Shisha and chilling out in the Tunis medina

I woke up around 830am and I took a shower. Celine and I went all over the medina. When we started out we were a little hungry and Celine introduced me to fruit cocktails. It is quite similar to a smoothie, the one that we had was a made from banana and I think they put dates and crushed cashew and almond as well and they top it up with a few banana slices and honey. It tasted fantastic and it cost less than a dinar. I think I can just live on them. By the time we had that it was quite filling you don’t need to eat anything else. We went to a market and I bought some lentils and desiccated coconut powder. I was planning on making a Sri Lankan meal for everyone. The shop keeper was thinking that Celine and I were married and he couldn't comprehend how a German girl had met this Sri Lankan guy in Tunisia. We had to set the record straight.

A couple of observations while walking were, usually guys would whistle, ask for a number or try to talk to Celine but since she was with me, they probably thought I was Tunisian and didn’t give her a hard time. At the same time because Celine and I were walking together there were quite a lot of Tunisian girls paying a lot of attention.

After roaming about the medina, Celine and I stopped by at a restaurant to have lunch. I had a chicken shawarma with harissa and it tasted great. I have had dinner while writing this blog but the thought of all this food makes me hungry. How much I miss this food in London. It’s not the unavailability; it’s just that it is not conveniently available like by the side of the street here and definitely not at these prices.

We walked some more and then decided to stop at a cafe. I had mint tea and we got a shisha. In the morning Celine and I were wondering why coconut trees don’t grow near the oasis near the salt lakes. To find an answer Celine texted the question to one of her French friends Stefan who lives near Tozeur and as he hadn’t replied Celine called him. He happened to be in Tunis and he joined us at the cafe. I have now found a host in Tozeur even though I haven’t quite found an answer to my coconut tree question. Afterwards we went back home.

I was a little sleepy so I put a nap and Celine and Stefan continued talking. Celine had to go meet a friend who she was interviewing in order to write her thesis and I had to go meet another friend in the city.

I met up with Boutheina and we went to a cafe near the clock tower. I had orange juice and she had coffee. Boutheina lives near Bab la ques so we took a taxi, she dropped me at Celine’s place and she carried on.

After getting back home I had a chat with Celine and went to bed.

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