Yes, I am finally able to tell everybody in the world that I have been to Tunisia. We arrived here yesterday shortly after lunch time, got picked up by some Swiss Embassy People, received one of those heavy WSIS badges to “always have with you wherever you go because it will solve all your problems” and did feel way more important than at home already.
The hotel I’m staying at is stuffed with security guards, carrying around their headsets and machine guns. One of them is located almost directly under my balcony, but there are also a few of them in the corridor, at all corners in the streets and wherever else you would like them. The reason they are all here is (no, it is not because of us, but) because my hotel is kind of close to the Tunisian President’s Home Residence, which has to be protected against all possible attacks. These security guys obviously make a very - ehm - unique impact on the actually pretty Tunisian landscape. To me though, they are completely invisible, except somebody mentions them. Since they spend most of their time here just hanging around silently, they just don’t exist at all to my ears - Thank Goodness.
The main problem I ran into so far was my dog Leo. It is obviously true that the Tunisian people don’t seem to be into liking dogs at all. It started in Geneva already, where I was requested to either put on a muzzle on Leo (which I don’t have) or not to fly TunisAir at all. So far, all airlines I flew (and I flew a lot of them) with Leo understood the fact that putting a muzzle on a dog who never had one before would more likely cause problems than being any good for security. But TunisAir does not understand. In the end, they were satisfied with me putting the Gentle Leader Training Collar on Leo, although this is not a muzzle at all. In the aircraft, noticing that Leo indeed was very nervous and uncomfortable wearing it, I took the Gentle Leader off again and spent the rest of the flight trying to hide Leo from the airline Staff so they would not notice.
Then, the day went on like that: From buses not wanting to let us board with the dog, to a crowd of security guards gathering when Leo would run around freely and relieve himself; or from the super market with the huge “No dogs” sign to the bar with four waiters, all of them just hanging around and none of them actually serving us for minutes and minutes. They are all communicating the same it seems: “Dogs Scare Us, Including Yours”.
Although we are obviously accepted here at the hotel itself, the ‘normal’ people indeed do have problems with dogs. I heard that in the Muslim Religion, which is what they have here, dogs are seen as impure animals - I don’t know the details though, so if someone knows where and how this is written exactly, I’d be glad for a note about it. But anyways: The result is that I keep feeling like the trouble maker wherever I go and whatever I do. this dog at my side is causing people to either run away or to gather within safe 40 feet distance and watch every move we make. It feels like impossible to connect with the people like this and I can only pray that they are slowly changing and maybe one day will dare to approach and overcome their feelings.
Well, Day Two will be different I guess. We are going to hang out in the exhibition park, surrounded by an international bunch of people. I heard that the security checks will be way more annoying than at an airport, but I haven’t been there yet so we will see….
