Social Behaviour

Do you know how to make a cat or dog "do your job"? If you are too lazy to cuddle with your wife, get her a cat or dog. Why would one be too lazy for that? Well, all those drivers who are just too lazy to switch off the car engine when stopping for a few minutes or even longer, I can well imagine that they would be too lazy for that too! -

Otherwise would they not be more considerate and try to protect the environment by not adding more exhaust gas to the environment than necessary? We are misfortune as 9 of 10 taxis that stop here do so right in front of our door and then the passengers walk off in all directions. Are they ashamed of their houses or do they think their address must remain top secret? In addition we have all those "easy riders", young men (mainly) proudly driving their motorbikes like lunatics, leaving a black stinking cloud for us to breath in, it is worse than at a petrol station. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised that my immune system gets effected. By the way, the authorities don't see the need for registration plates for motorbikes, they don't seem to need the money and unwittingly make it easier to ride a stolen motorbike or to misuse it for snatching handbags etc. Protection of the environment is not rated very highly. Next time various heads of states meet to discuss this subject I hope Tunisian representatives can also make it. The value of clean air, water and soil is rated too low, even more so in the south, unknown are silent hours, no kids yelling, no dogs barking from flat roofs, these items make a country great and allow folks to become more relaxed. But I guess what you don't know you won't miss, when you grow up with lots of noise, you think it is normal and unavoidable. In addition there are all those market crier, selling their fish, vegetables, fruit or plastic by van or cart, yelling, yelling, yelling......On the radio somebody said that now school holidays are over (thank heaven for that) the poor kids will see less of their parents. Around the area where we live they will only miss the street, they may see their parents walking by, to do some shopping or on the way to the cafe, apart from that maybe briefly around lunch time and then not until after midnight. At least they won't get homesick while attending those short school hours. There doesn't seem to be much they need to learn. I was surprised to find out that one of those boys who love to throw stones (even from the roof) at the cats, us, our house, uses bad language, actually comes from a decent family. It's the street, bad models that shape these kids. Several folks told me they wouldn't allow their children to mix with them. Neglected and disturbed, something needs to be done, this country could be so beautiful, we are very fortune, we don't suffer from disasterous weather like many other countries. Everybody can distribute a bit to a good society with respect, empathy, tolerance. "Me first" Donald Trump style isolats, though it's easier to live with lots of money, it doesn't guarantee you quality of life.
Cats are happy with shelter, food, water, clean toilet, cuddling, their love is honest and they are modest. Can't we learn from them? They are unaware of their beauty. I can't imagine a life without them. I wish that parents would teach their children to see the beauty of animals and nature in general, this would make them better citizens as they grow up and Tunisia a country we can all be proud of.

Good and bad days

Vacancy at a radio station for a news reader, as news have to be usually presented at a high speed, the applicant should be able to read the news of the world in 10 seconds. Complains one lady: Why didn't you take me, I did manage. Answer: Another woman only took 5 seconds.....I guess the reason behind high speed news reading, while there appears to be on the other hand always plenty of time for giggling, must be with all these bad news daily, if you listen to all that you only get depressed while giggling hopefully puts you in a better mood. - The streets are congested with traffic, you'd think as a pedestrian you never get across a busy road (not so many traffic lights here apart from Tunis), but no, raise your arm and cars stop almost immediately. Gentlemen/lady drivers like that I didn' experience in Europe, great. - One Turkish woman said she heard you get to heaven if you plant 100 trees, sounds like a good idea, we could do with more trees. I have actually planted one already, it's a start...... - Feeding time. I call one of my customers at my cats'  table: "Jasmina, Jasmina". Two ladies approaching, laughing. Says one of them: " My name is Jasmina, are you calling me?" I explained that I chose that name for the cat because she is beautiful and so is the lady, a good name for a beauty.- Esperanza, a lovely tri-coloured cat gave birth to 4 kittens and placed them behind my metal barrier, between the plants. I discovered this as heavy rain and thunder started, babies creaming. So I quickly prepared a make-shift bed for them in my small corridor and fetched them inside. The mother inspected this and then checked outside if all her 4 babies are actually indoors. She obviously can't count up to four. This turned out to be an advantage for 2 grey kittens, same age as her children, suddenly appeared from across the road. I tried to put them to where they came from, but they returned to the foster mum that they had selected. Esperanza's kittens often have their nose and eyes sealed, a common problem here. Esperanza completely trusts me and allows cleaning these, even when her little ones protest (sometimes bite me slightly). From time to time she has her "time out" and relaxes underneath my yucca plant, leaving me to babysit for her kittens. Now another baby cat discovered Esperanza and she is friendly to the little one, often adult cats try to chase kittens away that don't belong to them. Alison, a golden coloured street cat, highly pregnant, tried to force me to give her shelter. Not easy with so many guests and cats try to make sure that it doesn't get overcrowded, even concerning their area outside on the road. Anyhow just in time I managed to get her a bed before she gave birth to 2 black alive and 2 other dead baby cats. I got a feeling she's a less devoted mum than Esperanza is. Doesn't want to stay with the tiny ones for longer periods. At present there is something in the air again that makes some cats sick, gives them fever and can cause their sudden death, experienced this  with 4 lately. Vaccination is a good prevention, but unfortunately with so many cats I can't afford to pay for this, there is already a fair amount necessary for dental treatments, various injections and medicine and of course food, could do with "crowd funding" for vaccinations at least. - A lady approached me, her cat had disappeared. She was hoping that I've seen her. Later on I found a leaflet with the cat's picture lying on the street. I put it on my door, it disappeared within 10 minutes. The kids in the neighbourhood are like that, no respect. If I put a nice bowl outside, they will either steal or damage it. Always happy to do same damaged to other folks property (and don't I know it),  no feeling of wrong doing, no shame, they believe their behaviour is normal, they don't know better. One of the most stupid sentences I heard here is: ,"They are children." (Meaning they can behave totally irresponsible.) Some are, some aren't any longer. Their actions remain similar. Besides, children aren' t brainless creatures. I viewed a youngster attempting to kick a sheep's head, so I asked him whether I should do the same to him. He looked so surprised. Why did this strange woman say that? Keeping quiet, looking the other way, may be easier, but it won't make this world a better one. As Noam Chomsky put it: " Let us admire and endure each other.

Eid Moslem Holiday

Lots of sheep in the neighbourhood. Aid holiday coming up, celebration of the story from the Genesis 22 (https://genius.com), that part of the Bible that Jews, Christians and Muslims share, in different ways. For the Muslims I would say it is as important as Christmas for Christians. It is a custom to buy a sheep (if somehow possible), feed and walk it for approx. one week, let the children play with it. I may be wrong, but I am under the impression that often children see the sheep more like their future delicious meal than like a living animal. I am glad I was never forced to eat such a

temporary new family member. Already at a very young age I even refused to eat fish that my father had caught and brought home alive. And yes I stopped eating meat, not because I didn't like the taste of it, but because I love animals. If meat would grow on trees or bushes, I would have continued, and yes, I don't want to criticise religious customs. - Anyhow, I would like to use the occasion to suggest listening to the song: "The Story of Isaac", lyrics (and sung) by Leonhard Cohen. It is telling the story from Isaac's perspective. What this song is about, Leonhard Cohen explained like this: "It's about those who would sacrifice one generation on behalf of another......... and just at the last moment, before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel held the hand of the father. But today the children are being sacrificed and no one raises a hand to end the sacrifice."

Continued Strange or Normal

I learnt from Erdogan that Turks keep money underneath their pillow. Tunisians as well? I lifted my husband's pillow, but there was nothing, not even a millim, (30 Millim are approx 1Eurocent) I am disappointed!
I needed a medical specialist and once more discovered that the stated consulting hours are not identical with the working hours of the doctor in question (unless he/she also works in a hospital, etc. not uncommon). When the lady at the reception also turns up late this may be an indication that you can expect a delay. The psychiatrist next door had more patients anyhow. The receptionist kept visiting her colleague there, helping out? She is lucky to have a very tolerate boss. Altogether receptionists appears to be tasked with less duties here than in e.g. Germany. While there dentists try to save teeth (after all we are not in the same position as sharks, when they loose teeth new grow again), dentists in hospitals don't make fillings for folks with low or no income, they pull out the tooth, the cheapest, but in the long run not the best solution. I hope the health system can be improved in the near future and more be done for the misfortune. On the other hand in the USA as far as I know the health insurance usually doesn't include the dentist and thus quite a few folks can't afford to see one. So you end up with either a gap in your teeth or on your savings. -  I mentioned before (under a different topic) that the town authorities tried to make the area near the grammar school, opposite the Mosque, look more attractive, planted some bushes and small trees, the very special folks around here managed to break off two tree trunks with roughly 12 cm in diameter, feels more like home to them with the addition of litter nearby. The kids and youngsters from the neighbourhood within walking distance are amazing. They don't get tired at night, do a lot of talking without a full stop or a comma, even though they never touch a book unless they have to, most of the time it's more yelling than talking actually - so it's obvious they didn't invent a mobile phone, a drum would do them fine! They appear to be a lot on the move, running without a reason, don't like to keep their hands still, hyperactive in fact, impulsively, quickly get aggressive and anxious, have difficulties paying attention. This might well be an indication of quite a few around here suffering from ADHS or ADD, an attention deficit disorder. The cause can be stress, environmental factors, brain chemistry, heredity, neglectance.  And yes, they need help, it is not good enough to say: "They are children".  Children don't need to be like that and they are not happy like that. So before you dress up nicely and go for a pleasant walk, check if your children are okay, don't just open the door and leave the rest to the street. Your boy may be happy with a football, but is this really all he needs? 

Strange or normal?

A fortune teller told an elderly lady: "I see a handsome young man carrying you on his arms and reading all your wishes from your lips. So relax and be happy." The elderly lady replied: "Oh thank you. Can you also see whether my health insurance pays for this? "

With so many unemployed you'd think service must be excellent here, but no, if you need a tradesman to carry out some repairs in your house, forget about "the customer is king" as the saying goes in middle of Europe, you are in Africa, feel more like a beggar. "Servicewueste" you can take literally here (of course there are exemptions, but too few). The tradesman will never say: sorry, I can't make it until.... Instead he usually pretends that he'll turn up at an agreed time (there are very few exceptions) but actually you can be pretty sure he will neither meet the time nor the date.  If you try to phone him, you will hear that message on tape that he isn't available, when you eventually reach him, he will give you another time that he also won't meet (I call it rendez-vous Arab). By the way, if you don't want to see him again, give him an advanced payment. Many a true words spoken in yest.  Just imagine in central Europe, a working couple arranges an appointment and one of them takes time off work in order to be present and possibly monitor the tradesman's performance (I strongly advice the later here). Taking leave because you are waiting for the tradesman? You may need a whole month or even more. The guy who wanted to carry out our last order turned up at 22.00 hrs, intending to work until midnight or stop when he's tired and promise to return within the next few days. Noisy works late at night? Not a problem, as far as I know there aren't any restrictions, some seem to even love it loud, not only children who are experts in creating noise. 

Noise avoidance is all too often not practised, not even following a celebration until early morning. Expats returning from Europe seem to arrive with a different mentality, though some men eventually change their attitude towards women and their duties around the house, (become rather conservative), difficult for European wives and in contrast to how a modern Tunisian woman sees her part in life. There is too much self-centred attitude. - In Germany Yugoslavian restaurants flourished with the cooks,the waiters, the owners coming from different parts of the country, Serbs, Bosnians, etc all working together until Yugoslavia fell apart and they started to hate each other. Then these restaurants disappeared. Doesn't this show the advantage of working together, accept diversity? Me-first, bad feelings like hate, envy, malicious joy, aggression don't provide us with a good life. If we instead see us as part of the community and try to contribute towards a tolerate society, educate the ignorant, teach respect, empathy, not accept corruption (the basis of a lot of evil), we can all contribute towards a great Tunisia.

Just an Anecdote

Somewhere in Africa. Two men talking. "Whenever I write to authorities, I never receive an answer." "Why do you write to them?" "Sometimes applying for a permission, asking for support, or just making suggestions to improve matters, after all I love my country." "You never get a reply?" "No, not even a confirmation that my letter arrived, some I even handed in personally at the reception, so they can't get lost in transit." "Yes, the post office is pretty unreliable. But anyhow, I think I know why all your letters are ignored. As you are aware, we have family clans with long crime tradition, mafia style structures. Now several sons decided to break with this family tradition and pursue an honest career. Thus the families got together an

d gave their approval. It was decided that some shall become lawyers, doctors, etc. The others should fill governmental posts. So these clans made offers that authorities can't refuse and in order to prove their honest intentions even paid a few thousand Dinars on top of the usual bribe. It now turned out that several of the persons elected by those families are actually illiterate. In order to hide the deficiency they pretend to read their mail (sometimes upside down) and then put it in the bin." "What can I do? Should I phone instead?" "You can try...... Good luck!"

Summer Time

Two men meeting. "I hear you got married, are you happy?" "Yes, we got a contract." "A contract?"  "I make all the big decisions and my wife the minor ones." "Like what?" "Who should be the next president, should Trump be impeached, should we remain a democracy ?" "And your wife?" " Which house shall we buy, what is the right education for our children, which is the right job for me." - It is getting pretty hot. The water is  turned off every night, from 10 p.m. until 5 or 6 a.m. (doesn't effect hotels), then we receive approx. 3 or 4 buckets full of milky coloured water, bad for  the washing machine, coffee machine, toilet flush (adds sand to the system), wonder what poor folks do who can't afford mineral water. Some people were surprised to learn that one should read the values on the mineral water bottles (e.g. Nitrate should not be above 5). Wonder why the water supply is turned off , to make citizens aware of the value of water? Can't be a real saving, as that milky coloured water is only of limited value, unless saved for cleaning - but can and will house wives who love to use lots of water for cleaning, collect this in large drums? As usual it will take time to change the ignorants' mentality, who are accustomed to also ignore new laws and regulations, whenever there is no one there to enforce them (like not dropping wrappings/garbage where ever they like, not phoning while driving, etc.). Children need to be taught at school to respect and value nature/ their country. They learn quickly, if presented the right way enjoy doing so and hopefully pass on their newly gained knowledge to their families. Every brick counts to built a better society. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. Young men feel great riding their motorbike - but must it be tuned to create the utmost noise and air pollution? The black cloud stinks, according to the WHO 7 million people die world wide each year because of the air pollution. Sometimes I wonder, are we living at a petrol station, a racing track, the final station of taxis (9 of 10 stop right in front of our house, engine running - taxi drivers must be thinking we live like sardines there, at least 50 in one room), or may be a market place. At least 3 fishmongers try to sell their product, others fruit, vegetable, plastic items, etc. A new neighbour supplies folks around here with his loud music, luckily everybody has got the same taste (?) I miss The Sound of Silence (the new version presented by Disturbed expresses pretty well how we feel from time to time). - A Tunisian working in France has an extra floor added to his house. Seems to be a new fashion, built a little sky scrapper for the bigger and bigger getting family or to rent. The contractor spoils with the liquid cement the ceiling, walls and tiles of the house and terrace next door.
A woman from the neighbourhood informs him that this doesn't matter. The owner doesn't live there, he's got several houses and doesn't care what state they are in. Sounds interesting, she must know him well! But actually none of this is true, the owner has only one house, was flabbergasted and furious.....and apart from: "Hello, how are you," never exchanged any conversation with that woman. Why would she talk such chicken shit? Envy, wanting to show off? One can meet very strange folks. As Einstein once put it: Most stress derives from the daily contact with idiots. Unfortunately one can find them in every country.