Hey you

The past six weeks volunteering in Tunisia were unforgettable and taught us a lot. In our workshops about the topic gender equality we have met a lot of people and heard a lot of personal stories about the importance of having dreams. That's also why we are writing for you now.

Some people said that they don't have time to dream. But what is life without ever stopping to reflect what you actually want to do? What is your biggest dream? What makes you happy? When was the last time you had time for only yourself and thought about questions like this?

Some people had little wishes instead of daring to really dream big. We asked them, what could be the worst thing that can happen and what could be the best thing. Why wouldn't you give a try to the biggest dream you can imagine?

If it scares you, it probably means stepping out of your comfort zone, but in the end, that is when you learn the most. And that is where the magic happens.

"Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times, but he kept going." A convincing example that giving up should not be an option. Because, "doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever will."

If you don't ever want to regret the things you didn't do, you need to start achieving them right now.
All the best for you on your journey of living the life if your dreams,
Team Wonder Women

P.S. Sending a message in a bottle can be ticked off from our bucket list. What are you going to take out from yours?

The ultimate clothing guide for Tunisia

Yes, I wish as well that it would exist, but you cannot have everything. In this post I'll tell you how well the guesses I was having when packing actually matched the reality.

The best advice which was given to  the struggling questions was "take a little bit of everything". Well, I wish I would have believed in it fully. Even after hearing it, my choices consentrated on long sleeves, in shirts as well as in pants (yupp the elephants, as you can see :D).

What worked:

• Basically, the most useful clothes I took, have been the thin but not slim long leg pants. Which, unfortunately, don't really match with anything so my outfits have been tourist fashion, but who cares.
• Some long sleeve shirts for a bit more formal occasions.
• The adventuring hat. You cannot survive without.

What could have stayed home:

• Many tank tops and shirts which need them. As wearing one shirt already makes you sweat, it really asks for a great will to be able to wear two. I managed to do it once, and that was when I knew that the day included air conditioner.
• Many pair of socks. Well, they don't take that much space from the suitcase but I have maybe used socks twice during the whole six weeks. I'm quite sure that's one new record.

I wished I would have taken:

• Summer dresses. I was too pessimistic about the possibilities to use anything which doesn't cover your knees, even though that would have been possible in more touristic cities than Sfax.
• Nice shorts. Same reason than above. I only had my sport shorts, which I used at home but didn't feel like going for a run with (in Sfax). 
• Long sleeve running pants. For a mysterious reason I took one long sleeve running shirt but no pants. The good idea to take sneakers became quite useless because of this fact. 
• More t-shirts. I think I even read about this but once again, didn't take fully into consideration.

For the future travellers I would give the same "little bit of everything" advice. Hopefully after reading this you are not so stubborn as I was. As already mentioned between the lines, the clothing ethicet for Tunisia varies a lot. In the capital, Tunis, it's completely okay to wear mini shorts and tank tops only. And on the beach bikinis are accepted everywhere I have been, which was the one thing I believed. Sfax doesn't have a beach and there pants and skirts always reach longer than the knees. Covering the shoulders, instead, isn't obligatory. Some local women use veil to cover their hair, but not all of them do it either, so it's expected from tourists only in mosques.

All in all, the fact is that with this skin and hear colour, I was looked at and sweating everywhere, no matter what I was wearing. Still of course, it's important to appreciate the local clothing (and covering) culture and it actually affects on what you do feel comfortable of wearing. Also in the way, that at some point I also felt it's possible to wear jeans (the majority of people in Sfax wear them every day, despite of the heat).

P.S. The relieving fact is that even if all the guesses would turn out to be wrong, you can go and buy a dress.

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.