SC - RE: SC-Thanksgiving/SCA & Europe

[KallipygosRed at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/2/00 11:17:15 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
oftraquair at hotmail.com writes:

> (in addition to those guidlines) a friend whose daughter was travelling in 
>  muslim countries reported the organizer of the tour told all the girls to 
>  have a very large scarf ready to pull out and cover their hair.  (They 
were 
>  also to stuff a lightweight dirndl type skirt in their backpack, some days 
>  and streets western jeans needed covering--and they weren't to even 
consider 
> 
>  wearing shorts outside the hotel rooms!)

I had a friend who travelled on tour under similiar guidelines in Iran, 
Turkey and farther on. While in Iran she decided one day to just "run out" 
from the hotel to the little grocery store next door and get milk for her 
coffee. She covered her head but was wearing knee length shorts (horrors!). A 
guy on a passing motorcycle reached out and pinched her thigh so hard it left 
a bruise about 4" wide. She smacked him in the head with her purse, and 
knocked him off the motorcycle, creating a minor gash on his head. Of course, 
the police were called to settle the disturbance. The policeman listened 
intently for a few minutes to both sidcs than said to each in turn, "You are 
travelling in our country and I understand you cannot know all the rules; you 
are a native of our country and know the correct manners to use with women 
and guests. You thought you would do no harm; you thought you would be 
humerous. You took a risk dressing so provcatively and lost; you took a risk 
doing something so foolish and lost. I believe both of you have learned your 
lessons." He then asked a woman at the grocery store to get him a length of 
material from the back, for which my friend would pay her ten dollars and 
wrap about herself to go back to the hotel, less than 300 yards away. Full 
covering, chadore. The grocery clerk woman did, but my friend, being really 
headstrong (and in my opinion, stupid and not wanting to part with $10) 
argued that since she was so close to the hotel the proper remedy would be 
for her to just run back across the street to it and inside. At which point 
the policeman smiled warmly and told her that the proper remedy, per their 
law, would be for her to marry the offending gentleman; he thought $10 for a 
covering more of a compromise to the situation. She said she took one look at 
the guy (toothless, bald, 1' shorter than her, and about 60 years old to her 
19) who seemed very eager to proceed with the "proper remedy" and paid for 
the  chadore and went back to the hotel. 

I laughed my butt off when she told me this; having grown up in Iran and 
being able to visualize this so well. I asked her if there were any lingering 
complications. She said that everywhere she went, even with the group for the 
next 10 days, the policeman showed up. She figured he had been sent to "watch 
over her" while in country. They became pretty good friends, though, so she 
felt it a very enriching lesson to have learned.

So, yeah. Remember to pay strict adherence to any dress codes. :)

Lars