Now, can you guess where I was hiding for the past couple of days ?
Some more photos available on my photolog, and more are on the way…
Category: Tunisia
Eid El-Fitr in Tunisia
So it’s confirmed that Eid El Fitr, the Islamic holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, will be tomorrow in Tunisia.
Happy and blessed Eid to everyone.
This Eid is also called the small Eid in Tunisia, the big one being Eid El Adha.
Many traditions and practices are associated with this Eid in Tunisia, which I think is one of the most beautiful days of the year.
In the days before the Eid, all the fuss is about getting different varieties of traditional sweets, that will be served to the guests, and buying new clothes for the whole family to wear and celebrate the Eid in.
In the morning of the Eid, the Eid prayers are held in mosques all over the country, which are an amazing experience that starts with lots of supplications and chanting, that can be heard throughout the neighbourhoods, and is then followed by a sermon and prayers.
Before the Eid prayer begins Zakat al Fitr, a little charity, is distributed by every household depending on the number of it’s family members.
After that, the men and kids of the family, all dressed up in their new clothes, go out and start visiting and wishing a happy eid to members of the extended family tree and friends, making it a great chance to reconnect and reunite with the family and friends.
The only downside is that they get served sweets at every house and they have to take some, which means that they end up stuffed with sweets at the end of the day.
As for the women, they stay at home to receive the guests; the men and kids of other relatives.
The closer family then gets together over lunch or dinner at the family house, or the eldest member’s house. The meal in the Tunis area is in most cases either “Mloukhia” or “Madfoona”.
Children love this day because they are given gifts and money by their parents and the close family members they visit.
I personally love how this Eid brings families together and reunites them. I hope we had more days like in the year.
Like many others, I too always seem to feel a sense of nostalgia to the days of Ramadan.
May God give us all the opportunity to live through another Ramadan, and Eid Mubarak to everyone all over the world.
And as we say in Tunisia: Eidik Mabrouk & Sneen Dayma (Blessed eid & lasting years).
After The Ramadan Tunisian Blogger Meetup
Last night we had the Ramadan Tunisian blogger meetup, which is our 7th.
It started off just before the break of fast in a small and nice restaurant in downtown Tunis, called “El Mida”. 5 people turned up for the dinner, which was pretty good, especially the Brik, a delicious Tunisian specialty.
After dinner, we moved on to a close by caf
Tomorrow: Ramadan Tunisian Blogger Meetup
A lot of ideas were thrown around for the Ramadan Tunisian blogger meetup, and what started out as a nice little meetup over a Ramadan dinner turned into a lot more.
So, finally, the proposed plan for tomorrow is as follows:
We meet a bit before the break of fast for a Ramadan dinner at “Al Mida” restaurant in downtown Tunis, in the Lafayette area, Palestine Road that was proposed by Karim, who knows the area like the back of his hand. [Address: 12 Palestine Road, Lafayette]
After that , we’ll go have something to drink in a nearby caf
Tunisia Qualifies for World Cup 2006
For the third consecutive time, and fourth time in the history of Tunisian football (Soccer for you Americans), Tunisia has qualified for the World Cup finals to be held next year in Germany.
The decisive game was played last night in Tunisia, in the Rades stadium.
Coming into the game Tunisia topped Group E with 20 points, and needed just a draw to book their place, while Morocco – a point behind – needed victory to win the group and qualify.
The game was a very tight one and both sides were doing their best to qualify.
The match ended with a 2-2 draw which meant that Tunisia got it’s ticket to the World Cup.
Congratulations to the Tunisian national team.
Now it’s time to get ready for next year, in order to represent Tunisia well in this world class competition.
Ramadan Tunisian Blogger Meetup
It’s been a while since we had a Tunisian blogger meetup, so I think it’s about time we organize one soon.
As it’s Ramadan, I’m thinking we could all meet and have dinner together somewhere nice.
So, what do you guys think?
And when do you think we should have it?
And do you have any suggestions for good restaurants that serve a delicious meal at accessible prices?
Please leave a comment or email me with your suggestions and ideas.
Le DVD Mobile
Today on our way back from a work meeting, a friend told me about this new service in Tunisia called “Le DVD Mobile” (The Mobile DVD).
“Le DVD Mobile” is a sort of Tunisian Netflix. It’s a service that delivers rented DVDs to your doorstep.
The process is as follows: You subscribe online to one of their plans, and then order DVDs, from their catalog, either online, by SMS or by phone.
The DVDs are then delivered to your doorstep the following day, and then collected again from your doorstep according to the date you specify when you ordered them.
Another option is that the DVDs get sent to you through the Tunisian post, and then you send them back by post too in the pre-stamped parcel that comes with them.
Their prices are very interesting and competitive, they have movies that were newly released on DVD, and the timing of delivery and flexibility is great.
What else could anyone want?
I’ll sure be checking them out.
I’m really happy to see such services pop up in Tunisia and I truly hope more people will try to use the internet to make their businesses more exciting, more accessible, more flexible and more competitive.
Wi-Fi Internet in Tunisia
Wi-Fi is barely starting in Tunisia, apart from three airports and a very few hotels here and there, it’s unlikely you’ll come across any wireless hotspots.
This post is more about some of my ideas and thoughts on how WiFi internet can get off the ground and become a reality in Tunisia.
Maybe it’s a bit too early, as even broadband connections are still not that wide-spread yet between home users, but we’re on the way there, and we can allow ourselves to look a bit to the future.
As with anything like this, government entities should be and are the first to encourage such ideas.
The airport authority have invested in providing Wi-Fi internet in three main airports; Tunis-Carthage, Monastir and Djerba-Zarzis.
I think that is great so that passengers on their way in or out of Tunisia can have access to the internet.
I also think it’s important for government entities that are involved with international trade and business, like the CEPEX and FIPA for example, to provide WiFi internet in their buildings so that foreign businessmen, investors and officials can easily access their emails, extranets and more.
And of course, I suppose the Kram fair building will be equipped with Wi-Fi internet for the WSIS in November.
TunisCity G
TunisCity, the biggest mall in Tunisia, opened it’s doors on September 29th.
I thought it would be better to avoid the first days of it’s opening because it would be too crowded, but our curiosity got the best of us yesterday and we had to go check it out.
TunisCity is on the outskirts of Tunis, located at the beginning of the Bizerte highway, which would make you think it’d be harder for people to get there, but that was not the case, the parking was crowded and there was a long line of cars waiting to get in to the parking or the areas around it.
What’s amazing is that even though I hate crowded places, my curiosity won over my instinct, which was telling me to just turn the car and go home.
Anyway, I confirm that this is the biggest mall in Tunisia now.
It’s design is pretty nice and I though the interior was pretty cool.
It’s bigger than Carrefour and better organized.
It was so crowded you’d think everything was for free, especially inside the hypermarket section “G
Ties With Israel
While going through the daily news, I came across this article on the english website of Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth about Turkish and Tunisian ties with Israel.
The article talks about an interview the prime ministers from both countries had with the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, which reported on the visit of both prime ministers to Abu Dhabi, where they spoke about relations with Israel.
Both prime ministers say that their countries’ ties with Israel serve the Palestinian cause and are aimed at finding a solution to the conflict.
The article goes on to say that Tunisian prime minister, Mr. Mohamed El Ghannoushi said that there was no direct conflict between Tunisia and Israel, and that his country was fully ready to recognize Israel and normalize ties, but added that this would