Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Notes from Tunisia.... I went to Carrefour this morning, which is always awful.  Carrefour is this massive Tunisian store, similar to a huge Walmart or Target in the US, except that they carry food as well.  You can buy garden tools, and you can buy eggs.  This sort of thing.  Anyway, it is the place for Tunisians to hang out.  There's some shops and a food court, and people just go there to sit around.  And no local who ever goes to Carrefour goes alone--they always shop with an entourage.  It's like NBA players going everywhere with their posse. Carrefour is a nightmare at all hours.  It is the most solid proof that the Tunisian government is being misleading when it claims unemployment is under ten percent, unless Tunisians work only Carrefour is closed.  There are always tons of people there, clogging aisles, moving slowly, standing around.  Why do I go, you may wonder?  Because they carry things other stores don't, and it's the only place where I don't have to pathetically try to negotiate with the butcher in Arabic or French about cuts of meat, since the meat at Carrefour is prepackaged like in the U.S.  Plus it's one stop shopping.  But still, it's hateful. Today I experienced something new.  Tunisians seem to listen to American rap a lot in their stores.  English is not at all prevalent, so there's no question that they're just into the beat, which is understandable.  But since I can understand the lyrics, I often find myself shaking my head and laughing, because I'm the only one there who knows what the music is about.  Today at Carrefour they were playing Outkast, which is reasonably hardcore stuff.  I recognized the song, since I have the album. So let me paint this picture:  I'm in the middle of a massive Tunisian Walmart-esque store, surrounded by tons of people.  It's a moderate country, but still Islamic and thus more socially conservative than the U.S.  And the songbeing bumped by the Carrefour loudspeakers?  "We Luv Deez Hoez".  This song involves such forward-thinking Islamic lyrics as: Oh lordy I quote the facts/Whippin' convertible wit Daddy Fat Sax/I stay G sharp as a note of music/Call me fresh baked bread I make a brawd lose it There are many more, shall we say, sordid lyrics.  And while those may be totally inappropriate for this forum, they seem to be perfectly fine for Carrefour.   2:00:44 PM    Let's hear it. []