expat issues

Life Without Internet II

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

What would you do (or not do) without the internet? My original post of this title didn’t even consider this question. It was just about the wonky internet cafe I visit when my home internet doesn’t work. Which I suppose is directly related to my inability to even consider a single day of life without internet. I’ll amend that. I’ve gone for a single day without internet many times in my life. But I’ve typically spent that day scheming about how I would get internet tomorrow.

Especially as an extremely mobile expat, I keep large areas of my life online. And since people keep arriving at my blog lately in search of answers to the thorny problem of Life Without Internet, I’ll give you my thoughts. … Read more

Get Me to the Church on Time

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

When Tony and I lived on BYU campus as newlyweds, we pretty much walked straight out our front door into the Mormon chapel, which was also on campus. Forgot an extra diaper? No problem (please tell me I’m not the only mother who’s ever done this). There was no hassle if one of us needed to be at Church early. And home/visiting teaching was a piece of cake. Tony still loves to tell about his Elder’s Quorum President, who stood up in opening exercises one morning to recount a conversation in which his father (also Elder’s Quorum President in his own ward) begged to know his secret for achieving 100% home teaching.… Read more

Fish Heads and Me

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Remember this song from the early, early days of music videos? (If you want to skip the long, but mood-creating intro, the song begins at 2:10). When I first saw it in the 80’s, I never imagined that I would actually meet a fish head myself. My parents were not seafood fans. We were brought up on stories of how my mom was forced to eat squid cooked in its own ink on her L.D.S. mission to Spain. And shellfish were supposed to make us queasy. The closest we ever came to taking our part in depleting the world’s oceans were the occasional small rainbow trouts caught on camping trips, or the meal or two we convinced them to have at Long John Silver’s.… Read more

The Evolution of Orkin

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

A strange and mysterious script has been discovered on white boards and documents throughout this house. So far, the cryptic writing has not been deciphered. However, yesterday I received a clue as to its origins. In fact, I witnessed a shadowy character actually writing in what I now have cause to believe may be a metamorphosed dialect of Orkin, my children’s invented private language. Figure 1 (see above) is my subsequent secret photograph of the writing in question.

If you have ever lived in a country covered in Arabic graffiti, you might initially come to the same conclusion I did: Orkin must be a derivative of Arabic.… 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

How to keep strange men from following you on the beach

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I like to go out walking on the beach in the mornings, and then find a quiet place on the sand to sit and write poetry. Tony was initially a little concerned about me going by myself. And really, so was I. Fortunately, I have a guardian angel. Named Rambo. No, really. We met him when Alistair took us out for strawberry milkshakes. He works at a café that belongs to a nice little hotel around the corner from our house. It’s called Les Citronniers, and is heartily recommended by everyone (in case any of you are looking for accommodation in Hammamet and (gasp!)… Read more

Closing the Golden Door

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Immigration. What does the word mean to you? If you live in the southern United States, it might conjure up an image of Mexicans crossing the border in the dead of night. If you’re Italian or otherwise European, you’re probably thinking of the 20,000+ Tunisians who have landed on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa during the past few months, and who may be landing in your neighborhood soon. On the other hand, if you come from Mexico, Tunisia, the Philippines, or sub-Saharan Africa, you might look at immigration from the other direction. The other side of the fence, as it were.… Read more

Kind of a Fashion Blog

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

So I’m not a fashion blogger, but I couldn’t resist this post. Despite strong ties with/influence from Europe, Tunisia is an obviously Muslim country. The beautiful call to prayer can be heard five times a day from mosques in every neighborhood. Declining to order alcohol at a restaurant doesn’t brand you as weird and cheap. And although there is plenty of visible female hair, many women do wear the hijab (Muslim head scarf). It was actually suppressed during the administration of now-deposed President Ben Ali, so it’s now enjoying a bit of a renaissance here.

The hijab is especially in fashion among younger women, who tend to make it so deliciously stylish that I feel a little jealous.… Read more

Where should we go first? Libya or Algeria?

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I do a fair amount of airing of exasperations about moving on this blog. But there are some delightful things that happen as a result of our wanderings. And one of the best of those is meeting new friends. We just moved to a different vacation rental (closer to the beach. Hurrah!), and our newest friend is a retired British gentleman who lives downstairs. Alastair (not his real name, but I assure you that his real name sounds just as British) is one of the most pleasant conversationalists I’ve ever met. He is unfailingly polite, thoughtful, interesting, and has a brilliant dry wit made all the funnier by by his proper English accent.… Read more