I'll start off with a joke: What's orange and sounds like a parrot? I'll give you the answer at the end.
So, it's my last night in Tunisia. It's been quite a trip - highs, lows, mediums, and everything in between. I took some photos along the way, which you can see here.
The highlight of the last week was the arrival of Steph, which brought even more sunshine to an already extremely sunshiny place. She got here on Friday evening with a bottle of vodka in tow, as is her wont, and we used it to have a bit of a knees-up with my friends here. I showed here round some of the highlights of Tunis on Saturday and then we headed off down the coast to Hammamet, where we stayed in a beautiful hotel on the beach. We ate a lot of food, read improving books, played water polo and generally had a merry old time. So merry in fact that we forgot to leave and helped ourselves to a whole other day of free stuff. Bonus. Then as quickly as she arrived she was gone again - off to the ferry port to go to Sicily and thence on up to Croatia and Outlook Festivities. A flying visit to be sure, but wonderful to see her after a whole month apart. We're reconvening back on the boat on Sunday, assuming it's still afloat.
Also on Friday was my departure from work. There were no patients as usual, so I spent the day chatting to all the doctors and nurses, swapping phone numbers and facebook details (it always seems odd to me that when you do this you just give someone a piece of paper with your name written on it). I'll miss them all but I probably won't miss the department so much! Adjusting back to life in the NHS is going to be quite a challenge - must remember to wash hands, use clean equipment and seek consent!
Back at the hostel people are slowly disappearing. Not in a sinister or mysterious way; they're just going home. About half have already gone, but it's OK because the other half are partying with even more reckless abandon in order the keep the level of noise and disruption pretty much constant. To be honest I'm a little bit bored of the routine here and I'm looking forward to coming and home and seeing some of my proper friends. That's always one of best bits about going away. I've made some good friends here though and I now have contacts in hospitals all over Europe and elsewhere, which may well come in useful for further travels in the future. Of note is an offer to go and work in Burkina Faso next summer, which sounds extremely interesting.
Anyway, tonight I'm just chilling here I think, reading my latest book - Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (so far brilliant). I've just been out for my last run (not ever, I hope - just here in Tunis), which was beautiful as usual although not as peaceful as I have become accustomed to on account of THE END OF RAMADAN! Just as I prepare to go home, the madness has finally finished. Today is Eid ul-Fitr and so it's party-time, although unfortunately not for us. We were hoping for big street parties etc., but apparently it's a really family-oriented affair and everyone's holed up in their houses. So much so that absolutely everything is shut and so we can't even buy food to have our own party. Still, I hope they're all having fun without us.
Tomorrow I have the day free to hang out in Tunis, although I don't have any particular desire to do so. I might swing by the centre just to see how it is with stuff open during the day but mostly I'll just be slowly making my way airportwards to catch my flight in the evening. I get back around 11 pm I think, and then it's back to uni on Thursday. I was supposed to start today but hopefully they won't have noticed.
So I suppose it's so long and farewell! Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll see you all in person soon.
All the best.
PS: A CARROT!
So, it's my last night in Tunisia. It's been quite a trip - highs, lows, mediums, and everything in between. I took some photos along the way, which you can see here.
The highlight of the last week was the arrival of Steph, which brought even more sunshine to an already extremely sunshiny place. She got here on Friday evening with a bottle of vodka in tow, as is her wont, and we used it to have a bit of a knees-up with my friends here. I showed here round some of the highlights of Tunis on Saturday and then we headed off down the coast to Hammamet, where we stayed in a beautiful hotel on the beach. We ate a lot of food, read improving books, played water polo and generally had a merry old time. So merry in fact that we forgot to leave and helped ourselves to a whole other day of free stuff. Bonus. Then as quickly as she arrived she was gone again - off to the ferry port to go to Sicily and thence on up to Croatia and Outlook Festivities. A flying visit to be sure, but wonderful to see her after a whole month apart. We're reconvening back on the boat on Sunday, assuming it's still afloat.
Also on Friday was my departure from work. There were no patients as usual, so I spent the day chatting to all the doctors and nurses, swapping phone numbers and facebook details (it always seems odd to me that when you do this you just give someone a piece of paper with your name written on it). I'll miss them all but I probably won't miss the department so much! Adjusting back to life in the NHS is going to be quite a challenge - must remember to wash hands, use clean equipment and seek consent!
Back at the hostel people are slowly disappearing. Not in a sinister or mysterious way; they're just going home. About half have already gone, but it's OK because the other half are partying with even more reckless abandon in order the keep the level of noise and disruption pretty much constant. To be honest I'm a little bit bored of the routine here and I'm looking forward to coming and home and seeing some of my proper friends. That's always one of best bits about going away. I've made some good friends here though and I now have contacts in hospitals all over Europe and elsewhere, which may well come in useful for further travels in the future. Of note is an offer to go and work in Burkina Faso next summer, which sounds extremely interesting.
Anyway, tonight I'm just chilling here I think, reading my latest book - Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (so far brilliant). I've just been out for my last run (not ever, I hope - just here in Tunis), which was beautiful as usual although not as peaceful as I have become accustomed to on account of THE END OF RAMADAN! Just as I prepare to go home, the madness has finally finished. Today is Eid ul-Fitr and so it's party-time, although unfortunately not for us. We were hoping for big street parties etc., but apparently it's a really family-oriented affair and everyone's holed up in their houses. So much so that absolutely everything is shut and so we can't even buy food to have our own party. Still, I hope they're all having fun without us.
Tomorrow I have the day free to hang out in Tunis, although I don't have any particular desire to do so. I might swing by the centre just to see how it is with stuff open during the day but mostly I'll just be slowly making my way airportwards to catch my flight in the evening. I get back around 11 pm I think, and then it's back to uni on Thursday. I was supposed to start today but hopefully they won't have noticed.
So I suppose it's so long and farewell! Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll see you all in person soon.
All the best.
PS: A CARROT!
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