February Update

This month has gone by ridiculously quickly. While the East Coast was struggling with snow and ice, we have slowly been transitioning into spring. It is in the 40 at night, but we have been getting 60s and 70s during the day. It has been gorgeous. That however does not extend to today. While our weather is much better than the east coast this week, we got hit by really nasty thunderstorms today. The electricity keeps flickering and there has been intermediate hail. I'm hoping this weather blows through fairly quickly!

I have been sick for much of the time unfortunately, so I have enjoyed the sunshine from afar. I am finally on the mend, just in time for our birthday. Sorry, my birthday. I still haven't gotten used to celebrating on my own! This year marks the end of Amara's and my contest to see who can visit more countries. We arbitrarily said that who ever has more countries by the time we're 25 wins. I'm sure the contest will start again immediately after our birthday, but I would like to announce that at least for now I WIN! I had a party at my apartment on Saturday to celebrate, though I will be celebrating again in a few weeks with Amara in Nice!

I had some interesting adventures in February. Some friends of mine and I went to see a troupe of Chinese acrobats/performers in downtown Tunis a few weeks ago. The gymnastics were fun to see, but the weirdest part was the singing performances. The Chinese singer sang "Bayou" in perfect English. I took a video but the blog won't let me upload it.

We also took a weekend trip to Hammamet a few weeks ago. We were very lucky and had beautiful weather. There are some pictures below. We took a day trip to Nabeul, a town north of Hammamet, that is know for its pottery. We went to a factory show room that mostly exports to Europe but has a section of second choice pottery. We all made out very well. The pottery was beautiful and the prices were crazy. We spent Sunday next to the pool. It was at least 70, but we were the only ones not wearing coats. The fact that all the Tunisians think that is cold enough for coats makes me nervous for this summer…

I have had several people ask about the political situation in Tunisia, especially given what is going on with our neighbors. Amid the unrest in the region, Tunisia has taken some significant steps over the past few months. The Ennahda party, the former ruling party, finally relinquished power to a caretaker government. The new prime minister has been rearranging the national and regional governments, the most recent change being the state governors. Of course the really big news was that the new constitution was agreed upon and ratified. This happened about 3 years after the former dictator Ben Ali left the country. This was a huge step, but the main concern here remains the economy. Most Tunisians I know were not paying as much attention to the ratification process as they were to the inflation in prices, especially in necessary goods. The economy is an ongoing problem that is the new government's primary concern, next to security.

I could keep writing on this, but since it has been so long since I've posted, I'll probably just do a few posts this month.

Thank you for the birthday wishes! It was lovely to get notes from many different time zones.