AIESEC PROJECT IN TUNISIA PART-2

    

At the beginning of the project everything was good, I was meeting with new people from other countries and walking around the city. I was also improving my French. Many people were interested in me at there because I was Turkish. On their TV there were many Turkish Series with translation. It was strange for me because I hate watching them but people at there, they love it… Many girls found me attractive and some of them also ask me to get married with them. They were dancing around me and feeding me. I was like a king for some time!

I was trying to get used to this mixed Arabic French culture. They were acting like they are Arabic, but their living style was trying to be like French people. Their meals, houses even mosques were not theirs. Maybe it was because of the city I was staying in. It was the last city which French troops left. About the leaving in 1961 there was a small battle occurred between Tunisia and France, almost 600 Tunisians and 30 French troops were killed in the battle. For me it is so strange because even though they don’t like France they still speak French and use it in education!

We were generally spending time at marina, where all people go to drink coffee or tea. It is surrounded by old castle walls. Sometimes were going to swim and one of the best was going to Cape Angela. It is the northernmost point of African continent. It had a beautiful seaside, there were big rocks in the sea and after diving in the sea, it is possible to sea many different types of fish. Also, there is a monument where you can go and take pictures, it is on the top of a hill. It is almost 17 km from Bizerte, which means it is not that far.

About the bad things, I got infection from my foot. I had to stay at home for 2 weeks, and other people went to visit some places, but I couldn’t. I was staying downstairs, when they turned back house owner also came with them. They forgot to take thresh out so that smell spread everywhere. The owner who is uncle of our project leader started to say some bad words about Turkey suddenly. I was shocked and defended myself, but he got angrier. We started to shout each other (I used cursed Arabic words I learned at there) and he left the house. Days were passing so fast; weather was almost 45 degrees, and we were going to a village which is 1 hour by taxi bus. Imagine there is no air conditioner and just windows, car is full of people, and it is 45 degrees…

In the middle of the project, they moved us to another house which is so old and in bad condition that homeless people even wouldn’t want to live in. It was horrible, I was sleeping on the ground, there were even not enough plates for us to eat together. Even though everything I was trying to avoid bad stuff till I got sick. At the beginning I felt something bite me from my chest, a red spot appeared on the left of my chest. In several days those spots got more and more…

I started to search about it and my friends and everyone. We figured it out that it was zona. Every night I was feeling like I was dying, the zona I have was related to nerve system which bounds to brain directly. It speeded all around my shoulder and chest. I was begging for project leaders to help me to go to doctor, but they were saying that God will help me! After 1 week I finally went to see a doctor, but he didn’t know nothing, and I was all alone there. Meanwhile other project ended, and it was our time to move back to good house but guess what, they were allowing everyone expect from me! I was so angry again and had a breakdown, I was going to beat the uncle if the leader didn’t come to talk with me. (I am holding myself so hard to write in calm, those memories hurting me so much.)

At the end they let me to spend my last days at that house and I turned back to Turkey. There are many bad things happened during the project -they didn’t let the Chinese people make their visa to steal money from them, which I figured out and solve this problem and more problems- which I never imagined at the beginning-. After I turned back to Turkey, I thought I was healed and everything is fine, but it was just the beginning of the real disease to appear. My nerve system got so much damage during the Zona disease and the doctors said that I must had treatments for that because it was the highest level. At the end I lost my 2 years because of this disease and had to quit from FLT because I was fainting 3-4 times in a day and it took so long to recover.

 

 

 

 

AIESEC PROJECT IN TUNISIA PART-1

There was a project in Tunisia called “Foreign Language Teaching” when I was studying in French Language Teaching Department. In Turkey we just learn English and little bit German as foreign language in general and when I started to study in FLT, I didn’t even know how to say my name. Because of this situation I was obligated to go prep school (we learn the language here). At the end of the year, I was thinking about going to France to improve my language skills but one of my friends offered me a better choice. In Tunisia I was going to teach people English and in return I was going to learn French because Tunisian people were still talking in French in general. Also, it was cheaper then going to French. I accepted this offer and started to prepare my self for the journey.

I was so excited; in my opinion it was a huge opportunity for me. I bought my tickets and started to wait for my flight. When I got to airport in Istanbul, I started to text my teachers from high school, I was telling them I am so glad to have you as a teacher now I am going to be one in a foreign country. While I was on the phone there was no one in the lobby, I started to get stressed because it was going to be my first flight alone. Departure time came and still no one was there, then I got out from the lobby and started running… I heard my name and learned that they changed the lobby! I was so stressed, but I managed to get in the plane. After I found my seat, I put my headphones on and opened some song. (I cannot forget the moment the moment of the plane took off. I was listening Soundgarden – Beyond the Wheel. The song and plane were synchronised…)

Anyway, after I arrived in Tunisia, I met with the AIESEC team. They were holding a paper my name on it. They took me from the airport, and we went to the city where the project will be. The city name was Bizerte. It has a castle and walls in centre also it is close to the Mediterranean Sea. There were different nationalities but in general they were Arabic people. When we arrived at the place where our project team will stay, I learned there is another project running at the same time. I went there earlier so there was no one from my project. First week I spend time with other projects participants and had so much fun.

I was wasting time unaware of what was going to happen in the future. I was going to get infection from my foot, I was going to have a disease called Zona. Beside of those I was going to fight with people at there and stay in a different house. Also, even though I have insurance they were not going to take me to hospital and keep saying God will help me… In part 2 I will be writing about how those things happened and try to add something about the city and country.