Bon Jour, ca va?

Hello all,

The past few days have consisted of the beach, bad food and relaxation. Mark came down with a little bout of sickness from food, water, jetlag or a combination of things we dont know. While mark was in bed, james went to go play futbol with loras co-workers. He came back limping and proceeded to take a shower oooohing and ahhhing because of the injury he sustained during the futbol match. But glad to report the wound has scabbed over and mark has his health back and is on a roll with the ladies. It started at lord and taylor in eastchester where a cashier thought he was cute and asked for his number. On the beach a few days ago we noticed a few tunisian girls looking over at us now and again, and naturally we returned the looks. As we walked away the girls said bye in english, we said ciao and continued walking. About 10 seconds later we looked at eachother, asked eachother why we were walking away and turned around and walked right back over to the girls and introduced ourselves. We ended up talking to them for about an hour.

There are 2 sisters, myriam and nesrine, and 3 friends dorra, zeinoub and fatoota. We conversed a bit in french but mostly in english. our french mainly consisted of calling them pretty and beautiful. James asked Voulez-vous diner avec moi? (will you have dinner with me?) They enjoyed that and responded oui. Although their parents do not allow them to do such things. Charmers we are :). At the end of the conversation we exchanged facebooks and friended eachother later that night. Soon after we ended up talking to them and set up another day to meet at the beach. It was nesrines birthday and we bought her a pastry from the local "boulangerie" --bakery. They invited us to go to, as they say "cafe" with them for her birthday. We were picked up at 8pm last night in front of our apartment, where we then drove to the cafe to have coffee and cake. Cafe's in tunisia are usually male only, but certain ones are both male and female. Let me tell you, we received many looks for being white boys accompanying 5 tunisian women. This is what we call "pimpin" in america.

The night went well, mark and myriam hit it off and now her facebook picture is a picture of them together(awwwww). It was love at first site. James on the other hand prefers to play his cards and split his time between myriams sister Nesrine and zeinoub (she speaks little english) and he prefers it that way...just kidding. They took many pictures, and really really enjoyed sharing their night with us. They titled the picture album they created on facebook, love with mark and james. We will post a few pictures from the beach and night with them. We are the first american people they have met, so it is exciting for both parties. Not to brag or anything but they seem slightly obsessed with us. Which is both flattering and scary, because we do not want to suffer the wrath of any parents or we may have a jihad on our hands.

Today we began a workout routine to get Mark in shape. We used such items as a 6 pack of water bottles and a hiking back pack. Innovation is the name of the game. Well take some before and after photos. Tonight we may head to an African disco. Should be interesting if we end up going. We both miss home, but are enjoying everyday being sunny and 90 degrees. You may not recognize us both when we are back, we are changing colors. We were taught some arabic last night and were told we learn quickly and we would be tunisian in no time.

We are off to the beach. Hope all is well in the states. We are doing well so no worries. We look forward to setting up skype dates with you all in the future. Although the internet here, just like the food, is crap. Until next time. Tunisia out.

Au revoir,

James and Mark