Tunisia, Sweet Home

On Sunday, June 26th, 2011, my family & I, minus Dad will be in FREE Tunisia... To me, Tunisia means spending time with family/relatives, friends, attending weddings, going to the beaches, Souqs, traditional restaurants and cafes, walking on the Corniche and stopping to have Crepe; cleaning my teeth (yes - visiting the dentist :D), a new hair style, and making regular visits to the many marvelous Turkish Baths! This Summer, however, will be a lot different - for all Tunisians, I guess. This is the first Summer after the successful revolution of my truly amazing country people. To me, this will also be the first summer in which I return to my family as a proud K-State Graduate, after being an Undergraduate for 5 years. Also, this summer, our Syrian neighbors are coming to Tunisia - Oh, what a joy! Rami, thanks for insisting on your parents that you need to be next to your one true friend, my brother; You did a good job! Khala Umm Rami, don't worry! You're going to love my country!

Other notes: Three days until my family and I will be in Free Tunisia.

- We have a sparkling, clean apartment now: scrubbed floors and walls, and shampooed rugs.
- Graduate School Application submitted! Please, wish me the best this time!
- Its 12:30 past midnight, and I need to shut down my computer and go to bed...

Long Time, No Blogging!

I know I haven't been blogging for quite some days now - I'm sorry. You know, mom bought me a diary that has 100 pages when I started middle school; I barely filled 5 pages. I'm just bad at keeping up with writing. However, I must also mention that a lot has been going on:

-  Grandparents left on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011. That day was an adventure for both my grandparents and my family...Here is a painful moment, where I find myself unable to excuse the retardation of our Arab countries. The way by which passengers get into and out of an airplane at all three airports of Jeddah (these are King Abdulaziz Airport, King Abdulaziz International Airport, and King Abdulaziz Airport for pilgrims), Saudi Arabia is very cruel. Unlike in most airports, where passengers enter the airplane directly from the gate, through a sky bridge, passengers departing from, or arriving through any of those three airports would have to take a bus that would take them from the gate to their airplane. From there then, passengers would "climb" up to the airplane through a 30 step stairs, while carrying their handbags, etc. The elderly, as well as people with special needs have the right to ask for a wheel chair and a mechanical "lift" that would lift them directly to the airplane. Mothers with children/carrying strollers don't have access to this service. While my grandparents did not use this service when they came here, it was obvious that grandpa would need a wheel chair and a lift this time. Mom, who was sitting with grandparents, while sister and I went to weigh their luggage and get the boarding passes for them, tried to introduce the idea that we would order a wheel chair and a lift for Grandpa (who celebrated his 86th birthday during his most recent visit with us, but still thinks he is 28), to grandparents. However, Grandpa literally refused, insisting that he would be able to climb the 30 staircase to the airplane!!! Our plans of ordering a wheel chair and a lift for him were thrown in the trash...Grandparent's luggage passed into the airplane, and it was time to tell them goodbye; such moments were tough, because it was obvious Grandpa is going to have a hard time. Dad got to accompany them till before they got into the bus (that will take them to the airplane)... When Dad came back, we decided to stay in the airport till Grandparents' airplane departures. While waiting, we went and had lunch in the largest restaurant in the airport. I had pasta and Caesar Salad - it was delicious, because I was hungry. The airplane departed 45 minutes after its scheduled departing time; this usually doesn't happen with the Saudi Airlines, and it just added to our nerves...Most importantly, Grandparents have arrived safely. We called them, and all I can tell is that I don't think Grandpa will ever make it again here. Maybe Granny will want to visit us again, but not Grandpa - I don't think he wants to do this again; Poor Grandpa - Can't blame him...  

       

- Other notes: Sister took Subject SAT Test in Math last week in Jeddah too. We spent two days, so it was also an opportunity for us to go shopping in some of the extravagant shopping malls I've ever seen in the Middle East. I did a good job. We went to Al-Andalus Mall, where I bought an outfit for Tunis (Navy blue cool linen pants + a long, white, 100% cotton top with a delicate brown leather belt. The next day, we went to Souq Al-Shatee, where I bought two Abayas in one time.Then, we went to The Mall of Arabia - largest mall in Saudi Arabia, as far as I know. I bought an outfit for Eid Al-Fitr, sunglasses, and beach flip flops. It was great...

- We started cleaning our house (deep cleaning - not just cleaning). This is what we call "The Annual Cleaning."This is the time when we get out our Summer clothes, and put away our Winter clothes. And in between this process, we discover that we need to get rid of some clothes - like either give them away, or, unfortunately...throw them away.