In Tunisia

Hello, everyone!

I've just finished my first week in Tunisia. Tunis is a great city. Except for the creepy guys (because I am a Western female), it is very safe. The language is a bit overwhelming. I have learned an entire new alphabet this week - including a bunch of sounds that don't exist in English. I am getting the equivalent of an entire year of Arabic - over 150 classroom hours by the end of the summer, with 90 hours of tutoring. The 30 students in the CLS - Tunisia program live in a hotel with our tutors, about a 15 minute walk from CEMAT (Centre d'Etudes Maghrebines a Tunis), where we have 2.5 hours of tutoring, followed by 4 hours of class. We have 4 different Arabic teachers that cover 2 classes (2 for 1 class, 2 for the other, and they will switch in July). There is also optional tutoring in evening. I am so overwhelmed, but I don't have much of an excuse to be.

I currently have a 3 language thing going on. I speak to the people I am with in English. I am reading in both French and English. I go to Arabic class all day. I speak to the people I interact with in Tunis in French with an increasing amount of Arabic (most people don't speak English). Overall, pretty much very confusing. It's a good thing I speak French - Tunis is like a 3-D dictionary. Everything is written in French and Arabic. I am still working on sounding out the Arabic words, and I can read what they mean in French!

Tunisia is a very diverse country. In Tunis, about half the women cover their heads, and half do not. Short sleeves are common and so are skirts, as long as they reach below my knee. When I go to the resort towns on the beach, I can wear whatever I want (sleeveless shirts, even my swimsuit at the beach!). When I go south and visit Tatouine and the Berber villages (think StarWars), I will need to be more fully covered.

I now have a cell phone and wireless internet access at school. Hopefully, some of you will be lucky enough to catch me online when I am there (Skype me at mollywurzer), even though it is in the wee morning hours on US time. I also use this nifty internet cafe, where internet is free as long as I buy a drink (fresh orange juice for 60 cents?!). Hopefully, I will now be able to keep up with my blog now!