BBQs & Baths

Tonight I finally went for the Hammam I've been waiting for since November. Although it is a bit of an awkward situation for me still, it is relaxing and lovely and I hope to get used to being naked and having a woman rub mud all over me while we live here. LOL... yes, I know how that sounds and that is pretty much exactly what it is like. WOW!!! When I first went to the Hammam in November I really had no idea what I was walking in to. I had no idea I would be almost completely naked or that I would lay on a hot marble slab while a woman I could not communicate with dumped buckets of warm water on me, scrubbed me with what felt like steel wool and then rubbed me down with "gommage" or some muddy scrubby stuff. And then after all that I would have my hair washed by this woman. It was all very strange to me, however when I came out of it I couldn't wait for it to be a part of my regular life, as it seems to be for most Tunisian women. So tonight I made it back there and the same woman was there and we still couldn't communicate very well but we made it through. The process wasn't as foreign to me this time but it was still a bit strange. I almost started giggling at one point so I was glad she was scrubbing my feet at that point. I'm not sure I could have explained why I was giggling with only hand gestures! It's an interesting experience that I hope to master by the time we get company as I plan to send all of our female visitors in for a bit of Tunisian culture! hee hee hee

This past weekend we got to experience another part of Tunisian culture... the BBQ. I really had no idea what to expect. Travis told me we were going with one of his coworkers, Chokri, and his family to a mountain for a BBQ. We love BBQs but I never know what other people's version of a BBQ is going to be. Not knowing how to dress I wore a long dress as it was a nice sunny day, forgetting that everyone here thinks it is still cold out so I got a few funny looks and questions throughout the day. Everyone else was in long sleeves and sweaters! But we had a wonderful time. We drove south through the town of Zaghouan to Le Temple des Eaux (The Temple of Water). Along the way we drove right beside aquaducs built by slaves over 2000 years ago.

The construction was AMAZING!! Hunter was even impressed and we talked about how hard it would be to built these structures and how strong you would have to be. She figured there were even very strong woman who probably helped in the building process. The as we got through Zaghouan we were able to water right to the source of the water for the aquaducs.

The technology and contruction for transporting water over 40 kms to a few different communities was incredible.

The spot chosen for the BBQ was beautiful. Others had obviously been to the spot before (we could tell from all the garbage laying around. Littering doesn't seem to be a big deal here... at ALL! Today Hunter figured it was great that we could just start dumping all our garbage on the ground too!) but it didn't seem to be a marked out spot, just a good one. It was almost at the base of a mountain in the bush, with a beautiful view. The kids had a wonderful time exploring and walking around in the bush. The BBQ was delicious! Chokri and Lamia grilled some hot peppers, tomatoes and garlic to make a quick and wonderful Salade Mechouia, a traditional Tunisian salad.

It is a spicy dish but it is a favorite. We also had 3 lbs of fresh lamb. Yum, I like lamb but there is nothing better than lamb grilled over olive wood with just a little lemon juice. Travis and I took turns making noises of satisfaction after each bit of this wonderful meal. I'm pretty sure we can handle trying all of this when we get some kind of a grill here. I forgot to take a picture of the lamb grilling but here it is all ready to be cooked.

It was a lovely day and I'm sure we will be out for many BBQs while we are here. Towards the end of the day the kids decided to build their own firepit and so collected many rocks and sticks until it was just perfect. They insisted it be lit and Hunter figured it would be great to cook over.

Unfortunately they have no idea what marshmallows are here... so we will have to get some over here and show them how to make s'mores!!

Tomorrow will be an exciting day as some of our furniture is being delivered to the new house. We have only ordered the beds and dining room table so far but that should be enough for a week or two until we see what else we really need. We won't move in right away but will have to be out of the company house by the 12th of April as that is when Travis' coworkers fill it up! I am looking forward to being able to start decorating a home to make it our own. We'll see what kinds of fun local decor I can find!! First things first, I need to get myself a beautiful tea set for the lovely traditional mint green tea they serve after dinner. Actually cereal bowls and spoons will probably be a priority.

Some of my observations....

Yay! We found sushi in Tunis! We were invited for a sushi lunch date today which was very exciting. Even more exciting was that it was only about a 10 minute walk from our house. It was very good and the girls seemed to enjoy it all. The staff were very friendly and amused the girls after they were finished and wanted to run around. Very nice.

We got the keys to our Carthage house today which is exciting. Tonight we all went to take a look at the house again and found gardeners giving the garden a makeover. They are putting in flowers and rocks in and making it all very pretty. I also realized (I think) that our property extends behind the house onto a lot with just trees and other vegetation. Although we would need a latter to get to it so we will just be able to look at it for now. The wall in on the left in the below photo. I will take a pic of the trees etc in the back once we move in.

We also found that a lot of the house has been painted which is nice. And they have installed new intercoms so we can unlock the front gate when we have visitors. Very handy. Travis took measurements of all the rooms so we can start really looking for furniture to move in. We are planning on being out of the Storm company house by mid-April as it will be full with all of Travis' coworkers. And I took another look at the beautiful view of the sea. It will be lovely to be able to drink my morning tea and watch the ferries and cruise ships go by. LOL... when do I ever get to enjoy my morning cup of anything? ;)

Elli seems to have a bit of a rash from something. I am hoping it is just the new laundry detergent and not some parasite from the stray cats Elli has been petting. She tried to kiss one the other day, which was very cute, but I put a stop to that. Gross kitties. So I'll get some new detergent and hope she gets better. I was told that they haven't banned a lot of the chemicals here that haven't been used in Canada for a long time so that might be the problem. We will see.

The girls and I went for a nice walk in the sun yesterday morning. It was very slow but we got a couple streets farther this time so we are seeing more of the neighborhood. And we took lunch at a Salon du The on the lake which was beautiful.

While the girls were napping this afternoon I figured I should wash the kitchen floor as it was getting pretty gross. While I was washing I realized that we have the strangest moppy things here. From what I can see we use a rag, attach it to a squeegy type thing and mop the floors. It really doesn't seem to stay together very well and I have to keep adjusting it. After that is done, the rag thing seems to be used as a door mat. At first I thought that was just the way our friend did it but now I've seen it everywhere. I'm really not sure if what we are using is a mat just being used to wash floors or if it is an actually rag and is just laid out at the front door to dry (or to be used as an actual door mat). Either way it is strange. I also figured that was just one was to wash floors and I could probably find something else at the stores but so far I haven't. And even in the grocery store this is what the workers use to mop and clean up the floors in the various sections. I am really wishing I'd thrown in my Vileda. I wonder if it would fit in my suitcase the next time I go home for a visit.

Also, so far we all seem to be ok after eating the canned tomatoes Travis got that have been expired for 2 years. Those were the only tomatoes he could find that weren't tomato paste!!!! They were hidden behind the canned peas. It's so interesting going grocery shopping here. You never know what you are or aren't going to find. ;)

Good night from Tunis.

The last couple days have had many excitements for us. On Thursday the girls and I had a big day. Jennifer, the woman we met from Calgary last weekend, called us in the morning to see if we would like to go out for lunch. We were very excited to get out into the city and see some different areas. Jen was great and drove us around to show us the French store where we can buy bacon and ham and pointed out the import stores where we can buy 15 dinar peanut butter if we really get a craving. She also took us to the best chocolate shop in the city. It's a tiny little store on some hidden street (at least it seemed hidden to me as I don't know any streets) and it is owned by a French woman I believe. We walked in the smell of chocolate was heavenly. There was quite a selection, most of it some sort of chocolate covered nuts. And I lot of pretty candy covered almonds. Hunter decided on a bag of chocolate and candy covered almonds and hazelnuts. Yum... good choice! The owner was also able to communicate to us that they get in a large assortment of Easter chocolates closer to Easter. I think that might be the only place to get Easter candy in the city. I did bring some mini eggs but I'm sure we will be back to that store anyway!

For lunch we went to a Salon du The called Dakota. It was perfect as we were able to sit out in the courtyard and we were the only ones there! The girls were able to run around and have fun. Elliot found a small plant pot that she enjoyed carrying around and placing in different places. Then she ripped off a geranium plant and carried that around in the pot. It was very pretty. Things went down hill when Elli wanted to follow a cat out of the courtyard and started running away from me down the street. I caught her after a bit and brought her back. That's when she got mad and threw down the pot. Smash. Nice. Thank goodness they like kids here!!

We were able to get home for a bit of down time before our friends Samia, Amira and Rym came over and took us to a park in Sidi Bou Said. The girls were SO excited to see other kids and to play on all the jungle gyms!

They ran and ran and were up and down and had so much fun. We stopped at the Salon du The in the park for some drinks and pizza and crepes. The girls enjoyed the fresh banana juice and each had two big glasses! It was a fun day but the girls were so exhausted.

Friday was such a beautiful sunny day. The girls and I just stayed home but we played our in the garden and had a picnic. The girls loved it!

In the evening we went to Jen and Chris' home in Gammarth for a late St. Paddy's Day get together. It was so nice to meet other ex-pats who have been here for a while. I got a couple phone numbers and I'm excited to make some play dates! And the girls had a wonderful time playing with English speaking kids their age. I'm hoping to join some ex-pat groups to meet other moms for coffee and play dates. It is so nice there are other people in our position of being away from home who can help us along the way.

Today was another lovely day, warm but overcast. We stopped at a few furniture shops to see what kind of furniture is out there. There are probably 300 furniture shops in this city so this could be a tough job! We get the keys to our house in Carthage on Monday but aren't planning on moving in until mid-April so we have a little time to shop around and outfit our house!

For lunch Travis took us to a restaurant he's been to for work lunches, Biwa (bee-wah). The girls were excited because they thought it was called Bee Wash. It was a perfect place to go as we sat on the patio over looking Berges du Lac and there were kids running all over the grass. Our girls had a great time! Kids brought balls and bikes to play with! Hunter met a few friends and Elli was able to play with them. Elli didn't make friends as easily as she is still a bit pushy and was more into knocking children over. :( But it was a fun place and we will definitely be back.

On a fun note, Elli has been telling me she has to go to the bathroom and actually sitting on the toilet. Although she hasn't actually done anything yet, she is getting the hang of it. She demands a book to read while on the potty just like her daddy!!!! lol

Good night from Tunis.

Taxi!!

What an interesting morning! The girls and I decided to take a trip out of our area and see some more of Tunis. It was nothing new, just Carrefour (the closest mall) but it was still an adventure. We wandered out to the main road in front of the house and hailed a taxi. They are all over the place here so we didn't have to wait long. In French, I negotiated a ride for 5 Dinar, down from the offered 10. The driver understood where we wanted to go and so we were headed in the right direction. The girls both sat so still and just watched. I realized afterwards that the taxi ride was a first for both of them! Part way to Carrefour Hunter whispered to me, "I hope we can take a taxi home again too." I asked her if she was having fun and she whispered again, "And we aren't even wearing seat belts!" Also a first for her. Yes, I know, bad bad, but I didn't actually see any seat belts. Along the way the driver and I chatted in three different languages. Me in English, gesturing to explain myself and the driver doing the same in Arabic and French. He taught me, "J'espere apprendre..." (I hope to learn... French and Arabic) And I very likely have the grammar and spelling wrong but at least I have the pronunciation down. Also I was able to explain to him that we moved here for my husband's work. At least I think he understood. I think he was a bit shocked that I was here and didn't speak either of the country's languages.

He dropped us off and all was well. We shopped around the mall for a couple hours and had some fries in honour of St. Patrick's Day. I tried on some clothes, but the girls weren't wanting to stay in the change room with me. Who decided it was a good idea to put curtains on change rooms anyway??? And I was able to buy minutes for my new cell phone. I know, not too exciting but if anyone actually understands me, I get excited.

Which brings me to our ride home.... I figured it would be as easy to get a taxi home as it was to get to Carrefour. So with 4 bags of groceries and 2 tired girls we found a taxi. I asked if he would take 5 Dinars and right away he said yes. I figured we were on our way so we jumped in the back. It turns out the driver doesn't speak a lick of English and couldn't understand any of my French. I even wrote down our address and that didn't seem to help. Meanwhile, I realized that Elliot STUNK in the hot car. Lovely. So the driver and I went back and forth trying to understand each other. Then he took off and I prayed he was going to go in kind of the right direction because I don't know Tunis at all. Luckily I had my new cell phone minutes!! ;) So we started driving and fortunately he headed in the right direction. I was recognizing the route so was very happy about that. I'm pretty excited that we made it home actually as I wasn't sure the ancient driver was going to make it that long. And I thought I may have felt a wobbly wheel. And Elliot was pretty excited to point out all the rips in the seats. And I definitely noticed there were no available seat belts in this car. But we made it to the house and as I was pulling all the bags and girls out of the car and trying to find my money, the poor driver looked terrified that, after all that, he wasn't going to get his money. I will be more careful which taxis we hop in from now on, but it really was an amusing experience. I almost started giggling on the way home thinking about our day. It was a little frustrating and scary not knowing if we would get home but all in all it was another fun adventure! And the girls sure had fun!!!

Today the girls and I took a walk to the local supermarket, Monoprix. Travis told me it was only a 10 minute walk... it took us at least half an hour. It is close to his office so we were able to stop there for a few minutes to see where Daddy works and to meet some of his co-workers. There are always interesting things to see when going for a walk. Today we saw a kitty sleeping on the sidewalk. I thought it was odd that as we got closer it didn't even bother to move but figured it was just used to people so didn't feel it had to move. And then I saw the blood coming out of it's mouth. AH! So I shuffled the girls by it quickly and tried to distract them with something else. Hunter said to me, "I think the cat is dead!" Oops! She said she thought that because it wasn't waking up so I just explained it had been out hunting all night while no one else was around so it was really tired and having a very long sleep. Luckily that seemed to put her at ease and we moved on from there. Elli is quite the animal lover so I'm very lucky she didn't try to pick it up or pet it or feed it or something. Luckily she didn't seem to notice it. I made sure we took a different street home. So we were gone for about 2 1/2 hours and we were all tired when we got back. The girls did great though and it was another interesting experience in Tunis.

We got our groceries and made it home without any more major incidents. Besides some more pets and kisses from the teenage girls in the store.

We had a sunny day except for a couple of showers. It looks like tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so we will parade our Irish selves around with our green clothes. And maybe we will take a taxi to the Carrefour mall. We'll see how adventurous I am feeling! ;)

Not a lot going on in the house today. We got three house guests last night, Travis' coworkers. I think they will all be here for the week. The girls are sure excited to have other people in the house to talk to. And luckily, I think all the guys are having fun being entertained.

This afternoon the girls and I walked to the patisserie for some fresh bread. I ordered it all in French, although the guys working them confirmed my orders in English. Oh well, I try. No one has told me to stop speaking French so far so I must be getting my point across. We also saw some pink and purple chocolates so the girls each ordered one. They sure have been getting their fair share of French and Tunisia sweets this week! They made a mess as usual and then we walked along the lake back to the house. It was still sunny when we got back so the girls ran and rolled around the yard for a bit. And they were very excited when Roy (one of the house guests) came home so they could show him around the whole yard. Surprisingly, although he has been to the house at least 10 times, he had never toured the yard. The things you see when being guided by kids.

I am learning that it's very hard to walk with the girls on Tunisian streets. I don't want to have to hang on to the girls' hands all the time but when Hunter almost stepped in front of a truck, it scared both of us. and while walking along the lake, they wanted to be peering over the edge which was fun but a little scary for me. We will all learn how to get around here without falling into water or running in to traffic but for now I try to balance between giving them the freedom to explore and hanging on to them for the whole walk. It's tiring and frustrating but we'll figure it out.

Tomorrow we might try walking for groceries... We shall see how we are doing and if I feel like attempting that.

Good night.

Here comes the sun...

Today started off nice and sunny which is exciting! We've had almost nothing but rain since we got here so we are looking forward to the warm weather to arrive. We did get a little sprinkle around lunch time but it didn't last long.

This morning we went to Carrefour (an approximate equivalent to Walmart) to get some groceries for Travis' coworkers who will be coming tonight to the house for the week. The main things on the list were yogurt and beer. They don't really eat here.

For lunch we met with another oil guy from Calgary and his family (two kids; girl - 12, boy - 6). They have been here for a year so it was nice to have a visit with them and learn some of the secrets to being an ex-pat in Tunis. I learned that there actually are rolled oats here!! Yay! However, it doesn't look good on the tortilla front. They told us there is a store that imports food but it is pricey so we might check it out if we get really desperate. I am glad I packed a big bag of chocolate chips and a container of taco seasoning (although they might be tortilla-less burritos!). Our girls, especially Hunter, enjoyed seeing some kids since we haven't seen any since we got here. Hunter, I think, was very happy to know they spoke English all the time. I guess she is tired off all the accents and having to use her 3 foreign words all the time.

I guess it's not true that we haven't had contact with kids. There have been children in the store who will come up the girls just to touch them. Moms will stop their children to point out and touch Hunter's curls. ;) They have taken it very well so far. I'm sure it is very strange for them when an adult, man or woman, grabs their face and kisses them and then just walks away. It's a little strange for me to see but I'm getting used to it and know they only have good intentions. Yesterday a security guard in the toy section of Geant watched us for a while, then gave Elliot a hug and a kiss, then went back to his security duties.

This afternoon it was lovely and sunny so we played out in the front garden. Hunter kicked around their ball and both girls had fun rolling down the small hill. Elli really likes picking the fruit from the trees so kept taking off behind the house. We took the opportunity while it was nice out to check out the rooftop. There is a little patio but we can also walk around on the rest of the roof. The girls had fun climbing the domes (in the house, this is where the chandeliers hang from). We had quite a nice view of the city from up there.

View from our rooftop.

It looks like the weather is going to be getting warmer so hopefully we will be able to spend a lot more time outside this week. Maybe we will even find a park to play in!

Good night from Tunis,

Natasha

One week!

Well, we've been here for one week already! We are all slowly getting adjusted and used to life in Tunis. AND we've found a place to live! We finally had a full meal at home tonight. For some reason the food situation has been a struggle for me. Perhaps it's starting from scratch or having no recipes or all the new food to choose from and lack of familiarity. Or maybe I just feel like I'm on holidays and don't think I should be cooking!

This afternoon we got the girls some car seats (although I think Elli was a little mad to be locked into place again. She was having fun peering into the front seat and waving to the drivers behind us!) so took them for a test drive to see some Roman ruins in Carthage. The guy at the gate told us it was closed but let us in because we had "babies". I think those little people can get away with anything here. So we wandered in to a 2000 year old Roman Coliseum and the kids had a great time climbing and running in the ruins. The tunnels where the lions were kept were still in great shape and Elliot just wanted to go up and down all of it! It was so wonderful watching the girls enjoy all that history and not even know it. Not too bad for their first play in a park in Africa!

The girls have also been missing their toys so today while we were at one of the two indoor malls in Tunis Elli picked out a cooking set and Hunter chose a hairdressing play set. We've had lots of fun having Hunter brush and curl and decorate our hair and Elliot has kept our coffee cups topped up!

We are looking forward to seeing some sun this week and getting outside to explore some more. Although there really isn't a lot to see in Berges du Lac where we are right now. But we can at least play a little soccer and tag in the big front garden. We will probably be in the Storm house until sometime in April as we await the rest of our stuff arriving on the boat from Montreal.

I will try to make these posts more interesting as I get used to writing my thoughts and feelings. Also, if I write some time before midnight without a few glasses of lovely wine in me, the words will flow more freely.

Good night from Tunis.