September 20, 2005

• MOST IMPORTANTLY:

  
  

   

  
  

  01121620953456

  
  

   

  
  

  29 Avenue Bahi Ladgham

  
  

  Nasr 2

  
  

  2037 Ariana

  
  

  Tunis, Tunisia

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  the above is, of course, my address and phone number.  the country code and area code are included… just dial the whole thing and it will get you to my phone.  but there are a could other things you should know: 1- i do not have voice mail… no one dose.  this is very sad.  it means that you cannot leace me messages.  2- caller id does not work abroad, so i wont know who you are.  3- i can receive, but not send text messages, 4- … now this one is important… i am 9 hours ahead of PST, which means that i am 6 hours ahead of EST… this may not sound like much, but it is a complicated matter if you are trying to call with phone cards on cell phones.  i reccommend land lines.  i have class at 8:30 in the morning here, and get up at 6 to get there in time… which means that i cannot stay up late.  the best time for you to call me is sometime during your morning, or early afternoon… but it would be wonderful for you to call at all.  5-it is free for me to receive calls, but unfortunately not free for you to call me.  it is crazy expensive to call you… so i will try, but it will not likely not happen often.  … i think that takes care of the buisiness with the phone.

  
  

  on to the address.  if you so desire to send me mail (i would jump up and down), it takes 3 weeks to get from you to me, or from me to you, at the least.  and no matter how clearly you write TUNISIA, sometimes it still ends up in Tanzania… which is the other end of the continent, and i shan’t be able to read it.  …i doubt you’ll be sending me packages, but if you do, please be careful what you put inside of them.  each package is opened, and if the contents is found to be questionable in any way (or if someone is bored) they keep it and i have to come in to be questioned.  …i don’t really want to be questioned, so please be careful… if after this, the package is released to me, i have to pay for the man power of opening the package, the call to me, rent for the package while it is held at the office, and for it to be repackaged again.  …as you can see, its an ordeal.  …however, if you wanted to send small ones with silly things, or food only avaliable in the US, i wouldn’t think it would be too much of a problem.  ..ok, whew, i think we’re done with that.

  
  

   

  
  

  …….

  
  

  and now, since xanga is mass email:

  
  

  …the problem with putting pictures of Tunis up here is that as soon as you all see them, you will instantly lose all sympathy for me when i tell you that i am lonely or missing you. … so if you could possibly keep from doing that, i’ll try to post pictures whenever i can.  i do not have a digital camera, but my roommates both do.  it might not be possible to transfer them to the internet… which our university does not have, and certainly is not avaliable at home… but i shall try. 

  
  

  on the subject of roommates: i have 2.  one is from Newport, Gina, she lived in Naples for a year and is the biggest flirt, and Catholic, I’ve ever met… but she is funm she’s a biochemistry major.  Erika is from Salem, and looks like a Swiss Miss if you’ve ever seen one.  She is applying to law school and when she is not studying Arabic, is constantly reading about Harvard and Georgetown….. i like her.  I know a bit more Arabic than my roommates, but that will shortly be remedied.  Our first day of class was today, and we took a monstrous test that took almost the entire time.  It is only the 3 of us in class, and at home, so …. potentially we could get seriously sick of one another.  let’s hope not.  Erika is sick right now.  I stayed up with her most of last night while she emptied her stomach over and over again.  not pleasant.  …i have actually been sick since i got here, but not exactly in the same way.  i had a fever and rather intense dizziness just after arriving.  the fever is gone now, but naseua comes and goes. 

  
  

  the french students –there are 4– are funny.  there is one boy, David, who speaks french very well and tries his best to look out for all the girls who seem not to realize the things the locals are yelling at them.  he seems like a good guy, a goof ball, but fun.  he is staying here after the program to do a medical internship… so if i say i’ll have a friend.  Boram is Korean, and her english is a bit tricky, not to mention her french.  she is sweet.  childlike and still full of wonder, like no speck of cynicism has infected her, beautiful… perhaps a bit naive.  she likes me, which i find funny, since i am extrememly cynical… but that’s ok.  i like her too.  the other two are Rachel and Allison… who’ve known each other for ever and have not seemed so far to approach the experience with a ….um…. humble attitude.  Allison wants to work in Africa with Engineers Without Borders…. but Rachel wants very much not to have a north african accent. 

  
  

  Karim and Laura are amazing… but quickly fading in their protectiveness.  the first day he was very fatherly… he still is, but in the bird kicking their little one out of the nest kind of way.  “let them do it on their own” was his phrase for yesterday.  Still… i love him…. he’s like my Tunisian grandfather of something… so great.

  
  

  we live in the basement flat underneath a family that rents it out to tenents.  There is a Tunisian English prof. next door, and 3 Cote d’Ivorie refugees accross from us.  it is very independent, but they helped Gina and i attempt to cook Couscous last night while Erika was sick… unfortunately my roommates are no better chefs than i… what are we going to do?  Still… we found the Tunsian brand of Nutella… so we’ll survive just fine.

  
  

  i am having ice withdrawls

  
  

  on the ferry on the way over here, i met a family who just happened to pastor the only english speaking protestant church in the country (there is one other that speaks french).  i went on sunday but it is too soon to have anything to say about it… except that there were a couple other american 20 somethings there and they were welcoming… but in the church sort of way and not in the happy-to-see-you sort of way… although later i did get a call from one who wanted to invite me to play games with them this weekend…. we shall see.  i may need them before too long, or i may spend the time talking to tunisians… either way, it is nice to have them here. 

  
  

  Karim introduced me to a Humanities Prof yesterday that he said i should meet with and speak to… i’m not really sure why… i think it might have had something to do with teaching though, because i later heard the prof talking about helping me find an apt.  Karim is funny.  as soon as the teaching jobs were on the table, he refused to let me answer until i had been here a couple months. ….he is SO a guy to have on your side. 

  
  

  (i saw a guy walking down the street wearing an ATF LIVE THE DIFFERENCE tour shirt… my feet almost forgot how to keep moving.  to find an atf shirt here… in a 99.5% muslim country… and that it would be MY tour… bizarre.  but i didn’t dare ask him where he got it… … … the guys are scoundrels.  at least 90% anyway… so not good for me.  it could actually do some serious damage, i fear.  and that is the whole point: i fear.  i have a hard enough time with boys who are not scoundrels… after being here a week my compassion is waning… … … if i am here indefinately… … it may just ruin any chance a man ever had with me.  maybe that is good. anyway, we’ll see.  G*d help the man who decides to pursue me…)

  
  

  …oh there is so much else to say…  i have lost the words almost completely…

  
  

  …if you call me, i bet i will find some…

  
  

  i love you all

  
  

   

  • 4:57 am
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