daily life

Saying Goodbye

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yesterday Tony and I went on our last date in Tunisia, to Hammamet Centre. We hadn’t been on a date in a month, since our babysitter was doing Ramadan. And somehow in the intervening time we forgot how much we hate going out to eat in Hammamet. Unlike most places I’ve been, the only really good meals I’ve had here in Tunisia were at people’s houses. Apparently, none of the good cooks here work at restaurants. None of the good waiters do either, unfortunately, so the whole “going out to eat for the experience, not the food” doesn’t really work.

As a result, we haven’t been out to eat in months.… Read more

In Need of a Sabbatical

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The time has come. Next Tuesday we will be on a plane to California. Sorry to spring these things on you so precipitously. That’s just the way things seem to work out.

Ever since our business failed after the 2008 credit crunch, life has been pretty difficult and stressful. We’ve had some exciting adventures, crazy travels, and happy times (the kind of stuff that typically ends up on the blog), but we’ve also had some very serious challenges. I can say that I’m physically, mentally, and in every other way worn out. My in-laws have graciously offered to let us stay with them while I recover from a persistent health issue and we sort out our finances and decide which direction we’d like to take our life next.… Read more

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

What is it with us and garbage problems? First there was the Italian fiasco, in which we had to evade law enforcement to get rid of our garbage. And next, we got in trouble for throwing bread to the birds, because I’m apparently the only one on the planet who somehow missed out on how taboo it is to throw bread on the ground in a Muslim country.

Now we have this problem:

This lovely little pile is located just around the corner from our house. It’s the neighborhood dumpster/garbage mountain, which happens to be sandwiched between the 4-Star Miramar Hotel and the main entrance to world famous Hammamet Beach.… Read more

Mormons Abroad

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

One of the things Mormons love to say when they travel (whether it’s across the ocean or just to the next town over) is that they’re so thankful that “the Church is the same no matter where you go.” And to a certain extent, it’s true. We all sing the same hymns, although every ward congregation seems to have its particular favorites. We all read the same scriptures. Sunday meetings follow the same general format, with everyone meeting together first, then separating into adults and children, and then further separating the adults by gender and the children by age. Sunday School lesson manuals are standardized and translated into over a hundred languages, and on any given Sunday the whole worldwide Church is studying the same lesson, give or take a week or two depending on how organized the Sunday School teacher happens to be.… Read more

How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We are not a family in need of a dog. Yes, it’s true that we’ve always kind of wanted one, but we are certainly not at the point of going out and buying a puppy. In fact, we exercised remarkable restraint a few months ago when the half wild dogs on the beach had six cute little roly-poly puppies, and Rambo kept asking us if we wanted one.

Yesterday, though, as we were heading off for our morning time at the beach, we walked out our front gate to so much yelping I thought there must be a dog fight. It turned out to be just one dog, and not a very big one, at that.… Read more

Tuga Sunsuits Review

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Now that Axa and Dominique have been using their new swimsuits (aka homeschool uniforms) for nearly four months, I thought it might be time to give you  a real review.

As I’d hoped, these swimsuits turned out to be pretty great. They claim to be SPF 50, and I can confirm that after four months in the Tunisian sun, my little white boy is as white as ever, although he has a nice tan below the knee, where the swimsuit doesn’t cover. The fabric seems to be good quality. After a couple of hours in salt water every day this summer, the suits are as bright and stretchy as ever.… Read more

My Son, the Inventor

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

On one of my bad days a few months ago, I was reading an article about the benefits to children of living overseas (you know, just to help me feel better about traumatizing them by dragging them around the world). It mentioned a study in which children who had spent significant time in a country not their own demonstrated more creative problem solving skills. I believe it. Constant exposure to alien ways of thinking, unfamiliar expectations, and situations out of your comfort zone does tend to kick the problem solving machine into high gear. I’ve experienced this myself. For instance, since I’m the designated family chef/epicure, I’ve taught myself things like how to cook with local ingredients, and get by with severely limited kitchen utensils.… Read more

Getting Ready for Ramadan

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

This will be our first Ramadan in the Middle East. For those who don’t know, Ramadan is the month of fasting in Islam, and begins on August 1st this year. I have mixed feelings about spending Ramadan here. On the one hand, it will be interesting to get a closer look at one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith. As a Mormon, I fast for one Sunday each month. Almost every month as I am preparing to break my fast, I think of my Muslim friends and acquaintances, and how impressed I am that they fast every single day for an entire month (and this month it’s the month of August too!).… Read more

Going Anonymous on Google+

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I’ve had an enjoyable time playing around on Google+ for the past few days, and I think I’m ready to talk about my impressions. First, here’s a little recap of my social(networking) life so far: I never got in on Myspace. I’ve only ever tweeted for work. My Linked-In profile is still only halfway filled out, I think. I don’t do anything more social than watching science videos with my kids on Youtube. Mysterious concepts like Orkut, Foursquare, Hi5, and all the rest, just haven’t even hit my radar. And as you know, I have a “like”-hate relationship with Facebook.

Although I’ve been a loyal Gmail user since early in the Gmail beta days, I only dinked around for about five minutes total with Google Buzz.… Read more

Our Latest Cultural Blooper

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Before I let you gasp in horror over what we did last night, let me give you some background on our side of the story. Before we moved to Tunisia, I read someone’s list of things she liked and disliked about living here. I can’t remember most of them, but one of the things she said she disliked was the “garbage everywhere.” I just laughed, certain she must be exaggerating. Living among the ultra-tidy Piemontese, I had nearly forgotten that the world was not one big well-tended, immaculate garden. In the part of Italy where we lived, there was barely a dirt clod out of place.… Read more