OneRepublic and Homeward bound

Hello all!

I am writing from my flight from Tunis to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt, I'm homeward bound for DC!

I have been so busy that I haven't really had time to process it. I really hope that I packed everything! I was cleaning, packing, and working until at least 1 am last night.

I've had a busy last few days, trying to get all work and personal things settled before I leave for two weeks. We're so close to getting the office open, but the workers are dragging their feet, and end work early because of Ramadan. Ramadan started last Wednesday and Tunis has been very quiet since. This is the first year that the government is enforcing the law that no cafes, restaurants, etc be open during the day during Ramadan. I went to a bar with a friend on Saturday and we were two of about 20 people there (all expats), because no one can serve alcohol to Tunisians during Ramadan.

It's pretty eerie to walk down the Marsa Corniche at 4 in the afternoon and see only 2 other people. But I'm looking forward to getting back for Eid al-Fitr, the big holiday at the end of Ramadan.

So my apartment stories never end: On the first day of Ramadan, I was minding my own business, working in my apartment and I got up to go to the kitchen. As I walked across my hallway, I stepped into a big puddle of water. I ran around my apartment, thinking that pipe had broken, but then I figured out that water was coming underneath my front door. The apartment next to mine had flooded so much that the water made it into my apartment and the third apartment on the hall. I spent the entire morning sweeping water into the hallway and then cleaning the apartment. But I am now super grateful for marble floors!

The most exciting thing that I did this week was go to the OneRepublic concert at the Carthage music festival. I went with a friend who lives nearby, so we walked down to the amphitheater, built on the site of ancient Carthage. On our way, we were treated to an amazing lightning show. This is the first thunderstorm I've seen in Tunis and it was truly impressive. The lightening stayed in the sky for 3-4 seconds at a time and was mostly horizontal. Unfortunately, that did not bode well for the concert starting on time. We got to the amphitheater right at 10:30 and it had already started raining. We made it way through the very confusing entrance and tried to find our seats. We were just assigned to a section and didn't have seat numbers, so we had no idea what kind of view we were going to have. It turned out that we were in the front section and the ushers pointed us to the second row and said that we could sit anywhere. That is how we ended up with two seats in the second row, center stage, two feet from the main singer. We could read his set list taped to the stage.

It rained fairly heavily for 20 minutes, as the tech people were frantically trying to cover the instruments and equipment. At one point they duct taped umbrellas over the mics (picture below). 

 It was an amazing concert, not only because of the seats, but also because of how engaged the band was with the audience. It's a small space, and the rain had driven a little of the crowd away, but they performed like it was a stadium in the States and tried to speak French and Arabic with the crowd. The rain didn't seem to bother them though the main singer did slip and fall down at one point.

Overall, a very interesting night. I put some pictures below. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because of the rain, so I only had my blackberry.

No zoom

I am now on the flight to DC. It's very strange to be surrounded by English speakers. I accidentally said something in French to the flight attendant...

I will be in the States for about two weeks, so I hope to see as many people as possible.