A few of my favorite things . . . about Tunisia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The beach. Yes, I’ve mentioned it before, but I just can’t get enough of it. Today we walked out to the beach nearest our new house (after several wrong turns and a minor detour through somebody’s olive grove). The water was so still it looked like a huge, shining lake lapping gently on the sand. The beach was utterly empty, except for someone walking toward us in the distance, who eventually turned out to be two someones: a man and his camel. We took a rain-check for the camel ride.

The call to prayer. A lovely, haunting thing, somewhere between a chant and a melody, reminding me to take a moment to be with God.… Read more

Sunrise on the Mediterranean

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Walking through the resort town of Yasmine Hammamet last week was like stepping into the aftermath of some global disaster in a sci-fi movie. The streets were literally deserted, and there was just a bit of that lonely wind that picks up a few odd pieces of paper and scatters them down the street, just to show how empty and forsaken everything is. Other than the utter absence of people in the streets, it was gorgeous. It looked like the nicest parts of San Diego, but with a flawless beach of bright yellow sand and a brilliantly blue sea under a cloudless sky.… Read more

The Longest Distance Between Two Points

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

When last I wrote, we were still a little jittery about flying into Tunisia less than a week after the President flew out. By now though, we’re pretty pleased with our good sense in moving to Tunisia just after a revolution rather than to Egypt just before. Impeccable timing, don’t you agree? In all seriousness, though, I wish the very best for the Egyptians in their political journey, and hope that this will be a new dawn for them and their beautiful country.

Our apartment, when our actually quite nice taxi driver dropped us off, was as beautiful as the pictures we’d seen of it on our latest favorite website, No Marmite in Tunisia.… Read more

Getting to Tunisia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Although we came here with reckless abandon in the wake of a revolution, Tony and I did at least have the decency to feel a little jittery on our arrival in Tunisia. After the exhilaration of finally getting on the train, and the beautiful ride over the mountains from Italy to France, our first really bad moment was in the Nice airport. Our flight had been delayed for a couple of hours without explanation. So we sat for a long time at the departure gate, entertaining our tired but hyper children and vividly picturing any number of disastrous events that could very plausibly be suspected of delaying our flight.… Read more

Our Next Great International Adventure

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Apologies for my recent silence. I hate to leave you all without suitable reading matter (although there are always my voluminous archives). But as usual, I have good reasons. I’m writing this from Tunisia! So, we’re not out manning the barricades or marching in the streets, but still. We’re in Tunisia. Remember last week when I blogged about the Tunisian revolution? Well, my obsession with recent events in Tunisia was more than a little motived by the fact that we had plane tickets to land in Tunis on Saturday, January 15th, less than 24 hours after the President fled the country.… Read more

My Three-Year-Old is a Movie Star

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I never post videos on my blog. Ever. But last month a friend of ours at Church asked if he could film my son for a Mormon Message. I was a little skeptical about how it would turn out, since his nap was late the day they came, and I had to wake him up out of a sound sleep. But after being revived with a little Swiss chocolate, he actually warmed up to the whole thing and cooperated. Somewhat. And now I just can’t stop watching him. We’ll dedicate this one to the grandparents, but anyone else is welcome to ooh and ahh over his cuteness too.… Read more

Bridget of Arabia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I’ve been meaning to tell you about my friend Bridget, who is my blogging inspiration. The funny thing is, I’ve never actually met Bridget. I first heard about her from her then-fiance (now-husband), who was on an intensive Arabic study abroad program in Syria with me ten years ago. As you can imagine, my first impression of Bridget, garnered from the lips of the lovelorn Jeremy, who was at the time separated for six interminable months from his brilliant, beautiful, and perfect-in-every-way sweetheart, could not fail to be favorable. Our study abroad group still keeps in touch, and so I was eventually introduced to Bridget’s blog.… Read more

And The Chains Were Broken

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Tunisia. It was only a month or so ago that I really started thinking about this little Mediterranean country. Coincidentally (or not), that was just about the time when the demonstrations first began. Since then, for various reasons, I’ve kept a close eye on developments there. Yesterday, in fact, at around 5:30 in the afternoon, Tony happened to be online skyping with a friend in Tunisia when President Ben Ali left the country, ending 23 years of repressive dictatorial rule.

And so here and now I want to express my heartfelt congratulations and deep respect for the people of Tunisia, who during the past four weeks have steadfastly worked and fought for their freedom.… Read more

Philippines, Part 14: Trouble in Paradise (Malapascua)

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Good morning, and welcome back to our Friday in the Philippines. I hope you’ve enjoyed the new header photos, which come from the Philippines. I’ve noticed a lot of extra pageviews, and I suspect my faithful readers of refreshing the page to look at the pictures rather than to read my clever words. Shame! Last week we kissed neither tarsiers nor bats during the Bohol Choco Tour. If you missed that episode (or any others), links can be found here:

Philippines, Part 1: Have Baby, Will Travel
Philippines, Part 2: Do You Know How to XOOM?
Philippines, Part 3: Confessions of a Carseatless Baby (Vigan)
Philippines, Part 4: Strawberries and Cotton Candy (Baguio)
Philippines, Part 5: Hanging Coffins!… Read more

Teaching Children a Foreign Language

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Someone wrote me this week asking how I teach my children Italian. Even before we moved abroad, I had given this question a lot of thought. Our Casteluzzo Academy curriculum (at our homeschool), includes some very ambitious language goals. But what really matters with language study for children are the little everyday details. Here are 10 tips on how to make the most of language learning whether your children are seventeen months or seventeen years old.

1. Start right away. It is never to early to learn a foreign language. My children are three and five, and we’ve been exposing them to foreign languages since birth.… Read more