Traveling to Tunisia (Alliterations Are Awesome And Adorable)

I'm way more excited than I look here about
sneaking into this still-in-use amphitheater

 I recently returned from a lovely trip to Tunisia with my adorable (as she would say) friend Debbie. That makes her sound like she is stuck up or something, but she just actually uses the word “adorable” a lot because she is adorable. We had fun exploring the ruins of Carthage, sneaking into private beaches and amphitheaters and historical sites without paying, climbing up all the stairs at an old fort, trying out various methods of public transportation, and laying around on beaches in and out of the water. We also ate lots of good food, drank lots of good beverages, and wore…swimsuits... Yes, we did, Mom, and not burkinis (though there were a few ladies who were wearing them--but don't worry: this blog contains no people only wearing bathing costumes). It’s totally OK because all the other touriners were wearing their swimsuits too. ‘Touriner’ is a word coined by Debbie (she’s adorable AND a genius), which means ‘one who is both a tourist and a foreigner.’ It is a useful word because one can be a tourist and not a foreigner, as my family is when we go to such places as ‘The Grand Canyon’ or ‘Niagra Falls’ or ‘Wal-Mart.’ And you can also be a foreigner and not a tourist, as I am when I live in South Sudan or Sudan or when I visit Uganda or Indonesia or a plethora of other places where I have lived and/or worked and/or transited. And the point is that when we were in Tunisia, we were in touriner places and we fit in with the other touriners, but when we went to places without many touriners, we dressed appropriately modestly and were usually often more modestly attired than many of the natives.

We snuck in here too!
We are so sneaky.

In conclusion, we had a really great time and interspersed between photos of our journey, I’m including some entertaining conversations I had with various men of a certain age who responded in the same way, regardless of whether I was attired in touriner clothing or arm-and-butt-and-leg-covering garments.

We did not sneak in here

Taxi driver: “You know about Mississippi?”

Me: I know about it.

TD: It’s the most beautiful place. I saw it on TV. It’s so natural.

Looking cute in Carthage (almost all of the photos here
are from Debbie's camera, as my phone was stolen after we left Carthage).

Guy in hotel: You are British?

Me: No.

GiH: American?

Me: Yup.

GiH: Oh. I thought that. Your English is good. It’s like native.

Me: Thanks.

An important photo of me fixing my hair in Carthage.
Thanks, Debs.

Guy guessing our nationality: Russian? Belgian? Swedish? Norwegian? Danish? Dutch? German? Ukrainian? French? Spanish? English? Turkish? Italian?

Me: Keep guessing…

A classic 'touriner' shot

Debbie's classic 'touriner'  shot--we learned everything we know
from watching the touriners while we ate pistachio ice cream cones.

A different taxi driver: Where are you from?

Me: America.

ADTD: But you speak Arabic? You are not the original American. Are you the original American?

The last photo from my phone uploaded to my computer before the theft.
The streets were lined with chairs ready for after-dark Ramadan revelry.

Struggling pick-up artist on the street as we passed: Your eyes is…your eyes…your eyes is…is…

Fun with Debbie's camera timer

We actually got worse at using that feature

Beware: lots of selfies of us coming up (though is it a selfie if it's of both of us? Marian and I call those 'long-arm shots' as a reference to how one must hold the camera and the fact that she takes these photos with her long arms better than I take it with my stumpy ones).

Oh look at my hair like Jesus!

I was not wanting to selfie here, but Debbie made me.
Amanda is cranky when she's hungry.
That is only water in the background, Mom.

Hey-I got a new phone and took a photo of us on our last day
in our favorite haram hotel, seller of food and beverages
during Ramadan. Note: this photo was taken AFTER Ramadan.

And now some photos of the fort in Sousse:

Forts are ALWAYS cool

The view of Sousse from the fort tower.

We climbed every stair.

I posted this on FB already, but I'm lazy and posting 3-in-1 photos is easier
than loading 3 more photos. We sat in the tower a long time and talked until
a few other touriners realized that there was something else to do in
Sousse besides buy t-shirts with camels on them.

Get ready: a truly great photo of Carthage taken by Debbie is about to be seen by you---

Beautiful. You know you all want to go to Tunisia now.
You should.