NO MARMITE IN TUNISIA
Life In Tunisia For British Expats
4 Weeks On - Troubled Teens!
Take two ordinary British teenagers. Both with the same thing in common, the desire to live and work in Tunisia!
How well would they cope, in a new country, without Mum and Dad, but with an extremely traditional, very strict, Tunisian granny and with jobs to find, food to put on their plates, and bills to pay?
With record numbers of people migrating from the UK, 385,000 in the first half of the year 2006, one month ago exactly, two teenagers boarded the train in Ramsgate, England, and headed for sunnier climes.
Packing everything, but the kitchen sink and buoyed by the exciting news that jobs were already awaiting them, their return tickets were booked for seven months, with the knowledge that they would probably never use them to come back!
Traditional Tunisian Granny, took over and put herself firmly in charge, which would not be to every independence-seeking British teenager's liking! No longer on the agenda, were the planned jobs, receptionist for a solicitor and waitress in a cafe! Traditional Tunisian Granny had to thin
k of the family's name first, and decide for herself which jobs if any, were befitting of her grandchildren
With no immediate money coming in, the telephone and the internet were the first to go, followed by many, tearful, snatched, few second, mobile phone calls home with imaginative tales of a wacky granny hiding food and wishing death upon them!
One month later, the teenager with 9 GCSEs and a diploma in Travel and Tourism, but with limited French and no knowledge of the Tunisian language is currently :
- Assisting in her Auntie's pottery factory.
The teenager who entered grammar school in the UK, ending up with no GCSEs, but becoming fluent in the Tunisian language in as little as 3 months, planned to initially work as a receptionist in a solicitor's, but is now starting work this week, much to Traditional Tunisian Granny's disapproval, as :
- A waitress in a cafe!
Will it be the case that a little planning and a little saving up would have saved them initial heartache, or will they triumph against all the odds and establish themselves into Tunisian society?
Will the Teens in Tunisia be able to report back successfully in a month's time?
Two Months On
Teenager Number Two was fed up! Having been 'Sent to Coventry!' 
by Traditional Tunisian Granny for being rebellious, and the job in the restaurant falling through, suddenly life in Britain didn't seem so bad after all!
Armed with some shocking tales, of which naturally, her mother is always the last one to find out, amongst them, the jailing of a 'Peter Andre' lookalike who once claimed he wanted to marry her, but then subjected her to one too many punches along the way, Teenager Number Two arrived back to an icy-cold Gatwick, to the delight of all of her siblings! For the next two days she became like the Pied Piper as her younger sisters followed her everywhere, not able to contain their excitement.
Teenager Number One was also missing home. But life seemed to be going more her way! Working in a pottery factory belonging to her aunt, gave her only two day's work and 20 dinars (£8 per week.)
Life, however, was extremely cosy, as Traditional Tunisian Granny was not charging her any board or asking for any money to put towards bills! She was also having one-to-one tuition in Tunisian cookery, practising her language skills in Arabic and enjoying her days off, cycling to the beach in the glorious sunshine!
Teenager Number One has plans to hopefully utilise her travel and tourism diploma in the New Year and try to find work in one of Tunisia's many hotels! With no unemployment benefit to fall back on, as in the UK, Teenager Number One is lucky to have been handed her food and lodgings on a plate! Life would have been a lot more difficult for her in Tunisia, had she had to find her own way in life!
She is lucky to have a Tunisian passport as well as a British one, which means, classed as a Tunisian she can legally apply for any job, not falling into the trap of being a foreigner and jobs having to be offered to a Tunisian first. She is going to, however, come up against many, very highly skilled, young Tunisians, putting most British teenager's language skills to shame, all chasing the same job.
She has promised to update the Marmite site very soon!
Ten Months On
Crying when thinking of England? Longing to walk down a street and feel the rain on my face? Dreaming of the make-up counters 
in Boots?!
This must sound familiar to thousands of expats and I (teenager number one) had certainly got it bad! But hey look at me now! Gone are the days of my dead-end job in a pottery factory. Gone are the days of sitting in night after night, bored after my sister left! I joined a gym to solve my boredom and am now running three keep-fit classes a week!
The numbers are growing each week....I think they like the idea that it is a teacher from England! I try to vary the class each week, by adding lots of different things, from step, using the gym equipment, or even boxing gloves, to jogging outdoors, (running passed the nearest rival gym on purpose, just to say "Hey look what your're 
missing!") as well as I try to keep up with all the member's different requests as much as I can!
Through the gym, I've also made some great friends, as the classes I take are women only, it makes it an ideal meeting place! Looking forward to a night out to see one of the world's best DJs performing in Hammamet with one of my friends very soon!
You'll no doubt see more of me when my Mum arrives with her camera later this month! In the meantime, those of you in the Nabeul/Hammamet area, come along and join up! Even if you are just here for a short stay, membership for my classes (3 times a week) costs around £10.00 for the month (25 dinars,) a great way of keeping fit and meeting some of the locals! For more details see the Sport In Tunisia page!