Happy Thanksgiving! It’s 8:30 Thanksgiving morning here in Sicily, Italy and my kids are just waking up. Jill lived here, and she loved it. Grayson has mentioned a few times how good it will be to spend the day in a place that his mom loved. I wasn’t sure how we would do on this first holiday without her. Looking out at the ocean, the mountains, and the red roofed, tan stucco buildings makes me sadder, yet I can picture her on these streets, a coffee in hand and a smile on her face. We’ll be ok today, and my thankfulness for her, my kids, and so many of you runs deeper today.
Yesterday was full of sights, sounds and smells we are certainly unaccustomed to! After waking to alarm clocks and sleepily moving through a quick breakfast, we made our way to customs and climbed on a bus mixed with English and German speakers for a day in Tunis with our English/German speaking guide. Tunisia is 99% Muslim, though the government is secular. I wasn’t sure how it would feel to be in a place with women in hijabs and full body coverings, and I soon realized there were plenty of local women without any head coverings, and the country is led by a woman Prime Minister. Tunis is apparently the only Arab country in the Arab world that has outlawed polygamy, and requires all girls to be educated. As the father of an incredible daughter (and the husband of a beautifully strong woman), my awareness around the equality of women is heightened. This journey is yet another opportunity for me to walk through the world continuing to learn (and teach my kids) the delicate balance of respect for all people and cultures while not compromising.
Our first stop was the medina in Tunis, and we were soon bumping into people as we made our way through the narrow market while the men sat at their booths, or sat with friends, smoking hookahs. The bubbling sounds of the hookahs being smoked by men in their chechia hats was fascinating, while the smell of tobacco smoke, spices and perfumes was strong, and I was soon haggling over a small handmade Tunisian rug we wanted for wall art in our home…Grayson wasn’t impressed with my haggling skills, and I’m sure we spent too much. Between the rug and the gifts for friends, we were ready to pay, and I made my way to the counter, quickly choking on the total, which came to 578,000 Dinar. Imagine the scrambling I was doing, unable to communicate while hoping that the conversion of 578,000 was what I had negotiated in Euros (it was, but it took some time before my panic subsided after the credit card transaction was complete)!
The history of this place soon put our fascination with the castle in Spain dating to 1073 into perspective. The medina dated back to the 7th century…that’s a hard one to fully appreciate!
I found a beautiful blue door I wanted a picture of (though the sun made it nearly impossible for us). When Jill and I were first married, we had pictures of doors around the world through our house. She loved beautiful doors and the surrounding architecture. After the picture, Ellanora started to play with the knocker, until I quickly said “stop…this is someone’s house!”
Around noon we boarded the bus and headed for Carthage, and were soon wandering through the ruins of a city founded around 800 B.C.
Before we left Carthage, Grayson had the opportunity to do some haggling of his own, and is now the proud owner of some pricy Roman and Carthage coins (we’re pretty sure are fake, but cool). I felt a bit better about my own haggling after that…until another shop owner came up to us and informed me that I must not love my son if I wasn’t willing to spend another ten Euros on better coins…sorry Grayson, apparently even my love has it’s limits.
By the time we returned to the Tunisian port to board the ship, the rain and hail had started, and we made a dash for the gangway. We were soon eating a late afternoon snack and watching as the ship pulled away from the dock, headed back out to sea. After dinner, Joel went back to our room to read for school and Ellanora chose to do some drawing while Grayson and I went to the theater to watch “The Voice” at sea. It was one of Jill’s favorite shows on TV that I just couldn’t get into. This version had guests trying their hand at singing. We had some laughs, before heading back to the room for the night.
We woke in the night to a pretty intense thunderstorm at sea, but otherwise had some solid sleep, waking to the sunshine of Sicily.
Learning to Move Through the World 