A hand holding a machmoum, a small bouquet of jasmine buds.

ريحة البلاد

Rihet Lebled, the smell of home

For everyone who left, and never really did.

A blue studded door in a white wall, under a branch of bougainvillea.

الباب الأزرق

The blue door

You know this door. You have a photo in front of it from every summer, a little taller each time.

بمبالوني

Bambalouni

Hot sugar and burnt fingers. You eat it on the way up the hill, and you never wait for it to cool.

تاي بالبندق

Tea with pine nuts

Nobody here is in a hurry. The glass is too hot to hold, and you hold it anyway.

Four men in chechias play cards at a round cafe table, seen from above.

الشكبّة

Chkobba

Four men, forty cards, and the same table for thirty years. The loser pays the coffees and asks for one more game.

An old wooden radio on a lace doily, a jasmine bouquet beside it.

الراديو

The radio

Saliha sings from a wooden box that is older than your father. Somebody in the kitchen sings with her and gets the same word wrong, every time.

A clay brazier full of charcoal with a blue teapot on it.

الكانون

The kanoun

Charcoal, a blue teapot, and a grandmother who knows the tea is ready from its sound.

A grandmother sorts red peppers on a sheet on a white roof; a child tiptoes across.

العولة

The oula

In August the roof is red with peppers and yellow with couscous on clean sheets. The children are told not to walk there. They walk there.

هريسة

Harissa

The yellow tube is in every fridge door, rolled up from the bottom. If the food does not burn a little, somebody asks if you are sick.

One big plate of couscous seen from above, five hands with spoons.

كسكسي نهار الأحد

Sunday couscous

One plate and all the spoons. The best piece of meat moves quietly to your side. Nobody says who pushed it.

عصيدة زقوقو

Assidat zgougou

For the Mouled, each house makes it and each house sends a bowl next door. You taste seven in one day, and you tell your mother that hers is the best.

كلام البلاد

Words that only sound right there

عسلامةAslemaHello. The first word at the airport, and the one that makes it real.
يعيّشكYaishekThank you. Word for word: may you live long.
برشاBarshaA lot. As in: I miss you barsha.
باهيBehiGood, fine, OK. Said three times to end a phone call.
صحّةSahaHealth to you. For a meal, a haircut, a shower.
يزّيYezziEnough. Said by mothers. Works at any distance.
بنينBninDelicious. The only review that matters.
لاباسLabesHow are you? It is also the answer.
توحّشتكTwahachtekI miss you. The word this page is about.

البحر

The sea

Watermelon, glibettes, sand in everything. You swim until your lips are blue, and you say that you are not cold.

التي جي آم

The TGM

The small train to the sea. The doors are open, the wind is inside, and you know the stations in order: La Goulette, Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, La Marsa.

A white louage with a red stripe on the road, a child at the back window.

اللواج

The louage

It leaves when it is full, not before. Eight strangers, one radio, and a driver who knows a shorter way.

Boys in football shirts play in a narrow white street; a mother calls from a blue window.

الحومة

The street

Two stones are the goal. The game stops for a car, for the call to prayer, and for a mother who shouts one name from a window.

لبلابي

Lablabi

Winter, midnight, a bowl that burns. You tear the bread yourself, and the man adds the harissa without a question.

A family waits around a table of dates, soup and brik; a minaret and the sunset in the window.

المدفع

The cannon

The table is ready and nobody touches it. Then the cannon, the call to prayer, and the first date. The brik is gone in one minute.

A medina street on a Ramadan night: lights, a zlabia stall, a full cafe, an old man with a drum.

جوّ رمضان

Jaw Romdhane

After the meal the whole town goes out. Zlabia still warm, a cafe with no free chair, children awake at midnight. Much later, the boutbila and his drum pass under the window.

A family seen from behind on a striped sofa, in front of an old television.

التلفزة

The television

After the meal, one screen for the whole house. Everybody knows the tune before the first image.

Watch full episodes

المزود

Mezoued

The mezoued starts and ten seconds later the chairs are empty. Your uncle, who does not dance, dances.

A bride’s two open palms with henna on the fingertips and a disc in each palm, candles and jasmine beside them.

الحنّة

Henna night

Candles, jasmine, and a song that all the women know. Somebody’s mother cries and smiles at the same time.

A boy in a chechia and a girl in a white dress at a blue door; an old hand gives the boy a coin.

العيد

Eid morning

New clothes that scratch a little, and a kiss for every aunt. Each kiss pays: a coin in your hand, the mahba, and you count it twice.

جدّي

Grandfather

A jasmine behind the ear and a coffee that takes one hour. He asks when you come back before you put down your bag.

An open suitcase packed with harissa, olive oil, dates, couscous, a tin of makroudh and a jasmine bouquet.

الفاليجة

The suitcase

You said there was no room. It is full anyway: harissa, oil, dates, makroudh. Twenty kilos of love, and she still asks if you ate.

A mother at a blue door pours water on the ground behind a taxi that leaves.

الماء

The water

She pours water behind the car, so that you come back. She stays at the door until the street is empty. You do not turn around, because you know.

A white village by the sea at dusk, seen from a plane window, a jasmine bouquet on the ledge.

الطيّارة

The plane

The lights get small. The jasmine in your pocket is brown already, and you will keep it for a year.

The same blue door in the evening, one leaf open, light inside, a jasmine bouquet and a cat on the step.

الباب محلول

The door is open

It always is. We miss you. توحّشناك

The songs on this page

The drawings were made for this page. The songs and the show openings play from YouTube and belong to their artists.

كلام البلاد

Words that only sound right there

عسلامةAslemaHello. The first word at the airport, and the one that makes it real.

يعيّشكYaishekThank you. Word for word: may you live long.

برشاBarshaA lot. As in: I miss you barsha.

باهيBehiGood, fine, OK. Said three times to end a phone call.

صحّةSahaHealth to you. For a meal, a haircut, a shower.

يزّيYezziEnough. Said by mothers. Works at any distance.

بنينBninDelicious. The only review that matters.

لاباسLabesHow are you? It is also the answer.

توحّشتكTwahachtekI miss you. The word this page is about.