In two weeks I will be embarking on a three month adventure in Tunisia! I am planning on documenting my trip on this blog and to get us ready, I thought it would be fun to post a few letters that I sent to family and
friends the last time I went.

I left the typing as is to show my confusion with the style of keyboard that I couldn’t figure out.

🙂

“Salam from Tunis!”
September 30, 2008

Salam alaikum
I just wanted everyone to know that we made it to Tunis
Everyone is happy and the girls love it here:
I will send a better letter later.
take care
Eid Mubarak
Ma salema

“First Impressions”

October 2, 2008

Salam alaikum!

The first impressions of Tunis have been quite cute….. Huda really likes it here but is still getting used to no toilet paper…. When asked if she thinks Tunis is neat the reply was ” I don’ think it’s neat that there is no toilet paper”  She is happy that YES there are cars here and there are ample goodies to  eat… We are working on the spicy foods… She is trying.

I have finally gotten a chance to relax… I am so happy, Maher and I have been able to go and hang out and not worry and Huda has so ,uch ,ore freedom here.

The most shocking things I have seen so far are:

•  a 2yr old child standing in the back seat of the car while the mom was driving…..
• The funniest thing I have seen was when I was looking out on the balcony a  man was coming down our street and someone threw their garbage bag from the balcony above….The man was so confused….
• The funniest thing that happened this week is that apparently a woman fell into a manhole (ie raw sewage) and the police and ambulance and fire came to get her out….. I love this crazy place….

We spent Eid with family and we are having a fun time. Huda got money as per the tradition….  and many people came to visit;

So far I think Maher’s family is learning more English than Huda has learnt Arabic…. She will be going to preschool and I think  that will help a lot.

We have mostly stayed downtown, however, today I got to go to Carthage and another beautiful area (not sure the name)

I havenùt really taken pictures yet cause I keep forgetting….Incha Allah soon

Take care
hugs and kisses
Tunsi halua barcha
salam alaikum

Derba

Ruins in Carthage Photo taken from http://www.historvius.com/carthage-32/

“Tim Horton’s”

October 20, 2008

Salam alaikum,
sorry to everyone, it’s super hard for me to get downstairs and check my email…..dont worry we are safe and alive. Huda is going to school everyday her Arabic is coming along, the babie’s totally understand and are having a great time. I have realised that I actually have a pretty good vocab in Arabic….my problem is sentence structure. I am hoping to start school soon, I am thinking about going for ‘4 hours a week this should push me to where I want to go.
Huda has finally stopped asking for Tim bits…LOL
Friday all the girls got their ears pierced. Acia went with my sister-in-law. Then I took Rayan, she only cried for a few seconds. After I picked up Huda from school I took her shopping, we decided to get hers done as well. I have never heard someone scream like that in my life. You would think we were torturing her. After the first ear she ran out into the street screaming…..I couldn’t help but laugh… It took me five minutes to get her back into the room. I tried to send her in with my sister-in-law, but to no avail. Before he could do the other ear she came running out again… So I calmed her down and bribbed her with pizza and she went in reluctantly. I told her she could scream, trust me….she did! I have never laughed that hard….OK, not in a long time anyways.
Saturday night we took Huda and the babies to Dah Dah (a year round carnival). Huda had a great time on all of the rides, the babies were running around having a great time.
Sunday we went to a place called Korbus….. It is so beautiful there. It is a very scenic route; very picturesque. To the right is the ocean and to the left is a beautiful mountain… We went there to go to a Hammam that gets its water from a Hot spring. It felt so nice. Afterwards we had a picnic at the base of the mountain, watched some crazies try and drive over a boulevard to a lookout that is closed off to cars. Then this women tried to trade one of her sons for Rayan LOL… After my mother-in-law let her down she gave us some nice homemade bread.
I am basically spending my days with the babies and helping my mother-in-law as
much as I can.
Write to me soon I miss you all….**

Love Debra

This picture is from a  trip I took through the Atlas Mountains on the way to the Sahara Dessert in 2008. It is a mountain range that spans from Tunisia to Algeria and I believe also Morocco.

“Scorpions in my Bed”

November 21, 2008

Salam alaikum,
sorry I haven’t written in so long. A month ago I got pretty sick, and then the  same week we went to a small town before I could get back online.
We went to a place called Methouia, it’s a small city of 10 000 people. I had a  really nice time, it was super relaxing. I was really happy that I got to spend a good amount of time with more of the family.
We got to do a bit of touring around, we went to a place called Matmatta? its a neat place where the locals live in houses carved into rock. We checked out a hotel that is built the same way. We did some off roading and I kept smacking my head on the window, luckily I found a hard hat and mad much use of it.
The following weekend Maher,s cousins had a big party because someone was sick and then got better. so they slaughtered a lamb and had lot’s of family over.
We did a lot of hanging out and daily stuff. We went to a place called Gabes, it is a bigger city with really good shopping. Maher’s mom showed me their apartment building there; It is now abandoned because it was hit by a plane during the second world war. The damage was too expensive to fix and not worth it as the apartment would be rented out for 50 bucks a month: It was really cool though. there were 2 one bedroom apartments with a huge skylight in the middle/ again, I didn’t have my camera.

Sorry the email is not written very well but I don’t have much time. I will write again soon.                                                                                       We have now moved to another house and I don’t have the internet there….. We really                                                                                     miss everyone and we are now home sick OFFICIALLY.

PS There weren’t scorpions in my bed but there was one hiding under a rug, al humdulileh we found it.

Please write to me because I miss everyone so much.
Love Derba

Camel Trekking in Douz. That is my Camel

Oasis in the centre square in Tozeur. Local showing how he climbs the date palms.  It was really cool!

Olives in the oasis.

My daughter at the ruins in Sbeitla.

Looking forward to sharing the upcoming adventures with you 🙂