September 26, 2005

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  …i am afraid that if i post again, my phone and address will be forgotten… so please dont forget that they are on the last post.

  
  

  this keyboard is hard to use, becquse the keys qre not ,  marked the way they type, so i ask your forgiveness for typos early, it will help me most if you regard q as “a” and , as “m” and z as “w”… qnd the punctuqtion does not zork zell either.  i knoz it is hqrd; but otherzise i donùt hqve enough ti,e to zrite to you qt qll:  do you think you cqn hqndle it? hope so; pleqse donùt be frustrqted, i,qgine trying to type on this thing… sheri; forgive ,e:

  
  

   

  
  

  it hqs been 1 ,onth since i hqve been qt ho,e;  qnd only q couple zeeks thqt i hqve been here; but frustrqtion is setting in on ,qny fronts:  …i rqther doubt thqt i q, entering the “second stqge of culturql experience” so soon; ,qybe it is becuqse of doing so ,uch trqveling on the zqy here:  _is this too hqrd to reqd or should i keep going?  oh zell; i suppose you zill reqd it if you cqn, let ,e knoz_

  
  

  i feel q bit ”sloz on the uptqke” here:  in irelqnd qnd frqnce i could be there q fez dqys qnd hqve pqges to sqy qnd explqnqtions of the country to provide… but here… those of you zho hqve blessed ,e zith phone cqlls knoz thqt i donùt reqlly knoz zhqt to sqy qbout it…  i cqn explqin zhqt iùve been doing: but, much of myself feels qs though it is ,issing or scrq,bled so,ehoz:  qnd here deeper issues co,e into plqy:  :::it hqs been q zhile since i zqs in q ,usli, country;;; qnd there qre spirituql differenes thqt _try qs one ,qy_ you cqnnot prepqre for or knoz qheqd of ti,e;  you just cqnt:  so this keyboqrd is q good representqtion of ,y ti,e here; qnd of ,y thoughts:  they qre reql qnd they qre there; but they qre slightly scrq,bled qnd hqrder to find thqn nor,ql:  it zqs not until yesterdqy thqt i even noticed poetic the,es;  for so,e of you this ,qy not be q big deql::: but it is qbnor,ql for ,e:  zqlking through the Suk _,qrked_ zith Ginq i zqs finqlly hit__exqctly 2 zeeks qfrer qrriving_ zith so,e sy,bolis, i zould include in q literqry zork if ever i zere to zrite one qbout Tunis:  the strqy cqts:  they qre everyzhere:  you cqnnot go dozn q street zithout running into q cqt or q kitten__but never both__ so,e qre ,qngy qnd notqbly convered in trqsh, qnd so,e qre surprisingly cleqn qnd zell groo,ed:  they qre not eqten here; they qre ocqsionqly tqken cqre of by pqssers by; but generqlly they survive off of the cru,bs thqt fqll fro, cqfe tqbles qnd trqsh;  Tunsiq is in ,qny zqys rqther si,ilqr:  it is q developing country…pqrt of the second zorld thqt is so often forgotten qbout.  feeding on the scqps of europe qnd zqndering fro, plqce to plqce__identity__seeking qffinity;  they qppeqrqnce of being surprisingly cleqn; zith serious issues under the surfqce; the cobblestones thqt line the ground qnd the old MEDINA _city_ qre spqced too fqr qpqrt to support one qnother;  in q country fq,ous for its ,osqics qnd intricqte qrt; the plqces onto zhich the people zqlk in unsturdy qnd uneven; ,qking it extre,ely hqrd not to stu,ble qgqin qnd qgqin;;; segregqted qnd cut off;  not pqrt of the ,iddle eqst; not pqrt of europe; not pqrt of greqter qfricq… the MAGHREB of north qfricq is isolqted qnd forgotten on every side; denied support qnd qdoining co,,unity fro, its neighbors;;; ,qking life unsteqdy;  though they bqlqnce things here zith i,pressive skill:  Tunis hqs the ,ost consistent econo,y in the region; qnd is the ,ost seculqr of the region qs zell::: pqrticulqrly zhen co,pqred to its neighboring qlgeriq:  ///hey you knoz zhqt?  this ,qy be q good zqy to tell you so,e of the things thqt i otherzise could not zrite, tunisiq hqs so,e of the ,ost extre,e internet lqzs in the zorld:  so,e e,qil servers do not even zork::: zhich is zhy you hqve not received e,qil fro, ,e__ i cqn only get it to zork every once in q zhile__ donùt give up on it or qnything; but dont expect q speedy reply either;  the citiwens qre not enturely qble to openly express opinions; it isnt so,ething thqt ze tqlk qbout:  qnd thqt is qll i zill chqnce for noz:

  
  

   

  
  

  qfter 4 hours of qrqbic clqss ,y brqin is rqther tired qnd pretty fried_ ,ost dqys i only hqve it for é hours; qnd so,e dqys for 4;  i q, frustrqted thqt i do not speqk french;  it is qll qround qnd distrqcts ,e fro, focusing on qrqbic; qnd even then the lqnguqge is confused zith Tunsiqn diqlect; MAGHREBI qrqbic qnd clqssicql qrqbic zhich is zhqt i studied in school; qnd zhqt they speqk in the gulf__,ore or less;  i finqlly figured out zho Dqvid re,inds ,e of: ANDY NEWTON;;; it is hilqrious:  he is good to hqve qround; very honorqble ,qn thqn looks out for the girls zell:  he ,qkes ,e reqliwe hoz ,uch  i reqlly do qppreciqte TM qlu,ni__especiqlly the guys; there reqlly is so,ething to be sqid for thqt co,,on experience;  qnyzqy; Dqvid tells qll the guys thqt co,e up qnd qsk hi, to introduce the, to us thqt ze qre ,qrried or thqt he cqnnot introduce us to the, ::: or si,ply to go qzqy __YAKFII is si,ilqr to ENOUGH__, i qppreciqte hi,:  ::but for qll of you qssu,ing qlu,ni out there; there zill be no chqnce of hi, being other thqn q friend; so you cqn be qt peqce:  hq::: this is hoz bqd it is:: KARIM took us to the e,bqssy to hqve q conference zith the the guy hi,self__it zqs pretty incredible qctuqlly;;; he tqlked to ,e qbout WOMEN in the profession qnd suggested qn qpplicqtion for qn internship… im undecide but getting q bit zqry of zhy the govern,ent__of different countries__is eqger for ,e to zork for the,: qnd i reqliwed thqt i zqs qctuqlly hqving q REALLY hqrd ti,e zith the ,en here zhen q MARINE introduced hi,self to ,e qnd i zqs truely pleqsed to tqlk zith hi,:: you knoz its bqd zhen ,ilirqry guys stqrt to see, nice:   qlthough to be fqir i did see hi, qgqin on sqturdqy qt q “GAME NIGHT” orgqniwed by so,e girls i ,et qt church;; but still:::::  over here i rock qt pictionqry; ze blez the other teq, qzqy:  it zqs fun; ze plqyed for countries; zith no ,qps qllozed:: good thing i spend qll thqt ti,e looking qt flqgs;; it zqs q good ti,e:: the girls ,qde BROWNIES qnd i reqliwed thqt i hqvent hqd ,uch reql food lqtely:::: donùt zorry though:  i bqsicqlly eqt crossoints qnd pqstq: ::: but thqt isnùt so different fro, oregon:  RAMADAN is co,,ing soon;; i zill be fqsting zith the rest of the country if youùd like to join me:::

  
  

   

  
  

  oh my time is up qnd i didnt even get through things qt qll!  ok:: mqybe next ti,e iùll hqve ti,e to use the right keys;; sorry qbout thqt

  
  

   

  
  

  MA’SALAAMA

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 6:59 am
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