30 June

One of the other tasks was to hunt down more food for the wedding. A visit to a local specialty shop revealed these glorious sweets:

The week flew past. We traveled about the city, tracking down outfits and hairdressers and other wedding preparations. I did manage to find time to spend an entire day lazing by the pool - a new experience for me: I don't think I have ever done that before. No book.. how strange. A massage breaking up the laziness, between splashing and lying around... a hard day eh?

I also got to enjoy a few meals with the family... at one stage, some of the aunts held trays of fish over the heads of Jesse and Habib.. I guess for good luck? I was starting to get the hang of dining with Tunisians. Take a very small portion first time round, because they will keep putting food on your plate, and you won't be able to say no.

see, fish being held over Jesse's head!	a grand feast eh? The blond girl is a polish visitor	grandmother
before	after	couscous

We also finally got to visit the circle house (still incomplete). The name is a little dull as a description really. The house apparently was lived in by the Ambassador of Oman or something, way back when the President of Tunisia lived in town. It has been deserted for years, and fallen into disrepair. Ines' mum bought it as a bit of a folly, and took on the task of renovating it in time for the wedding. She rather likes the idea of turning it into a boutique hotel, and I could certainly see the potential. Built around a central cupola space, with a beautiful staircase and marble fittings, it was really impressive, even in it's incomplete state.

On the roof, with the cupola on the left		the "Louis the XIV" room

Among other adventures was a trip to try on outfits for the Henna party. The old traditional outfit is pretty much a giant box shaped affair, somewhat unflattering even to as gorgeous a bride as Ines. She decided on something a little more modern, though still traditional, and I chose something similar.

The more traditional outfit	Final choice	My outfit... impressive eh?

My biggest adventure for the year has begun.... a trip to Tunisia for my friend Ines' wedding. I decided to go for a couple of weeks, and the timing of my work meant that I had to go for the two weeks leading up to the big day.

Much to my surprise, Ines told me that she and Jesse would pick me up a the airport - I had assumed I would be left to my own devices, but in fact I was soon to be picked up in the whirlwind that was the preparations for the wedding. The commencement was not entirely simple though.. I really should have remembered from my last trip the joy that is Tunisian customs. I didn't have the money to pay the customs fee. They sent me through the border to get the money from the cash machine, which promptly swallowed my card - luckily because Ines' uncle works for a bank in a pretty high up sort of job, I was able to get my card back the next day. Phew. . If it wasn't for Ines being there I would have been stuck at the airport forever!

But eventually I got through to the main part of the airport, which was to become a familiar sight to me over the next few days.

We stayed at the house of one of Ines' uncles (a very lovely place).

Saturday we had tasks to do: finding an appropriate suit for Jesse. Lunch with some of Ines' mothers friends. "Tante" (Aunty) Ines called Suad (spelling?) . Suad put on a mini feasts for us. I was put on the spot. "sing!" Ines demanded! "um, what?". "anything!". A line or two of italian aria seemed to impress, but also create a demand for more. Oh dear, what have I gotten myself in for! Over the next few days, like a slightly demented parrot, I was ordered to and obediently sang. Che faro, Lascia chio piangga, and other random snippets of songs. "Can't you sing any Mariah Carey?". Um, no, but give me a few days and I will see what I can do!

We also went hunting sweets for the wedding reception.

I did sneak off for a morning to go to the Bardo museum to try and snatch photos of some of the mosaics which I only saw in brief the first time I was in Tunis. They truly are amazing. Crossing the palms of a guy with silver, so to speak, got me in to see a part of the Bardo which is under repair and not open to the public. .

Then it was time to hit the road to head down to Monastir. By then we had picked up a friend of Jesse's, so the four of us drove and sang and chatted, stopping briefly en route in Hammamet, which is, essentially a tourist town. We ate in the sort of theme park they have built there. Interestingly it was mostly Tunisians there - apparently this is the sort of holiday destination for the middle class in Tunisia. We caught a show, arriving at Ines' mum and dad's house late in the evening. We were supposed to be staying in the "round house" but it was not quite ready... more on this quite extraordinary place later.

June 12 and 13

A visit by another David. This time my friend David, who lives and sings in Canberra. David is an incredibly talented type, who can sing marvellously and compose and also happens to be charming, funny, caring, polite, and pretty hunky.... some people are just over-gifted aren't they? But anyway, we wandered the fete des Eaux Vives and then spent a very happy evening singing duets, which was a totally wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

I did have time in the morning to go buy a new camera. My old one is only two years old, but the motor is starting to go and getting it fixed would cost more than it would be worth. So I lashed out on a new Nikon P100. It's pretty sexy I have to tell you, and I hope you will all get to see a difference in quality of photos (as I did when I bought the last one).

On Sunday I took my car out for an emergency run to drop a friend off to go rafting in France, and then in the evening joined the Ambassador of Canada for dinner. How pretentious sounding is that? Actually it was anything but a pretentious evening. It was the farewell for my friend Louise and her partner Roberta, who have been posted off to Paris. The Ambassador fired up the barbecue and cooked some very lovely steak and a group of us sat outside in the backyard eating and drinking well into the evening. It was a really lovely evening, even if it was for a sad reason. Oh how I miss having my own outdoor space!  

As you will see from one of the photos, the Ambassador cooked the barbie himself, and is definitely the alpha male... see how he grips those tongs!

4 June

The big day for Katherine and Scott. I took two days off work to cook and cooked solidly for 42 hours. My friend Rosa helped me out by icing the 300 cupcakes while I went to the actual wedding ceremony and then she headed off and I assembled and fed the 5000 (it certainly felt like it). The party was great fun for everyone, even me, mainly because I just love feeding people. Sadly I didn't have a second free to photograph any of the food, but I did get some shots of the Bride, groom and the mountain of cupcakes: