Thanks Hollywood....

Living here is fun but often times I miss just the normal day to day things like going to the movies. Yesterday, my teammates and I and our language teacher decided to go see a movie here. Most of the movies here are in classical Arabic, which is very different than the Arabic I am learning or in French, which I don't understand. We found a movie that was going to be playing in the language that I am learning and we were so excited and decided to go and see it! When we arrived we quickly realized that we would be seeing two movies, the first one was an American movie translated in French and the second one was the movie filmed here, the one we wanted to see! I wasn't real thrilled about sitting through two movies but what can you do?! I then realized what movie it was and was NOT so happy about it! It was a movie that I would NEVER go see in the states!! It was SO AWFUL and raunchy and gross. As I sat there surrounded by nationals laughing at the filthiness they were watching, my heart broke. I didn't watch most of the movie, I watched those around me. I now know why people from here assume things about me because the only picture that they have of where I am from, is what they see in the movies. In that movie they saw nudity, drunkenness, parties, women, foul language, wealthy and mean.... everything horrible you could imagine and everything contrary to what I want them to see... 

I was perplexed because everything in me wanted to get up and leave, but I also knew that I would offend my friend... After the movie was over, my teammates and I just kept apologizing over and over, and so did she. She knows we are not like what was seen on the screen, but I wonder what the others thought sitting near us. Did they think I was just like the girl on the screen...

Thanks hollywood for making my job here a little bit harder, for showing the world a picture of US at our "finest"... 

Now as I walk home, past the coffee shops full of men, I understand why they say the worst possible things to me or follow me home wanting something I would never give them, they see the women on the screen and they assume....

My movie experience here was perplexing... at home, I wouldn't have gone to see that movie and just ignored it all together thinking it really doesn't matter, but I'm learning that it does... What's seen there, is seen around the world, and from what they see, they assume...