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
Middle East
Am I Guilty of Collaboration with the Regime?
Bashar al-Assad, sometime doctor, now autocratic ruler of Syria, has killed at least 50 people during the past week, and probably far more. In their hearts, I think the Syrian people knew that they would pay a heavy price for freedom. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons it has taken so long for protests to take off there, even though Syria is high on the list of the most repressive governments in the world. Emergency laws, in place for the past fifty years, allow the government to censor, arrest, torture, intimidate, and suspend most constitutional rights. And Syria has a lingering nightmare always in the back of its mind.… Read more
A Trip to Old Carthage
After completing our tour of the Bardo Museum, we still had an afternoon left, so we set off to visit the ruins of Carthage. Carthage is, in fact, still inhabited. We go there every Sunday to visit our friends who work at the embassy. It is now a posh suburb of Tunis, resplendent with nice villas and palm trees. But back in the day, it was the domain of Dido (who is called Elissa here, and appears on coins and bills, cell phone commercials, and anywhere else an imperiously beautiful woman is needed). Because the Romans sacked and took possession of the city at the conclusion of the third Punic War, most of the sites now are Roman.… Read more
Mosaic Hunt at the Bardo Museum
Yesterday we went to the Tunis airport to rescue a package from the catacombs of customs. Eventually we lost count of how many times we went from office to office, collecting and relinquishing slips of white, pink, and yellow paper. When the long-awaited moment for recovering the package finally arrived, we were in suspense about how much duty they would charge us. With each trip to a new office, we pictured the duty going up, until by the end we were fully expecting to pay hundreds of dollars for our package. So when the customs official bestowed a final stamp and signature on our pile of papers and announced, “nine dinar,” (about $7.00), Tony almost laughed in relief.… Read more
Where to Find News on the Arab Revolutions
So, it looks like somehow, bizarrely, we managed to move to what looks like it might be the safest country in the Middle East right now: the one that’s already finished its revolution. I never would have thought it when we arrived. Back then there was a 6 pm curfew, our neighbors were out manning the barricades every night, and prisons were still getting broken into and emptied.
Of course, we’ve been haunting the news over the past few months, and especially lately, as the situation in Libya has gone from bad to worse to we’re not sure what. Many Egyptians voted for the first time in their lives last week.… Read more
The Dreamers of the Day
“Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” – T.E. Lawrence
What would it have been like to walk the streets of ancient Athens, and see Solon’s new laws resting in the Prytaneum? Or stand with the English barons as they forced King John to sign the Magna Carta? What must have been the atmosphere of the Second Continental Congress, as it took the helm of a revolutionary war and struggled to hammer out the structure of a government the people could believe in?… Read more
About to shoot a flower
Have you read Les Miserables? I’ve only read it once, long ago. Although I found the entire book deeply affecting, there is one part I still remember particularly with the same passionate vividness as when I first read it as a romantic sixteen-year-old. It is in Volume 5, Book 1, Chapter 23, in which the disarmed but resplendent revolutionary leader Enjolras is executed during a failed revolt. The storm of tears with which I greeted the unflinching death of my hero prevented me for some time from continuing my reading. Neither before nor since can I remember any character whom I have idolized more.… Read more
May the Force Be With You
So, I let my preschoolers watch a PG-13 movie. I know, bad mommy. In my defense, it was Star Wars (that makes it OK, doesn’t it?). It was also Tony’s custom version, expurgated for three- and six-year-old eyes. And, we LIVE on the planet of Tatooine. Besides, the damage had already been done six years ago when Axa saw it multiple times in the theater as a baby in the Philippines.
Bizarrely enough, Star Wars is something my children can really relate to. As we were preparing to come to Tunisia in the wake of the revolution, I cast about for a way to explain the events to them without overwhelming or frightening them.… Read more
When is a politician not a politician?
Those of you who contacted me, concerned for our safety after my post last Sunday will be happy to hear that this week Tunis was perfectly quiet and safe when we rolled up on Sunday morning. The kids were a bit disappointed with the diminishment in “army men,” but I can’t really say I shared their sentiments. And, as a result of the protests last week, Tunisia is now the proud owner of its third caretaker government in two months. I don’t know where they keep getting all these new government ministers. I’m half expecting a call with an invitation to join the cabinet myself.… Read more
In the Arms of the Angel
As of today, we are officially out of olive oil. Whatever our failings, we are at least Italian enough to be unable to cook for even one day without some good extra virgin olive oil. We’ve been trying to buy it for a couple of days now. There’s no chance of getting it in our neighborhood. The abundance of little corner shops where we can get our normal staples (butter, yoghurt, fruits/veggies, fresh bread, etc.) only have various kinds of gross vegetable oil. I haven’t used vegetable oil in years. So it was off to the grocery store in downtown Hammamet, just across the street from the medina.… Read more