Bear with me, comrades. I'm struggling!
Ah well, it was bound to happen. After a whole winter with not a sniffle, suddenly I have a horrible cold and my tonsils are all massive. In addition, I'm under a great deal of pressure at work, which, to be honest I did know was coming, but doesn't make it any more fun. So the long, long, hours, with the half-marathon training, the french cramming and all the everything else and something was bound to crack.
I still trained today though, but I only managed 6km before my whole body gave up. If you can walk, you can run, right? Except that I can hardly breathe.
Anyhow, so I'm taking a step back, have postponed French test until June, having a weekend off running, but do plan to get back to it once I am better - I'm up to a solid 13km now, and I really think I can do this.
You miss me? here I am with Jasmin and jasmine.
P.S. Yeah there's no Prime Minister - what do you want me to do about it? Tunisia... ! x
Oh my, oh my... just when life had started to get boring, everything happens all at once and before I knew it there is a tonne to update you on. Let us begin:
Hometown Visitation
If you're a lucky one, you just saw me when I came home. If you're less lucky, then I'm sorry, and we'll schedule it for next time, m'kay? It really was a flying visit to scoot home for my nephew's birthday last weekend. He gets more and more adorable everytime I see him, and I can't help but fall in love with him over and over again.
He had elected to have a fancy dress party, which we all thought would be lots of fun, but has recently developed a wild adoration for Captain America, a Marvel character not typically marketed for UK consumers and so sourcing of a costume and gifts was a little tricky for his poor Mummy. It's not clear where he even found about about Captain America... all he seems to know is that he has a shield. Naturally, I can place my full support behind a defensive, rather than an offensive character.
When asked who he wants to be for his birthday party:
Otherwise the trip home was wonderful. I managed to bring back all the things that I had forgotten over Christmas and to finally take Cleo for a good walk.
Being expatriated is sometimes hard for friends and family to understand. Some people consider it as a temporary arrangement or a rejection of your home culture, when for me it's neither of those things. My close family have stopped asking "So, when are you coming home for good?" and accept that this is no short term arrangement, but I am starting to feel detached now even when home, and sometimes miss social intricacies and popular culture jokes. I worry sometimes about becoming one of those people who don't really feel 'at home' anywhere. But the novelty of this life is still fresh, and so for now, I'm not about to become island-bound again yet.
Cape Malay Temptation
Returning back after such a fun weekend is always hard. You try to placate the pain by buying yourself lots of home luxuries to get yourself through those few few rough hours and days. Good quality chocolate, tea bags, pork products, celery and Greek yogurt are my staples. However, this time, the homecoming was made easier my my friend Jasmin hosting a beautiful Cape Malay supper. She had literally spent all day cooking, and her laden table and smiley face made the return so much easier.
Cape Malay is a ethnic group in Jasmin's home country of South Africa, to which she belongs. The food, like most South African food, is heavy and meaty.
For main course we had Bobotie, which is a heavy, spicy meatloaf topped with a savory egg custard. It looks a bit like Shepherd's pie, but the spices made it very fragrant and the texture was much stodgier.
It was served with a yellow rice cooked with raisins. So deliciously sweet, so perfectly homely. For dessert, she had made some Malay Koesisters, which are little cinnamon doughnuts covered in dessicated coconut.
And we drank lots of South African wine. I'm so glad that she's my friend.
Assassination
I have a conundrum here, because our lives have been centred around the assassination of the leader of the opposition, Chokri Belaid since it happened on Wednesday morning, the desolation of government on Thursday and the huge state funeral and subsequent protests on Friday. But although I am affected in fairly minor ways - changes to working hours, avoiding certain parts of the city, aeroport and shop closures - I am no political commentary and to offer any kind of judgement on the event or the fallout would be insulting to a nation where every citizen takes such an interest on the state, reputation and accountability of its political system.
However, from talking to my Tunisian friends and colleagues, it is clear that most Tunisians feel that their glorious revolution, and the real opportunity for reform and change has been stolen from them by small pockets of religious fanatics.
Our hearts break and all our love goes out to the family of Chokri Belaid.
Co-Habitation
Oh Lordy Kids. It happened. I got up in the night on Thursday... and there he was. After 14 months of living in my lovely apartment with not a sniff of trouble... Bam!
There were screams. I reached for the spray, and I destroyed him. I can't understand it. I am usually so brave, snakes, spiders, bees, wasps... no trouble... but cockroaches - I hate them.
I would love to tell you that it's an isolated incident, but I met his wife and children last night. I feel quite traumatised, but hope that this problem will only last the rainy season (another two weeks).
My nerves couldn't take much longer.
Peace x
