Eroaa. Väkilvalta. Mielenosoittajia.

Three new words in my Finnish vocabulary.

I try to listen and read along with Selkouutiset each day and my new vocabulary started in Tunisia, spread to Egypt, and now is describing events in Libya.

Eroaa ---- leave

Väkilvalta ----- violence

Mielenosoittajia ---- demonstrators

I would never be able to remember these words if I were confronted with a vocabulary list, but seeing them night after night has driven the words home. I am following the struggle for democracy in these countries as well as in Wisconsin and down the hill in the State House.

I spent a summer in Carthage and have always wanted to return. My interest in Tunisia was sparked by Flaubert and also by Queen Dido and her unrequited love. She covered a lot of ground with her ox-hide. (If you are interested in the math that enabled Queen Dido to cover the entire Byrsa, read here. I took the top picture from this site).

But the reality of Tunisia was better than the books. It is a scenic land littered with Roman ruins. And before the Romans were the Phoenicians. The Phoenician spirit seems to survive today in Tunisia. I took heart from this quote from the New York Times that Tunisia will not go the way of Iran:

Mounir Troudi, a jazz musician, disagrees. He has no love for the former Ben Ali government, but said he believed that Tunisia would remain a land of beer and bikinis.

“This is a maritime country,” Mr. Troudi said. “We are sailors, and we’ve always been open to the outside world. I have confidence in the Tunisian people. It’s not a country of fanatics.”