I am blessed and grateful to work for an organization that helps people around the world. This past week I had the opportunity to deliver some training to my international colleagues at a conference in Tunisia.
I've never been to north Africa, nor to a nation that is primarily Muslim. I was in Tunisia for only four days, and confined to the conference center, but I still got a taste of the culture and reveled in the sound and visual beauty of Arabic. My rusty French also got a workout, and allowed me to have some pretty intense conversations with the people around me. Including, most memorably, the artist who used my hand as his canvas:
The hotel/conference complex in which we stayed was a bit surreal-- "Tunisia" in Tunisia, aka the Tunisian Las Vegas. Similar to The Venetian or Paris in Las Vegas, the entire compound was constructed to recall a particular geography-- in this case, classic Tunisian architecture. Some of the details were truly beautiful:
Other details were just plain weird. Witness this, a garbage receptacle/ashtray. Similar figures dotted the entire grounds.
The conference center was even more bizarre, a subterranean forest reminiscent of the Ents in Lord of the Rings. Except these leafy fellows had fake cats perched in the branches:
Fortunately, it is more difficult to decorate the sea. The water, as always, was calming and warmer than I had expected.
I will be back. This time, I will leave behind the Ents and the green-faced statues and head for the Sahara and its camels.
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How wonderful!
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