The Time Has Come

Well, our time here is almost finished. Nidhal and I went to the city center a couple days ago to buy some tuna and coffee. It's been Ramadan for a while now... about 15 days, I guess. To me, it seems that all anyone does during the day in Ramadan is sleep. This is, of course, inaccurate, but it's my impression nevertheless. All I seem to do is play with my iPod. I'm so glad I brought it with me. I've never used it in the four years that I've owned it as much as I've used it in the past month. The games are priceless, the audio books are wonderful, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a delight to watch yesterday.

We went back to Nidhal's grandparents' house this week. It was about the same as before, but there were fewer people around this time.

Nidhal's brother brought home a kitten a couple days ago. She was a little monster at first, but then she turned into the cutest little thing. She fell right asleep on my lap, and when she woke up, she thought I was her mommy. Oh, to have the love and affection of a kitten. Alas, though, other members of Nidhal's family did not share his brother's and my like for kitties, and the kitten was soon banished to the street. I felt so bad for the poor little thing. She sat by the door for the longest time and then disappeared. I call her little monster Assida (which means 'pudding' in Arabic), and I hope I'll see her again before we leave.

Almost 2pm...

I'm going to miss certain things about Tunisia when I leave, but I'm also looking forward to certain things back at home. For example, I'll miss Nidhal's family and being in a different country and new environment. But I'm definitely looking forward to certain foods back home, being able to cook, seeing my family, having a more comfortable bathroom environment, and finally being able to understand what people are saying. Now, we just have to think about getting everything packed. I hope it will all fit.

Happy second anniversary (in three days), my dear Nidhal!

Visit to Rome

The Tunisians take care of their stray cats... note the water left out for the kitties so that they don't get thirsty on such a hot day.

http://www.ruinedendings.com/
For those who know me, this is exactly my type of website.

Here in Tunisia, I've made another kitty friend. He's orange and white, and he's also dirty and hungry. But he's a nice kitty.

Nidhal and I went into downtown and into the souk this week to bye a chess set. We found a nice one for about $20. It's a wooden board with metal pieces. It looks quite nice, but the quality isn't that great. Even so, $20 is not a bad price. I tried to find some metal chess pieces for sale on the internet, and they were all ridiculously expensive. I think the cheapest was about $90. After doing this research, I hope to go back to the souk and pick up just the metal pieces to another set. The board to this other set was at least 18"x18", if not bigger, and the pieces were great. The pawns were archers. The guy was asking 80 dinar for the set, so I'm hoping that the pieces alone will be quite a bit cheaper than that. And then if we get the pieces, I'm hoping to make my own board (or have my dad make it).

It's been hot here the past few days. Of course, it's nothing compared to the desert, but it's still awful without air conditioning. And then to add insult to injury, the electricity went off. A box or something blew, we're guessing because of the overuse of ACs because of the intense heat.

Since I've been hear I've read (actually listened to, in this order) Black by Ted Dekker, Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Heely, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, and now I'm on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I had read all of these before except for Kiss. Of Dan Brown's books, I had always preferred Angels and Demons, but for some reason, Robert Langdon was just so annoying this time around. I don't think I ever really liked him, but this time he was almost unbearable. As I was listening to The Count of Monte Cristo today, I came to the Rome scene and I thought I recognized one of the piazzas mentioned from Angels and Demons. Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when Dumas mentioned the obelisk topped by a cross in the square. What a coincidence. By the way, Piazza del Pololo, the one used by Dumas as the setting for an execution, is the earth portion of the path of illumination and therefore used again as the setting for an execution.

Odds and Ends

Well, the next 28ish days is Ramadan. Yesterday was the first day. They can't eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. The moment that they are allowed to begin eating in the evening is signalled by what sounded like a cannon shot.

This French computer is throwing me off. I can't spell or type anything correctly anymore. Instead of QWERTY it's AZERTY. Plus, the M is on the right side of the L and I have to hit SHIFT to get the numbers and the period. Stupid. Or should I say stupide.

I miss American food. And whan I say American, I mean the whole collection of international foods that are easily accessed and frequently consumed in the US. That's not to say that I don't like Tunisian food. On the contrary, I thoroughly enjoy the cuisine of Tunisia. It's just that there isn't much variety. AND I'm so sick of bread. Oh, how I wish I had a cheeseburger and onion rings and potato salad and tacos and lasagna and tater-tot casserole and bruschetta and bagels and sloppy joes and deviled eggs and tomato soup and grilled cheese. Even Nidhal says he misses my cooking... I guess he's become more American than he realized.

In other news, EMU continues to push my buttons. Seriously, anyone out there reading this, STAY CLEAR OF EMU. It's not even worth it. Plus, I've seen private universities with cheaper graduate tuition.

When swimming in Hammamet, it was funny to watch Nidhal and his oldest younger brother Ridha. They were constantly chasing and splashing each other and planning attacks to dunk the other one. It was obvious they were brothers. The sibling side of Nidhal is a side that I never got to see until I came to Tunisia. It's so interesting to watch him interact with his siblings.

And now I'm going to play some Scrabble on my iPod. That's the best $4.99 I've ever spent.

The intestinal waste has forcibly come in contact with the rotating air circulation device.

The title has nothing to do with me or anyone I know. It's just a thought.

Since Korbous, we have gone to places around Tunis, Dougga (an old Roman city), Hammamet, Nabeul, and El Kef. Hammamet was basically for the beach, and it was a great beach. In Nabeul, we bought some cool candle holders. I know it sounds lame, but they are really cool. Dougga was amazing. The ruins were so fun to climb on and explore. I love that kind of thing. I could have spent an entire day there. Around Tunis, we went to La Marsa, which apparently has some well-known ice cream places. There is one owned by the father and one owned by his son. We tried them both, and the son won on taste. On our trip to Dougga, we also stopped in Ain Draham and Tabarka. We didn't do much at these places, but it was nice to have been there. Ain Draham was like a village in the Alps. It was up in the forested mountains and had white houses with sloped red roofs. Tabarka was on the sea.

I have a cold. My head and nose are all stuffy, I'm coughing and sneezing a lot, and I think I have a fever. Ugh, I hate being sick.

Menis!

Oh, I am so mad at EMU. When checking my EMU email, I noticed that there was something about an overdue bill. This made no sense because my previous semester was paid and my upcoming semester wasn't due yet. I went to the website that handles the bills to check it out and found that I somehow owed $16. But after much searching, I couldn't find a reason for this charge. I was angry. This university has pulled some crap before, but to charge me for nothing? Finally today, I found out what it was for. When I changed my name, I had to change my ID card. Unbeknownst to me, the idiotic university charges a ridiculous amount even when there is a legitimate reason for needing a replacement card. And to top it off, no one in the stupid office told me that there would be a charge when I went to change my name on the card. If I had known, I would have left my name on the card as it was. Unbelievable. Some may be thinking, 'get over it, Sarah, it's only $16'. Yes, only $16. But it is $16 that I don't have. It's $16 that I shouldn't have to pay. And, above all, it is simply the last straw. If I wasn't so close to finishing my Master's, believe you me, I would be out of there. This university and its employees have really pulled some crap over the past year, and I'm done with it. I will not put up with anymore. There are so many injustices in the world that I have to keep my mouth shut about because I simply can not do anything about it. So many things that make my blood boil. But I will not keep my mouth shut anymore. If you think the wrath of Achilles was intense, then you had better watch out because my anger burns as hot as his. The fool that causes pain for the ones I love has not imagined suffering like that which will befall him.

In the end, however, these are empty words. A flame that burns this hot soon burns out. I will probably end up paying the $16 because it's easier than fighting and calling and emailing and schimpfing only to end up probably having to pay it in the end anyway. I hate EMU.

In other news, Tunisia is still nice. Nidhal and I went swimming in the sea yesterday and the day before. On Sunday, we were at a place called Korbous which has natural hot springs. The town is tucked into the side of a cliff/mountain, and there was a beautiful view as we were driving there. The sea was a deep, bright blue and the mountains on the other side of the Gulf of Tunis were covered in mist. Wunderschoen.