Brrr...

On Thursday I went out to the airport late at night to pick up one of my best friends from University, Chris, and her sister Jill. They're both in town for ten days on vacation, and just headed down on a bus to Tozeur yesterday. One of my favorite things to do is show people around a place that I like - be it Minneapolis, DC, Paris, Rabat, wherever. This was my first time in Tunis that I've "connected the dots" between old friends in America and my life in Tunis.

On Friday, I showed them around Amideast, and then Rim came and took them downtown - a State Department Program Specialist was here, as were all the Access students, ready to start their new session - so I had to stick around work for the afternoon. After, we met up down on Ave. Bourguiba at Cafe du Theatre and grabbed some coffee before heading up to La Goulette. I love La Goulette because it's still largely off of the tourist radar. By and large, it's still a middle class Tunisian neighborhood that doesn't have nearly the expat population of Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, or La Marsa (although that is starting to change with two new apartment buildings catering to foreigners - Lee lives in one of them, and my friend Kristian lives in the other). What La Goulette does have is a vibrant nightlife on Avenue Roosevelt, a few decent cafes, and great seafood and traditional Tunisian Jewish fare.

On Friday, I chose Restaurant La Mer, which is right across from the La Goulette institution Le Cafe Vert. They're owned by the same people (fact check on that?), and I like the fact that La Mer has a view over the Mediterranean - with a recently-completed windowed dining room on the second floor. As I've said before, if you want a decent meal and don't want to spend a lot, stay away from the fish - which is priced by weight. The four of us - Chris, Jill, Rim and I ordered 4 plates of fruits de mer - mussels, ceviches, cuttlefish and fried calamari - plus a great bottle of the St. Augustin Rose for 60 dinars, or about 15 a person. That's a very good $12 meal that also includes plenty of little starter plates. A big surprise was that one of them was Akhoud, which is the, ahem, undercarriage of a bull. Given that I'm in Tunisia, I gave it a try. I also got Chris to. It's not bad, but there's definitely a psychological block! It basically melts in the mouth (I know, what an image) and really is quite good.

After we met up with Kristian for Shisha, where I rediscovered how much of a lightweight I am with it - after a few puffs I had to steady myself and drink some tea to clear up!

On Saturday we started late with a great breakfast. Pomegranates here are in season now and only about a dollar a kilo, so Rim and I cut up some pomegranates, took out the seeds and put them in a bowl with a liberal pour of orange blossom water (eau de fleur d'oranger) and sugar. It's damn good. We then went downtown for a bit and then up to the Bardo to check out the mosaics, always staying one step ahead of the bad weather. After, we took a cab up to Sidi Bou Said, ate some of the great bambalouinis (Tunisian doughnuts) up at the top of the hill, and then went to the terraced cafe des delices with its beautiful view out over the sea. Our experience was somewhat muted by the grey skies and rather nasty bout of rain. Luckily it cleared up for a dinner at Tam Tam, not far from the Sidi Bou Said TGM stop.

On Sunday it got cold. Like a bit under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is by far the coldest weather I've experienced here. Factor in that I've been living in 90-degree heat and adjusting my body to that for four months, and I was shivering all day.

I'll try and get some photos up soon from the weekend. Unfortunately, my internet at home is shot - the telephone lines came down last week, and I haven't seen much to indicate they'll be fixed anytime soon...