To keep people posted on what i have just referred in my last entry to as a very 'interesting' week, here are a bunch of excerpts from emails/messages to people over the past week. It started off ok: October 19th: i hope everything is going great and you're adjusting to being back in calgary (for once!). i just thought i'd email you to say that my dinner went beyond excellently- the turkey worked out perfectly, no one got massively scalded, and everything was delicious and smooth sailing. it didn't even take that long for the turkey to cook- about 4.5 hours! i was expecting it to go wrong and take about 9... have no expectations, hope for the best, and you'll never be disappointed... anyway, i thought i would let you know. i'm feeling very very ... read more

Hey all out there! First off- Happy Thanksgiving! I'm with a bunch of Americans who tell me that Canadian thanksgiving isn't 'proper Thanksgiving'-- but the three of us here and banding together and will figure out some equivalent of turkey-- pigeon, anyone? Anyway, I apologize for the lack of updates after the last rather dismal one. It's been an interesting three weeks, to say the least. As per the last post, yes, scalding coffee got upturned on my lap in class. It was still blistering four hours later, excruciating pain, yadda yadda. I found out that I was able to walk the entire next day, no problem, because the damage was so extensive that the nerves in my legs were completely shot. My doctor told me that the left leg had the worst of it, and ... read more

Ramadan Kareem b'lay! (Happy Ramadan!... I think) Sooo. Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, where, during daylight hours, you don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't think sinful thoughts and (this is the kicker), you fast hardcore a la no food and no WATER. Anyone who knows me, and has seen me hungry, will know that me trying this from about 430 am to 630 pm is at once hilarious and kind of frightening. Yesterday wasn't too bad. I took a lovely hour long 'nap' before Suhoor, which is breakfast, at 330. I am consistently and determinedly becoming nocturnal, by the way. The cafe tried to serve me foul mesdames, but I was not having it- I'm sorry, if I'm not eating for the next 14 hours I don't want my last memory of food ... read more

It is officially the last day of my foolhardy North African adventure (volume I). It has been packed. Did I actually say that I would be able to relax in Tunis? I vaguely remember using the words 'chill out'. Today I went to my first and second legit museums of my entire 6 week trip. I am so le cultured. I visited mostly all the old Carthaginian ruins near Tunis in the 35 degree, humid weather. Able to look at the crystal clear blue Meditarranean but never close enough to go in! I shopped for souvenirs, bargaining with shopkeepers, trying to maintain some dignity in miniscule souq-marketplace change rooms, and navigating the little boutique lined roads (with century old cobblestones and massive crowds- not easy!). And all amid the ubiquitous cries of 'japanese? chino? ...married?' -as ... read more

"What a difference a day makes... 24 little hours" For those of you who haven't seen "Run Lola Run", do it. Anyway: Reasons I was Tired Yesterday 1. lack of sleep 2. that freaking call to prayer at 430am 3. its hot 4. did i mention its hot? 5. two long bus trips back to back 6. giant backpack 7. lack of sleep Anyway, I was really ready to call it quits yesterday. Thankfully, my sarcastically mentioned 'genius idea' actually ended up being a pretty good one- no mosquitoes (where would they breed anyway? This is the Sahara desert), no bed bugs, sleeping with the cool breeze under shady palm trees and the stars. I also ran into two of these German girls that I met in Tunis. We had a nice long rant about Tunisian ... read more