Before I elaborate more, I just want to say that I don’t want to continually compare Tunisia to Egypt or to make large generalizations. I had an amazing experience in Egypt, and I can appreciate its rich heritage and current culture—particularly some of the positive changes that have occurred post-revolution.
But there are some things that just really set Tunisia apart from a lot of other countries in the region, at least as far as I can tell at this point. For example, I have not received ANY cat-calls since I got here, nor have I been honked at or grabbed. To be fair, I’ve only walked around Sidi Bou Said and Tunis, the capital, but I could barely walk out the door in Alexandria or Cairo without being whistled at or feeling threatened by groups of young men on the streets. I don’t even need any “booty guards” (for an explanation, see my previous blog) here or men to accompany me. It was an absolutely amazing feeling. And the social interactions between men and women here just seem so much healthier. Men and women interact with each other on the streets and go to mixed schools, and as a result are more comfortable with each other.
Also, there is so much green here. And beautifully colored flowers. And there isn’t trash just lying around everywhere—people actually clean up after themselves. And the taxi drivers aren’t majnoon, and people actually drive in lanes at somewhat appropriate speeds and don’t constantly honk when there is congestion. And shopkeepers don’t yell at you and harass you to try to get you to come into your shop (even when I walked through a bazaar today, no one tried to pull me into their store…unthinkable in most of the other countries I’ve visited). And it’s much safer to drink the water and to eat the fruits and vegetables.
I may just be in the ‘honeymoon stage’ right now, but I’m just really enamored with Tunisia. I think it’s mostly the male-female relations. I just can’t get over how wonderful it is to walk down the street without constantly having to be on alert for shabaab (young boys) or people who might harass me. I’m not saying that Tunisia doesn’t have its problems—the revolution is proof of that. And it is a wealthier country than some others in the region, which would explain better trash collection, etc.
Anyway, a group of us took a trip to Tunis today, and it was amazing just walking down the main streets and imagining the power of all these relatively ordinary citizens. There’s a lot of graffiti on government buildings, and I took so many pictures of the graffiti that I kind of want to make a book out of them. There were phrases in Arabic and in English ranging from “Yes we can!” to “Freedom is daily exercise” to “Tunisia is better without Ali Baba and his forty thieves!” (the latter playing on the similarity of Ben Ali’s name to Ali Baba). When I asked my language partner if she participated in the protests, she said “Of course. It was one of the most beautiful moments.”
Anyway, I should probably get off my soap box at this point, and get some sleep before I get introduced to my host family tomorrow!
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