Shwaya shwaya

You have to love a culture who commonly uses a term that literally translates to “little by little.”

That must mean something right?

I am adapting little by little.

….

I was sick and I have returned back to health.

I am stronger and not easily swayed by food sickness anymore.

But that happens anywhere you travel internationally.

It has to get worse before it gets better.

I am on my way up.

…

Let me attempt to decipher some of the events from this past week:

On Monday my group and I had our first belly dancing class.

It is always a somewhat awkward experience having someone show you how they move their body and how your body has absolutely no idea how to mimic it.

A body has a mind of its own.

It chooses what it wants to do.

Observe then dance.

Dance while observing.

There was a lot of laughter.

It was taught in French, so I was out of the loop once again.

Might I mention that our teacher was a middle-aged man.

…

We also had our first lecture by one of the local professors at the University, Dr. Cherif.

She lectured us on the Tunisian family and how it has changed through the decades.

That’s when we learned about Habib Bourguiba, who was the first president after Tunisia won independence from France in 1956.

(Since independence there have been two presidents: Bourguiba as the first and now Ben Ali, who has been in power since 1987)

As Tunisia was young and fragile post independence, Bourguiba nursed it to strength and power through his 30 years in office.

After hearing many people, especially women, talk about him I find that he is well praised throughout political history.

He was one of many leaders during that time that was pro-Western, as he went to Paris to study politics. Many say he was the most Western of all Arabs.

One reason I think he was so successful at strengthening Tunisia was because he focused on women and their need for empowerment.

You can only understand a country by what they do for women.

They do a lot here, kudos.

He implemented women’s rights, family planning and free education for both genders.

You give a woman free education, they will want control of their bodies.

Abortion is legalized and there are several family planning places that every woman feels no guilt for visiting.

So in a sense women control their bodies and their sexuality.

Which means, families are smaller because more women want education and jobs outside the household.

Less kids (one or two) means that a woman can dedicate more time to her profession of choice.

As a result, Tunisia has kept a relatively low population growth since its independence, staying right around the 10 million mark.

That’s impressive.

As we all know, over population ultimately means an abuse of natural resources.

Less people means that there are more resources.

And more resources means wealth for the entire country.

So on and so forth.

…

Family is important and most Tunisians never leave where they were born.

Dr. Cherif even told us that, out of respect, she visits her parents at least two times a week.

She still does and will continue to.

In many instances, a newly married couple will build on top of their parent’s house to raise children. Their parents help them raise their children.

As mentioned before, the family is changing.

Women want to balance family life with a career.

Many women want the new way to raise a family but often times their husbands get nostalgic of traditional ways where women worked in the house and men outside.

Many times there are disagreements, which all too often lead to divorce.

The divorce rate is high here.

Dr. Cherif said that Tunisia has the highest rate throughout the Middle East and is fourth highest in the world.

I live with a single mom and she’s able to support her two daughters financially.

The evolution of the family.

…

On Tuesday we had our first field-study seminar, which means that the four of us rode the TGM to downtown Tunis to solve our academic director’s instructions.

To help prepare us for our final independent study project, we began researching Ibn Khaldoun, a famous Tunisian theorist from back in the 14th and 15th century.

I have a hard time imagining what life was like then.

Our academic director’s instructions were for us to summarize Khaldoun’s Theory of Culture.

Breezing through several of his essays in the CEMAT library, we came to find his theory on the rise and fall of all great civilizations.

Sweaty and hungry, as we were stuck in a stuffy and unconditioned room, we read on.

He claimed that the Berber lifestyle was more ideal as the basic needs were searched for on a daily basis. Movement and hunting/gathering were ideal living standards and human nature.

Khaldoun wrote on to discuss his opinion on the sedentary lifestyle.

Because basic needs were met easily from day to day in a sedentary setting, an individual spends their time focusing more on themselves and the luxuries they would hope to acquire.

Focusing more and more on luxuries, meanwhile never being personally fulfilled.

We continue on a path in life hoping to be fulfilled by our luxuries, only to find the joy and fulfillment wear away when we finally acquire these luxuries.

That’s why all great civilizations decay with added decadence.

…

On Friday we had another academic lecture, this time given by Ms. Boussedra on women and gender in Tunisia.

What we learned at this lecture was what type of Western transition Tunisia has been experiencing.

She told us that when she would travel to other parts of the Middle East, many people would say, “You think you’re from the Middle East? You’re from Africa.”

Meanwhile, I think people have their own image of Africa and I don’t think this is the image most people have.

So where does Tunisia, or North Africa for that matter, place themselves if they don’t belong to the continent they are on or to the region that brought Islam to them?

They have many influences from the North, West, East and South and from that, new, emerging identities form.

They’ve begun to celebrate Christmas and Valentines Day.

It seems to be it’s own region now.

Ms. Boussedra continued to discuss how women see themselves here.

Many women wear the hijab in the streets.

The common thought that many people have of a woman wearing a hijab is that she is loyal to her religion.

Many women wear them for different reasons, even non-religious wear this head covering.

Women may wear them to escape harassment, show respect or to show that she looking for a husband.

There is a clash between the traditional and modern ways of presenting oneself.

…

On Saturday I walked with Mimi to the American WWII cemetery, which is around four blocks away, lined by olive trees.

Inside the giant iron gates, everything was well manicured.

I didn’t think I was in Tunisia.

There were thousands and thousands of dead US soldiers with white gravestones.

I wonder if most soldiers had their family travel all the way here to see their grave.

…

Later on I went with my mom and sister to go shopping for clothes.

At one in the morning.

I was about to fall asleep as we walked from store to store.

Oh Ramadan, one more week.

…

Everyday I wake up at the break of dawn.

I walk twenty minutes through the narrow streets to get to class in a small, white building.

I use to walk with my head looking at the ground to discourage any communication between the people I pass and myself.

As my confidence in speaking Tunisie rises, so does my head from the ground.

I hate looking down. I would rather see where I am going.

…

At night, I have dinner with my mother and sister along with my grandparents.

We watch something on the TV that should be titled “honoring the sunset because now we can eat.”

There is a sequence of nature-like photos of the Middle East (mostly pictures of deserts and palm trees) as the Muezzin sings Qur’an verses.

Through dinner, we eat and eat and watch the TV from the dinner table.

I hate eggs, forever on.

Olive oil is the base of the food pyramid here.

After eating, Mimi and I walk the dog, Bianco, around the blocks of the neighborhood.

It’s amazing what conversations come up during the walks and how they are so often centered on Bianco and his need to claim territory every few steps.

We pass schools, a mosque and several cafes with men playing cards outside drinking mint tea.

Meanwhile hookah smoke passes by, smelling of apples.

Around every street corner there are cats scattered everywhere.

Last night we counted 40 cats.

She thinks I should bring some back to the US.

I think that’s a good idea.

Shalom.