Kirkmans in North Africa
March 25th, 2009 by Jason

Our family has been in Tunisia for two weeks. We have a house in Nabeul. It is three blocks from the Mediterranean Sea. Nabeul is a small city – a bit smaller than Santa Fe, NM. Unfortunately we are not in the desert, but we are planning a trip to the Sahara for next week. When we walk on the beach we often see people fishing. Once we saw a man in a wetsuit who was spear-fishing. When he came to shore we saw he had two octopi, a cuttlefish, and several other small fish skewered on a spear.

Tunisians love fresh fish. When you go to a restaurant, they will often bring a tray of whole fresh fish (clear eyes indicate freshness) right to your table to choose from. You can order them prepared any way you want. Couscous is the national dish. It is a small grain (semolina) that is steamed and served with meat (usually chicken) and vegetables. Tunisians practice Islam, a different religion from Christianity. In this religion, eating pork and drinking alcohol is not allowed. However there are some bars, and Tunisia makes a lot of wine. Unlike other Muslim countries, religious rules are not the law.

From our home we can hear the Muslim call to prayer each day. Five times a day – at sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset and night – we hear prayers being sung from towers (minarets), which are scattered throughout town. The prayers are verses from the Quran, the Holy book of Islam. When stores open in the morning, they may play a cd that has Muslim prayers being sung. This is like a blessing to begin the business day.

We have been to Tunis, the capital, to Northern Tunisia, and to the Cap Bon peninsula. The markets, called souqs, are interesting. They sell stuffed camels and lots of souvenirs for tourists. We bought two small tortoises in the Nabeul’s craft souq. In the food market they sell lots of fruits and vegetables like fennel, olives, oranges, tomatoes, and yellow carrots. The oranges are tart and make great orange juice – for just 1 Dinar (about 70 cents) per glass. We have had lots of good food. Some of it reminds us of home. Harissa is a paste made out of red chiles and spices. Tunisians eat it with olive oil and baguettes (French bread). Mechouia salad is made with roasted green chiles. It is served with hard-boiled eggs, olives, and tuna. It is also eaten with French bread. The chiles taste just like New Mexico chiles. Besides the great bread, the Tunisians also make delicious pastries and sweets. Food – especially bread – is cheap here. Today we loaded up a bag with 4 baguettes, 5 sweet pastries, 6 cinnamon twists, and 2 giant scones. It cost less than 3 dinar (about 2 dollars).

We went on a trip this weekend to a town called Kelibia on the Cap Bon Peninsula. It was very cold and windy – it is spring here, like in Santa Fe. We took a loage (a small bus) through the countryside and saw lots of agriculture. There were olive trees, orange trees, wheat, wine grapes, people harvesting fennel, people planting tomato seedlings, and small flocks of sheep and goats. There were many small lagoons by the sea. There were flamingos, ducks, and other waterfowl. Falcons circled overhead searching for food. Kelibia has an old fort that has been used since the time of Carthage. The wind almost blew us over the ramparts. Despite the cold, it was an awesome place to play hide-and-seek. Cyrus freaked Angela out when he jumped out from a shuttered window in a chamber under the wall.

People are very helpful and nice here. We have a guide named Yussef. Yussef speaks English, Italian, French, and Arabic. He took us to a crazy soccer game. When the other visiting team scored, the fans threw water bottles and flaming flares onto the field. We left before the fans tore out the seats. Luckily, there were armored police below – to act as targets. Yussef took us on a trip to northern Tunisia. He is planning on taking us on a week-long trip to the desert. He is from a desert town called Tatouine (yes, it where Luke Skywalker was from too). We will ride into the desert on camels and camp in a Berber tent for the night. Hopefully Yussef will bring an oud (an Oriental guitar). He plays and sings very well. Yussef is also trying to set up an interview with the newspaper. It would be cool to have our family’s story written in Arabic and French. We’ll get a copy scanned for the website if this happens.

In Tunisia they speak French and Arabic. We are taking French lessons and are picking up a little Arabic here and there. The Tunisian Arabic is a little different from standard Arabic. For instance, “thank you” in Standard Arabic is pronounced “shook-ran” and is pronounced “eye-shack” in Tunisian Arabic. We can’t read Arabic yet – they use a different alphabet, and they write from right to left instead of left to right. Fortunately they use the same number system – in fact, the Arabs invented the number system we used. They even invented algebra and were the first to use a symbol for zero.