From the linked story

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Ludmilla

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Hi all of you -- Demelza, Maria -- all! What great stories!!! SHould write a book! Demelza the dialog w/ taxi driver should be in Hollywood -- I will have to read this all more in detail - So fascinating.............!!!! Esp. Demelza that you speak Arabic -- Could I ask, how did you learn? A book? A class? Cheers, Ludy
 

Demelza

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hello Ludy !
I learnt just from living there. I was useless at languages at school and never thought I'd speak anything except broad Nottingham slang ! However when I landed in egypt I stayed 8 years longer than planned and just picked it up from living there. Although most people in the cities speak english to a certain extent, out in the country side they dont. I found that I never used to ask for example..."how do I say I want to go to the cabaret" in arabic?? Rather I would hear something being said over and over again and I would ask for example..."what does 'ana isa raha cabaret' mean"??? thats how I learnt. I've never picked up a phrase book or course etc. I think it's the best way to learn. xx
 

Rebecca_

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Thanks for the advice! That's a good idea to say that I am Canadian. I just think that Egypt seems like such a beautiful place, I would absolutely love to go there! Especially to study dance =)

Shanazel - Ireland is gorgeous. Some of my family live in the south on the coast in County Cork. They live right near the sea and watch wales from their Kitchen window !! I'm sure you'll have a wonderfull time !

Rebecca - I wouldn't worry about people knowing you are american. I know there is a bad feeling amongst the arabs with regards to the american government and their policies etc but I've never known anyone to direct their anger at any individual. They do not take it personally and I think they all feel that it's the government and not the american people themselves. So don't let it concern you too much. And if you still feel a little insecure about it tell people on your travels that you are Canadian!! :eek:

Moon - I like your story about the camel !! :) i got on a wild one once xx
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Shanazel - Ireland is gorgeous. Some of my family live in the south on the coast in County Cork. They live right near the sea and watch wales from their Kitchen window !! I'm sure you'll have a wonderfull time !

Hmm, I didn't realize you could see Wales from the southern coast of Ireland:) (Sorry, couldn't resist!) Part of my family came from Cork, Donegal, and Armagh, part of them came from Wales and Scotland, and a few we speak of in whispers came from merrie olde Englande. Of course, they all landed in the new world and intermarried with the natives in the early 17th century, so I have no known familial ties to Europe.
 

Demelza

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So I'd really love to travel to Egypt too, but honestly, some of these stories scare me. ?

Rebecca !!
Please don't let my stories put you off ! I was just a 'wild child' and still am to a certain extent! Actually Egypt is a relitavely safe place. You know I am from Nottingham in UK which last month was statistically declared the most dangerous city in Europe :eek: so for me anyplace is safer than Nottingham ! but really, Egypt is a safe place compared to others. For example in the 13 years that I've been in / going to Egypt and Sinai, I've never heard of a rape, (actually only one - that was a bedouin man to a bedouin boy)....only heard of 1 murder (appart from the terrorist bombs of course) and probably the worst that happens to most is that they get their card/passport stolen. So bear in mind that my stories are not the norm !

And anyway, Cairo for example feels safe to me because it's a 24 hour city and there are always people around, shop keepers, bowebs, street cleaners, soldiers etc......so if you shout they'll all come to rescue you ! xx (the being held at gun point story and the bandit story where far out in the desert, not in Cairo!) xx ;)
 

Selkie

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All these tourists going around claiming to be Canadian is giving real Canadians a bad name overseas.
 

Selkie

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A lot of "Yeah right, you're really an American, aren't you." Getting grilled on Canadian knowledge, having to prove nationality. When my dad visited France in the '90s, he had to show his passport and ID before the hotel would believe him. People getting mean, trying to make you "confess." Having to listen to stories about some obnoxious "Canadian" tourist, to learn that the tourist had a Southern drawl or a Midwest accent. Rather have the snow and igloo jokes :rolleyes:
 

Demelza

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sounds like you get a bit pissed off when that happens! Is it just the tourism issue or do you not get on wit americans on the whole ? Just interested xx
Demelza
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Gracious, it would be hard to not get along with all 310 million of us at the same time! Most of us never even get to leave our own region of the USA, yet here are these nasty travellers giving the rest of us, not to mention Canadians, a bad name. Perhaps we should issue these nasty ones disclaimers along with passports: "Not only am I not Canadian, I am also disapproved of by 89% of the American people."
 

Demelza

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Shanazel...I am confused ! Are you American or Canadian then ? and who are the 'nasty travellers'?

Demelza xx

PS. I am just interested if I hear someone with some 'beef' about another. Like I am aware of the thousands of Pakistanis and Indians who live here in my city don't really get on. And it wasn't untill I 'asked' that I got the answer - I wouldn't have know about the history of Kashmir etc had I not enquired what the fude was about. That is all I am doing. xx
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Demelza, not a problem in the world with you asking for clarification, so don't give it a second thought. I am American. The nasty travellers are those Americans Selkie complains about who are posing as Canadians despite southern and midwestern American accents and giving the poor Canadians a bad name. We all know there are no obnoxious Canadians in the world of travel, just Americans trying to pass as residents of Prince Edward Island or Quebec.

What IS it with dissing an entire population because a few of its members are jerks? I loved every minute I spent in Canada, and the Canadians living in my part of the US seem to be happy here, and to tell you the truth, I don't seen two loonies worth of difference between folks from Alberta and folks from Wyoming beyond a few obvious things like I say zee and they say zed. I can't speak for the eastern portions of either country- I've never been there. (Demelza, a loony is a Canadian dollar- it has a picture of a loon on it.)

Okay, end of rant. I hope, Selkie, that you aren't genuinely anti-American, and that you were making a joke, but I don't find the worldwide sport of bashing other nationalities very amusing.
 
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Selkie

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Okay, end of rant. I hope, Selkie, that you aren't genuinely anti-American, and that you were making a joke, but I don't find the worldwide sport of bashing other nationalities very amusing.

Wow, where did THAT come from? :eek: My post was about Canadian tourists overseas encountering fall-out from the locals, from "nasty travellers" lying about their nationality; how did that become "dissing an entire population"? Please point out to me where in my post I dissed the entire population of America as a whole, because I have read and reread it and I cannot find it. I think you are reading a heck of a lot into my post that isn't there. I never said anything about disliking Americans or not getting along with any. I was laughing with your post about issuing passport disclaimers to the nasty travellers, because it is so true -- I've watched many a non-nasty American traveller squirm and blush on listening to the stories about the nasty ones, because as the saying goes, a few bad apples spoil the bunch. As you rightly point out, the majority never do get to travel much. 89% of Americans certainly disapprove of that 11% nasty minority, but that 11% are the ones who are visible and giving everybody else a bad name. The only way to change that is to not be a "nasty traveller", not to claim someone else's nationality.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
A lot of "Yeah right, you're really an American, aren't you." Getting grilled on Canadian knowledge, having to prove nationality. When my dad visited France in the '90s, he had to show his passport and ID before the hotel would believe him. People getting mean, trying to make you "confess." Having to listen to stories about some obnoxious "Canadian" tourist, to learn that the tourist had a Southern drawl or a Midwest accent. Rather have the snow and igloo jokes :rolleyes:

That's the one that got to me, and I apologize if I over-reacted. I have heard so much anti-American garbage in my life that I occasionally go off like a Fourth of July firecracker. In my own defense, Demelza also wondered if you did not get along with Americans as a whole, so I don't think it was all my misinterpretation. Well, anyway, enough of that. As I said, I think we are more alike than not. We don't get snow and igloo jokes here, thought we do have the two season jokes, for example: for seasons, Wyoming has winter and road repair.
 

Selkie

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The entirety of my post was things that have been asked of/done to Canadian tourists visiting overseas, by the locals of those overseas countries, who have had so many encouters with lying tourists, that they no longer believe anyone. Demelza asked a very poorly phrased question, which you appear to have answered yourself in my absence, putting words and attitudes into my mouth which I did not say. I never answered Demelza's question; I never saw it, until I logged in last night to see this whole mess o' pottage. You appear to be projecting your issues. I have many lovely American friends, some of whom have been watching this thread and shaking their heads with shame.
 

Demelza

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....and why was Demelza's question so 'poorly phrased' ??????? Is it perhaps that you did not understand it ? ? ? ? ? :D
 

Selkie

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I understood it. It was rather antagonizingly phrased, however. There was nothing in my post to suggest anything about my personal relationships with Americans. My post was purely about the repercussions Canadian travellers are encountering from American tourists lying about their nationality. You suggested to someone that they should do this and I was describing why that was *not* a good idea. Lying about their nationality does not help the American tourists and it does further damage to their international reputation. The only other people who lie about their nationality are criminals; when an American tourist lies about their nationality, the local people wonder what else they're hiding. Its not good, it creates problems for the honest American tourists who don't stoop to such tactics, it further damages the reputation of the American tourists, and it causes problems for the genuine Canadian tourists. I am not anti-American; I am anti-dishonesty. I am also anti-jumping to conclusions and putting words in people's mouths :mad:
 
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