Ok so i've been failing miserably at keeping up with this blog. But things have been a little hectic the past couple weeks since coming back from the northern excursion. We officially finished classes this friday and are now starting our independent research projects which are due may 8th. I have decided to study architecture in Tunisia, specifically the juxtaposition of contemporary and traditional architectural styles in the public sphere. I'm excited about it because I do love architecture and I think it will be interesting to tie it into the popular culture and anthropology based discussions we've been having in our classes. However I am really nervous because I've never had to write a paper this long (20 pages) and I'm not so great at time management.

In other news, I met a really great guy. He is Tunisian and his name is Jihed. He is studying in Carthage at the finances school and eventually wants to go into the microfinancing sector. He is an incredibly talented metal musician, writes for a metal webzine, reads french existentialist writers, is obsessed with the documentary zeitgeist, and the list could go on. Basically he is so smart and fun and I've been having a great time hanging out with him. I feel kind of bad though because I have not been in the house a lot and I hope that my host family is not getting annoyed by it.

Last night Jihed, his roommate, my friend Rachel, and I all went to see Anouar Braham in concert. He is a Tunisian eud player and composer and played with a bassist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist. The concert was breathtaking. His music might be best described as arab influenced jazz (?) and he played some music off his new album coming out in august. He is probably the most internationally known Tunisian musicians so it was really an incredible experience to see him in Tunisia, surrounded by Tunisians.

Yesterday afternoon I had another interesting cultural experience: going to the women's hamem (public baths) with my host mom. At first it was really overwhelming and intimidating but eventually I became more comfortable and really enjoyed it. It was so interesting to me to be in a place where there was absolutely no sense of modesty or shame about one's body (everyone was wearing only underwear) because in the public sphere, modesty is still somewhat expected. For example, my host mother does not wear a head scarf while in the house, but if someone rings the doorbell, she rushes to cover her hair before they come in, even though most visitors to our house are family. So it is just strange to me that covering one's hair is so important (mostly just among the older generations) yet there is no feeling of uncomfort in being essentially naked in front of complete strangers. In the US it's the complete opposite; women can walk around in tiny tank tops and tiny shorts but somehow it is taboo to be seen naked by anyone other than your immediate family or your partner. Anyway, I just found the whole experience fascinating. Plus there is a woman in the hamem who gives you a really intense exfoliating scrub which hurts a lot when she's doing it, but is really refreshing afterwards.

So that's about all that's new in my life here. My host sister's birthday is this tuesday so I am planning on making her cherry and pistachio cupcakes. I miss baking so it should be fun, I just hope I can figure out the names of the ingredients in french. I will try to be better about updating this now that I have more freetime...