Emmy material

Ok, maybe I'm too gung-ho to join the make fun of Palin bandwagon, but it's just too easy! SNL at its finest and making my sides ache..
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/?dst=nbcwidgetNBC%20Video&__source=nbcwidgetNBC%20Video

Little Birthday Celebration

Not being a big fan of my birthday in general and especially not during Ramadan, I still managed to have a lovely little birthday. Day started off badly, but ended up great, complete with a bouquet of roses, an amazing Ramadan meal with my closest friends here, a lemon cheesecake birthday cake and champagne (given to us awhile ago for our house warming party).

Dinner was at my dear friend Lamia's who's family is really my family here. I teach english to her oldest son, know and love her entire extended family, do 'couples' nights with her and her husband who is hilarious, i'm there at least twice a week for dinner and I love her daughter as if she were my own (in picture). Her name is Rania and she is absolutely the most adorable and intelligent 1 and a half year old i have ever met- although she can be quite destructive and has a tendancy to grab at breasts which has caused a few awkward moments! I always say that she will either cure cancer or AIDS or she will start WW3 considering her intelligent cunning and sniper like reflexes. But she does bring a lot of laughs! Ah, and i've taught her to say 'Hi pretty'!

This may sound weird, but friends know that i've always said that I plan to adopt children, whether i have 'my own' as well someday is another question, but I've always felt that there are so many children out there without homes or who live in abusive situations that what a wonderful thing it is to be able to provide a loving home to someone that needs it. This has frequently been met with the response 'yeah, but you can never love an adopted child as if it were your own,' or 'it's not the same magical connection as when it comes from you' and i always said 'Bullshit'. Well, now i KNOW that's bullshit and that makes me happy that i can now say first hand that I know it is possible to love a child like your own even if technically it isn't 'yours'. Hope that doesnt come out creepy which i think it does a little, but its supposed to be a happy thought.

On a completely separate note, we're heading to Barcelona on Thursday for the weekend as kind of a belated birthday celebration and it'll be my first time there.. any suggestions??!

Palin making it way too easy for Katie Couric (who i really dislike though) to make her look like an idiot.. did she say ANYTHING remotely insightful/truthful/intelligent? Hmm don't think so.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

Suits her..

Not doing Ramadan

Adam's post about Ramadan made me laugh..
Last year, I 'tried' Ramadan for 5 days. I was golden until the last day, a Friday, where I finally succumbed to exhaustion and bought a Coca Light. It was a question of being able to function at work or following a religious/cultural practice that I don't have any connection to. Eh.
This year, having just started a new job and frankly being much less deer-eyed by the novelty of Ramadan, I haven't made one effort to fast. At first, I tried not to eat or drink anything at work so as not to irritate them. I have since given that up and now (thank the lord for the corner cafe bing open) eat a sandwich in the stairwell, drink my coffe hunched over trying to hide behind my computer screen or quietly try to nibble on candy. At least I try to be discreet, but everyone knows what i'm up to. Oops.

Renaissance of a dying blog

Ah yes, where to begin!? After not blogging for months, the thought of restarting the verbal stream of consciousness has been daunting and thus I've found excuses time and time again to remain outside the blogging circle. However, after some very persistent and not so subtle taunts from Danny, Brokeback and Williams, I decided what the hell! Give it a shot again and see if I can keep things up this time.
Frankly, the past few months have been extremely extremely formative for me and have brought many changes for me- both on a superficial and a much deeper level. I think for that reason, the thought of blogging about my daily life while simultaneously trying to sort through those changes emotionally and trying to answer some much bigger questions, seemed impossible. With most of those questions answered and with my life back on more even footing, I think i can tackle a few posts here and there!
As a reblog starting point, and considering that Adam said he thought I 'had died for period of 2 months', I guess I should start with a short update that wow seems like it goes back forever. So here goes nothing...
1. Vistors in March/April/May: started with short visit from Brett when he was here for MENA, then Lili stayed for a week which was so good to have someone from home here and then 2 weeks with my parents which was wonderful to have them meet everyone and see where I live.
2. DANNY came! Fortunately had 3ish fun filled, extremely crazy months with this kid as my roomy and fellow cockroach killer.. what an aneantissement!
3. Decided to stay in Tunisia for another year- felt that there was/is something missing from my experience as if it just wasnt quite yet finished. Still havent identified what exactly that thing is, but I hope to figure that out or at least just have the sentiment gone by the time I leave.
4. Began a relationship with a wonderful Corsican guy that has since turned quite serious despite the very unlikely circumstances.. i know this might be the hardest for some to believe. Things are still going strong and I am very happy, not to mention that my French is 80 times better! (and yes, this began AFTER i decided to stay!)
5. Found a new job doing the int'l marketing and communication for a small tech company.
6. Summer started and so did great beach trips and crazy nights
7. End of July, had my last days at Henkel which was bittersweet.
8. FINALLY found a beautiful new house in Menzah 6 (great location) that has an amazing garden and was fully furnished with AC in my room. Isaac and I have been fully adoring the greatness of finally having a nice place- and having lots of bbqs!! I've been quite domestic!
9. Went home to Boston for 10 days to help my parents move houses. Moved into a smaller house in Newton, and oddly, it wasnt that emotional for me. I think the fact that I also was in transition phase in Tunisia and my life being here, made the fact that they were moving into 'their' new house that no longer feels like 'mine' a lot easier to digest. Maybe it will hit me when I go back for Christmas. I also used the help of intense shopping therapy.
10. Came back and immediately started the new job which has been good, but different. Being a tech company, and the majority of people dont have/need phones, the office is SILENT which is a night/day change from Henkel. But, I'm getting used to it.
11. Ramadan. Boo. It was 'unique' the first time, but this year, I just find it irritating. Everything is closed and I think if i watch one more movie, my head will explode. Although the meals at Lamia's are delicious. Almost over.

So that pretty much brings me to the past month. Summer is ending and the air is already starting to get crisp at night. Not sure what other changes will be coming my way, but I am sensing that my personal challenges/evolutions are not over which is both exciting and terrifying. We will see. On verra.

So much is going on right now between work, friends, boys, figuring out my next steps etc. It's been an emotional roller coaster these past 2 weeks and yet I'm handling things much better than I used to. With 2 visitors here during the last 2 weeks, I haven't had much time to slow down, be by myself and think. They're gone now and I have time to think, but my mind is now going nonstop. I have a lot to blog about and will do that this weekend- with pics. I also have a lot of things to figure out and a few important discussions to have before my mind can relax a bit. When did we become adults? Can I go back?

Awesomeness

Crazy amazing weekend which I'll describe later, but first, a quick snippit. As a few of us were walking in the medina (downtown market), one of the shop owners (who happened to be black) looked me in the eye as I was passing and starts pumping his fist and saying, 'Obama, Obama, Obama.' I got really excited and was like 'Yeah!' Weird that he knew I was American without saying anything- especially since I wasn't wearing my flag or anything that day. Even over here, Obama's got some fans. Just classic.

BRETT BORKAN IS COMING HERE ON FRIDAY!!! YEAH!! Although he's coming for a conference and will only be in Tunis for 2 days and is coming with delegates he has to chaperone, but yeah!!
and
LILI IS COMING OUT TO TUNIS FOR OVER A WEEK!! One of my best friends from highschool is coming out here on March 19th and staying until the 27th!! Hamdoulah!!
Now to get off work for a day or two...

The expat network

Last Saturday night was one of those times when the day after you stop and think 'did alllll of that really happen in just one night??' Things started off with Sarra and I getting all dolled up to head to her/our friend Nadia's house in Sidi Bou Said for an art show. The house is incredible with the most amazing view of Tunis and the ocean and the amazing works from the artist that adorned the house were just the icing on the cake. Safia and my gay French friend met us there and we enjoyed shmoozed and oohed and ahhed over the works.

My friend Safia then, suggested that we check out her friend's party that was also in Sidi Bou. She said I'd probably know a few people there, but it was a goodbye party for one of the German guys that was leaving. Never to turn down a party, especially one that was nearby, we went. Lordy do I love Safia's friends. I seriously seriously think she knows every expat in Tunisia. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to hang out just with expats, but it's so fun being in a completely international environment. There were Germans Austrians, Senegalese, Portuguese, Iraqis, Tunisian/German, French, French/Tunisian, Tunisians, Colombian/American, Belgian, etc. The list goes on. (Sarra spent the night trying to get me to date the cute Iraqi guy because it would be 'such a fairytale')(oh and a lot of the guys were quite attractive which made me and Sarra and my gay friend quite happy)

We had some great conversations in various different languages, but what was very interesting for me, was to hear about how all of these different people from all over happened to end up here and what they've done before. Most surprising/impressive was a Belgian man named Sebastian (older than the rest of the group) who is here working for the African Development Bank (very interested in that) and who happens to be blind. It's hard enough living and working in a foreign country without adding a handicap to that. Not to mention that Tunisia is not very well equipped to deal with disabilities. But, he said he is very much enjoying Tunisia and his work here and hopes to extend his contract. Whatta story! I had some great conversations about the elections in the States, a discussion about the cultural differences btw East and West Berlin with representatives from both sides, the difficulties of NGOs in Tunisia, etc. Too many interesting stories and points of views.

Best of all, is I think the night helped answer some questions in my head. I've been severely struggling with the 'what next' question. Do I stick with the corporate route? Do i try out international law? Do I go the international org route? The questions are endless. I came here hoping to have some answered and have been frustrated that answers haven't come easily, but I think I'm finally seeing the light. Now that I have a better picture of what I don't want to be doing and what might interest me more, it's time to get the old resume out there and see what options arise.