open door policy

i've just returned from a lovely holiday in tunisia, or, tunissiya, as the brits (apparently) call it. the four of us (jasmine, paloma, vince and myself) spent a week there and were completely enamored of this fascinating country. we experienced some interesting aspects of the culture and i'll try to hit the highlights for you.

vince set the tone for the trip on the taxi ride (naturally, the shuttle was on strike that day) to the airport: "i assume there will be low to minimal judging on this trip." it ended up being very appropriate, as lodging (read: bathrooms) were sometimes questionable and showering was never a certainty.

we began our journey in tunis, where we arrived at the airport and took a cab to our hostel in the medina (roughly translated to old, walled, wind-y part of the city) which was surprisingly easy to find. we knew we were in a totally different place. the obvious things of course, like the language and the labyrinthian city. but also little things like the money: they use three decimal places which means they count up to millimes (thousandths). for example a coin with 100 on it is really 100/1000 or one tenth of one dinar. but a 1/2 dinar coin would be 0,500. this took some getting used to. also, the locks in the doors turn backward. no righty-tighty here. what a country.

immediately two aspects of landscape became very apparent: the flags and the doors. both were everywhere but the latter was the more captivating. for those of you who don't know, i happen to enjoy taking pictures of interesting doors. i had heard tunisian doors were particularly beautiful (and warned my travel partners about my habit well in advance) and i was not disappointed. door capital of the world, as far as i'm concerned. it seemed like every door was painted a bright color or patterned with studs. it doesn't seem like much, but it really added so much to the city.

more to come...