The last few weeks have been eventful. As I might have to fill in the details later on, Here's the Cliff Notes:
1) A midnight train ride from Tunis to El Jam for a candle lit Viennese Symphony Operette. Yes, this was amazing. Imagine boarding a train at 7 PM for a concert in an authentic Roman coliseum (the third largest one) two and a half hours later. Only the stars and burning wax to accompany violin concertos, dancers, and singers. Very nice.
2) Excursioning around the Tunis Medina. The Medina is many times older than the United States is as a country. Many.The pictures say it all.
Old Catholic Church. Odd Statue.
Alex. Intern. Nice.
Minaret
Medina Rooftop. Only One Dinar.
3) Random Office Antics
This is photographic evidence of a fight over chocolate. Caitlyn won.
It was my chocolate. I lost.
4) Move from Tunis to Hamman-Sousse
Eqbel. Tunisian Intern. The small one.
5) Graduate Workshop. This was a two day preparation for Tunisian students wanting to go to grad school in the US. No picture.
6) Shotokan Karate. My landlord is an instructor with his own dojo. I had to join. We just had a special visit from a friend of his who is a world-class competitor for a one day two-session seminar.
Sid the seminar leader. Seriously Tough Algerian Guy (6th deg. Black Belt) who grills like a Texas BBQ Master.
He was staying with Nasser and several of us had a killer roof-top dinner.
Nasser. My Landlord and my Sensei. Super Cool guy with a British accent.
Nasersr seems to have lost focus as his wife Sam snaps several pictures of him.
Shotokan Posse
Here I am. Clinging to life. And a new diploma. Sweet.
8) Attending a Tunisian Wedding with my friend Myriam and her family in Tunis.
This is what two young Algerian guys on holiday riding the louage (van) look like.
In case you were wondering.
This was on the way to Tunis for the wedding.
Tunisian TV station. wow.
Still en route. Weddings start late.
Awesome Tunisian Family.
Myriam is on the left and is a former US high school student.
What was the diploma for?
ReplyDeleteIt was a diploma for looking
ReplyDeletesuper bad-ass. :)
Actually just a nice little
gesture they provided for our
participation in the one day event.
I didn't have to chop through any
wood or concrete thank goodness.
Wow, love the pictures David. BBQ on the roof sounds great, it's been raining here too much to bbq.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteGREAT pictures , what an experence at the Roman coliseum Medina by candle light. Also glad to hear you are back in a dojo. It sounds like you need to work on your speed, losing your chocolate hey.
Yeah, I walk almost everywhere locally here. To the beach, the store, etc.... That and the Karate, and swimming are helping me get fit. Ramadan is coming up this week so food will be even more scarce as most of the stores will be closed during the day. Great diet plan! Hard to believe Muslims do not even drink water in the summer from Sun-up to sun-down. Wow. That's discipline!!
ReplyDeleteI have been here nearly two months and it has not rained even once. Crazy! Nor has there been any significant cloud cover for more than a few hours on any given day. BBQ heaven to be sure! But only after sunset.....
ReplyDeletei'm very scared that you have learned another way to kill someone with your bare hands :)
ReplyDeletegreat photos!
Some good the karate is doing me when petite college girls can steal my dessert. lame. Thanks for all the positive comments on the photos. The ones in the dojo were all taken by Nasser's wife Sam. The sort of blurry ones of the coliseum were taken with my phone camera as we were racing against a few thousand others to get optima seating. I apologize for the truncated captions.
ReplyDeleteWow (El-Djem) ... I was there during the day, with school field trips, walking around, imagining what a candlelit concert would be like! What was it like??
ReplyDeleteI was there only for the concert. We arrived late at night and we were literally running to get good seats - I mean stone bench - and then running to the train after it was over at one in the morning. The coliseum was amazing and the ambience was extraordinary. It was a beautiful concert. There didn't seem to be much around the city other than that site. But what do I know? I was there for about four hours. How is your little one?
ReplyDelete