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Published: October 30th 2010
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Ever since we arrived in Tunisia there seem to have been weddings on a regular basis. Apparently August is normally a popular time for nuptials but Ramadan is rather interfering with that at the moment. That means so many weddings have been crammed in to the late summer evenings. Sweet eh!
Unfortunately for us, a traditional Tunisian wedding can involve up to a week of partying. There's the henna party, bride's family party, pre-wedding party, post wedding party and who knows what else! I say unfortunately for us because most of these parties take place in temporary tented structures on rooftops and involve lots of loud Arabic music (drums and something akin to bagpipes) accompanied by the shrieks of ululating women. Just what you need until well after midnight when you have to be up inthe morning! One of the more recent of these parties took place about 50 metres from our bedroom window!!!!!
At work one of the security guards got married recently. He sent out a general invite to everyone to attend the ceremony. We thought it would be rude not to so we went along with a few of our colleagues. It was chaos in the
street outside the Town Hall in Carthage. Abut 6 weddings were going on and the one we were there for was the last one so we saw a few sights!! Once our hapy couple arrived we followed them into the hall. Under the watchful gaze of the Tunisian president's portrait, the town's mayor conducted the ceremony. Ok, it was all in Arabic so we have no idea what was said but it was short and sweet and before long we were all ushered into the reception room. Not knowing what the format was, we ended up at the end of the meet-and-greet line, leaving us the last to get to the wedding cake. There was none left! No party for us either. Presumably that was just going to be for family. Instead a few of us went to a very nice nearby fish restaurant where we got through a few bottles of red to celebrate!
We also had to dash down to Sousse after work on a Saturday night. With taxis restricted to their local areas, we had to get a
louage. On arrival at the louage station we negotiated a price to charter one rather than travel with
A wedding party
Just 50 metres from our bedroom window! everyone else. Yes, it was expensive, but it was cheaper than renting a car and we didn't have to drive. 2 hours later we had checked into our hotel, changed, and made our way to Kantaoui Golf Club where the wedding reception was in full swing. The ceremony had been during the day so Gemma and Samir were newlyweds by the time we saw them. Summer has definitely gone so Gemma felt the need to exchange her glamorous shoes for some warm, furry boots, which remained hidden under her wedding dress most of the time. She got them out for the camera though!! It was a strange party with half the guests staying indoors, mostly non-drinking Tunisians. Outside on the terrace you had some Tunisians who enjoy a drink and all the ex-pats and foreign visitors who were definitely enjoying a drink or two! It was a great weekend and we were so happy to be there.
Aside from weddings, the teaching has been going very well. We are both quite happy with all of our classes and we know the names of most of our students now!! With a hundred or so new names to learn we feel
we've done quite well! It's tough having a real
full time job after so long but we are getting used to it!!!
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