International Travel

Posted by Maggie May 30th, 2006 at 05:14am In All Things TV

I'm out of the country this week, so I may be posting less than usual. There has been very little television watching, partly because this is my vacation and I'm thousands of miles from home and it's time to get some culture and pay attention to people, dammit, and also partly because European TV is all flickery.

I have no doubt, though, that my familiarity with television will someday come in handy in my world travels. Along with movies, it's our most popular export.

Recently some friends of mine (apologies to Sarah, Jen, and Megan for any inaccuracies in this stolen story) were saved from what sounds like almost certain death in Morocco — no stamp in their passport, abandoned dock in the middle of the night, sketchy people all around — by a kindly young Muslim woman. She took them in, fed them, housed them, got that pesky stamp, even bartered for them in the local market.

Sarah mentioned that she was from New York, and the subject of Sex and the City came up. Keep in mind, this woman was a devout Muslim. Was life really like that show? she wanted to know. Not really, Sarah said. The characters are exaggerated, especially Samantha.

"Ah yes," said the Muslim woman. "But we all have a little bit of Samantha in us, don't we?"