Archives 2020

We decided to check out the ruins in Carthage during my annual leave on November 1, 2020. Used our GPS to first head to the ruins next to the Cathedral. It was mighty impressive and the scope of what we saw was amazing. We were basically the only ones there and walked around for about an hour viewing the Punic town area and statues of Carthage leaders with most of their heads gone. There were also pillars all over the place and of course the usual number of cats.

The second ruin was 10 minutes away and was even more impressive. These were the baths of Antonin and it was more preserved and bigger. A lot more walking and Aiden and I even played hide and seek. I really enjoyed the history and will read more about the Carthage civilization to learn how they lived.

We paid for more attractions but Aiden was tired after walking two of the ruins so we decided to go home. All in all, a great day soaking in history and teaching Aiden about Tunisian history!

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Our first road trip in Tunis! We decided to head to the beach and I made all the arranagements including car rental and booking the resort which was called LTI Les Oranges. Aiden had baseball in the morning so we left around 11:30 from our place following Rico and his family. The trip too around 1 hour and we paid toll along the way which was only 4 to 5 TND. The line was long though since I think a lot of people were headed to the beach.

We arrived around 12:30 and checked in. First thing was lunch where we ran into more Embassy people. It was okay and then I took Aiden into the water where fortunately Cici brough a inflatable boat where him and Julian could rest on. Aiden and Julian were playing the whole weekend and I was mainly watching them both in the ocean and pool. Food was pretty good and the layout of the resort was nice. Aiden had a great time and we just were parents. Alcohol was all-inclusive so I had some mojitos and beer.

We checked out next day around 2 and drove to a mall on the way back called Azur City. Had smoothie and Sona bought some makeup and bags. It was a nice weekend getaway and at least something different to see. I think we’ll be back at some point later this year!

We arrived in Tunis and immediately went into quarantine. Sona and Aiden got stomach bugs and one day we had to ask Rico to find us a pharmacy to get medicine. Other than that, I was teleworking and getting used to the routine. We definitely need to learn French though. I’m trying to take classes every day time wiling. Rico, Kenton, and Intissar were great helping us and came by several times with food and toys for Aiden. On Friday, August 21 we moved to our new place in LAC 2. We like the place and it’s in a nice area. Walking distance to the Embassy, the lake, and several restaurants. We also found out about Bolt which is the Tunisian Uber and also Founa which delivers all types of merchandise including bottled water. Our UAB came on August 22 and we’ve started organizing our place. We went to a sports store called Decathlon to buy Aiden a basketball hoop and a ball dart board. On, August 29, we went to the DCM house for a cookout and met some new Embassy folks. Today, we went swimming and also had a nice breakfast at a Turkish restaurant. Enjoying it so far and hoping to keep on learning and making new memories. Aiden seems to enjoy ACST and he’s finished one week as a Kingergartner taking the bus and making friends. But he is hitting now which isn’t good. We’re planning a beach trip next week so I will write another blog about that.

On August 6, we started our journey to Tunis. The flight started at Dulles and then JFK followed by a three hour layover before we boarded our next flight to Paris. This was an overnight journey and I only got around 3 hours of rest with us having our masks on the whole time. In Paris, we had a 4 hour layover before we took our final leg to Tunis. The flight to Tunis was packed and Aiden slept the whole time. We were met at the airport by the expeditor and the CLO. On the plane were 4 other Embassy families and I introduced us to a couple. Our temporary house is in La Marsa which was around 20 minutes from the airport. Kenton met us and helped us with our bags and gave me my phone and laptop along with showing us stuff around the house. It’s a nice place and we’ve already started settling in. Aiden seems to be fine except for some skin rashes. He adjusts everywhere he goes. I’ll start my check-in process tomorrow and do some work while in quarantine. We’ll also venture out this week to explore a little bit. Tunis!

From March 2020 to August 2020, we’ve been in a Coronavirus pandemic which so far has claimed 150,000 lives in the States. Fortunately, we have at this point not contracted the disease but you never know. I’ve been teleworking all this time, first at Aperture and then Mom-Pop’s house. It’s been okay but stressful since work has been non-stop plus organizing everything we have to get done for Tunis. We are down to our final 5 days in the States and depart for Tunis on August 6. Our packout is done and the only items left is the pickup of our car and our COVID test on August 5. Hopefully, it’s negative and our flights don’t get canceled since we fly to New York, Paris, and then Tunis. I’ll need to hone my IT skills and start reading more about project management. Aiden and Sona are doing well so far and he’ll start kindergarden on August 25 at ACST. Sona will settle in and maybe find work at some point. We’ll be in temporary housing for two weeks before moving to our permanent home. See you in Tunis!

What a vacation in Orlando! We decided to spend our anniversary in Florida along with taking Aiden to Disney World! We left on Thursday morning and arrived around 11 to our hotel. We used Marriot Points so it was completely free. That afternoon we met up with Nathalia from Sao Paulo who gave us some advice on what to see and do. We went back and took it easy at the hotel. The next day, we decided to go to ICON park and play put-put. There we also did the Eye of Orlando and took Aiden took an aquarium where he found all the fish and got the paperwork stamped. Our first Disney park on Saturday was Epcot and Aiden took all the rides including Soarin and some Land and Water rides. We also saw all the countries and had lunch at the Moroccan place which had excellent food and wine.

The next day, we decided to do Animal Kingdom and the first ride was in Pandora called Flight of Passage where we stayed in line almost 2 hours for a 5 minute ride where it was simulated we rode dinosaurs as an Avator around Pandora. Aiden was scared at first but did it! We also did a Safari which took almost 3 hours and then did a Dinosaur ride which was pitch dark but Aiden seemed to like it. Dinner was at City Walk where we had Mexican before it started raining. We took an Uber back to the hotel.

The final day was shopping and we went to Premium Outlets and then Disney Springs to walk around and relax. We also did some bowling at Disney Springs where Aiden took the first game and I took the second. A lot of great memories and we’ll come back after Tunisia to do the other two parks (Magic Kingdom and Hollywood theme park).