Category: Tunisia

Data collected as part of the most recent Tunisian census show a slowdown in population growth and an improvement in the standard of living of the population. The census took place on April 28, 2004. The previous census took place ten years ago.

Demographics:
The total number of Tunisia’s population on April 2004 was slightly more than 9.9 million.
The ratio of the population that is 14 years or younger has decreased from 33.8 % to 26.7 % between 1994 and 2004, while the proportion of the population between 15 and 59 years of age increased from 56.9 % to 64% during the same period. The rate of urban population stands at near 65 %.

Literacy:
The overall rate of literacy is near 80% today. The rate of illiteracy has continued to decrease. From 84.7 % on independence in 1956, and then 46 % in 1984, it was lowered to 22.9% in 2004. For those in the population between 10 and 29 years of age, illiteracy has come down from 24.8 % in 1984 to 6 % in 2004.

Continue reading Key Results of the Tunisia 2004 Census

So, at last, I’ve started the Tunis Weblogger Meetup Group.

Lately, many cool blogs have been popping up by Tunisians in and out of Tunisia, as well as blogs by foreigners living in Tunisia, and I think it’s about time a meetup group was created to put all these bloggers together.

So, if you’re a Tunisian blogger or someone blogging from Tunisia, please do join the Tunis Weblogger Meetup Group.

I’ll be counting on you to tell your friends too 🙂

Umbrellas at the beach of Yasmine Hammamet / Tunisia.

Picked for you from my photolog.

Picked for you from my photolog.

This morning, on my way to work, I drove through a street I’ve driven through almost everyday of the past 2.5 years, but today I noticed something different in it.

Before, it was called the “Environment Street”, but today I noticed a big sign that says “Boulevard du Leader Yasser Arafat”, or in English “Leader Yasser Arafat Street”.

I heard that a street was named after him here after his death, but I had no idea which one and where.

And true to it’s old name, it’s all green and full of flowers on the sides and in the middle. Pretty worthy of it’s new name.

Yesterday, and at last, we visited the Medina Mediterranea in Yasmine Hammamet and took a full tour inside it.

We actually attended a concert there last year, but most of it was still under construction and not open to the public.

The Medina Mediterranea is a new touristic project that embodies a whole old-style Tunisian city recently built in the touristic station of Yasmine Hammamet to be a living memory of our old Tunisian and mediterranean heritage and life. Some sort of a trip into the past and how cities and life were.

Anyway, I’ve taken a bunch of pics for you guys to see. So check them out here: Medina Mediterranea.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think 🙂

So, this morning in between paying our rent, bills and other stuff, we passed by Champion, the new mall that opened this week in Lafayette in downtown Tunis.

It looks really nice from the front and on the inside, but it’s a bit too small to be called a mall actually, so maybe mini-mall would be more suitable.

A lot of the shops and boutiques still haven’t opened yet and the food court is still under way but the supermarket section is working and already over-crowded.

The first thought I got when I walked into the supermarket was: this is more like a Monoprix loaded with the exact same stuff that’s in Carrefour but packed into a smaller area.

Anyway, even though I found myself thinking of how the lanes, counters and some other little things here and there were shopper unfriendly, I think it’s really nice and a great addition to the Tunisian shopping scene.

I hope it takes off some of the load Carrefour gets so that the latter can go back to being a good shopping experience.

The 10 golden rules for driving in Tunisia 😉

1. Get in the car and make sure you don’t fasten your seat belt. ( It’s considered a bad habit.)
2. Try to avoid looking in your side mirrors or front mirror. Mirrors in cars are made only to check on your appearance.
3. Before you start your engine, make sure a car is passing by, And then start driving.
4. Do not warn the drivers behind you of your intentions to stop, just step on the brakes and stop as suddenly as you possibly can.
5. Remember to cross the traffic light only when it’s about to become red.
6. If by any chance you see a friend, just stop in the middle of the road and greet him/her.
7. Never honor stop signs, they are only there for decorative purposes.
8. If you need something from the supermarket, double park making sure that no car will be able to find its way out.
9. A one-way street is an idea foreign to our culture, don’t ever go by it.
10. If you hit a car, don’t stop, just leave, and forget Anything happened.

Enjoy 😛

It’s summertime in Tunisia, the season of the sea, beaches, parties, clubs, coffee shops but most importantly weddings.
Yep, there’s certainly a lot of love in the air this time of the year.

As soon as the summer starts, invitations start floating around the country, and wherever you go, whoever you visit, there seems to be an invitation waiting for you for the wedding of the brother of the cousin of your grandmother’s half sister’s distant relative. In short, someone you never knew existed.
And wait, you’re actually expected to show up.

So, what should you expect at a Tunisian wedding?
Oh, a lot really. It’s like there’s this secret competition only people who are organizing weddings know about, in which by the end of the summer people are going to vote which wedding had the most money spent on it, which was the noisiest and loudest one, which had the ultimately worst singer, which served the sweetest sweets and which one featured the most barely dressed girls.
But that’s on the long term, on the short term you should primarily expect a headache, a stomachache and most probably diabetes.

Weddings are also an opportunity to get ready for the next wedding season and fill up it’s schedule, so girls put on all the makeup they have, wear as little clothes as possible, show as much cleavage and thighs as they can and dance until they drop in an attempt to hookup with one of the single (or married but ripe for divorce) perverts at the wedding.

Weddings aren’t all about celebration though, they’re also a war between the two families to prove who is classier and better.
And behind all that loud music, there often are a number of little fights going on because someone got served before the other or because someone sat closer to the bride and groom.

Ah…
There’s nothing quite like a Tunisian wedding.
Beneath all the madness, chaos and noise there lies a bit of the great and unique Tunisian culture that I love so much.
It’s Amazing…