Labor Day

The day started out with getting kids off to school because they did not get Labor Day off.  They get Thursday and Friday off because of the Muslim holiday, Eid el Fitr.  Jim will also get those two days off.  He has a very short work week.
The Pajero that we have been borrowing has bad tires and Jim was going to change the tire that is starting to bulge.  He goes out to the vehicle and finds out that the front driver side tire is flat and this was the tire half good  not the bulging one.  He finds out that the lug wrench is missing so we take a taxi to the embassy hoping that Motor Pool will be open and that we know enough French to explain to them what tool we need.  No luck, off to Carrfour; French Walmart.  We ask the taxi to wait while we go get a lugnut wrench.  Thank goodness we find one.  We come back and the taxi driver is smiling.  He told us in French it is called a "glee".  He asks what it is called in English, Jim says, "lugnut wrench.  He says "lugnut wench", I giggle to myself.  I can definitely relate with having problems with a foreign language.
We get home and get the tire changed with the passing by of an elderly gentleman who has nothing better to do and wants to help.  Jim humors him and he watches and threads bolts for Jim.  I give him a dinar for his assistance and because it is Ramadan season.
We go in the house and cool off, Jim needs a shower and we eat lunch.  We decide we aren't going to get much sightseeing done today.
We take Jim's dry cleaning to La Marsa and try to find these special maps that are suppose to help you find things with there crazy roads.   We find only volume 2 at the bookstore and the one we really need is volumne1.  We decide to go to the La Marsa Mall and there was a bookstore that had both volume 1 & 2.  We buy both and hope this will solve the problem of being lost.  The American's swear by them.  We shall wait and see.
Jim & I then decide to take another driver to a near by place, Sid Bou Said.  This is a tourist town on the Mediterranean.  They are known for their blue doors on their houses.  We stop at a public beach and we watch a fisherman and this guy who is snorkeling.  This guy has a spear though, we are intrigued so we watch for quite awhile.  This guy finally comes out of the water and he pulls an octopus out of his pouch.  He was hunting or fishing depending on what you would call it.
We decide to head for home and we start down this road and before our eyes is the sign "American Cemetery. " That was going to be one of the places we were going to stop and see.  It is beautiful, we didn't have a camera but we will go back and visit it again.  It feels like America when you step in the garden and makes you proud of all the servicemen who sacrificed  for our freedom.  I know when I get homesick, I will go there and just sit.
A perfect end to  a not so perfect day.