Taxi Ride, Home to School

This video was taken while we were in a taxi, that we caught on the highway near our home. We are taking the main route to school so you will be able to get a better idea of what our bigger environment looks like. It continues from where the "Walk to Taxi" videos left off. (I just added the 3rd and final installment of "Walk to Taxi" so watch that one first if you haven't already.) If you get motion sick this video might not be for you, the taxi was quite bumpy and so is the video.

1 Taxi



2 Taxi



3 Taxi



4 Taxi



5 End of the Ride

A "New" Car!

A "New" Car, older then the one I just sold!

Specs-
- black
- AC (not currently working)
- minor dents (other cars sometimes get in the way)
- Cover over steering wheel (cars steering wheels are not built for the heat, they are all peeling)
- 176,000 km about 109,000 miles
- 2002
- VW Polo

= exploration and freedom!

More Videos

Our last week has been very busy. The contents of which will fill multiple posts, but I am going to forgo details at the moment and attempt to finish loading the videos that are on this (school) computer.

1 Walk to Taxi

2 Walk to Taxi



3 Walk to Taxi

Hello,

I have not really gotten the chance to make a post. Good thing I brought Simon along or you would all be extremely disappointed in me.

Tonight was finally what I would consider a successful night. We took the school bus today after school back to La Kram to the Orange shop. Nice school bus holds about 20 people and takes most people, kids and staff, home to their front door. It took us most of the way to the Orange shop. We then caught a short taxi ride, then we were back at our favorite store. 10 minute wait a little English a little French and we walked out the door with a cle "key" in hand.

Success!

School has been keeping me very busy, but I have been keeping up. I think Simon is a little sick of me wanting to go to bed at eight. I do usually make it until 9:30. I know, real late. I am really enjoying all of my children.

Just to give you an idea of the typical week schedule, they have so many electives here. A little longer of a day but less time in one classroom.

Every morning a beautiful alarm goes off, a horrible ring tone on my phone at 5:45. The alarm clock that we brought doesn't work here and haven't been able to find a replacement. Gwen, the wonderful librarian picks us up and takes us to school. We arrive to school a little before 7:00!

Monday
8:00-9:00 Reading Workshop
9:00-9:40 Library
9:40-10:00 Recess/snack
10:00-11:00 Math
11:00-11:20 Word Study
11:20-11:40 Dear "Silent Reading"
11:40-12:20 French
12:20-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-2:00 Science
2:10-2:50 Computers
2:50-3:00 Pack up and go home

Tuesday
8:00-9:00 Writers Workshop
9:00-9:40 PE
9:40-10:00 Recess/snack
10:00-11:00 Math
11:00-11:20 Word Study
11:20-11:40 Dear "Silent Reading"
11:40-12:20 French
12:20-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-2:00 Social Studies
2:10-2:50 Music
2:50-3:00 Pack up and go home

Wednesday
8:00-9:00 Readers Workshop
9:00-9:40 Writers Workshop
9:40-10:00 Recess/snack
10:00-11:00 Math
11:00-11:40 Art
11:40-12:20 French
12:20-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-1:50 Science
1:50-2:00 Pack up and go home

Thursday
8:00-9:00 Readers Workshop
9:00-9:40 Writers Workshop
9:40-10:00 Recess/snack
10:00-11:00 Math
11:00-11:20 Word Study
11:20-11:40 Dear "Silent Reading"
11:40-12:20 French
12:20-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-2:00 Social Studies
2:10-2:50 Art
2:50-3:00 Pack up and go home

8:00-9:00 Readers Workshop
9:00-9:40 Handwriting
9:40-10:00 Recess/snack
10:00-11:00 Math
11:00-11:40 Music
11:40-12:20 PE
12:20-1:00 Lunch/Recess
1:00-2:00 Science
2:10-2:50 Arabic/German/Classroom work (they have one of the three options)
2:50-3:00 Pack up and go home

Have you ever heard of so many electives in second grade? Most students are fluent in two or three languages and are learning another language such as Arabic or French. Music, Art, PE twice a week, french four times a week, and library and computers once a week. Slightly different then the Seattle public school electives.

Simon is currently doing our first load of laundry at our new house. Necessary materials include a ton of dirty underwear and sock, laundry soap, large bathtub, and a few nice strings (a.k.a drying lines). Well at least there was soap involved, we will smell nice.

FYI
- When you come to visit cut back on tuna before you come. Tuna is on everything. For dinner tonight we got two calzones one pizza and one regular. They both came with Tuna. Every place you go to there is tuna on the menu. Tuna pizza is a big hit! Not sure if it is for me yet.

- Sorry temporarily miss placed the cord to allow us to post pictures

Internet...

Finding a way to have consistent internet access when we are not at school has become our first real challenge. At the same time it has given us a more realistic view into the life of a local Tunisian.

I think I explained the process for receiving telephone and internet at our house. It is a multi-step process with periods of unknown waiting in between. As far as we know we are still on the first step. Seeing no progress in the near future we have begun attempting a new way to gain access. Other expats have had success with the purchase of a 3g USB dongle from the French provider called Orange. The Key, as it is called, is a cell based service much like in the states, but there is no contract as you prepay each month you want to use it.

Two days ago, one of Kaylee's coworkers (who happens to speak English, French, and Arabic) was going to the Orange store to purchase a new sim card for her key and invited us to join so that she could help with translation. She had tried the store closest to school the previous day and was told she had to go to the La Marsa Orange desk. So after school we caught a cab and rode for 15 minutes into La Marsa. Within minutes Kaylee's coworker (Mona) was informed that that location (as of last week) is now only an information desk; they don't sell products. They sent us to a bigger branch in La Kram (back the way we came). Fifteen minutes later, on our way into the big Orange store we learned that they had what both Mona and we were looking for, but ... it was inventory day so we could look but could not buy. Attempt 1 ... Failure!

Yesterday, we played pick up soccer after school and then spent a little over an hour in Kaylee's classroom using the internet to buy flights for our return over winter break (details to come.) Leaving school around 6 we headed back to La Kram (still wearing our sweaty soccer gear.) When we got there it was packed and in typical telecom fashion there was one person serving customers and three greeting them at the door. We were instructed to grab a number, ours was 123. It didn't look too bad they were already serving number 113. The number didn't change for a half an hour. We began to realize that the numbering system is not as strictly enforced as it would be at home. Taking not we edged our way to the front and when we had the chance moved in. Unfortunately, at that moment they decided to return to the number system. An hour and a half after arriving our number was called! The first thing they asked for was our passport... We hadn't heard any need to be carrying it. Fortunately, we have each been carrying a color copy of our passports in our wallet in case of emergencies. We were saved... until the guy at the counter told us that he could not use them because they were scans (technically they were just color copies, but apparently here a color copy implies a scan). It is illegal for them to accept scans of passports. If it were a black and white copy they could accept it but not a color scan! Attempt 2 ... Failure.

Today we will be leaving right after school to make our third (and hopefully final) assault on the internet stronghold code named Orange. If we are triumphant we will be adding a celebratory post later this evening.

Taking the Garbage Out

This is how to take the garbage out the Tunisian way.

Meow!

Following Posts

It is Sunday the 18th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!) and we are at school for a few hours because we don't have any internet at home yet and don't expect to have any for a while. I am going to try to post some videos today which means I am going to focus my time on that until they are all up. If they work (a big IF, I am using a school computer) and I have time I will try to go back and add some narrative.

For the next few posts I hope to include a bunch of clips that make up one longer video. I am trying this to keep the file size a little more manageable. I am not sure what order they will end up posting in so make sure to view them in numeric order. I will attempt to clearly label them.

Tour of Our New Home 1 of 4

There are 12 parts to this video if I can get them all to load properly. Make sure to watch them in order.

1 Intro

2 Front Yard

3 Living Room

Tour of Our New Home 2 of 4

There are 12 parts to this video if I can get them all to load properly. Make sure to watch them in order.

4 Kitchen

5 Back Yard

6 Stairs

Tour of Our New Home 3 of 4

There are 12 parts to this video if I can get them all to load properly. Make sure to watch them in order.

7 Guest Bedroom

8 Guest Balcony

9 Office

Tour of Our New Home 4 of 4

There are 12 parts to this video if I can get them all to load properly. Make sure to watch them in order.

10 Upstairs Landing

11 Master Bedroom

12 End of Tour

This Video is a Special Installment for Kelsey Vaughn

Kelsey this video is for you (a small gesture that Kaylee is still trying to help with your wedding.) Love you both, hope the rest of the planning is going well.

No Internet :(

We are now on our 3rd evening in our new home. The house is quite nice and the new furniture that is slowly arriving is also brand new and of decent quality. We found out yesterday that internet will be a 2-3 week endeavor to set up. At least one week to have the telephone installed (that is after the rental contract has been signed, which finally happened yesterday morning), a few days to test and make sure the telephone signal is good and then another weekish to have the internet installed. We will work on some posts as we have time between our trips to the store to continue collecting essentials. Hopefully we will have a lot ready to post when we come on line.

Random Thought:

-Shower curtains are a very underrated household item. Showering while sitting is just not as enjoyable.

New Home

We are in our new home! It is still a bit empty and needs a few critical items, but it is livable and much bigger than our previous residence. We think it is going to work out quite nicely. I am writing this in Kaylee's classroom before I head up to the finance department. We will add a new post as soon as we can. Moving into our new place will be nice for us, but not so nice for those following us as it may appear that we have gone dark for a bit. We do not have internet at home yet and do not know how long it will take to get set up. I have to go, off to "work."

The Tulip Gym

We just got back from using the Tulip gym for the first time. Besides being well equipped for a small gym you get to meet a very interesting crowd. After having been there for about a half a hour an entire soccer club came in. I would like to say that we worked out with them, but in reality they stood by the window overlooking the pool checking out the ladies. Kaylee became a model herself. She got a chance to talk to the coach after he stood literally three feet away and took a picture of her on the bike. We learned they were from west Africa, and by looking up their jerseys just now we can tell you that they were ASEC Mimosas a fairly well respected football club. Click thier name to check out their wiki article. It's not every day that you share a gym with a professional soccer team (or get photographed by their coach for that matter).

Housing Update

Kaylee just got home, and it sounds like we might get to move into our new place next Monday!

Work

Well, it happened. I guess it was inevitable. Retirement has ended as abruptly as it began. Starting Monday I will be interning (aka volunteering) in the Finance department at ACST. Although my actually position remains a bit nebulous, it sounds as though I will be assisting the previous Finance Director reconcile the master fixed assets account to begin with. From there I will be floating between the sub departments (HR, Accounting, Finance, and Acquisitions) learning a bit about how everything works and melds together and assisting where I can. The Finance Director's predecessor has been contracted to reconcile the fixed assets account because he spent the previous 5 years with ACST and hopefully has a general grasp on what has been purchased over the last few years. So far that has required him to bar-code and photograph every piece of equipment and furniture on campus. Having just finished that, I will begin helping him swim through the last ten years of purchase orders to determine each item's origin and purchase price. It sounds like it might be a bit of paper work at the beginning, and it is going to be hard to beat the vacation I have been living at the Tulip, but it will be nice to have a constructive focus (I mean other than the French and Arabic that I have been spending 4+ hours a day on).

This is now our tenth day in Tunis (and the Tulip). If I recall correctly, on our first day here we were told that our town house would be ready for us in ten days. As far as we can tell our new home will now be ready for us in... ten days. I'm not complaining, the Tulip is great, especially not ever having to cook or clean, but living out of eight unorganized duffel bags is becoming less than convenient. I took my suit out of one of the bags last night (actually out of multiple, rarely can we find what we are looking for in just one) and hung it up hoping that at least the major creases would smooth out with the help of gravity. No such luck. Hey, at least I was able to find it. Come to think of it, at least it made it here and isn't still kicking around in the back baggage room of Lufthansa somewhere in Europe.

Kaylee is really enjoying her class so far (I am sure she can elaborate with a post of her own soon). She has 13 students... 14 as of today. I am not sure where the newest student is from, but the first 13 represented 12 different countries, none of which were the U.S.. Although none of them speak English as their primary language, the vast majority speak well enough to contribute and benefit from Kaylee's instruction.

Yesterday, while Kaylee was working I joined the Bredy brothers for a trip to the Medina in downtown Tunis. The Medina was once an original walled city, from which all walled "Medinas" derive their name. It is now a bit of a tourist trap where you can purchase (or more likely grossly overpay for) all sorts of souvenirs and other "authentic Tunisian" items. It is very reminiscent of our time in the Kanakalili (spelling?) in Cairo. Gabe ended up buying a traditional Bedouin head scarf as well as a Libyan flag of the new design. Surprisingly, as multilingual as most of the shop owners are, our broken Spanish was more valuable in haggling than English. The Medina (and the rest of downtown Tunis) is located about 30-45 minutes away by commuter train. Getting on at the northern most stop in La Marsa we spent 900 milliems each to ride it to the southern most stop on the line, roughly $0.65. Not bad for 40 minute train ride.

La Medina is the bottom left market.

Random Thoughts:

- The water is pretty good. Definitely drinkable. The Tunisian water treatment leaves the water very soft. Possibly the softest water I have ever had. It tastes like...actually it has no taste whatsoever. It makes you realize how much flavor our northwest water (even the city water) has. When you drink it, especially when cold, it isn't bad and it quenches your thirst but it is absolutely flavor neutral, which makes for an interesting baseline when pared with all of the flavor rich food we have had so far.

- Tunisian driving is different. A bit more chaotic (and aggressive at times) than home, it is still quite safe which is supported by the general lack of traffic in our area. We hear that there are specific traffic laws and traffic police that will enforce them, but we haven't seen much evidence of it. They do, for the most part, obey stop lights and stop signs, but conventions like being in a specific lane to turn a specific direction are just not commonly observed. They also have a bit of intersection infrastructure that is unlike any that we have seen else where (I will try to find an aerial picture online and post it). In many places it is necessary to exit to the right in order to make a looping left across the original road. This actually works fairly well, because it prevents traffic from waiting for someone to take a left turn (and I am sure that here it prevents a lot of minor fender-benders). Seat belts in Taxis are hit and miss here. For the most part the passenger seat has an operable seat belt, but the rear seats have shoulder straps that don't have anywhere to plug them into. This questionable set up is somewhat off set by the generally slower pace with which traffic moves. It has been rare to approach speeds that we would on a day to day basis in the states. Overall, it is a bit of an experience every time you get in a taxi. Whether it is trying to convey your destination to the driver; smiling, while convincing them that we can in fact do math and that no, if I owe you three dinar and give you ten I should not receive 6 in return; or clenching just a bit as you enter a blind intersection, it's all mostly fun. Also, the key that seems to make it work (as is the case with many other countries we have been in) is a level of attentiveness by the driver that is not often found at home.

Tunisian intersection. (My artistic skills at work.)

- The French have made their language intentionally difficult to pronounce. The spelling rarely directly conveys the sound of the word. I would hate to think how difficult English would be to learn from an outsider's perspective. We are picking phrases up slowly and can now count somewhat confidently, which makes haggling that much easier and entertaining. I now have a copy of French Rosetta Stone which I have been dedicating much of my free time towards. Our goal is to know enough to be worthy tour guides when you all come to visit.

Pictures of Tunis

Just a bunch of pictures from the last few days.

Taken from the hill near the Tulip (Looking roughly North).



















From the same hill, looking roughly South East towards La Marsa (main beach in picture) and Sidi Bou Said on the hill (left edge of picture).















Tunisian coins. Their currency is called the Dinar. One Dinar is worth about $0.73. Each Dinar is made up of 1,000 milliems.














Taken from an overpass near ACST showing the general look of the area.















Also taken from the same overpass, looking the opposite direction. The road below is La Marsa highway.















Front gate at ACST.














Inside ACST.
















Inside ACST.














Room service on the deck!















More great Tunisian food! Although this is traditional Tunisian "Brik" I am pretty sure it is a French recipe. It is a light pastry with egg, cheese, and tuna filling.















Simon swimming at Gammarth Plage.














Kaylee swimming at Gammarth Plage















Gammarth Plage.














New construction in a planned community near Gammarth Plage.














This is a "before shot" so that we can compare the effect that the Tunisian sun has on my Northwestern skin.















More new construction, same area.














Walking near Gammarth Plage (you can't tell but it is mid 90's with 50% humidity, nice time for a 3 mile walk!)















Water front near Gammarth Plage.















Mediterranean sea from the top of Sidi Bou Said.














The planned community. In this pic you can see part of the private port they dug for private use.















The typical colors of Sidi Bou Said.




















Burning garbage near La Marsa plage. The Tunisians have not yet come up with a great method to dispose of their trash.















Looking out toward La Marsa Plage.
















One of Kaylee's many new best friends!














Mediterranean from Sidi Bou Said.

Maps

I was playing around with Google Earth (trying to get our bearings) and thought I would share a few maps to give everyone a better idea of exactly where we are.

The first map shows where Tunisia is in reference to the rest of the planet.

Tunisia with a pin in Tunis (The capital and our home.)


North Tunis (Current landmarks pinned in yellow.)


Overhead view of ACST (property outlined in yellow.)


Approximate location of our future townhouse (outlined in yellow.)