Teaching in Tunisia: Very Tunisian

More times than I'd like to admit, I find myself doing American things because it is what makes me think of home and enjoy American things abroad. But recently I have been doing some very Tunisian things so I thought I would share!

On Saturday, three of my friends and I went to a Hammam. No one was in there so I ran in to take pictures so I could show you the magic of a Hammam! A Hammam is very traditional and Tunisian. It is where you rinse your body with water and get scrubbed down with a mitt to remove all dead skin. You are then covered in orange scented mud over your exfolidated skin. You then rinse off. My friends and I then often put on our robes and chat while drinking tea. It is one of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning and my skin feels so smooth and I feel relaxed and rejuvenated.

Driving with the head out the window on a warmer-than-usual Winter day with the wind between her ears

On Sunday I went to the fripe with Katie and her mom, Lauren. The fripe is a clothes market where all the clothes are in piles on tables grouped by type (pants, sweaters, dresses, kid clothes, etc). Each table has a set price and everything on that table is that price. It is so fun to sort through the tables and find treasures! With the help of Lauren, I found tons of baby clothes for the hospital I volunteer at.

There is also a produce market with an amazing selection of fruits and vegetables! This was the week I had been waiting for... blood oranges are in season- finally! They make the BEST juice!

I also bought succulents that I potted and am now praying I don't kill them. We will see how long they can hold out.

Karen, Liam and I tried out a new Carrefour in the new Tunisian mall! It was new and fancy but not as good as our regular Carrefour. But we did find the largest collection of Kinder Eggs! While they are German, we find them all over here.

While she was in town visiting, Lauren came with me to volunteer at the hospital to care for the babies. It was so special to watch her love on these babies! She also donated some of our finds from the fripe.

After the fripe, we headed downtown to meet up wtih Katie to look for fabric. Karen T is getting a grogeous wool coat made so we went with her to pick out a gorgeous wool/cashmere mix!

After shopping, we had a yummy lunch downtown. It is very common to get a whole fish restaurants here bcause we are on the sea but they not normally displayed like this- love it!

My view on the way back to the car. Love the banners of Tunisian flags and splashes of blue.

One night for dinner I made ojja. It is a Tunisian specialty that is slow roasted peppers in a tomato sauce with mergez (Tunisian sausages) and eggs cooked on top. It was quite yummy!

On Thursday after work, some friends from work went to have the new mall to eat. This was next to where we ate. This is the name of the restaurant in Arabic. Recognize it?

What about now? ;)

These two beautiful ladies, Jouda and Cherihane treated us to Lablabi (pronounced Leb leb-ee). Lablabi is a traditional Tunisian soup with chickpeas and spices. Before you add the soup, you tear up pieces of bread.