'Set It Off' & The Funky Cold Medina (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Sept 16^th, 2010 - I saw a man on the main street of Tunis wearing a t-shirt adorned with 'May I Have Your MSN? I'm a Hotmale'. Sweet. I thought it a might queer (as in odd or strange) that folks would be celebrating the end of Ramadan by driving through the streets while honking, screaming, and blowing plastic trumpets. It turns out they were merely getting psyched up for the Algeria-Tunisia soccer match. I'm silly. 

Although the context is currently Tunisia I've noticed that outside Western culture there is little adherence to the concept of a line (or queue as it were). Want to eat? Get a cup of coffee? Buy a SIM for your mobile? Tram ticket? Put your head down and plow through. Otherwise, you will be standing on the periphery for ages basking in your own politeness. It is not that folks are necessarily rude (probably), it's just that custom dictates a free-for-all. Take no prisoners.