These Days in Tunis

Tunis is a really beautiful city. I've been here since Saturday morning and I feel as though I am settling into the pattern of class. I go to class for about 4.5 hours a day and have an additional 2 hours of informal tutoring time. Hopefully by the end of the 7 weeks, I'll be able to say "hello, my name is Andrea" in Arabic. Right now I am struggling with the new sounds - the Urdu and Arabic alphabets are similar (but Urdu has more letters), but the sounds are very different. To me, Urdu uses softer and more beautiful sounds. Right now, I think I can say good morning (SabaaH il-Kheer) with relative competency and most people even seem to understand me, but then I totally mess up on asking how people are..... but, its fun to learn a new language and quite exciting too.

We don't have classes on weekends, so last Sunday we took the metro north a few stops (maybe 15 minutes) and visited a small town overlooking the Bay of Tunis called Sidi Bou Said. It was a beautifully painted blue and white. We walked around the town and I had a cup of tea in the harbor area. Below are pictures from Sidi Bou Said:




This weekend, I think I'll go to the beach and swim. It gives me a thrill to think that I'll be swimming in the Mediterranean off the coast of the African continent!

Some Pictures from Lebanon

Well, as I think I made clear from my older posts, I loved my time in Beirut. Unfortunately, the internet connections that I had access to were a little slow making updating the blog hard and putting pictures from Beirut up on my blog impossible. Well, now I seem to have faster access to the internet and can put up pictures. So here they are, a little dated, but nice.....

The first picture is my on the route from the main road to Will's home. Will moved since the last time I was there and now he is living in a beautiful house that has balconies, lots of windows, sunlight, and Syrian turtles living on the roof. The only downfall to the apartment is that you have to walk up a pretty steep hill and then a bunch of stairs to get to his house. Fortunately, the path is quite beautiful, as you can see below:


Will and I took many walks around Beirut while I was there. One day we headed to the northern part of the city. On the way, we saw a man selling Christian paraphernalia and plastic flowers that he had decorated his car with. When I expressed interest in taking a picture he added even more flowers to add to the beauty of the picture. This is him and the flowers:


We also took a day trip to Tripoli. Fortunately, we went a week before the conflict began there. It was a really nice city. I enjoyed the, what seemed to me to be, a calmer pace than Beirut. There was quite a nice old part of the city that we wandered around. While we were there we met a very nice woman that makes soap. We also walked around and looked for a castle, but unfortunately, could not find it. This is a picture of part the old city with some boys taking a break from playing soccer.


Will and I also took a trip to the south. There we visited a castle that was built by the Crusaders and later used by the Ottomans. It was really fun to wander around the castle, climbing staircases, and exploring nooks and crannies. Below is a picture of Will at the castle:

Doing well in Beirut

Well, its been a long time since my last post and I have tried to post a few times, but I really wanted to post pictures along with my words (they seem so much more interesting to me). Unfortunately, the Internet access that I get here (in really nice coffee shops - what a luxury!) is a little slow and doesn't seem to be able to upload the pictures. I really wish that I could as it is so beautiful here. Hopefully when I go to Tunis on Saturday I'll find a better Internet connection and post some old pictures. I think I've probably written this before, but I think Beirut is really one of the most charming places I've ever been. The city is located on the Mediterranean - allowing me to run along the beach in the morning and watch the sunset over the sea in the evening. In addition, the streets are narrow and have a distinct French flair to their style. The people are lovely, super friendly and polite (and very fashionable). I've been doing quite a bit of reading and relaxing. Some of my favorite activities are making dinner with Will and playing Scrabble. Its nice to have a little time off with such wonderful company.

We have done some exploring around the country. Its a pretty small country (geographically speaking) and most places are only a 1 or 2 hour bus ride away. Last weekend, we went to Tripoli. While we were there we wandered around the old part of the city (it has to be one of the oldest cities I've ever been in) and met a really amazing woman who makes soap. We also have gone to the southern part of the country. We visited a castle the Crusaders built and walked again on the beach. Both trips were fantastic.

Yesterday (Sunday morning) there was some fighting in Tripoli (you can visit this BBC website if you are interested http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6675163.stm). It really makes me horribly sad that such a beautiful place with such wonderful people is having these problems. But, besides my sadness for the Lebanese people, I am fine and very safe.

Out of the Waiting Room, Time to enjoy the sunset.....

So my last days in Lucknow were a stressful combination of waiting in a bureaucratic hell for some paperwork, sweating in the 115 degree weather, trying to figure out how I have so much damn stuff (and how I am going to move it), and too many sad goodbyes. I am excited that I'll be back there at the end of July - I already miss it horribly (and, to be honest, I haven't really resolved the too much stuff issue). Despite the chaotic and stressful last days, I love Lucknow - it had become home in a very special way.

Now, I am with Will and enjoying morning runs along the beach, watching the sunset from his new home's roof, and trying to keep my Urdu up. No adventures, really, but lots of relaxing. So life good.

In other special news, I received a scholarship to go to Tunisia this summer to study beginner Arabic, so it looks like I'll be in Tunis, Tunisia from the end of May until late July. Hooray! I am so excited. I love learning languages and living new places. It should be quite the adventure....