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 24th.
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 1st 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).
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