My Vacation!

I pity anyone who goes to Hammamet and then leaves thinking they have seen the real Tunisia. Its like going to Cancun and saying you know Mexico. With rows and rows of hotels and flat beaches, the town even has its own theme park (we didn’t go in, but I’m sure its up to enchanted forest standards). However for me the cheesy resort town was a wonderful break from the real world, where I had no Arabic class and I could walk around the street with out being stared at.
Nine friends and I stayed at “Hotel Excel” which was quite nice despite its gaudy interior. We stayed for three nights and mostly just lazed around at the beach. The beach was heavenly by Oregon standards but quite dull compared to the ones my host family took me too. I can’t really complain, I was swimming in the Mediterranean sea in late October! It was the off season so the beaches and streets where moderately empty. The place is completely full all summer long. Tunisia is a vacation spot for Europeans although we met Russians, Brits, Germans, Dutch (Danes?) and many many French, we never found a single American.

It was my first time at a European style beach and I can say they have absolutely no problems with body image in Europe. Being overweight or old is absolutely no reason to cover up. As you can see by my picture, I was trying to be culturally sensitive but ended up just wearing more fabric than anyone else on the beach, man or woman….
(The lucky guy is Raphael our new friend from Quebec who basically saved our lives by serving as our French translator.)


One of the days we took a side trip to the city of Nabeul. The city is world famous for its pottery a fact that it likes to advertise by this extremely tasteful huge fruit bowl in front of the medina (or old city). Everything is handmade with beautiful traditional designs. I am the biggest nerd ever and bought myself a cereal bowl and I’m really stoked to eat out of it!

The day we went to Nabeul was the day after eid (or the holiday at the end of Ramadan where everyone eats sweet and children get new clothes and pocket money). So all the children had they day off of school and this was the first day they could spend their pocket money. Little stand where set up all over the medina and the children where running wild. Or maybe I should say the little boys where running wild because I never saw a single little girl. Amongst the boys the most popular toys where plastic (yet realistic) AK-47s and firecrackers. A group of boys where playing “lets make Katie pee her pants by throwing firecrackers at her while she is trying to eat” game. As you might guess…I was not a fan.


Lots of beaches, sun, crazy children, people trying to sell me things, naked Europeans, neat pottery and most importantly a break from my host family, that basically sums up my trip to Hammamet!



And because I know you all where holding your breath in anticipation, Croatia is the world champion of handball. It was another game decided on penalties and I think my host Dad went through an entire pack of cigarettes while we where watching it. I’m pretty much heartbroken…….

Handball World Cup

I’m going to make the safe bet that you haven’t been keeping tabs on the world cup of handball. I on the other hand have been watching around two hours of this sport a day. Tunisia is dominating at the games. Only eight countries play in this off the wall sport and they get eliminated after playing in brackets like the football world cup. Right now is the semi-final bracket with Sweden, Croatia, Denmark and Tunisia who is so far undefeated.

For all of you so called sports fans who have not been enlightened about the mystical sport of handball let me help you. Its not all 5000 dollar contracts and Swedish cheerleaders, it’s a serious sport that begins with training at childhood. The players use all of their doge ball skills and need to be well versed in the arts of running, jumping and throwing. The ball is the size of a mini-soccer ball and is gripped by the players who can take three steps without dribbling and pass in powerful throws reminiscent of your most scaring childhood monkey in the middle games. There is something resembling a three-point line around the goal and the opposing teams members cannot take a step inside of this line and must take leaps in the air to make attempts on goal.
My personal favorite part of the sport is the penalty shots, it is here that the game shines in all of its elementary school glory. The goalie tries to make himself as big as possible while the player taking the shot tries to fake him out multiple times (and I mean multiple like six or seven, its pretty hilarious), then once he finally makes the shot the goalie jumps in the air and throws out a random leg in a half split and tries to knock out the ball, surprisingly they are often successfully.

So if anyone happens to be around Sweden metropolitan area tomorrow I highly recommend attending the finals of the world cup of Handball it will be Croatia v. Tunisia and I’m sure the players would enjoying seeing someone other than their mothers in the stands.*


Speaking of mothers (poor transition I know) but here is a picture of my host Mom and her two sisters making the traditional treats for the end of Ramadan.
P.S- I promise my weekend holiday update will come soon, I just had to share my handball stories today instead.

*I make fun of the game but too bad I was yelling at the T.V in broken Arabic today during the Tunisia, Denmark game(Lay, Lay! Montaz!). It was pretty intense, the game ended in pretty much the most amazing event of the sporting world- the handball shoot out.

Boring Rant About Tunisian Higher Education

Ten million people, twenty-five percent off which are under the age of fourteen, populate the country of Tunisia. The median age is twenty-eight, this places a huge strain on the education system. The county can’t seem to build enough schools and universitys are being hit the hardest with a average class size of fifty. The language institute was built for 2,000 people but right now its enrollment is around 6,000. The university’s of Tunisia are very different then the colleges of America. A single campus is spread out all over the city. For example the school I attend at the language institute is one small part of the University of the 7th of November. Which is one of thirteen public universities in Tunisia. If a student gains admittance into one of these schools their tuition is completely covered. Admittance completely depends on a single test called the baccalaureate. Each test covers all of the subjects covered in secondary school including math, philosophy, foreign languages, science (if you chose to study it in secondary school) and geography. These tests take place after the forth level of secondary school (its much more common for students to fail a grade in Tunisia then the States) and the entire nation holds their breath as students take exams.
When the results of these exams return the students pick which fields they would like to study based on their scores. For example you need the highest scores to pursue the medical fields or engineering so if a student gets their results and sees that they didn’t make a certain bracket they wont even list certain occupations. Then in order of scores the students are gone through and placed in their first choice until it is full and so on until all of the schools are full. The first five choices Tunisian students placed in are; business and management, computer science, engineering, arts and humanities and then languages. They say that it is a mistake that so many students end up in arts and humanities and those schools are usually used as places to throw the leftover students. These numbers don’t reflect the vast amount of students who attend the 24 Institutes of Technological studies like my host cousin.
Education at the standard state schools is extremely difficult. Of all the university students in Tunisia only 14% reach graduation. You must pass difficult exams to move from one year to the next and the average time to gain a four-year degree is six years. The government is on the verge of changing all the programs to three-years and therefore making it so more students can graduate and that it will lighten the financial load on the country. The government has also decided on the laughable decree of adding 1000 new opinions for students to major in so more students will get their first or second choice.
Upon hearing our guest speaker talk about Tunisian higher education I am even more thankful that I was born and educated in America. My SAT scores where fair but less than stellar. As you know have major problems with spelling and handwriting, a trait that would hamper my writing scores. Most of all I enjoy freedom, the freedom to go to a university and major in liberal arts. The freedom to take classes like Arabic which in no way relate to my future career and the freedom to chose my own direction in life. If I had taken the baccalaureate the person grading my test would take one look at my handwriting and stick me in business. There would be no chance to climb my own mountains, and to major in something more difficult for me but something that I truly love. I think the country of Tunisia is only hurting its self by separating its population from its passions.

Weekend Update

This weekend was the end of Ramadan and we had a five day weekend to celebrate. A group of nine of us went to the resort town of Hammermet. It was a great break from my family and school. Tomorrow I have my first Arabic exam and then after that I promise to make a big update with pictures, until then I just wanted to check in with everyone. I'm safe and I had a crazy time this weekend.Also I am officially half way done with the program!
I miss everyone and thanks for reading my blog!

Dogs, Cats and Rams...oh my?

There is a wolf pack living on my street.
Ok, It’s more like four homeless dogs that live in the three half built houses that surround mine. In Tunisia the idea of pets is pretty strange, only the rich own a dog and having a cat for a pet is laughable. I personal have a entire family(who I’ve named) who lives underneath my window.
As for the idea of animal control, Tunisians don’t have anything like a pound. When I asked my host cousin what they did with the all the extra dogs the answer was one of the most darkly comic things I have ever heard.
In the summer months men driving a large van roam up and down the streets. When these men find a dog they jump out of they van and shoot it. They shoot the dog with a handgun in the street! They don’t take the dog into the van and then kill it, they shoot it in the street. Amira was telling me that they don’t always hit the dog the first time and will run after it on foot, shooting at the animal! I hope you understand what I mean by darkly comic.
Another common animal practice is ram fighting. Its just like cock fighting except with rams. It’s legal and very regulated with many different leagues. I walked past one of these rams training the other day and I wish I could have taken a picture because the rams are painted with patterns and bright colors. This one I saw had orange stripes all over him.
Us in America have such a different image of animals and their rights. In a country with great poverty the idea of spending government money on wild cats and dogs is out of place. I obviously disagree with this awful treatment of animals but when my host cousin heard that I knew many families that chose to have Dogs instead of children, she was disgusted. She said that it was the most selfish thing that she had ever heard. “If you are blessed enough to be in love and can afford to have children then it is a great disservice to God if you don’t have them.” While I don’t know if I agree with this either, I am fascinated by the difference in Tunisian and American values.

This picture is of the happiest puppy I have ever seen. He lived behind a restaurant near Douga and would wag his tail so hard that he would fall over <3!

One month down...

Well I have survived my first month. I can’t believe that I have only seven weeks to go!

I haven’t been going on too many adventures, Its still Ramadan and people are constantly exhausted. I was planning on going to a football game but it was rained out.
And by rain- I mean monsoon. The past two days it was been monsooning at night. Sheets of rain with endless thunder for around five hours each night. Today we lost power but regained it in less than an hour. Tunisian streets are not adapted for such high quantities of rain and flooding is a major problem. Last night we drove to Grandmas house ON THE MEDIAN…yes. The median of the freeway, the actual street had around two feet of water covering it and objects where floating by us as we drove.

Magically most of it was gone this morning so I could go to Saturday class. Our teacher has been killing me with class lately the past three days I have had six straight hours of Arabic. Six… is too much. I really can’t handle one more second of class or studying. Which is perfect timing because we have an exam next week (I think, Tunisian schools aren’t organized like they are in the west. The only rule about exams is you have to tell your students at least a day before. Other than that its all free game.)

The largest difference between Tunisian and American schools is the lack of choice. When each student is 15 they make a choice whether they wish to study sciences or languages (although everyone learns English, French and Arabic). At the age of 18 they take the baccalaureate exams. This single test determines what schools they can attend and what feilds they can study. My host cousin wanted more than anything to be a doctor however she didn’t place high enough in her philosophy exams and that brought down her total score. She is now attending the school of telecommunications. I think this is system only hold the country down. Students work harder in subjects they truly care about. If I would have taken such tests I doubt I would even attend college due to my problems with handwriting and spelling. By placing such weight on the single exam Tunisia is missing out on many bright students and forcing others into careers without passion which can only bring them limited success.


The picture is the view from my widow. From which I sing songs and watch the crazy men make e-brake turns in the roundabout everyday at 7.

To anyone who wishes to Write me..

I'm not going to give away my address on this blog but simply email me if you need it. If you have already tried to send me a letter I will not get it. In Tunisia the Post Office will only give letters to the people who are registered to live at the house.
DO NOT PUT MY NAME ANYWHERE ON THE LETTER.
Instead address the letter to my host father.
I'm sorry for all the confusion and If you ask me for the correct address and name of my host father I will email it to you.

Thanks!

Edit- I've received Grandmas letter but no one else's. I really have no idea how the system works....

Katie Update

Hello everyone! Sorry its been so long since I last updated, it seems like some weeks I can use the internet every day and others like it doesn’t even exist.

Lately it seems all I have been doing is going to school and sitting around at home. School is…fine. We are supposed to have Arabic for a hour and a half each day but our teacher decided we need help and upped our hours to four each day. It pretty much makes me die a little. Believe it or not I can get overdosed on Arabic. I guess I forgot how much I hated learning the language in the states and thought it would be better over here. Wrong! Oh well, when I am done with these next seven weeks I never have to take Arabic ever again (OSU doesn’t offer a 3rd year).

Other than class I have been doing nothing with my host family. This can be very boring but I usually have enough homework to eat up the time. I’ve made it halfway through Ramadan and I believe if I can make it through the next two weeks, we will start going on field trips again and life will speed up a little. As for this weekend Friday night I went to the American Embassy for Happy Hour (Yeah I had no idea they offered that ether) and last night I went ‘out’ to a café with my host sisters. Tonight we are all going over to Grandmothers house because a Uncle who lives in Canada surprised everyone by flying down and we are going to have a feast in his honor (more food? What a surprise…).
I miss everyone so much! As I said before I can’t wait for the end of Ramadan because I’m sure the trips will cut down on the boredom factor. Until then my friend is loaning me Mitchners “Hawaii” which will give me something to do other than watch Deal or no deal (which I caught a video of by they way!).

<3

Katie

Dating and Living with a Conservative Tunisian Family

Before I type a single word I want to say all that I have learned has come from interactions with my host family. This paper reflects only one Tunisian family and is by no means an attempt to generalize.

My host cousin is just about the kindest person you could ever hope to meet. She has a great gift for languages, memorizing any English spelling I tell her instantly. Last night we were speaking about how we where both a little bored and the fact slipped out that she hadn't gone out with her friends in over two years. I was completely shocked and inquired why this was so. She told me that her mother hasn't allowed her out of the house without her brother for many years, this includes everything from meeting a group at the café's to walking to the store at night. These rules are the same for all female members of her extended family. Every night she stays at home and watches her brothers go out. She is denied the independence that Americans associate with adolescence. None of the younger women (age 19-23) I have spoken too can drive whereas all the young men can. Part of the reason for this is high price of a license (500 d) but the greater reason is separate world of young men and women.
In the west a child slowly moves out from under their parents control with age. They either go to a university or move out and begin a job. In Tunisia adulthood is pushed back until after marriage. The children will live at home until then and when they live under their parent's roof they are held to strict rules. At the age of 19 and 20 women cant leave the house and they often have “secret boyfriends”. These boyfriends would be described as simply friends by western standards. They meet with their boyfriends about once a week in a public place. The Tunisian women I have spoken too have dated their boyfriends for over a year and they have never experienced a long kiss. This is something that should be saved for marriage. Last night my host sister, her two cousins and I went out to a café. During our stay she noticed some of her friends from school walk in the door. She went over to the group and talked to them a while and when she returned she was grilled by her male cousin aka chaperone. This grilling was killing me, it took all of my self control not to yell at him that is was none of his business if his cousin spoke to a boy, she was 19 and had to start making her own choices. This was our chaperone whom wouldn't even let us three girls get coffee alone. I sat in silence for a while and let my American values sulk for the moment, watching the other Tunisian young women (some around 14-16) smoke and chat with men, I discovered that my culture shock was made much worse by living with such a conservative family.
When my host Grandmother was married she never saw her husband until after the wedding. This was in the 1950's the same time my grandparents would go out for drinks and dancing (something that my host sister and cousin have never done). Its only natural that the nature of physical relationships “progressed” more slowly than those in the west.
Living with a family in nonwestern culture has shattered my mental conceptions of the world over and over again. Living with no other Americans is very difficult for travel and often very lonely but I am thankful for it, not for the language aspect but for the fact that I truly am living a new life instead of taking a vacation.

Me: I've always thought that I was conservative when it comes to relationships but I guess I'm kinda a tramp.
Cousin: (laughs) Welcome to the family.