From Sidi Bou to Tunis

July 31, 2011

Wow, it’s been over a month, and I cannot even begin to describe my experiences here.  The idea of updating this blog on over six weeks’ worth of events in a program as intensive as this one (seriously….I was averaging 5 hours of sleep a night—less than I’ve ever gotten in my life) is too daunting at this point, so I am just going to plow on ahead from here.  I guess that I can summarize the past month by saying that it was “behi barsha” (really great), and that practically every day, my love for Tunisia grew deeper.

Speaking of which….I decided to stay here indefinitely.  Why?  First of all, because I feel much more comfortable living in Tunisia than I have in any other Arab country that I have explored.  I love the ability to walk by myself down the streets, smelling the scent of jasmine, and interacting with members of what so far has been the friendliest and most welcoming society that I have ever visited.  On top of that, I am intensely proud of the Tunisians for what they accomplished in the January 14^th Revolution, and I jumped at the chance to be here during the first authentic elections to ever be held in Tunisians history-- the elections that will be held at the end of October.  And then there’s the added benefit/necessity of keeping up my Arabic skills after the end of the program, especially since I’m not going back to school and therefore don’t have any formal study plans lined up.

The decision to stay actually just occurred to me over night, and rather late on in the program.  I had forgotten that I graduated and really have no official obligations to return to the U.S.  I asked around in the program about different organizations for which I could work and places that I could live, but everything seemed to fall through until a couple of days before the end of the program.  At this point, I was getting pretty nervous because I wasn’t sure if I would be boarding the plane to go home on Sunday or not.  At the last minute, one of my favorite Tunisian language partners on the program, Afef, told me that she had an extra room for rent in her apartment in Tunis, the capital, and that I was welcome to live with her for as long as I wanted.  I almost exploded when she told me that—the opportunity to stay here for super cheap (rent is only $100 a month to live in a three-bedroom apartment with her in the capital), to live with an awesome Tunisian who very interested in Tunisian politics and who will speak in Arabic with me, to experience my first Ramadan in the Muslim world, and to be here for the upcoming elections (one of the most momentous moments in Tunisian history) was just overwhelming.

So literally the next day, I left classes and exams early to take an emergency trip to Tunis, the capital.  I started off in the airport where I was able to explain in (mostly) Arabic that I needed to delay my ticket and did so successfully, only having to pay $100.  I then wandered around Tunis for about half an hour, lost, while I was looking for the AMIDEAST building, because the head of the program had suggested that I apply for an internship there.  I had been in contact with one of the directors of AMIDEAST, but he hadn’t returned my phone calls, so I just decided to show up at his office and hope for the best (usually the best way to do business in the Middle East).  It turned out well, we had a great interview, and he seemed really interested in me.  The only issue is that he wants me to commit to working for a longer period than I feel comfortable committing to at this point (first time living by myself, in a foreign country, post-graduation…I have confidence in myself, but there’s the potential that I will get homesick and want to come home), and when I explained this to him, he said that he would get back to me about a potentially shorter-term position.  So we will see.  I also have an interview for an unpaid internship with the National Democratic Institute.  It’s unfortunate that it would be unpaid, but honestly, I think that my cost of living here is going to be low enough that it would be okay, and the work would be insanely interesting, given the currently circumstances.  So we’ll see…

Anyway, the last few days have been a whirlwind of finals, oral proficiency exams, and stressssssss from trying to figure this all out last minute.  Not to mention the most difficult part—having to say goodbye to the amazing people with whom I have spent the last two months.  I really could not possibly have picked out a better group of people with which to experience Tunisia, and as I sit here typing this entry right now, I miss everyone immensely.  We tried to spend as much time together as possible after exams ended, spending days at the beach and nights hanging out on the roof of one of the homestays.  It was a sad, sad morning today as I watched that bus pull away with everyone heading toward the airport.

Right now, I am sitting in Afef’s apartment in La Krem as she packs up her stuff to get ready to make the move to Tunis, the capital.  I went back to my host house after spending the entire night staying up with people and meeting at the school at 5 am to say goodbye to everyone.  I had hoped to sleep a little bit afterward, but my host mom (random, but did I ever mention that she is a Bourguiba?!?  She worships that man…) woke me up at 11 am, basically telling me that I had 2 hours to leave because she had a lunch date.  I was slightly annoyed, to say the least. 

Anyway, I hauled all of my stuff over here, and I spent the day with Afef, two other language partners, and one of my teachers from the program, all of whom lived in the same building for the summer.  Despite the fact that I was exhausted, it was a really really interesting afternoon.  We talked about everything about freedom of religion, the difference between religion/religious values manifested on the outside versus on the inside, their apprehensions about the upcoming elections and the Nahda party, the hijab, and all sorts of other topics.  After lunch, I took a nap, and I’ve spent the rest of the day watching the news with Afef, which has also been super interesting and great language practice.  I was really impressed by the number of informational commercials explaining the election process and urging Tunisians to vote.  It was a positive sign seeing these commercials, especially since I’ve heard that not nearly the amount of Tunisians required to vote have registered, and also because there is no tradition of free and fair elections here, so the average citizen doesn’t know how they work or what their role is.  Afef invited me to go with her on the day of elections and I very enthusiastically accepted.  I love that girl already.

Ramadan also starts tonight, and I am extremely excited to see how Tunisians celebrate it.  I already have been invited to my teacher’s house to break the fast one night, as well as to another one of the language partner’s houses.  It will be interesting also to compare how life here in Tunisia changes during this holy month.  For one thing, all of the alcohol in stores is gone, and apparently the only way to get any is if you are a foreigner with a foreign passport (meaning not Tunisian and i.e. not assumed to be Muslim), although Afef already stocked up, and we had a beer while watching Al-Arabiya this afternoon.  Just reiterating that I love her so much already…

Okay, well I think that’s enough of an update for now.  Since the program has ended, I anticipate that I will have more free time, so I will try to update this more often.

More Midnight Ramblings

Time for a quick update (as is proving to be the usual, I am writing this after finally completing my homework at 12:30 am)…I still have more work to do, but I promised that I would put up at least one post on June 23 in honor of mom’s birthday (U.S. mom, not Tunisian mom).  So…happy birthday (sorry I’m a little late)! Coincidentally, my host mother’s birthday is today, June 24^th.

Once again, I don’t even know where to begin.  We just returned from an amazing weekend spent traveling around Qairouan, Mehdia, and Al Jem.  Qairouin is a city in the center of Tunisia, and it is considered the fourth holiest site in Islam because of the presence of the Great Mosque (the oldest in North Africa).  We visited the Great Mosque, as well as several other mosques, wandered around the souqs (markets) in the medina while learning about/eating makroudh (a Tunisian sweet that originated in Qairouan).  The best part for me, though, was visiting Bir Barrouta, a well built by the Ottoman ruler Mohammed Bey in 1676 and whose waters are supposedly tied to the well of Zem-Zem in Mecca.  Legend has it that if you drink water from the well, you will return to Tunisia during your lifetime (yes, of course I drank some!).  Oh, and to top it all off, the water in this well (which is in the middle of the town and in a somewhat enclosed room) is drawn by….a camel.  Not just any camel, though.  A camel named Sayeed (which means happy in Arabic).  Maybe giving him that name was wishful thinking that he would somehow find joy in walking in circles all day to draw water for visitors? 

Mehdia, a walled port city built by the Fatimids, was the next stop on our excursion.  The best parts of this leg of the trip were...the beach and the hotel!  We stayed (unfortunately for only one night) in a fabulous hotel, complete with a pool, easy access to the beach, and unlimited food and drinks.  Ahhhhh….that was a much needed break.  We ended up relaxing and chatting outside after dinner and then a group of us went to the hotel’s “disco” where we took over the dance floor, along with a couple of random European tourists.  The next morning, I spent several hours just lounging on the beautiful beach and walking in the bright blue, clear water.  Also…I WENT PARASAILING!!!  It was only 20 dinars (about 15 dollars), and I couldn’t think of a better time to try it than in Tunisia.  The view was definitely worth more than 15 dollars.

Finally, we moved on to El Jem, a trade route that grew during the 1^st century AD and still shows the remains of Roman civilization in Africa through….its colosseum!  According to my Lonely Planet book, the colosseum is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, was the third largest colosseum in the Roman world, and was built around 230 AD.  It’s still in amazing shape (some say better shape than THE colosseum that we all know of…), and we were able to explore pretty much all of it.  I checked out the underground passageways that were used to hold gladiators and animals, and I also got to climb practically to the top rows of seating.  After the colosseum, we moved on to El-Jem’s Archaeological Museum, which houses a huge collection of mosaics.

So that’s it for the CliffNotes trip overview. 

Honestly, though, the most interesting experiences here (and as I see it, elsewhere in the Middle East) are really the everyday occurrences.  I’ve said it time and time again in this blog, but I absolutely adore the Tunisian people.  I sill have met nothing but kindness (and frequently curiosity) from them.  A couple of days after I moved houses, I was coming home by myself around 7 pm after a long day at school.  I knew that I was supposed to take the #52 bus, but unfortunately, I forgot that I was supposed to take the 52 bus that goes to Ganmarth, not the other #52 bus (seriously, why can’t they have different numbers?).  Anyway, I rode the wrong one, and didn’t realize my mistake until I was way out of familiar territory.  When I approached the bus driver with my meager Tunsi skills, he told me not to worry, waited until most of the other riders had reached their destinations, and then looped the bus around to drop me off not too far from my house.  The whole time, he was talking to me about learning Arabic, and I felt completely calm, despite the fact that I was totally at his mercy and had no idea where I was.  I really can’t picture that happening in the U.S…

Okay, wow, I need to get up in 5 hours, so I think I’m going to cut myself off and get some sleep.  I will finish this update sometime soon, in shah allah (literally: if God wills it).

A Super Late Update

6/12/11

One of the reasons that I hesitated to start this blog in the first place was because I wasn’t sure how much time I would have to maintain it.  Which turned out to be a pretty legitimate concern, given the fact that I just now have a chance for an update, one week after my last post, and at midnight.

Anyway, I feel like I accomplish twice as many things here in one day than I do anywhere else (if you can believe that…), so I can’t remember everything that has changed since my last post.  One major change, though, is that I changed homestays.  I actually had no say in the matter, and it was extremely sudden. My last post was on a Sunday, and when classes began the next day, we were asked to speak in Arabic about our experiences with our families.  I mentioned that I was disappointed that mine didn’t speak to me in Arabic, and the teachers must have mentioned it to Sonia, the head of the program, because a couple of hours later she asked to talk to me and told me that Janice (the other girl in my first house) and I were moving.  She then gave me an hour to get home, pack everything up, and get back to the school to be picked up by the new family. 

After a rather awkward goodbye to the first family (who were less than enthused), Janice and I met our new host mother at the school.  She introduced herself as Umm (meaning “mother”) Kurthum, which I first heard as Umm Kulthum-- a famous Egyptian singer and an icon across the Arab world.  Haha.

Anyway, Ummi (meaning, “my mom,” which is how I will refer to her from now on) was very sweet to us, and patient with our lackluster Tunsi (Tunisian dialect) skills as she drove us to our new house.  It’s relatively comfortable, although the landscape drastically changes as you move away from the rich Sidi Bou Said area that we previously lived in.  Now, we live in the outskirts of La Marsa, definitely not in the best neighborhood.  As we drove more and more, I saw more and more trash scattered on the ground and in heaps, old abandoned buildings most likely left over from the colonial period, no parks/signs of any sort of municipal organization, smaller houses linked together, more stray cats and goats just roaming around, and fewer women walking around.

So far, most of my first impressions concerning the neighborhood have been correct.  When I wanted to meet up with a friend at her house in the nicer part of La Marsa at 9:30 pm last night, Ummi told me that it was not safe for me to leave the house, even if I was just going to walk down the street to try to catch a cab.  So I had to stay in, which was rather frustrating as I pictured all of my classmates on the program who were placed in better-off neighborhoods and therefore have more freedom.

At the very least, however, Ummi told me that she would give the same warning to anyone in the neighborhood—male or female.  And even though I was initially worried when I didn’t see any women walking around outside as we drove to the house, I have been impressed.  I still don’t see women walking outside very often, but I have not gotten nearly as much attention as I feared I would.  And when I do get attention, it’s usually when I’m walking with Janice to catch a cab, and people see us and shout greetings at us in French, Chinese (Janice is Asian…Korean, but I guess they think that all Asians are Chinese), and English.  I much prefer greetings to cat-calls, although I still try to ignore them because I don’t want to respond and encourage them.

Anyway, in addition to Ummi and Janice, I also live with Ummi’s daughter, Lamya (who I think is in her thirties), and Lamya’s nine-year-old son, Eskandr (named after Al-Eskandr the Great).  Like I said, the lifestyle is definitely a step down from where I was first initially placed.  No toilet paper again, no shower curtains, plastic bags instead of trash cans, a shower nozzle that you have to hold yourself, and smaller portions of less healthy food.  At the same time, I have my own room (and two tiny shelves to store all my stuff), and they are very nice people who share what they have (although I’m still not sure how much the program is giving them, and therefore, how much it’s okay for me to use, etc).  Eskandr is pretty shy, but Janice and I got him to open up by playing Chutes and Ladders with him the other day.

A typical day consists of me getting up at 6:45 am, getting ready and eating a quick breakfast of bread and cheese, coffee with milk, and sometimes yogurt, before leaving at 7:30 to either take the bus with Janice, or if the bus takes forever to show up, as has been the usual, take a cab to school.  Cabs here are much nicer than those in Egypt, and they actually have meters that work (and are used).  It costs about 3 dinars (multiply by 0.75 to get dollars) to get from my house to the school, which is a 15 or so minute ride, whereas the bus costs half a dinar.

After we get to school, the long day begins of Fusha (classical Arabic) and Tunsi (the Tunisian dialect) classes, lunch with language partners, and speaking practice.  We’ve also been taking a lot of evaluations, which haven’t been particularly fun, but I think those are done for the moment.

My classes are pretty good.  There are only 4 other people in my class, so I definitely can’t slack off.  People also take this program much more seriously than I expected, in comparison with my last CLS experience two summers ago.  The caliber of students here and the workload are both intense.  Every day this past week, I haven’t gone to bed before midnight, and I’ve had to get up at 6:45.  So given the amount of sleep I need, it probably is little wonder that I have been drinking so much coffee.  Although, I am slightly scared of what caffeine-addicted state I will be in when I return to the U.S…

Speaking of food/drink…I have been eating so much tuna here.  And actually liking it.  It’s really different from the tuna that I’ve had in the U.S. before.  But Tunisians put tuna on everything.  Bread, salad, pizza, rice, cous cous, soup….you name it.  I haven’t seen it paired with fruit or dessert yet, but I wouldn’t put it past them.  Today was Sunday, so we spent the whole afternoon cooking.  We made a really yummy cous cous and vegetable kind of stew and mint tea.  I also got to see raw almonds the other day (still green…I had never seen that before), which we then put in a sort of lemonade drink and in tea.  My only complaint, other than the fact that they don’t have a lot and I feel bad eating what they do have, is the overabundance of oil in everything-- (yes, welcome to the Middle East), especially on the salads, which basically consist of light green lettuce, a tiny bit of tomato, and a lot of oil and lemon—and the lack of fruit.  But I’m getting more than I did in Egypt, so I appreciate that at least.

Okay, it is almost 1 am now, and I have to get up at 6:45 for class tomorrow, so I am going to end this post here.  I’ll try to post again sometime soon with updates on what I did this past weekend.

Al-Oosra (the family)

Well, we got introduced to our host families today.  My first impression is that I’m somewhat disappointed.  On the one hand, my family is quite obviously extremely well-off.  They live right in the middle of Sidi Bou Said (a famous well-to-do neighborhood here) only a couple of doors down from the ambassador’s house.  Their house is typical Sidi Bou Said: white-washed with blue shutters and huge.  Janice-- the other girl on my program—and myself have almost the entire bottom floor, which consists of a room for us to share, a bathroom, a huge patio, and the maid’s room (yes, they have a maid).  There are also two other floors, plus a rooftop which has a breathtaking view of Sidi Bou Said.

Anyway, the reason that I am somewhat disappointed is because although I definitely wanted some degree of independence, I can tell already that we are not going to interact with the family very much at all.  My host sister was late picking us up, fed us reheated (albeit home-made) pizza for lunch, and is already gone again.  She explained that she and her father leave early in the morning, are gone the whole day, and only occasionally return for dinner.  She and her mother will also be gone for an entire week sometime soon.  Basically, we’re supposed to do whatever we want, whenever we want.  I think we’re also expected to make all of our own food too.

On top of that, they rarely speak in Arabic.  The mother basically speaks all French, and my host sister spoke to us a little bit in Arabic, but about 95% of what she said was in English, and when we tried to speak to her in Arabic, she replied in English.

Like I said, on some level the independence is nice.  When I heard that we were going to be living in homestays, I was terrified that I would be holed up in my house all day, every day, and that I wouldn’t be able to go out because I’m female.  I was also worried about not getting any privacy, about being forced to eat way too much, and about not having any time to do school work because of spending so much time socializing with the family.  So I can definitely see the benefits of my current situation.

On the other hand, I had gotten myself used to the idea of a homestay, and from what I heard from the people who did them last year, it’s something from which you can really gain a lot. I was looking forward to being forced to rely on Arabic—not French or English—to have my needs met and to communicate with my host family.  I know that my Arabic will improve much quicker that way, and it will be connected to interesting memories. 

I also really wanted to be exposed to a more middle-class Tunisian lifestyle that isn’t basically a reproduction of the typical Western lifestyle (i.e. that of my host family).  How else am I supposed to get an accurate sense of non-Western Tunisians?  If my family doesn’t even eat together, how can I learn the proper expressions and customs?  And finally, they discussed going on trips with your family during our orientation.  This family doesn’t seem like the type to go on trips, let alone to take us with them.

Okay, so perhaps some of this disappointment is premature.  I can definitely be a pessimist sometimes.  Tomorrow, I think I’m going to talk to the head of our program to see if she can do anything (ask the family members to only speak in Arabic around us, to plan one or two family dinners each week, etc.).  If anyone has any suggestions either about what could be done about the family or other ways that I can really experience and integrate myself into the different aspects and varieties of Tunisian culture, I would appreciate hearing them.

Comparisons and a Trip to the Capital

Before I elaborate more, I just want to say that I don’t want to continually compare Tunisia to Egypt or to make large generalizations.  I had an amazing experience in Egypt, and I can appreciate its rich heritage and current culture—particularly some of the positive changes that have occurred post-revolution.

But there are some things that just really set Tunisia apart from a lot of other countries in the region, at least as far as I can tell at this point.  For example, I have not received ANY cat-calls since I got here, nor have I been honked at or grabbed.  To be fair, I’ve only walked around Sidi Bou Said and Tunis, the capital, but I could barely walk out the door in Alexandria or Cairo without being whistled at or feeling threatened by groups of young men on the streets.  I don’t even need any “booty guards” (for an explanation, see my previous blog) here or men to accompany me.  It was an absolutely amazing feeling.  And the social interactions between men and women here just seem so much healthier.  Men and women interact with each other on the streets and go to mixed schools, and as a result are more comfortable with each other.

Also, there is so much green here.  And beautifully colored flowers.  And there isn’t trash just lying around everywhere—people actually clean up after themselves.  And the taxi drivers aren’t majnoon, and people actually drive in lanes at somewhat appropriate speeds and don’t constantly honk when there is congestion.  And shopkeepers don’t yell at you and harass you to try to get you to come into your shop (even when I walked through a bazaar today, no one tried to pull me into their store…unthinkable in most of the other countries I’ve visited).  And it’s much safer to drink the water and to eat the fruits and vegetables.

I may just be in the ‘honeymoon stage’ right now, but I’m just really enamored with Tunisia.  I think it’s mostly the male-female relations.  I just can’t get over how wonderful it is to walk down the street without constantly having to be on alert for shabaab (young boys) or people who might harass me.  I’m not saying that Tunisia doesn’t have its problems—the revolution is proof of that.  And it is a wealthier country than some others in the region, which would explain better trash collection, etc.

Anyway, a group of us took a trip to Tunis today, and it was amazing just walking down the main streets and imagining the power of all these relatively ordinary citizens.  There’s a lot of graffiti on government buildings, and I took so many pictures of the graffiti that I kind of want to make a book out of them.  There were phrases in Arabic and in English ranging from “Yes we can!” to “Freedom is daily exercise” to “Tunisia is better without Ali Baba and his forty thieves!” (the latter playing on the similarity of Ben Ali’s name to Ali Baba).  When I asked my language partner if she participated in the protests, she said “Of course.  It was one of the most beautiful moments.”

Anyway, I should probably get off my soap box at this point, and get some sleep before I get introduced to my host family tomorrow!

Tunis!

We finally left Paris, and arrived in Tunis.  I conked out as soon as we got to the hotel, and while the 7 hours of sleep that I got last night wasn’t enough, I feel somewhat better at this point.  After my last trip to the Middle East, I ended up drinking tons of tea, and I think that this trip is going to involve a lot of coffee drinking…

Anyway, after breakfast this morning, we met the directors of our program, and had another orientation.  We talked about safety post-revolution, and they brought up an interesting point: This is not our revolution to participate in.  And the future of CLS in Tunisia depends on our not causing any problems this summer.  So, don’t worry…I won’t be attending any protests.  I also plan to be very careful in what I write on here because the Tunisians, unlike me, won’t be leaving the country at the end of the summer, and I don’t want to put anyone in danger.  I think I just won’t use any names at all.  The program directors also kept talking about how thrilled they were that we came—apparently a lot of people had turned down the scholarship, due to recent events. 

We then learned some Tunisian dialect (it is going to be so hard to get rid of my “aywah,” “ayzah,” and all other remnants of the Egyptian dialect), followed by lunch-- my first authentically Tunisian meal.  The first course was brik, which is kind of hard to describe, but it was kind of like a fried empanada, only it was filled with potatoes, runny egg, and tuna.  I was pleasantly surprised…the tuna actually was good!  Perhaps I may come out of this experience with a taste for fish…The next course was cous cous with lamb and vegetables, and it was very tasty, as well.  Then, for dessert, we had a sort of pudding thing, washed down with mint tea.  Very satisfying.

While eating lunch, I had a great discussion with one of our Tunisian language partners.  We talked about the revolution and how Tunisia differed “pre- versus post-revolution.”  I knew that Tunisia had been a police state, but I never realized that it was to this extent.  She mentioned how prior to the revolution, there were always government spies in academic classes, phones were tapped, etc.  I also never knew how corrupt Ben Ali’s government had been (and apparently neither had she either, until after the revolution).  All that I had heard about Tunisia lauded Tunisia’s modernity and its western character.  But underneath the surface, I guess, there was a lot more going on than was reported.

After lunch, we visited the American embassy here to get briefed about security and to learn about the embassy’s role.  It was pretty boring, actually, and most of us fell asleep at some point (I managed to stay awake by blinking rapidly, so the diplomats must have loved us), given the fact that we had been going on basically zero sleep for the past 2-3 days.  I was somewhat disappointed to learn that the elections here are being moved until September or October.  I had been really excited to be here for this historic moment, but at least I’ll be here in the weeks leading up to it.  I can see why the delay is for the best, though.  Apparently there is no unified challenge at this point to the Nahda party (the Islamist opposition party), so maybe postponing elections will give the other parties time to gain more support.  These next two months will definitely be interesting.

After the embassy, we met up in small groups with our language partners and explored Sidi Bou Said.  The village itself is beautiful.  All the buildings are white-washed stone, with bright blue intricate doors and windows.  It’s perched on top of a hill, and the view of the Mediterranean is absolutely breathtaking.  I cannot believe how lucky I am to be living here for the next two months.

Now, I’m back in the hotel, and trying to upload pictures, but the poor internet connection was overwhelmed with so many of us attempting to go online, so I’m typing up these journal entries in Microsoft Word.  Hopefully, I will be able to upload them soon.  Now to do some dialect studying and then sleep at last…

Update…

When I finally went back to my room at 1 am, I noticed something scuttle by my face.  I closed the door and, lo and behold, there was a huge cockroach staring back at me.  My roommate was asleep, so I smashed it with the nearest shoe.  I was pretty proud of myself, so I went to bring some people to see the disgusting little thing, but when we got back it was still alive and writhing around on the ground.  We ended up flushing it down the toilet, and when I told Jason (one of the academic coordinators), he basically said that it probably won’t be the last cockroach I find in my stuff while I’m here.  Well, if nothing else, from lice in Egypt to cockroaches in Tunisia, I’ve become one with the creepy crawlies.

But in all honestly, I’m becoming more and more in love with Tunisia.  It’s beautiful, it’s clean, it’s organized, the people are extremely friendly, and I feel much safer than I have in other places in the Middle East, ironically (maybe it’s too early to make this judgment, but that’s just how I feel at this point).

Orientation

Well, for a quick update….

Orientation:

The first two days in DC were nice.  I guiltily appreciated that the government put me up in the Renaissance Hotel for two nights and gave me a $100 Visa gift card.  Orientation on the second day was pretty much a repeat of two years ago, however, I loved the keynote speaker—the ambassador to Bahrain.  Not only was he hilarious, but he was the most frank and honest diplomat I’ve ever met.  He actually made me consider taking the foreign service exam (being a foreign service officer would totally be worth it for the free foreign language training, but I just can’t imagine uprooting my life every 2-3 years and being sent anywhere in the world).  The ambassador also had learned Arabic as a second language and reiterated a point that I have been trying to convey to friends and family for a while now:

Arabic is hard, and takes longer to learn than most people realize.  Apparently, foreign language officers receiving training in the romance languages study them intensively for two months…those who are studying Russian study intensively for about four months…those studying Arabic?  They study intensively for 2 years, and even then they are far from fluent.  So, my point: yes, I majored in Arabic and, yes, I have been studying it for almost 4 years now.  But no, I am not fluent.  Nor will I be fluent anytime soon.  It’s not from lack of trying, it’s just the nature of the language.  Somewhat disappointing, but not enough to make me choose another language.

A group of us went out together for one last chance for drinks and dancing on the second night, and if it was any indicator of the rest of the summer…well, I’m super excited.

The Flight

So our flight was supposed to leave at 4:40 pm on June 1^st.  Due to what appeared to be nothing more than light sprinkles, it was delayed, and we arrived in Paris over two hours late.  Which meant that we missed our connecting flight to Tunis.  Air France didn’t have another flight to rebook us on until almost twelve hours later, so in a surprising turn of events….

I spent the day exploring Paris (again)!  I hadn’t told my bank that I was going to be in Paris, so I converted the little American money that I had left into Euros, and 25 out of 27 of us took the TGV into the city to explore.  We split ourselves up into groups, and mine started off with Notre Dame, and walked our way to the Eiffel Tower, stopping at a couple of other sites, as well as to pick up bread, cheese, and champagne for a picnic.  We ended up sprawled out under a tree with a hidden view of the Eiffel Tower, where we ate and then took a two hour nap.  This unexpected surprise ended up being quite possibly the cheapest way that someone could explore Paris: we didn’t buy a ticket there (the air line just switched our ticket and provided us with free food to make up for it), paid 9 euros each way for the train, and I paid about 2 euros to contribute to lunch (unfortunately that was all I had…).  The downside was that I had to wear my carry on—which was stuffed with several textbooks and my laptop-- all day, which made my back very unhappy.  I also ended up getting sunburned (figures), and we ended up even more tired (I got a total of one hour of sleep over the two days), but I think it was worth it.