Sarkozy's in Town

Sarkozy (and Carla Bruni) is wrapping up a 3-day state visit today. He's been around since Monday and traffic and transport in general has been ground to a halt more than once. On Monday they shut down the entire downtown Avenue Bourguiba so that he could walk around - you could only get through at the extreme ends. That meant that the metro and bus services were stopped as well. It added two hours to a friend's commute.

The thing that really bothers me is that I went to school for four years in Washington, DC. We get a lot of state visits. I know it's not the same situation, but I've never experienced this level of security across the board. I mean, I got to get within five feet of Pervez Musharraf in DC without going through thirty cops.

Anyways, ranting aside, things have been good here lately. I literally just finished up a conversation with the Tunisian "Spielberg," otherwise known as Ferid Boughedir. His most famous movies are A Summer in La Goulette and Halfaouine. What's interesting is that I was showing him that his movies were available on Amazon.com and it turns out that the American version of A Summer in La Goulette being sold doesn't... well, actually have the rights to be selling it. He also agreed with me that $26 is a ridiculous price to pay for Halfaouine, so he's bringing me a French collection in Region Zero (i.e.: playable on all DVD players) for a "reasonable" price. Let's hope that works out. It was nice to finally meet him since my roommate Alison has known him for quite a while.

Also, my old roommate, Ben is coming in tonight to Tunis! This makes the fourth visit by friends/family from the States. Not bad. Tomorrow is Labor Day in Tunisia (and by my understanding, everywhere in the world except the USA?) so we're going to an American BBQ put on by the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce so that I can network for that still-elusive job here. After we'll wander around Sidi Bou Said and probably have dinner at Le Carre Blanc on Marsa Plage - nothing beats exceptional steak and seafood.

Friday I reserved a table at Lodge, which is a very nice new lounge/restaurant right next to AMIDEAST, then we're going to see a Cuban singer who is in residency at La Maison Blanche - the hotel on Ave. Mohamed V. Saturday it's off to Bizerte, exploring the port and the Medina, plus the market. We'll probably eat at Le Petit Mousse, which has excellent food (including wild boar, of which there are plenty in Northern Tunisia - but rarely eaten by locals). Sunday we'll probably do the rest of Carthage, etc.

Radio

I will be on Radio TounesBledi's afternoon English radio show this Saturday. Here's the schedule and if you click on ecouter on the opper left you can listen in. It's 3PM-5PM, and I think Tunisia is GMT+1?

What's going on

Times have been busy here in Tunisia. Two weeks ago, AMIDEAST Tunisia hosted the board of directors of AMIDEAST in Tunis at Tunisia Palace. I got a chance to have lunch with them at La Salle a Manger and was very impressed - they're a really interesting group of people. In addition, most of AMIDEAST DC senior staff was out, attending the board of directors meeting and getting ready for the meeting of all the Country Directors of AMIDEAST in Yasmine Hammamet at the Sofitel.

I spent the weekend at the Sofitel - I gave a presentation on AIESEC (acronyms galore!) with Lee and we got a very positive response, most importantly from AMIDEAST's president. The country directors were a very cool crowd. There were of course the women who had married Arab men, as well as some other people who had a background in the region. Surprisingly, there was a huge Minnesota contingent there (I also hail from the land of 10,000 lakes)! The country directors of Morocco (who had taught at AMIDEAST Tunisia back in the day), Jordan, and the assistant director of Egypt are all from Minnesota.

The Sofitel was an exceptional hotel - the best consistent hotel buffet food I've ever had here and very nice rooms - and we had very nice dinners, including a night with couscous and belly dancing at the Barberousse in the old Hammamet medina. It was a great experience as well, being able to spend time with all of those fascinating people. The CD of Lebanon and I spent five hours haggling for carpets on Saturday and came away with some very cool stuff.

This past Sunday, I had dinner with Lee and the director of West Bank/Gaza. He did the Peace Corps in Tunisia in the mid-90s and this was his first time back to the country in 14 years. We ate at Le Carre Blanc in La Marsa and had exceptional seafood and steak. Steve is a very cool guy - it was great to hear his insights on how Tunisia has changed over the years. Where he worked, not a lot has - he was able to go to old neighborhoods and find the same families in the same houses.

Also, I saw an unbearably bad Tunisian movie this weekend - L'accident. Do not, I repeat, do not see this movie. Especially since the guy at the ticket counter lied about it having French subtitles.

Lately, my top priorities have been working on getting all the summer intern information squared away (we have 6 incoming) and hunting for jobs so that I can spend another year here. I figure another year out here will do me good - plus one of my biggest professional assets right now is my knowledge of Tunisia and how it operates.

Photos from the North

Amanda looking out over Jugurtha's Table

These places were a bit more of a retread for me, so I focused more on the students I went on the trip with, as a "chaperone." Included are Bizerte, Tabarka, Ain Draham, Chemtou, Bulla Regia, Kef, Haidra, Jugurtha's Table, Hammamet and Nabeul... We went to Dougga, but it was too rainy and windy to take photos, as were Thuburbo Majus and Zaghouan. Dougga was a bummer because it was the one stop on the trip that I hadn't been to before, and the weather was so wet and cold that it was barely worth stepping off the bus.

Album I
Album II
Album III
Album IV

A mosque in Kef

Bizerte

Belated Photos

Here's an album of photos from when my mom visited me.

I am getting back into the groove after a solid 2 weeks of running around, first with my mom and then to Monastir for a conference, and then a solid week chaperoning the SIT program around Northern Tunisia.

I have a lot of photos that I'll hopefully have time to upload tomorrow. I'd do it today, but there's a a lecture downtown on Tunisia in WWII, and there's no way I can miss that (especially being such a big fan of Rick Atkinson's book An Army at Dawn).

Also - I am strongly considering another year out here, and I am looking around for jobs. Anybody have any suggestions?