Nizar never knows

Since the last post was such a down note, I thought it fitting to post a few less depressing thoughts and observations from my time so far in Tunis.

Yesterday, as I was coming home, I saw a girl of about 7 skipping home carrying two baguettes. It was adorable. Passover notwithstanding, Tunis is great for bread, be it French, the almost-pizza dough tabouna, or the Lebanese style. Food-wise, it's a fantastic Mediterranean mix.

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While wandering yesterday, I found a street in the medina named after a 19th century Jewish leader. I later located a kosher butcher. While I'm not sure if I'll ever achieve the acceptance and familial closeness in the Jewish community here as I did with the Iraqis (and I unfortunately have to compare every other group to wonderful Iraqis), it's pretty cool to be doing street history in a way. I feel like I'm spying on Tunis 50-100 years ago, looking for the remnants what once was.

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My creative outlet has switched back to music after being in drawing for the last few months, so expect lots of awful country songs, including one which has probably the first ever country song name-dropping/translation of Nizar Qabbani. Inshallah, these will be recorded this weekend.

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I attempted to go to the Chabad House in Tunis, ironically located on Rue de Palestine, but the small army of Tunisian police scared me off. They hover around every vaguely Jewish site, for good reason since there have been attacks in the past. They carry big guns and give off menacing "the fuck do you want?" glares that make me feel totally illegitimate attempting to enter. I'm not even a little Muslim, but I feel welcome in nearly every mosque. Le sigh.

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Tunis still has a lot of green space, including a pasture in front of my apartment building, and there are wildflowers and orange trees blooming everywhere. Today, I got off my bus a few stops early so I could listen to Joni Mitchell and smell the air. Yeah, I'm pretty happy I got out of Cairo.

Location:Tunis, Tunisia