Hello from Tunisia
Pictire: I asked permission to take this photo in the medina in Sfax. The vendor agreed but apparently didn't want to be in the picture himself. He seemed pleased with the photo when I showed it to him though. I often took pictures without asking and showed people the result, and they were usually bemused.
Click here to see my Ofoto album from Mahdia
Click here to see our Ofoto album from Sfax
I’d first like to say how much I enjoyed working with the dedicated educators I met in Mahdia. Many were sceptical of what I was teaching at first but by the end of two weeks feedback I was getting on the training was overwhelmingly positive. I feel that I made many friends there and have found potential collaborators and colleagues for our online Webheads projects. I think our teaching goals and methods were very compatible, and my contribution was probably to show a way they hadn’t thought of before to achieve those goals in online interactions with students.
I left the Institute Superior des Etudes Technologiques at the first opportunity on Saturday so as to check out of the Topkapi Beach Hotel that day and be on my way with my family. We had found Mahdia to be a pleasant place perhaps to live, quiet, friendly, attractively situated, near-constant summer sun, but our apt at the resort was close to the animations, always loud and always the same program each evening, and the food there was getting redundant. We were eager to move on.
We packed light and walked to the luage station (luage is the share-taxi system in Tunisia). We met Mhmd there, returning to Tatouine, and we shared a ride with him as far as Sfax, where we hopped off to take a hotel near the medina and spend the night. The medina in Sfax is quite impressive. We have been to many in many parts of the Arab world over the past several decades: Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Jerusalem, and so on. In Morocco if you venture into the old cities of Marrakesh or Fez you will be pestered the whole time by people wishing to guide you or push you into shops or rip you off in some way, constantly. So we were a little wary in Sfax when someone suggested we climb a stairway to get a better view of the Grande Mosque. He turned out to be genuinely friendly, introducing us upstairs to everyone in a cramped workshop of cobblers, and suggested a photo but only as a friendly gesture. The people we met in the covered bazaars there were equally friendly, happily posing for photos, including us in the way they went about their business, but never pushy. Too bad Morocco is not like that, as it would then be a nice place to visit. Tunisia has its occasional beggars and kids asking for bon bons, but if the rest of the country has people as winningly friendly as those in Mahdia and Sfax, then we have discovered a charming destination indeed.
We followed the lead of the Lonely Planet for finding a place to stay and eat. The map of Sfax helped us orient quickly, but not much else in the book was accurate. We avoided the hotel Alexander because the guidebook said it was noisy on Saturday nights, then went back there for entertainment, and found it quiet and none of the promised local music. Our hotel on the other hand developed a bad case of loud music and at 11 pm we went down to investigate. It turns out that Sat night is the evening for marriage and engagement parties. We went walking the peaceful streets and easily located others. The crowds at these events welcomed us in and let us listen to the singers and pulsating ululating music. This must have prompted the warning about the Alexander we thought. It stopped about 1 am at our hotel and we slept till 8 next morning when street noises began.
We’re moving on again today, Tousir or Tatouine, not sure. More later. Stay tuned.
Click here to see my Ofoto album from Mahdia
Click here to see our Ofoto album from Sfax
I’d first like to say how much I enjoyed working with the dedicated educators I met in Mahdia. Many were sceptical of what I was teaching at first but by the end of two weeks feedback I was getting on the training was overwhelmingly positive. I feel that I made many friends there and have found potential collaborators and colleagues for our online Webheads projects. I think our teaching goals and methods were very compatible, and my contribution was probably to show a way they hadn’t thought of before to achieve those goals in online interactions with students.
I left the Institute Superior des Etudes Technologiques at the first opportunity on Saturday so as to check out of the Topkapi Beach Hotel that day and be on my way with my family. We had found Mahdia to be a pleasant place perhaps to live, quiet, friendly, attractively situated, near-constant summer sun, but our apt at the resort was close to the animations, always loud and always the same program each evening, and the food there was getting redundant. We were eager to move on.
We packed light and walked to the luage station (luage is the share-taxi system in Tunisia). We met Mhmd there, returning to Tatouine, and we shared a ride with him as far as Sfax, where we hopped off to take a hotel near the medina and spend the night. The medina in Sfax is quite impressive. We have been to many in many parts of the Arab world over the past several decades: Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Jerusalem, and so on. In Morocco if you venture into the old cities of Marrakesh or Fez you will be pestered the whole time by people wishing to guide you or push you into shops or rip you off in some way, constantly. So we were a little wary in Sfax when someone suggested we climb a stairway to get a better view of the Grande Mosque. He turned out to be genuinely friendly, introducing us upstairs to everyone in a cramped workshop of cobblers, and suggested a photo but only as a friendly gesture. The people we met in the covered bazaars there were equally friendly, happily posing for photos, including us in the way they went about their business, but never pushy. Too bad Morocco is not like that, as it would then be a nice place to visit. Tunisia has its occasional beggars and kids asking for bon bons, but if the rest of the country has people as winningly friendly as those in Mahdia and Sfax, then we have discovered a charming destination indeed.
We followed the lead of the Lonely Planet for finding a place to stay and eat. The map of Sfax helped us orient quickly, but not much else in the book was accurate. We avoided the hotel Alexander because the guidebook said it was noisy on Saturday nights, then went back there for entertainment, and found it quiet and none of the promised local music. Our hotel on the other hand developed a bad case of loud music and at 11 pm we went down to investigate. It turns out that Sat night is the evening for marriage and engagement parties. We went walking the peaceful streets and easily located others. The crowds at these events welcomed us in and let us listen to the singers and pulsating ululating music. This must have prompted the warning about the Alexander we thought. It stopped about 1 am at our hotel and we slept till 8 next morning when street noises began.
We’re moving on again today, Tousir or Tatouine, not sure. More later. Stay tuned.
