Tunisia here I come !!!!!!!!!!

Woke up around 9am; I had not done any of my packing and my room was in an utter mess. I also had to go to the bank because I have been busy working double shifts to payback days my colleagues have been working for me.

I had a cup of green tea which I had drunk a few days ago and the cup was still beside my bed and the green tea leaves were still there with mold growing inside.

After having breakfast and packing my bags I had to make a series of phone calls to my grandfather, mother and British gas.

As usual I am in a hurry so I packed 4 t-shirts; 2 cotton pants, 2 shorts, underwear, socks, a sweater in case it gets cold and soap and shampoo for the 3 week trip.

I locked my room and I realized that I forgot to take an umbrella as I heard it’s been raining in Tunis. The key that I had taken was a copy of a copy and I couldn't open my door. I decided to hell with the umbrella and opening the door and I went to the airport. On my way I also realized that in my mess of a room I had forgotten to clean the cup with green tea. I am hoping that there won’t be a live animal by the time I get back in 3 weeks.

I got to the airport; met my colleagues and checked in. Got to the boarding gate first and checked with the dispatcher if my bag was loaded and I got in a Tunisair flight from London Heathrow to Tunis. The overall service was not bad; they gave rice with turkey; 2 buns and an almond tart. In spite of having 30 minutes traffic at Heathrow they still managed to get into Tunis on time, I was impressed.

Reached Tunis at 820pm and by the time I had cleared immigration and collected my bag it was about 9pm.

I was asked by my Hospitality Club host to take a taxi and I was told it would cost about 5 dinars. There were guys who were offering taxi services and they said 20 and I said no 5 to 10 and then when I got near the taxi stand one taxi driver said 10. One guy put my bag inside the car and asked for a tip which I didn’t give. While going in the taxi the driver said 10 Euros and I said no way its 10 dinars. I did see that the meter was on too and then when we got to the destination the meter read 8 something and he said night time is 50% more which is correct so he pressed a button and the 8 something became 12 something. So I paid him 12 and got out. What I learnt later was that the 8 something includes the 50% and had pretty much over charged me 4 odd dinars. Well everything balances out eventually so never mind. I got a little lost in finding Celine’s place but with the help of some of the locals I found the road and found Celine’s place.

When I got in Celine (German) and Karim (half German & half Tunisian) were at home and their other flat mates were out. Later on Salma (Swedish), Fabio and Aurelio (French) and Salma’s Tunisian boy friend came. Someone mentioned that in Tunisia the punishment for adultery is 5 years in prison and Karim said in which case half the population would be in prison ;-)

We all had dinner together they had made an omelette in tomato puree kind of dish which tasted pretty good. I gave Celine my pot of Nutella, German bread and Toblerone.

All of us chatted till about 1am and I went to bed.

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