Walking to work

I walk to work almost everyday here. I like the exercise, I  get to experience more of "real Tunisia" and it saves money! (about 2 tunisian dinar each way, which is about $1.20 each way) It's about a 20 to 25 minute walk. Here's a video of my daily trek to work.

Warning: this video is really shaky, so if you get motion sickness, you may wanna pass on this video.

You may have noticed from the video that Sfax has a lot of Rotaries/roundabouts (I walk through 3 in this video alone). I was told that the Sfax city planners in the past chose to set the city up this way because rotaries are more reliable than stoplights -because of the electricity. 

My job

It's been a while since I posted in this blog, mainly because I've been so preoccupied with work. I haven't done anything interesting in the last week, so I'll just post about work.

I'm an english teacher at Schooling Plus, http://schooling-plus.com/?page_id=5&lang=fr, on the weekends and during the week I work as the Co-coordinator of the Franklin Center, the largest english library in Sfax.

The past week I've been working on creating the SPARK program (Supporting Positive Action through Reading and Knowledge). The mission of the SPARK program is for its participants to have a greater understanding of social injustices and to serve as a source of inspiration for positive change. Every month, the book club and movie club will focus on one social issue. This month is mental disability, so we will be reading "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes and watching "Forrest Gump" and "I am Sam".

Here's a video I made to kick off the SPARK program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avlo1w9I83g&feature=player_embedded

Here are just a few of the people that I work with: 

The AIESEC apartment (take 2)

In case the video from my last post doesn't open or play properly, try this link: http://youtu.be/ucaUkYnoiqg

My apartment in Tunisia

That time we ate a camel.

Here's a few pictures of our camel feast:

The Dinner Table

My Plate

Shiyu (China/US)

Pierre (France)

About to start working...

Tomorrow is the first day of my internship teaching english. I'll be sure to keep you posted. But for the time being I'll just post a few pictures of the last few days:

May 31st: Last day in Bizerte/Back to Tunis/ Road trip to Sfax

Bizerte

Back in Tunis

 Road Trip to Sfax

Chahine and I picked up some EPs (interns) from the airport in Tunis before venture on our road trip to Sfax. Some were a little jet-lagged.

June 1st: no pictures :( But I spent the day with AIESEC Thyna and the EPs. AIESEC Thyna was closing a project and we celebrated AIESEC-style complete with "role calls" (dance parties). Hopefully I can find a video of it to upload.

June 2nd: Old Medina / Kerkennah with the other EPs

 The Terrace of a cafe in the old Medina

 The outer gates of the medina

Annett (Hungary) on the ferry to Kerkennah

Catarina (Germany) and Beth (US) posing next to the ship

On our way to the beach.

Who's that good-looking shepherd?

And we made a fire!

Finally in Tunisia!

I've been in Tunisia for a little over three days  now and I've had a great time exploring northern Tunisia. Here's a day-by-day breakdown of what I've done so far (in pictures!):

Pre-Tunisia

My sending off party

Layover with the cousins

Day 1 - Tunis and Surrounding area

My bed in Tunis

Sidi Bou Said at night

Day 2- The city center, the Old Medina, and Carthage.

The city center (of Tunis) with Chahine

A view of the city center from the top of a tall building.

The oldest catholic church in Tunis

Sisters using colored wood chips to make a mosaic pattern on the floor.

The gate to the old Medina

The Carthaginian Ruins

There was a football game between Tunis and Sfax. Sfax won and all the Sfax supporters started celebrating in the city streets! 

Day 3 - Menzel Jameel and Bizerte

Menzel Jameel

Inside the oldest Mosque in Menzel Jameel

The outside of the Mosque

A church in Bizerte that was converted into a cultural center

Exploring a fort

The view from the top of the fort

Chahine admiring the view

Defending the fort

The old harbor at Bizerte

I wasn't even trying to take an artsy photograph when I took this picture. It's that scenic!