Is this some kind of joke?

Morocco Passport & Visa Requirements
Entry requirements for Americans: United States citizens require a passport, but no visa for a stay of up to three months.
Entry requirements for UK nationals: British citizens require a passport, but no visa for a stay of up to three months, providing the passport is endorsed British Citizen.
Entry requirements for Canadians: Canadian citizens require a passport, but no visa for a stay of up to three months.
Entry requirements for Australians: Australians must have a valid passport. No visa is required for a stay of up to three months.
Entry requirements for South Africans: South African passport holders must apply for a visa to travel to Morocco.
Entry requirements for New Zealanders: New Zealand nationals require a valid passport, but no visa is necessary for a stay of up to three months (an extension of up to six months is possible).
Entry requirements for Irish nationals: Irish nationals require a valid passport, but no visa is necessary for a stay of up to three months. An extension for up to six months is possible.
Passport/Visa Note: Sufficient funds should be held for maintenance for the period of stay. Entry may be refused to travellers with a 'hippy' appearance.

Bowaab بواب

This is a blog to represent one of the most influential people you will encounter during your stay in Cario. The bowaab is what we know as doorman. Here, the bowaab is seen as a highly influential man as he can use his powers as he pleases. Most bowaabs are seen standing around in front of apartment buildings in their galabayas (long night gown). At first, you may not understand the power of a man living on your apartment building roof with his family and only making less than 100 USD/month. However, don’t let this deceive you! The bowaab has a wide range of duties that include; but are definitely not limited to, getting you anything you could possibly need including basic grocery items, a new glass table, light bulbs along with installation. One must take care to form a positive relationship with the bowaab as he is the essential to keep you from being removed from you flat for violations such as bringing unexpected guests over and leading what may be seen in his eyes as a “haraam” (illegal) lifestyle. With that being said, here are a few adventures that you may also have with your bowaab

Pepper spraying the bowaab:
After a serious of encounters with your random male perpetrators I was feeling a little down and extremely vulnerable to say the least. My Aussie friend Simon surprised with a bottle of authentic pepper spray. Now, keep in mind that pepper spray is illegal in Egypt.
He decided that I should know the spraying power and distance in order to use the new device appropriately. So he ventures into the open hallway armed with sunglasses and a mask to prevent inhaling pepper spray to spray a small test plot on the wall. Mission achieved the pepper spray is quite powerful and if used correctly should do the job. With everyone fully satisfied we returned inside the flat. About ten minutes later, the bowaab knocks on the door to deliver the bread we ordered. We open the door only to find the old bowaab coughing and unable to breath, he throws the bread at us and leaves. Apparently it takes a good while for the fumes to disappear, the poor guy! So this is how it can be possible to accidentally pepper spray your bowaab.

Saving the bowaab from the masturbating man:
One evening Brian and I are walking back to the flat after our attempt at a lovely evening, we happen to notice a peculiar man following us but that is quite normal behavior in Cario. We enter the apartment taking care to not to wake the bowaab who sleeps on a cot directly in front of the apartment building door. We enter the elevator and just as we are about to ascend Brian screams “That guy is masturbating!” The perv was standing in front of the apartment building, the door open, only a few inches from the poor bowaab’s head. We hope to fulfill our duty of being good tenants which for us now includes the added responsibility of protecting the bowaab’s head from getting sprayed with male fluids. I start yelling in Arabic, Brian grabs a chair and starts running after the perv until he is out of sight. We go back to the apartment, chair in hand and all we can communicate to the disturbed sleepy bowaab is good night and we will tell you the story tomorrow. The next day I couldn’t imagine leaving the flat as I knew I would be faced with communicating the previous nights’ 3 AM erratic behavior. I knew I would have to choose somebody to call in order to explain the ordeal to him. This is a tricky choice as most Egyptians would not want to be the one to tell an old man these two foreigners saved him from what most would have seen as a very unpleasant experience.

My urban adventure in Cairo. One ordinary day turned out to be an absolute chaotic disaster. If anyone ever asks me “ Umm yes tell me about a time when you faced a challenge and had to overcome it.” Well the day began like any other, I was at home in the afternoon but needed to go buy some water. So I threw on my sandals, a shawl, and just grabbed my wallet and key. Upon arriving back at the apartment I couldn’t get my key to work. The key had been a little problematic before but never this bad. So I wait while some Egyptian men try to shove the key into the lock. No success so the doorman walks me across the street to the landlord’s pharmacy. The father brings me the original key to the apartment. Ofcouse that didn’t work. I am trying to stay calm as I need to get in the apartment to change clothes for work. So I know the shop owner on the corner has a ladder, I ask him if I can borrow it and I contemplate climbing to the second story to climb over my balcony and go in through the open door. Well that was just not a smart decision based on the fact that this old Arab man was not going to let a young woman in a skirt climb a ladder end of story -halas! I go back to the pharmacy and wait an hour for them to call a lock smith. This guy was a miracle worker, 15 minutes and he was in. Well the entry way light is burnt out but the landlord hadn’t had time to do anything about it ( as I have like 20 foot ceilings). I end up holding a flashlight so the guy can start fixing the lock. He runs off to get some parts. The landlord calls another guy that delivers a light bulb to the house. I could understand the Arabic of this woman asking him if he could install it too. She made this guy stand on a wooden chair, a table, and a stool to reach the light socket. He kinda studdered at first but he actually did it. I would have told the crazy woman no way! In meantime the water and electricity went out during the time I entered the apartment. The whole afternoon was like the movie "run lola run". I just kept thinking about my next move and running there even across cairo traffic. The whole day I just kept thinking, if only i had my camera!

CAIRO

So far Cairo has proved to be full of more adventures. I was able to find a flat in about a week. It is right downtown close to the metro. The city is huge with 17 million people. Like other big cities you find poverty, terrible traffic, convenient delivery services, etc. English is the second language here so if you are lucky you will be able to find someone around you that you can get directions from. The metro system is amazingly clean, efficient, and easy to use. The first car in the metro is reserved just for women travelers who are not with a male companion to make them feel more comfortable. When you see the metro whizzing past you this car looks like an egg carton of pastels colored eggs due to the summer season colored veils sported by most of the women. There is a certain unpredictability that is part of the charm the cairo keeps. The charm can really surprise you even after you think you can predict it. Bread is sold on the street while shoes are sold in glass cases on the wall. The average Egyptian street salesmen will say "Welcome to Egypt." On my first day I was enjoying this at first thinking how clever they were to know this is your first day in Egypt. After the first day it became umm a little repetitive. But Egyptians by nature are very resourceful. There are more auto part and repair stores than Mexico,wali i swear. They created this little pump so go on the huge water bottles so you don’t have to buy the stand for the bottle. I swear if you introduced duck tape to these people you would become an instant billionaire. Most Egyptians across classes will recognize that there are differences between the thoughts of the people and the actions of his government so they are pretty easy going cats. They love getting to know what America is really like instead of what they see in American movies and tv series. So far every customs desk at the airport has asked me if I am Pamela Anderson, so i guess Baywatch had a pretty big impact on North African tv viewers. One of my students tried to convince me that ALL Americans were outgoing and there are no shy ones. This is of course based on the fact that he is using Buffy the Vampire Slare as his guide to what U.S. culture is a replica of. So more on Cairo living later.

Ready to leave.......
So as I am preparing to leave for Cairo I had to suck it up and spend the day making sure that I could leave the country. See, American tourists are allowed 4 months stay in Tunisia. If you stay over that you are required to pay 10 dinars a week that you stay over. So let's calculate, since i have been here 9 months now I have to pay 200 dinars for the 5 months over my allowed tourist stay. Excellent. Then, since i have stayed here over 6 months i am required to pay 45 dinars, even Tunisians must pay this fee. In order to find out what I have to do to leave the country I knew that I would spend the day running all over Tunis so I started the morning with a surprisingly cheerful attitude towards the process. I looked at it as a cultural adventure, that I averaged would take around 4-5 stops before the procedure was finished. So here is a recap.
1. Take a cab to the airport to have a little chat with the police about what I need to do to leave the country legally. The cab driver on the way was interesting as he took us all the way into Tunis and then to the airport adding 4 dinars to the cab meter. Upon arrival to the airport I found the center of the police staion for passports. I talk to two friendly cops who inform me that I have a big problem and I am going to have to pay 400 dinars. My response is to laugh silently as I know the process and the exact amount I have to pay but apparently they are completely unaware. So after a few phone calls he informs me that yes, I do have to pay 200 dinars but I need to go to the police by my house is la goulette. I walk out of the office smirking to myself, YES, check one off of the list, should only have about 3 more stops.
2. Arrive at the police station in la goulette after fighting with the cab drive for charging me 10 dinars for a cab that was 5 dinars. I speak to the cheaf of the police department, he makes some phone calls, photo copies my passport, enjoys my use of arabic phrases, and tells me I need to go to the police office in Carthage at exactly 3:00. Fine, so I now have crossed two places off of my list.
3. Get in the cab to go to Carthage Police Station, the driver tries to take me to La Marsa which is a city after Carthage. I tell him to pullover and ask a policeman on the street where the Carthage Station is. Exactly as we expected, it is in Carthage, not La Marsa. Upon arrival to the station we are asked to wait for no less than 15 minutes. I give my passport and other documents to the officer and he the first thing he says is " No no no , you need to go to the station in La Goulette, not here." My tranquil composure is slipping, remain calm, dont do anything stupid " Umm no sir, I have already been to La Goulette today, remember they called you and you said for me to come here at 3:00 today, remember that, just a few hours ago?" His response, "Well you need to go make copies of your passport and bring them back." Grrrrr, so you can't just make them here?"
4. Okay go back to La Goulette to make copies of the passport.
5. Back at the Police Station, okay so you need to buy stamps at the Recette de Finance, two 100 dinars stamps. However, do not attach them to your passport. Then we will call you back in 2-3 weeks to return here once the paperwork is finished. "Ummm, no no no no you see I will be leaving in three weeks, you will call me before three weeks." Police officer- "hahah yes yes before three weeks, two weeks okay okay." Oh dear god, they are really not going to let me leave.
6. I have now on trip 6 and realize this process is not going to be finished until right before I leave. Grrr.... Bought my stamps at the Recette de Finance. Now just waiting this phone call that establishes my ability to depart.......cross your fingers for me.


So I decided a couple months ago that I in order to complete my Tunisian experience I would have to actually embark in a truly cultural experience of buying this humongous tin of tuna for $11 USD. Brian's look of shock when I came back with this huge tin was priceless, poor kid probably thought we would still be eating tuna on the way to the aiport but surprisingly enough the tine has disappeared after only a month, sick yes I know. In the process I have come up with some very interesting recipes involving tuna, some better than others.

 

WOOOWZERS You can now call the United States and Canada for free! Can you believe it? It is so funny for me to be in Tunisia and able to call home for completely free, well, provided you have a highspeed internet connection. Skype just launched this amazing new offer. I can't wait to see what is soon to come in the telecommunication industry.

See my photos

Too many updates

First of all I recently finished my internship with AMIDEAST. While it was not exactly what I was hoping for I did learn a lot from the experience. The past month I have been teaching a couple of classes at AMIDEAST and also on my own. I absolutely love not having an 8-5 job.

This is most of the staff including (Left to right back to front) Fahad, Latifa, Sonia, Ann, Nejib, Amy, Leila, Lee, Hela, Salima, Me, Hadassah, Nabila

These two important men are Walid and Abdalazek whom are actually government officials. Since their job is secure they sit around holding their balls all day.

My mom and her friend Darlene returned home after spending two week with me and Brian exploring the Tunisia and the Sahara. Some very interesting stories came out of this one as well. I believe the best were Brian and I ordering in a restaurant and the waiter somehow didnt realize it. Turns out it only takes a bottle of wine for sand roses and TP to disappear from the restaurant lobby.:)

I have had two amazing exeriences. One is to see my favorite band, Hoba Hoba Spirit, play live in Tunis. They are a Moroccan group that sings a lot about politics and the difficulties of the youth right now.

My favorite author Paulo Coehlo was in Tunis at a huge book fair and I got to have my book signed by him and see him speak. I was wearing a shirt that said "be the change you seek" and he seemed quite interested in it, i was speachless!

Only three more weeks til Cairo!