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.
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