Attempt to mail postcards to the grandchildren. The post office is standing room only, and there must be at least fifty seats occupied as well. A young woman shows us where to take a number. Our number is 022. The electronic number currently being served is 667. Do they start over at a thousand? We leave.
For the first time the tourist information office in the medina is open as we pass. A petite young woman is in charge, a little shy. Do they have information in English? She searches in a large cupboard and in her desk. There isn't much there at all. Or French? Ah, here we are a little lucker and get a brochure about Monastir and road map of Tunisia. We ask about the price of stamps to North America and louage trips to Kairoun, but her answers seem both improbably high and like random guesses. I'm ready to leave but J, as usual, is thirsty for information - about the economy, health, education. I jokingly apologise: "Il a toujours des questions." But she's warming a little and becoming more fluent as she continues, mostly in English. Turns out, rather disturbingly (as she can't actually come up with a full grammatical sentence, though she's a lovely girl) that she teaches English to students of 18 or 19. But there's not much chance to practice. French is coçmpulsory from age eight and English at the secondary level. Other languages are senior secondary options. An initial doctor's visit is 35 dinar ($31.50 CAD or £17 UK), but dentists are not expensive.
Walking back, pass a small truck parked on a main business street with a placid sheep in the box. J talks to it and it looks silly and interested.
JAWORSKI TRAVELS