A Day's Journey to Hammamet

Today was fabulous. It was one of those days where you just meet a strange assortment of characters. I went to Hammamet by myself on the train (which I was very proud of...i like feeling independent) to take pictures of the medina for my research project. On the way there I sat next to a really nice guy who spoke very good english. first of all, he saved me from being schemed because this man had come by and dropped a paper with what looked like a sura from the qur'an on it, and it was pretty so i was about to put it in my purse. but this nice young man was kind enough to let me know that this man would be coming back to ask us to pay for the piece of paper, that it was a trick to get you to by it. so i avoided paying for some qur'anic script. then we started talking and it turned out he and his girlfriend (who he met three years ago when she was in tunisia on a study abroad program with lisbon university) were in the process of getting visas to move to Canada. So I told him I was from Canada and we talked about that for a while. All in all he was just friendly and not creepy and helped me figure out where i needed to get off to go to Hammamet.

When I got off the train I had to catch another train which would take me to Hammamet, and on this train I sat next to a very cute little boy and his mother. His mom was encouraging him to speak english to me (as in, "i am hungry" "how are you?" "I am thirsty") so i told them that i also spoke french and some arabic. but the little boy apparently did not want to speak english or arabic and proceeded to tell me in rapid arabic about his dvd "Cars." Thankfully his mother translated into french for me that this movie was about clean cars, and they had eyes to see, but they were not humans, they were machines with robots inside. it was very cute.

So when I got to Hammamet I took a taxi to Yasmine Hammamet which is the brand new super-touristy part with the fake medina. wandering through the medina was slightly frustrating because every time i stopped to take a picture, one of the vendors would try to talk to me; trying to convince me to look in their shop, trying to get my number, or joking that it cost 2 dinar to take a picture. But i did get some good pictures and a very nice man let me use the bathroom in his restaurant. Then I headed back to regular Hammamet and went to the old medina which is right on the water and surrounded by a turkish kasbah/fort. It was much nicer and more relaxed than the first one although it was still pretty touristy. Also I was kind of disgusted by these "trains" that pulled up outside bringing loads of people from Yasmine hammamet. They were essentially a bunch of golf carts strung together and painted in lurid colours. I actually saw three different ones come while I was eating lunch in a restaurant in the medina with a terrace that looked out onto the beach. It was late afternoon so I was the only one in the restaurant (which was kind of fancy...with cloth napkins folded into fans, etc) and the waiter was incredibly sweet.

From there I caught a taxi with the intent of heading back to the hammamet train station, but the driver told me the station where I had switched trains wasn't far and it would save me a lot of hassle to go directly there. The taxi driver was wonderful. He was very amused by the fact that I was an American living in Tunis who spoke french and arabic. He himself spoke arabic, french, english, german, and italian, and every time he said something would say it three languages. He was just all around a very enthusiastic, friendly person, and i enjoyed talking to him. Before I got out he gave me this pamphlet he had (which is all in Arabic) with the president on the front and told me it had information about (if I understood correctly) handicapped persons in Tunisia. I don't know exactly why he gave it to me but I could tell he was trying to be friendly so I took it and thanked him.

When I got to the train station I had to wait a while to get my ticket because there was a Spanish family in front of me who were having some difficulties in speaking with the ticket guy. But they had two of the most adorable (and well dressed) littled girls I've seen and they provided quite a lot of entertainment. Unfortunately, as I don't speak Spanish, I wasn't able to chat with them.

The train ride back was uneventful but when I got into Tunis I decided to wander around looking for some buildings with contemporary architecture. While taking a picture of a really interesting building, I noticed a police man across the street waving me over. He told me that it is forbidden to take pictures of this building...I was a little incredulous but he repeated it and i wasn't trying to mess with a police officer. So i asked him what the building was and he told me in arabic but I didn't recognize the word, and he didn't know the word in french. so i explained to him why i was taking the pictures and how i'm studying in sidi bou, etc, and he told me he might be able to help me with my research. He was very friendly and i was glad not to have had my camera taken away so i agreed to take his phone number. After chatting for a few minutes he asked me to call his phone so he would have my number, and that's when i sensed things going down hill. he told me i was very beautiful and that i should call him. literally 100 ft down the street (while on the phone with jihed) he called me TWICE, consecutively. Since then he has also sent me a text message. i'm just hoping he'll get the idea if i don't respond. but seriously! a police officer!

anyway, that was my day. i had a lot of fun, and it was really exciting to practice so much of my arabic. now down to the business of writing a 25 page paper...