daily life

Black Roses

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

After going out for a vaguely-defined afternoon errand, Tony came home and surprised me with this:

It was the Tunisian florist’s version of a dozen red roses. I think it turned out beautifully. And it smells divine. The funny thing is, when I last saw the vase in the morning, it did have a dozen red roses in it. The roses he bought me, oh, about three weeks ago. Needless to say, they were no longer looking quite their best. In fact, certain parts of them were in a rather advanced state of decay. I can’t help it, though. I just can’t bear to throw flowers away, even when they have gracefully faded, or turned into a malodorous mass of moldy algae.… Read more

Toys for a nomadic life

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yesterday we visited a Tunisian toy store. The little store was packed to bursting with a delightfully eclectic selection of toys, books, and stuffed animals. The owner told us that he gets a lot of hand-me-downs from the many tourists who visit Hammamet. He had games and books in Arabic, French, Italian, German and English. Our best find was an adorable little secondhand Haba game with tiny wooden wheelbarrows and farm animals.

I have what might be excessively particular tastes when it comes to toys. When we lived in the United States, I carefully sought out playthings that encouraged open-ended play, like blocks, balls, scarves, and stuffed animals.… Read more

Life without internet

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

If this post ends up sounding a little woozy and weird, it’s probably just because I’m a little high on secondhand hubbly-bubbly smoke. Our internet is still not functioning, so we make a daily pilgrimage to the “Tea House” (Tunisian/British Tourist-speak for Cafe) around the corner that advertises free wifi. Besides the smoke (an abundant mixture of both regular and hubbly-bubbly kinds), which is par for the course in Tunisia, it’s a pretty nice place. The only other weird thing is that it is full of large flat-screen televisions playing Arab music videos. But the music often doesn’t match up with the video.… Read more

Next Stop, Narnia

Sarah Bringhurst Familia


This is one of Dominique’s favorite shirts. He’s quite strict about when he wears it, though. He will only put it on in the morning if he knows that the day holds some form of travel. Axa shares his passion for getting from one place to another. But for her, the world is not enough. Lately she has expressed a frequent lament that Narnia is not real. She would like to travel there. In fact, the other day I found this drawing on her desk:

In case you had trouble deciphering the spelling, let me give you hint: Who could resist a direct flight to Narnia on Aslan Airlines?… Read more

Things Work Out

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Our internet has been nonexistent since Thursday night. We are told that the internet company has shut down service to protest some injustice or other. Ah, the joys of living in revolution-happy Tunisia. And Tony woke up yesterday morning with his right pinky toe swollen to double its normal size and an angry red rash all over the lower half of his body. Apparently, he picked up something nasty during his last Hammam visit. Fortunately, our landlord and next-door neighbor is a doctor. He looked at it right away, and then wrote up some prescriptions. Alistair kindly provided a lift to the Pharmacy.… Read more

In which we get in on the pillaging

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yesterday Tony and I went on our first date in Tunisia. And it was wonderful. Our Irish cleaning lady happens to be great with children (and our children like her, which is no common feat), so we engaged her services for the evening in the capacity of babysitter. Then Tony and I took a long walk down the beautiful Hammamet beach. We passed the Hammamet Cultural Center, which was a mansion built by the Romanian millionaire who made it fashionable to holiday here. We passed Sinbad, the large hotel whence come all the Germans on the beach. And then we almost passed a burnt-out shell of a building, with a wide marble staircase leading up to it from the beach.… Read more

Beach Combing Treasures

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

When I was a little girl, beach combing was one of my favorite vacation activities. I always came home with my pockets full of treasures. And then my parents would make me go through them and decide which ones I really loved, and which ones I would need to jettison so that I could fit all my clothes back in my suitcase. Unfortunately, I managed to attach sentimental value to just about every single shell and piece of driftwood. Even the very large ones. On one occasion, my prize find was a rock nearly the size of my head. It must have weighed at least 25 pounds, but I dragged it all the way down the long beach and up the hill to the car.… Read more

Conference Weekend, Our Way

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Last Saturday and Sunday were “Conference Weekend” for millions of Mormons around the world. Every April and October, we gather together to listen to counsel from the current Prophet, the Twelve Apostles, and other Church leaders, as well as beautiful music by the world-famous Tabernacle Choir, in what is known as General Conference.

Watching Conference overseas, though, can be a bit of a challenge. My first experience with this was when I was in Syria in 2001. A friend who owned a business offered to let us come sit in his office and watch Conference streaming on the internet. Considering the fact that our only other option would have been spending a fortune to sit for eight hours watching it in an internet cafe with loud music blaring in the background, we took him up on the offer.… Read more

Return of the Pink People

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The one thing more gloriously beautiful than Tunisia in the winter is Tunisia in the spring. A profusion of flowers covers every field and patch of earth, and cascades down from whitewashed walls. The fragrance of orange blossoms drifts in the light breeze. Today I took a morning walk out on the beach, and could not think of a place in the world I would prefer to be. The Mediterranean sparkled in a thousand touches of sunlight. The sand stretched away in a gold curve, ending at the stone-walled fort of the Medina. And the water lapped my feet like the ripples of a gigantic, placid lake.… Read more

Success (and a little embarrassment) at the Turkish Bath

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Photo credit

I’ve only been once to a Turkish bath, or hammam as they are called in Arabic. I don’t know that I’ll ever go again, but it was certainly an experience. The hammam I attended was the Hammam al-Nasri, located in a 14th century building in the charming old city of Aleppo, Syria. I don’t remember every single detail, but there are certain parts that really stick out. After disrobing and putting on a special towel, I was ushered into the steam room, where I was soon surrounded by billowing white clouds, which rendered it impossible to see anything more than a few feet away.… Read more