diff --git a/Modules/_sre.c b/Modules/_sre.c
index 1868657..f4cd1fe 100644
--- a/Modules/_sre.c
+++ b/Modules/_sre.c
@@ -1674,6 +1674,15 @@
     void* ptr;
     Py_buffer view;
 
+    /* Unicode objects do not support the buffer API. So, get the data
+       directly instead. */
+    if (PyUnicode_Check(string)) {
+        ptr = (void *)PyUnicode_AS_DATA(string);
+        *p_length = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(string);
+        *p_charsize = sizeof(Py_UNICODE);
+        return ptr;
+    }
+
     /* get pointer to string buffer */
     view.len = -1;
     buffer = Py_Type(string)->tp_as_buffer;
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 75ce991..2fe2b63 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -2135,7 +2135,8 @@
     FILEFINDBUF3   ep;
     APIRET rc;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "t#:listdir", &name, &len))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "et#:listdir", 
+                          Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding, &name, &len))
         return NULL;
     if (len >= MAX_PATH) {
 		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "path too long");