A month after the fall Oregon State study abroad program participants had flown home, my parents left as well. I was now alone in Tunisia. However, I soon found myself with friends once more. Jeff Kerby, an English professor at the University of Gabes moved in with me in Tunis. He would come once or twice a week from the south to take classes at the University of Manar near to our apartment. Other international and local people also became friends. We quickly found ourselves in many adventures that mostly concentrated in the south of Tunisia. You see, most houses in Tunisia don’t have heat. And a winter in Tunisia without heat can be quite miserable.
Eid Kabir – The feast of the sacrifice is celebrated at my house. I participate in the slaughter of the ram. NOTE: GRAPHIC SHEEP SLAUGHTER PHOTOS AHEAD.
Jeff’s Studies – Jeff was in the middle of a bunch of exams for his master’s degree program.
A Weekend Away from Tunis with Xiyun – We got out of town for a little southern pick-me-up. Along the way we had some good food and saw some funny things.
- El Jem – We saw the coliseum and museum in El Jem and ate in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant after the first restaurant we went to tried to give us an outrageously priced menu.
- Sfax – We stayed in a hotel in the center of the Medina aptly named the Medina Hotel. The next morning we woke up and explored the Medina seeing many of the locations where such movies as The English Patient were shot.
- Monastir – The holy grail of Tunisian cinematography is located in Monastir. Scenes from Monty Python’s Life of Brian were shot here.
Exploring the West with Xiyun – The west bade us visit. We hitchhiked, ate questionable and highly delicious food, and saw sights that the average tourist or Tunisian never would experience.
- Dougga – Xiyun’s first exposure to the ruins of Dougga and our first adventure with hitchhiking.
- Le Kef – We huff and puff up the hill to see the citadel.
- Haidra – Several louage rides put us on the border with Algeria at the Roman site of Haidra. The Tunisian national guard was not expecting our arrival.
The Grand Erg Oriental and the Tataouine District – Xiyun, Maciej, Marie, and I headed south to the great sand sea in a rented Peugeot 206 hatchback. If the car still lives, I would not recommend renting the silver one from TopCar at the Tunis airport.
- Matmata – We drove to the Starwars Hotel to see where Luke Skywalker grew up and got to check out a Trogolodyte home in the process.
- Douz to Ksar Ghilane – We woke up in Douz to a cloudy sky and hazy air. This was strong indication to me of an impending sandstorm in Douz and most likely a sandstorm already underway down south in Ksar Ghilane.
- Ksar Ghilane – Some would have you believe the pipeline road to Algeria is a rough gravel affair more suited to military convoys than hatchbacks. The tour guides plying the route in their land cruisers were not happy when we ruined that illusion. Our car was not happy when we drove it into a sandstorm. Our lungs were not happy when we wandered out of the oasis into the storm.
- Walking Around The Oasis – The only other car in town was a broken down 1950’s vintage Renault station wagon that was the mere carcass of an automobile.
- Visiting the Roman Fort in a Sand Storm – Maciej and I gathered a few supplies including a single bottle of water and headed out into the sandstorm.
- Nighttime Hot Springs – The water was wonderfully warm. We jumped in and swam and played under the night sky.
- Morning in the Oasis – Xiyun and I got up at about 530 to go out and watch the sun rise over the desert. The sun never rose. Instead, a dark sky slowly turned gray.
- To Tataouine – We jumped on the gravel road heading toward Benni Kadech. A patch of wet sand stopped our progress.
- Tataouine and Around -After several hours of off-road driving, we reached pavement. We found the correct road and headed off toward Ksar Haddada and the Starwars Hotel built in an old Ksar.
- El Jem – A brief stop at El Jem for lunch and a tour allowed us to cough up some of the sand of the Saharan storm.
Assault on Jebel Bou Kornine – Marie, Tish, and I went on a little mountain trek up Jebel Bou Kornine. When we started, we didn’t realize how much the military didn’t want us up there.
Second Letter Home – I send a letter home to everyone in America.