My Tunisian adventures

Photos: Tunisia June 2011 early summer, short visit - 14 days

aussiechick_007 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:00:00 GMT

assorted scenery in El Kantaoui, Takrouna, Sousse

Photos: Takrouna, Tunisia October 2010

aussiechick_007 — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:09:00 GMT

Takrouna, the sacred rock

Photos: My Wedding in Tunisia - September 2010

aussiechick_007 — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 17:28:00 GMT

Fateh and me, doing the sitting on the chair thing, and having photos taken............

Wedding in Tunisia! September/October 2010, Tunisia trip 3

aussiechick_007 — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 14:05:00 GMT

Finally I got organised to return to Tunisia again. I arrived on September 1 and the plan was to stay in Tunisia until September 30, then go to Spain to visit one of my Couchsurfing friends, a vibrant, flamenco dancing, fun-loving good friend like a sister, Elena. After that, I was going to go to Dubai for 3 days and had accomodation organised with an enthusiastic and interesting Couchsurfer who is a photography. I had to change my plans and actually had the entire time from 1 September - October 7 in Tunisia.

My husband-to-be and me hoped to get married.

The organisation of the marriage was quite complicated, mostly because of the timing of my month off work. Without realising it, I had organised time off work to come to Tunisia, hopefully for the marriage, but it coincided with Ramadan. Due to Ramadan and the short business hours, it made the organising of the documentation, submitting it and getting the Doctors certificate and all the translations in the short time we had, it made it very interesting and intense indeed. My birth certificate had to be 21 days or less. I had a Certificate of No Incapacity from a government department in Australia. However when I got to Tunisia, the Canada Embassy, which should have just translated the document to French for me, they insisted that I had to get their own Certificate of No Impediment (or No Incapacity), which was in French. The Wilaya that Fateh (my husband-to-be) and me were hopefully getting married in, they said that they would accept my Australian one......

So, anyway a lot of things happened very slowly,

We got told one thing by one person and one by another and were given the run around a little. However the Wilaya was very helpful, particularly with giving detailed email replies to me, of explanation. They were not a problem. I felt that I got treated discriminatingly by the Canada embassy who act for Australians in Tunisia. They actually told me one thing by email, which I have kept and then something completely different when I actually went to the embassy. Anyway after quite a few days of going to Tunis from a country area, during the heat and during Ramadan and being given the run around a lot. We finally got all our translations and documents in order.

The next thing was to get everything in triplicate and submit it and wait at the wilaya. Or in fact we submitted everything, waited and finally they gave us a date for the signing of the contract. During this time I got sick with some kind of allergy and needed Ventoline but was not able to communicate this to the family I was staying with. Even though I was sick and was having breathing difficulties, we did actually sign the marriage contract. The wilaya "lost" the medical certificate that we has already submitted in triplicate. On the morning of the signing of the marriage contract, we arrived punctually for the time we were given and they told us that we only had given them one copy of the Medical Certificate. We had already been to the Doctor, paid and go the certificate, then went to the copying place, copied it and submitted it to the council On the morning of the signing, we were ready to sign and they said that they did not even have the medical certificate, so we had to go back to the Dr, pay again, get another Medical Certificate and then go back to the taxiphone company and get the certificate copied in triplicate.I was sick that morning and we had to rush in the heat to and from the Doctor and then rush back, so we did not lose our alloted time for the signing of the marriage contract. I did manage to organise an asthma puffer, kind of by using sign language with the Doctor. Even though I felt quite sick, it also was rather! Surely the Wilaya had a photocopying machine. They had lost the certificate but we had to scurry very quickly from the Wilaya to the doctor then to the photocopying place, wait in a queue, wait for the copying to be done. Then we had to rush back to the wilaya office, submit those papers and then wait to see if that was OK. Finally they gave us the go ahead. Phew!Over the period of sevreal days when we were dealing with the Wilaya, the main person that was in charge of organising our marriage contract had only Arabic and no French and definately no English. She just kept looking at me with a blank look.My Arabic was very little, I had some French but there was no-one who was being really helpful to me. I find it not too difficult to communicate using gestures and phrasebooks or writing a few words down and pointing. But that did not work with this lady and her fellow staff. Her fellow workers had some French and my husband-to-be had some English. They ended up being just too busy having side conversations in Arabic and there were facts that I needed to tell them but they actually just did not listen to me. There is a bit of a culture of listening to the man and not the woman in that region. My husband-to-be was of the view that a woman should speak 1/4 of the time that the man in the relationship spoke. That did not actually work, when the wilaya was asking questions about me and no-one else knew the information. I had to draw on all my reserves of patience because they just did not listen to me and my husband to be, did not know the facts about me.

However it was Ramadan and most people were a little sleep deprived. Some people's patience was frayed. Am sure that the concentration span of some people was affected. I believe that I conducted myself in quite a dignified way, considering how I felt, quite unwell. I was panicking about my breathing difficulty. My husband's brother, Abeche, actually part way through the signing of the contract went to pick up the Ventoline puffer for me. He was one of the witnesses, so that actually delayed the signing of the contract even further. We found a man in the waiting area of the wilaya chambers who no-one knew and he said that he would be our witness, (temoin) Anyway that was really sweet and he was happy to do it. It was kind of funny, we had to do this quick hunt around to find another witness because Abeche just disappeared. Quite a few funny things actually happened and a friend who was there in the room said it was the funniest wedding she had ever been to. Finally it was actually over. We struggled to keep straight faces and were actually laughing out loud. It was difficult to remain composed. This was all rather difficult for some of the wilaya workers who only had Arabic. My friend was English, so she understood my humour. This was all observed by some, I think police who were watching us through a glass window. This was occuring in a non-soundproof room with glass walls on several sides. Eventually we then went out the back for more paper work. There were actually workmen right next to us, using loud power tools. The contract was Arabic, then French and I had it all explained to me in English. Even though there were holdups and it was like a comedy farce in some ways, it also was a very special time. My husband and me were relieved that we actually had signed the contract. All we then had to do, as it was Ramadan, was to wait until after Ramadan to have the grande fete , the marriage party or reception. We signed the contract on September 7th and had to wait until after Ramadan and after the Aid Al-Fitr, end of Ramadan holiday and feast. We managed to have the party on September 25th and it was great. Getting all that organised during Ramadan, we found quite challenging. Hamdullah we did get it all sorted out. Thanks to Allah. I ended up in hospital from 11th September until 28th September, but I was out for 24th September and 25th which was the date we got married. We did not have much time to organise the wedding reception but it went really smoothly and it was lovely and a night to remember. We had a very happy night. I will continue this later.

Le Medina et moi

aussiechick_007 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:41:00 GMT

entrée de journal
"La médina de la Tunisie est très grand et il est fascinant. Ses ruelles tortueuses et étroites et des bazars couverts sont entassés avec des ateliers d'artisanat, des peintres, des ouvriers de la métallurgie, des stands de bijoux, maroquiniers, les parfumeurs, trou dans le mur de cafés, où j'ai eu de la chance assez pour obtenir du café, à des prix arabish propriétaires de décrochage, avec un ami qui a un stand de bijoux il .. 300 moulin au lieu de 2,50 dinars.Helped d'allonger le budget! Il ya lieux de restauration, les boutiques de pain, des fruits et des stands de légumes, de viande , les vêtements traditionnels berbères vendus aux étals de vêtements, y compris les jalabia et aussi des vêtements comme le burnous, que je vis était le mode de la robe des bergers dans la région de Takrouna. Ils étaient de la hausse des prix différents selon le matériau. Il faut que je la prochaine fois. La médina a tout à fait quelques mosquées, des restaurants, hammams, apparemment, mais je ne vois pas. Amazing portes incroyables. Une expérience amusante, c'est quand j'ai été prise d'une photo d'une grande, belle porte en bois, comme de 3 mètres par 3 mètres orné de boiseries et les modèles en métal stud-travail. Certains détenteurs de décrochage assis sur des caisses en face de cette porte que j'admirais, offert de la vendre pour moi ... ils ont dit qu'il pourrait être organisé pour une boîte de whisky .... un camion au milieu de la nuit ...
bien sûr je n'avais pas de place pour elle dans mes valises! mais je l'ai dit il appartenait en Tunisie. C'était une conversation drôle. Il ya des piliers de la médina de la époque romaine occupée. Aussi les murs crenallated, de la couleur grès sont beaux. Les odeurs exotiques, le martèlement des ouvriers de la métallurgie, les travailleurs du bois et l'artisanat de tous types, combinés avec les souks bondés, et les gens avec des brouettes, chariots, des bicyclettes et à pied, transportant des marchandises à travers l'étroite ruelle manières en font un inoubliable expérience. Il existe des produits similaires dans les souks et des médinas petits des autres villes, mais vous êtes plus susceptible de voir des ânes chargés de marchandises. Très souvent, on m'a offert une tasse de café ou de menthe (menthe) thé et le montant des détenteurs de décrochage qui voulaient pratiquer leur anglais et ont été heureux de parler de leur culture, était belle. Ils sont souvent réellement intéressés quand ils découvrent que je suis en Australie, et heureux quand ils sais que j'ai un peu l'arabe et j'essaie de l'apprendre. Aussi, quand ils savent que je m'intéresse à l'islam ... ils deviennent très excités à ce sujet. J'aime vraiment souks, médinas .. oh et je me suis perdu dans la médina de Tunis. Le titulaire d'un décrochage je suis devenu ami avec, permettez-moi de laisser une partie de ses bagages dans sa boutique dans une arrière-salle avec .. objets de valeur, bien sûr. Cela a été une gentillesse à mon égard. Je lui ai acheté du café en retour. "

The Medina and me

aussiechick_007 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:24:00 GMT

Journal entry
" The medina of Tunisia is very large and is fascinating. Its narrow winding alleys and covered bazaars are crammed with craft workshops, painters, metal workers, jewellery stalls, leather goods shops,perfumers, hole in the wall coffee shops,where I was lucky enough to get coffee, arabish at stall owners prices, with a friend who has a jewellery stall there..300 mill instead of 2.50 dinars.Helped to stretch out the budget! There are eating places, bread shops, fruit and vegetable stalls, meat, traditional Berber clothing sold in clothing stalls, including the jalabia and also clothing like the burnouse, which I saw was the mode of dress of the shepherds in the Takrouna region. They were of various escalating prices depending on the material. I must get some next time. The medina has quite a few mosques, eateries, hammams apparantly but I did not see any. Amazing and incredible doors. A fun experience was when I was taking a photo of a big, beautiful wooden door, like 3 metres by 3 metres with ornate woodwork and patterns in metal stud-work. Some stall holders sitting on crates in front of this door I admired, offered to sell it to me...they said it could be arranged for a box of whiskey....a truck in the middle of the night...
of course I had no room for it in my bags! but I said it belonged in Tunisia. It was a funny conversation. There are some pillars in the medina from the Roman occupied time. Also the crenallated walls, of the soft sandstone colour are lovely. The exotic smells, the hammering of the metal workers, wood workers and the handcrafts of all types, combined with the crowded souks, and people with barrows, trolleys, bicycles and on foot, carrying goods through the narrow alley ways all make for an unforgettable experience. There are similar goods in the smaller souks and medinas of other towns but you are more likely to see donkeys carrying goods. Very often I was offered a cup of coffee or menthe (mint) tea and the amount of stall holders who wanted to practice their English and were happy to speak of their culture, was nice. They are often genuinely interested when they find out I am Australian, and happy when they know I have a very little arabic and am attempting to learn it. Also when they know I am interested in Islam...they get very excited about that. I really love souks, medinas..oh and I got lost in the Tunis medina. A stall holder I became friends with, let me leave some of his bags in his shop in a back room..with valuables removed of course. That was a kindness shown to me. I bought him some coffee in return."

Photos: Tunisia January/February 2010

aussiechick_007 — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:33:00 GMT

Winter 2010 Tunisia visit

Due to depart soon, but not sure of itinerary or dates..I have my tickets though

aussiechick_007 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:53:00 GMT

Once again,

Am set to embark to Tunisie, and I hoped to visit Algerie but I have been plagued.......(well that is an overstatement)...with respiratory problems and am not sure if I am rugged enough to also go to Algerie in Winter as I have planned. The idea is Tunisia-Algeria-Tunisia. However after my plan, was basically formulated, including organising most of the Algerian leg of the trip..............which was due to follow after some time in Tunisia, well I have some family health problems and a situation that may need me to be at home. So, my original (selfish?!) plan (selfish as it means leaving my adult children at home...with other family members around them). My original plan was approximately 30 days in each country...and I have a possibility to visit Tatouine, in Tunisia, and of course I hope to fit that in to see some friends. The landscape looks incredible.

So, despite rather meticulous planning and organising an itinerary for Algeria and finding out information, well as the climate in some of the regions I want to go to, may be snowy and is cold at night....if anything unexpected happens, like I miss a bus and have to wait in the cold, well am not sure that I am rugged enought to deal with too much cold. I am sure it would be fine near the coast and also in the Sahara region that I could go to, inchallah but to go to some of the mountainous regions I want to go to, well its a challenge. I have to wait and see how my health is. Other than that, I have a great plan, and perhaps I will have to do it at a warmer time of year. I was sure that I would be Ok, and am sure I will be. Now instead of 60 days overseas, I am inclined to just over 3 weeks due to my energy levels but mostly my situation at home. See what happens. I hope to get to Algerie eventually. My children are old enough to fend for themselves but one of them also has health problems, so I will wait and see. He wants to see Carthage, and I hope that he can come with me sometime. Even for a week, as it is not too cool to hang out with your Mum. Right now I am not feeling too intrepid but if I reduce my own pressure and demands on myself it should be fine, inchallah.

Oh, and my French is slowly improving, and I am getting a little more Arabic. The only thing that is certain is that I have my tickets and have made some plans to see a few friends and the rest will have to be played by ear. Maybe I will change the route, as I would love to go through Doha, or the dates.

This journal really is not about anything much, other than my uncertainity but once I do get to a destination, well I will roam about with my camera. Also I would like to do a language summer school somewhere in N Africa. Would love to do French in Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco even and also do an intensive Arabic language school one day, inchallah. My hope is to teach English as a Second Language. I did an ESL short course and hope to do a TESOL course ASAP. I am not qualified but could do private tutoring but of course would want to do any tutoring under the correct visas! Simply I have to finish one of my degrees...or combine them then do a TESOL course plus get more experience. Currently I am tutoring several people from N African countries.

Right now am getting orgnnised for whatever the next step is, and hopefully I will make it to at least Tunisia. Yes, I do want to go to Algeria, and the organisational process was going fine but now I have this family situation.

The best laid plans of mice and men...........as they say but this time I have not made actual plans except for one, but people have expectations from me but there are only so many peoples schedules you can fit in with. am not sure if I will have this laptop with me...is one more thing to carry. Is a major hassle to have to go to internet cafes frequently and on my last trip, I could not even find a cyber cafe in TUNIS....lol, so I only caught up with friends who I could contact on my phone. Also last trip, the language barrier did actually reduce my ability to catch up with a few friends as we simply could not understand what the other was saying on the mobile phone. You do what you can that is all. Also I am reading lots about the history of N Africa and also learning about Islam. It interests me.

Spirituality interests me. Ok well I have organisational things to do, and not sure when I will next update but, hey, am learning to be flexible and above all to try to keep my sense of humour.

Cheers and happy travelling or reading : ))

Tunisia was amazing, I loved it soooooooooo much

aussiechick_007 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:28:00 GMT

Well now I am back home, finally I have added some photos from the 700 that I took using the cybershot phone. Wow, my first overseas trip and mostly I stayed in homestay with local families as I am a member of a hospitality exchange group.

Tunisia was so amazing. I had the privelege of being shown around Sousse by a good friend of mine and it was amazing. Sousse is actually a bit touristic for my liking in part, but I avoided the very crowded areas mostly and took every opportunity to speak with locals to practice my French. My friend was so kind by showing me of course, important things like the currency and helping me with my quite poor French and patiently helping me with my little Arabic also. I was shown the local food, and just learning about the food and what is good to eat is an adventure in itself. I ate local food for the whole 22 days of my trip. I am ashamed to say that one day I did have a burger but it was at a local place and not like McDonalds. I chose it as it was cheap. Now after eating local Tunsian food am really very fond of the harisa sauce and hope I can find a tin or jar of it in my city. I miss it.

I loved Tunisia soooooooooooooooooooooooo much and did not want to leave.The locals were forgiving of my very little French and most people were happy to practice their English. Most locals that I spoke with were delighted that a traveller from Australia would come so far for a holiday and I am so glad that I chose a N. African destination instead of somewhere in Europe (which of course is nice), like some of my family thought I should do. Tunisia does get lots and lots of package holiday tourists and most, I think go for the 4 or 5 star experience. There is a lot of scope for someone who wanted to be hedonistic and have the whole spa, fitness, experience, as there are so many health spas and resorts that cater to beauty treatments and so on. Also on the touristique strip of Sousse, the 4 and 5 star area, the peace of the area is reduced a bit, by the loud cranking out at poolside, which is opposite the beach, of a very strange (IMHO) assortment of music to cater to the taste of the tourists supposedly. I found it was annoyingly loud just to walk by and this was what people were subjected to in the pool area. Some of the luxury pool areas had open fences that opened to a beach view but they chose to be in the pool area, but often without a top on (women) so that took a bit of getting used to, walking past that contrast. Tourists holidaying in a Muslim country but going topless seemed incongrous to me and of course it is a curiousity to locals but most do not stand around looking of course.I mention it because it was a contrast and like I wrote, it seemed incongrous. However I did like Sousse, there was something for everyone I think. I stayed on the Corniche and liked the area, in a house, not a hotel......and there is something about being in one place for a few weeks and not going to too many places. It gave me a change to get really familiar with the area, and hence also get to know shopkeepers ect and it made it nice really, as then you almost feel like a local.

When my friend returned to work, I was told not to talk with the locals, but it was not possible not to speak with local people. I swam in areas that were tourists/locals together. I confess that I did use the umbrella area of the tourist hotels but never took valuables, and then I did get a sun lounge and umbrella and I felt my things were less likely to be stolen. Ha. Well I never took money with me, anyway.But as for swimming, well I chose an area where the tourists and locals overlapped, mostly as I felt more comfortable then. Locals I met did not want to swim and my friend did not either. Still, it was relaxing and enjoyable and the beach is nice. Boujaffar Beach is one beach I swam at and also Hana Beach.

For a complete contrast, with the group I am involved in www.couchsurfing.com I went on a weekend camping experience and we went to Mount El Houaria for a camping/swimming/mountain climbing weeekend and to see the El Hoauaria Sparrowhawk festival, which attracts visitors like Gulf Princes. So at El Houaria, at the beach, I had the amazing experience of swimming in such a beautiful area. The beach at El Houaria, past the harbour and after walking up some rocks and up a path, well there are these little rocky private small beaches and the most amazing place for jumping, diving ( i did not) and also snorkelling and of course swimming. Next time I will bring my snorkel.... but I was able to swim and look underwater and the lovely Mediterranean sea did not hurt my eyes. It was so relaxing and then the group climbed a mountain also. That beach was the nicest I have ever been to and I have not yet been to that many beaches, but it was perfect and I did not want to leave. Quite secluded, not very crowded. Nice rocks for lazing on and also shade. Goats to look at and rocks to swim out to.We camped on the beach at El Houaria also, and that was fun with a fire and cooking food plus singing and dancing too!

I will write more later but I have to say that Tunisia was like a dream and so enjoyable. I am looking forward to seeing more of the country. I saw most of Cap Bon, including Nabuel, Beni-Ksar, Hammamet, El Houaria and had a good look round Tunis, but only for 2 days. I was a lot of time in Sousse as I returned there as I had a huge foot blister that got infected and I needed to rest it. A highlight of my trip apart from the people was looking at Carthage, it was so interesting. Also I did have a lovely time exploring Sousse with my friend and particularly wandering around Port El Kantaoui, which is very peaceful when there are not too many people around. Another special thing was lots of walking round with my friend and enjoying the ambience.

I will write again soon and it was not possible to journal while I was there as i had some difficulty with the arabic/french keyboard, but mostly it was the time restraints. Am very happy to have been to this awesome country.

Photos: I love Tunisia

aussiechick_007 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:29:00 GMT

just a few photos

The 10 day "Highlights of Tunisia", Peregrine Travel tour cancelled that I was booked on

aussiechick_007 — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Due to to 10 day tour of Tunisia I was booked on in June, cancelling, now I have spare time and will be doing my own thing. more later

Gallery: Tunisia

aussiechick_007 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:26:00 GMT

Places I want to visit