Make connections

A woman sitting in the corner of the hostel office can bring you opportunities you could only dream about. The English Center you saw from the window of taxi can mean you a working place for the next two weeks. But only if you give it a try. If you keep your why not attitude and say yes more often. The magic of connections needs acceptance of uncertainity and belief in possibilities.

Planning our trip to Tozeur on that day in the hostel office ended up with a business card of an English Center entrepeneur. As well as getting one more person in our louage, meaning for example lower price, and - what we back then didn't know - actually the starting of a good base for our local connections here. Through the connections of that English center we got in contact with a big Tunisian company, and voilà, two hours every week, completely for us, being free to choose the topics - that's how our working place equality talks and dream discussions with their employees became possible.

The fortune continues with the same English center contacts, by getting to know a wonderful local woman who owns a café in Sfax. She was also interested in our workshops but in the end meant a lot more for us than that. She showed us around the city, offered countless free, amazingly delicious smoothies in her café and introduced us to her friends and family. Thanks for that, we for example got another host family and local guides for Monastir and Tunis,  filled our minds with happiness and stomach with amazing flavours, and saw my future hostel a gorgeus old house.

On one day we saw an English center from the window of a taxi. The day after we went there and asked for possibilities of making our presentations, which would enable us to have a talk about gender equality and to create trusting environment for the discussions because of meeting the same people more than once. At the same time we could provide a space for people to improve their language skills. That straight offer ended up meaning one presentation each day from Monday to Thursday, which with the preparation means full working day and a structured rhythm for the weeks, so excactly what we were looking for.

Do start conversations with strangers. Do keep your eyes open for endless oppportunities around you. Do go and give a try for crazy ideas. Do make connections, because that's how you make things possible.

Sousse and an all-inclusive hotel

A touristic city with traditional blue and white Medina (the old city) and its rooftops was easy to fell in love with. Sousse is one of the cities which represent the Tunisia you'll find in pictures, when googling the country. It's also the city of opposites; you can find people wearing mini shorts as well as burkas (mostly the first ones though). For me it was the city where I visited a mosque the first time but also ate slightly darker bread, thanks to the German tourists which probably brought it to the hotel with their existence.

The all-inclusive hotel experience is perhaps something worth of experiencing once in a lifetime. However, it made me totally understand why my parents have always preferred other options. Reasons I could now give for those preferations, are following: It's crowded everywhere, which means queueing. People are smoking cigarettes on that nice private beach the hotel has. All the time somewhere music is playing too loud. The employees are mainly either super fed up with their job or then trying to be too friendly, which just feels annoying.

People you "spend your time with" stuck in the hotel area (because you paid for the meals and it would feel a waste to miss them) consist largely on persons who are used to get everything they want, right now - not forgetting their children who are on the same path soon becoming like them. This also makes the queueing part interesting. I sometimes felt I wasn't arrogant enough keep my spot in the line.

The food always fills your stomach but isn't anything amazing. You also need to hurry up with collecting all of what you want to eat, because the serving time is only an hour. When it comes to unlimited ice cream, you'll find yourself queueing again and trying to do your best with fitting as much as you can to a tiny cup they offer for you.

The drinks are included as well and that's probably the way people survive their holidays then. I, on top of the amazing experience, had a nice flu during the weekend and therefore couldn't really enjoy that part either. All in all, hotel is always a hotel, and for two days it's nice to have your bed fancily made. But two days, that was the limit my resilience when it came to all-in hotels.

I have spoken. Now, enjoy the nice part of the city with the photos.

The amphitheatre of El Jem

This breathtaking scenery, the best lunch location ever, deserves its own post. Standing on the stage in a place like this definetely made me miss the feeling of being part of a performance. Luckily we had the opportunity to experience the part of being in the audience, and that was incredibly beautiful. The majestic high pillars, huge amount of stairs, the view from the top, the lightning in the evening - I let the photos to try to describe it.

Do you have time to dream?

Two hours, four women, one company, common reality and rather similar backgrounds. Everybody knew that it is a challenge to find a balance between the work and family and a video about other challenges women face at work was very relatable for them. The topics were well known and the issues existed but not to talk about them was as big part of the environment they live in. “This is our reality, why to get out of it. It might not be the perfect one, but it has always been this way.”

We and ours, but what about you? The first question for which the women didn’t have a straight answer was the question of what do they like to do. When was the last time you had time of your own? This question simply didn’t belong to their reality. They have family, they have children, and most effectively, they have social norms which do not encourage to question the expectations. Having time of your own wasn’t considered as helping you to be the best version of yourself for the people around you. But what if it would?

The main question of our discussion was about the biggest dream. The little insecure answers varied from travelling to step by step achievable career plans, not anything too ambitious or crazy. After we showed this video, the mindset change could be seen from their faces. Eyes full of inspiration, with a wide smile, they now told us how all that they want is to live a happy life, see their children grow up healthy, enjoy their free time and the things they have right now. Life is actually pretty cool. And worth of dreaming.