Waking up at home.

Lots to talk about tonight. We’ve had a crazy couple of days. For one, I’m doing my part to empty the seas of tuna. You might not believe it, but tuna is the food of choice in Tunisia. With eggs a close second. Getting more than my fair share of both. Everything has at least one of them in it, and last night I bit into a quiche to find out it was a tuna quiche. I can’t seem to escape it. That’s okay though, can’t win them all.

Next on the list is that tonight ended up being another family get together. While the first one was related to the mother’s death, this one was more the religious side of things. Right now I’m in my room and it’s amazing, I’m listening to about fifteen Islamic scholars chant out of the Qu’ran. It’s quite the experience, sounds beautiful to me. It flows, smoothly, up and down, voices fade and then come back in, one at a time, two at a time, ten at a time. Just now the leader is alone on a solo, the others are starting to join back in, and now it has slowed to a whisper.

Something to note is the food. As the pictures will attest, there was more than enough for the twenty-fiveish of us that were here tonight. There was a bowl of pasta salad bigger than a table and it’s still being passed around. People come out of the other room for a break, grab some food, make a phone call or two, go back in, and join right back in with the ceremony. Besides that, some of the family members (mostly women and the sons) that aren’t in the ceremonial room are running food out into the town. As per Arab culture, sharing is a must. And so an enormous amount of food is being showered on the neighbors and friends in the area. Some was even left on the step for passersby. But it had to guarded of course because of the dog packs.

You see, dogs here are crazy. They’re everywhere. While in some countries it’s cats, here it’s dogs. Today, Kevin and I sat on the porch and watched a pack of them chase a man down the street. They’re insane, kind of worried after that actually. Hopefully they’re not rabid because I don’t have that shot, and even if I did, it’s not very effective. But as I was saying, I watched a particularly large one jump up on him and he had to punch it in the face so he could keep running. Time to get out the baseball bats in my opinion. Definitely not walking around alone late at night.

Next thing of note, the people here are amazing. I’ve been somewhat processing the country for awhile and seeing as it is the end of my first week here are some preliminary observations.

First of all, Tunisians are, with no doubt in my mind, the absolute best people I have run into anywhere. They’re beyond amazing. They are the friendliest, most generous, and happiest people that I’ve ever encountered. I’m debating getting a new passport. They are just so positive about everything. They have such a good attitude towards life. Never have I felt more at home so quickly, the exception being the second time I moved to France.

 

Note: This isn't my picture, I stole it from a friend.

Another observation is that they are also one of the most quirky people I have ever met. Tonight for example, I met a Rastafarian Tunisian. While there are some serious stereotypes about North Africans and Middle Easterners, I can tell you that they’re all wrong. Shocking as it may be, no one rides camels. And they don’t all pray five times a day. Nor do I see headscarves, maybe one or two a day, and never even a niqab much less a burqa. In reality, Tunisians seem to be the most varied group of people that I’ve ever met. So much diversity. You do get some slightly conservative people of course, but not even anything like you see in Morocco or Egypt. Along with Lebanon I’d say that Tunisia is the most progressive country in the region. Women have had the vote longer here than some places in Europe. Tunisia is also, as you might know, a bit of a crossroads and warzone. Carthage is about three minutes down the road. I pass it on the way to school, there’s a Hamilcar Barca rail stop nearby. Then came the Romans, then the Arabs, then the French. Italy is a three hour boatride. You can’t get more central than this. It means that the food is Italian, French, and Middle Eastern. The people are all bilingual because the schools are, and you wouldn’t believe the number of foreigners in the streets.