Pretending to be Syrian

In Tozeur, after almost killing Ester and eating some sandwiches, Lindsey, Ester and I went down to the touristy street to see about buying some crap. We were speaking Shami Arabic to one another, and sure enough we were asked, "Lubnaniyya?" No, no, we insisted, not Lebanese. But close. Syrian. I don't know if it got us any lower prices, but at least it stopped people speaking French to us.

As a foreigner in Tunisia, every one immediately reverts to French when speaking with you. Ester actually knows a good bit of French, I can understand some things but am at a loss to reply, and Lindsey has no French. After our asking questions or beginning conversations in Arabic, people would answer in French. "No, please, Arabic."

Even after we said we were Syrian, so the shopkeepers spoke to us in Arabic, they asked us why we didn' know French. How is that possible? Isn't French the second language of Syria? Not really, we said, everyone wants to learn English now.

After Ester got on her boat back to Italy and Lindsey went to Kuwait, I had some time to myself in Tunis waiting for the next Damascus flight. So I walked around the old city. Guys in the souq would hear my accent and ask if I was Lebanese.
"No, but close."
"Syrian?"

The story changed a bit from place to place. For short interactions, Syrian. The few times I introduced myself as American dudes said, "Really? But your parents are Shami, right?" So I said sure (sorry Ireland). In the hostel I was Canadian, because the front desk guy lied and told the leader of some group of French/island near Madagscar children that I was. Then I had to keep it up in order to get a bed with the 12-year-old girls.

People love the shit out of Syria, though. When I told people I was Shami, they said, "Ahh- marry a Shami girl and your life will be easy." Or, "Bab al-Hara!". And a man sat me down in his shop, bought me a bottle of water, which I could only refuse so many times, and told me he loved Syria. "They protect the Arab identity!"

I even got in the Zaytouna mosque for free. I asked a guy out front if it was open, and he said, yes, and its free for Muslims. I told him I wasn't Muslim and he stared at me, saying, "But you are Arab, right?" So I got in free anyways. A couple of people asked me if I was Muslim, which was strange for me since no one ever asks me that in Sham. In Tunisia, most people are Muslim, and most women don't wear hijab, and I was speaking Arab in the accent of a majority Muslim country, but still. There are non-Muslim Arabs, quite a lot in fact.