Someone asked me today if I noticed any differences here since my last visit in 2009. If you haven’t heard, there was a revolution in 2010 and the president was forced to leave the country, and yes there are some differences I’ve already observed. Mostly I’ve notice that more women are wearing the hijab (head covering) and more people are talking about politics. Before the revolution women weren’t allowed to wear the head covering in government places but now they can, so they are. Before the revolution people could get arrested for complaining about the government or appearing like extremists, so people didn’t say much. Now politics seem to come up regularly.
Just yesterday, as I was looking for scarves at the tourist market, I met a girl who offered to help me with Arabic and help me understand the culture here. We shopped together and chatted for nearly an hour. She openly told me about her views about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, about her religion, and about how things are better now that the government allows women to follow the Quran by wearing the hijab. Women are not allowed to wear the complete body/face covering at universities yet (Burqa or Niqab), but she hopes that one day they will.
I’ve only been here a few days but I'm sure I have many more conversations like that one.
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