Too Much BBC?

Well, some of my new friends came to the hotel yesterday to have lunch with me, and hang around to visit for the afternoon. Before you underestimate what a trip like this cost them, remember their hotel is about 20 minutes away by taxi and one of them has four kids in tow. So, hard work.

It was great fun!

We walked around the corner to a restaurant that makes stone fired pizzas. That's a 'no brainer' when kids are in the mix. The other big deal at this restaurant is ice cream. Westerners are kind of used to having their choice of Baskin-Robbins, Maggie Moo's, Marble Slab, or [insert favorite local] ice cream shops at their disposal. Here, it's more of a delicacy and less of a store front operation. Don't get me wrong... every convenience store has a case with packaged products, but you just don't see hand packed or soft serve ice cream everywhere.

We had a nice relaxed lunch. The kids were so good, it was amazing. Then we walked back to my hotel and sat outside on the terrace to enjoy the glorious weather. It's gotten a little cooler here in Tunis. Yesterday the high was about 70 degrees Farenheit. So the locals were swathed in sweaters, jackets and layered up for the cold snap. I, on the other hand, lolled about in shirt sleeves and capris. We got some looks, but the Scottish family and the other gal are all from Aberdeen. Which, apparently, is plenty cold most of the year. So, these hardy Scots were all like me. Very comfortable. We DID get some looks. Especially when we ordered iced drinks instead of bracing cups of hot tea or coffee.

During our hours long chat, we shared some of our frustrations with hotel living. As women are want to do, we also summed it up in a few short words. One of the Scottish gals said, "You can only watch so much BBC, right?"

That really sums up the problem. There are exactly four English language channels and three of them are 24 hour news services. There is one English language movie channel, and one that plays English language movies sometimes--with Arabic subtitles. So, you can watch TV, but you have a very limited selection of titles.

The mother knew this in advance and came equipped with a hard drive filled with ripped kid's movies. Each kid has a hand held game player with age-appropriate games. They are able to stay occupied, between those 'electronic babysitters' and the hotel's pools, both inside and out.

As adults, we appear to be less able to set aside our whereabouts and focus on fun. All three of the adults in the conversation admitted to fretting about house hunting, the company's plans for our husbands, and the situation as it will be socially once we're all settled in. There are a lot of unknowns still tormenting us.

When you have unsettled futures, and you are worrying about every little thing, should you be watching world news non-stop? The consensus is NO. The BBC, CNBC and CNN are not our friends. It's just focusing our concerns on the world as a large ball of problems and not allowing us to concentrate on the things that we CAN control.

So, do I keep the TV on to hear some language I understand? Yes. But am I plugged into it listening to every story? No. Gotta get away. There's such a thing as too much news.

--Sandee Wagner