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…….