Probably just as well if you don't dub her Jimmy either.
Now that really would be taking the piss.
Fay, I've been meaning to ask, but I don't know, guess I came over either shy or lazy. When you talk about the boy's expattishness, does that mean he's still strongly identifies as a Brit (or whatever his country of origin) or that he's bitter against his country of origin?
I guess it's a shorthand way of saying that he seems to have quite the Englishman Abroad thing going on. Which, my big hats and suchlike notwithstanding, I'm not so fond of - that whole 'speak loudly and clearly and Johnny Foreigner will understand you' thing. Or - no, that's not being fair to him. But many, maybe most of the expat teachers at my school had a real them-and-us thing going on - wouldn't dream of socialising with their teaching assistants, speak next to no Arabic, etc etc. It's an attitude that you get quite a lot with expats, I think. My own experience here has centred around largely socialising with Egyptians and our main pub of choice for most of the past couple of years is one where most of the clientele are (obviously very Westernised, what with the alcohol-drinking/tolerance) Egyptian. We know all the waiters and bartenders and bouncers by name, and they look out for us. The kitchen guys at our old school invited us out for dinner and to meet their families, and it was lovely. I've been round to my Teaching Assistant's house four or five times now, and met most of his family. I've been over to the houses of other Egyptian members of staff to celebrate the iftah feast during Ramadan, to see a newborn baby, to attend an Engagement party etc etc. I'm planning on hooking up with (covered, conservative, funny, smart, university graduate) Egyptian friends from school during the next few weeks to go out to the movies and so forth.
There's a whole intense class structure here that we don't have in Britain, with an awful lot of people living lives of extreme poverty. There's also a National Education system which does NOT teach thinking skills - it teaches people to memorise and regurgitate information, and to do what they're told. Within that context, it's unsurprising that religion has so strong a hold upon people, and it's understandable (however frustrating) that people do things that seem bonkers from a Western perspective. Making statements like 'All Egyptians are X, Y or Z' really pisses me off. But it's something that some of the expat community does all the time. I first became conscious of it a couple of months after we'd arrived in Cairo, when we met up with some other teachers at The British Community Association Club in Heliopolis - not my first choice of place, but they do fish and chips, so whatever. But when JP arrived with his (Egyptian) wife A, she told me that this was the first time they'd let her in. Because they don't let Egyptians in, even if they're 'guests' of expats. It was only now that she was his wife that they would let her in. At which point I pretty much thought 'fuck this, I don't need fish and chips that badly', and have only been back once since. (For a colleague's farewell do. To which another colleague's boyfriend wasn't allowed entry, because, yes, he's Egyptian.)
As I say, DateBoy didn't come out with anything racist (because, hello, end of date), but...I don't know. I'm very uncomfortable with the whole Them/Us thing.
Fay, please stop feeding my 'shipping tendencies. These long distance 'ships never work out, and I don't have time to make all the fan art.
Well, dan/andi worked out very nicely. Mr tea and I, however, are destined to live out our lives oceans apart. Well, either that or else we'll randomly meet in Thailand one day, have one perfect night of passion, and then discover that we're supposed to be archnemeses. My plans to teach sign language to the world echidnia population will come into direct conflict with all that Mr tea holds dear...
Somebody stop me, before I write AU RPF about myself.
...too late. Huh.