses, and olive trees -- as well as vast fields of sunflowers, which we'd hoped to see in italy but hadn't. and up at the top of the hills in ain draham we walked through forests of cork trees.

we've also gotten in some viewings of roman and punic ruins, at dougga, utica, and carthage.


the sightseeing's been lots of fun and all, but i must admit that my favorite activity is hanging out at the cafe sidi chabaane just up the hill from our apartment in sidi bou said. the cafe consists of a series of whitewashed terraces built into the side of a cliff overlooking the harbor and seems to draw men and women of all ages for tea, coffee, coke, and hookahs. i think it's what i'll miss most about life here.

serge here. we are back in tunisia after our quick jaunt through italy. tuscany was lovely, as expected, and we really enjoyed the chance to spend some time with good friends (actually, i suspect that sabrina would have been excited to spend time with anyone who wasn't me for a change) in a lovely house near florence. we did the usual tourist thing, going to quaint old towns and eating delicious pasta and pizza. so, just imagine us soaking up the culture and the scenery every day and playing scrabble (with an italian-english dictionary, which led to not a few controversies).

sabrina may disagree, but for me the highlight (although that may not be the right word) was when several of us went to a Serie A soccer game between two teams at the bottom of the standings, and the winner would stay in the first division but the loser would get sent down. the home team, fiorentina, pulled out a decisive victory that led to pandemonium in the stadium and, we thought, joy all around. we discovered our mistake when we got to the train station to find a train full of visiting supporters of the losing team, yelling at a train full of jubilant and taunting fiorentina fans. of course, the platform where we were waiting for our train was directly between the two groups. the platform quickly filled up with riot police who dealt with the situation professionally and quickly, and we left without incident. it was probably not as exciting as it seemed to us, but we were still glad to get away from this minor bout of soccer rioting.

also, one day we were enjoying breakfast in the yard when i was attacked by a very small bird. the consensus was that it must not have liked my pajamas, but i can't say for sure. i'm not the first member of my family to come under avian attack, so it may just be a martinez thing. at any rate, i survived its talons with minimal damage.

we took the ferry back on saturday night (there was a swimming pool, but it was too cold to use it) and on sunday moved into our house in sidi bou said. it was absolutely delightful to cook a meal at home for a change. now we're cleaning it up and just hoping that someone will come visit to make use of all our space. that means you, gentle reader--we hope to see you soon.

sabrina here in arrezzo. according to lonely planet, arrezzo's not much to look at, having endured lots of bombing during the war. we've loved it though, partly because it does seem like a regular town that we could imagine ourselves living in. and it actually does have an old medieval center that's still very much lived in. we walked around it and found our way to a park at the top of the hill, where school kids were playing soccer (with one of the girls acting as ref, whistle and all), and 3 other girls had cornered one poor francesco so that they could declare that they did not like him. after the kids left, we spent some time enjoying the 360 views of the surrounding tuscan hills, complete with vineyards, farmhouses, and apartment complexes.

that evening, we decided to catch star wars episode iii at one of the local cinemas. we were one of 8 people in the theater (most people were catching the school play that was taking place in the main theater upstairs), and the quality of the screening was such that it seemed like it was indeed taking place years before episode iv. also, it was dubbed in italian, so the love scenes were probably more palatable to us than they would have been in the original. serge was able to understand most of the movie, given the similarities between italian and spanish, so he explained some of the finer points to me. all in all a very enjoyable experience.

well, we actually share it with our new landlord who lives upstairs, but we still love the fact that we'll be going through it every day (tunisia is full of these arched, studded blue doors that we've been coveting). basically, right before we left for italy, we signed a lease on an apartment for the month of june! it was the only place we looked at, and it's way too big for us (3 bedrooms), but the rental agent couldn't get us anything else, so we decided to take it. luckily the lease was not nearly as complex as nyc ones are, so even with our rudimentary french skills, we were able to understand it. we are very excited about being able to cook and have a living room to hang out in -- and extra space for our visitors! yes, please come visit if you can! i know it's very short notice, but we have 2 extra beds, and we're in a gorgeous white-and-blue town on a hill by the sea -- Sidi Bou Said -- just a 30-minute commute from downtown tunis. the apartment is a bit run-down but certainly in better shape than some of the hotels we've stayed in, and it's huge and cool and in a great location. the owner is a very kindly middle-aged gentleman named cherif, and his family goes back several generations in Sidi Bou Said. we're looking forward to getting to know him better.

sabrina here. so we're in rome now, land of hi-speed internet connections, qwerty keyboards, costly lodgings, and lots of chinese people! we're staying in a youth hostel in which our 2 beds in a room of 10 cost as much as our private, beautifully tiled room with vaulted brick ceiling off a courtyard on a hill by the sea in Tunisia. as hostels go, though, this one is pretty decent -- sparkling clean bathrooms and quiet, respectful guests (the owner sends away those he deems likely to be rowdy, even if they've made reservations). and it's in a convenient neighborhood that not only is close to public transportation but also appears to be something of a chinatown. so so far we've had chinese food every day. the food isn't wonderful, but it's been nice to have rice and dumplings and baby bok choy and to listen to all the chinese folks speaking italian.


getting here was itself lots of fun -- we took a 17-hour boat that's sort of in between a ferry and a cruise -- there's a sundeck/heliport, a bar, an arcade, a cafeteria, and a tv room with reclining chairs for those who don't purchase cabin space. no pool, though I was sure I saw one pictured in the brochure. there were only about 50 people on the ferry with us, though the boat probably has cabin and TV room space for at least 6 times that many. we got off at civitavecchia, a very pleasant port town, and from there caught a train to rome, about an hour away. we'll be taking a ferry with another company back to tunis later, this time from just south of genoa, and we're looking forward to it.


after seeing the other colosseum, the forum, the spanish steps, and st. peter's basilica, we decided to hop on a random city bus (we chose #36) and see where it took us. we ended up in a lovely residential neighborhood and entered the second pizza place we saw; soon after we sat down, the tables all around us completely filled up with locals of all ages, and we soon found out why -- the food was delicious and cheap.

we also decided to spend our final night (before going to meet serge's friends at the villa) in the town of arezzo, for no other reason than that it's a train stop at which we'd have to make a transfer anyway. so we'll see how that goes.

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.