One Month Later

So, it has been exactly one month since my arrival here in Cairo (not that I have been counting or anything). It has been one month since landing in the desert. One month since paying an exorbitant amount of Egyptian pounds for a Mercedes ride into the capital. One month since leaving home to explore this new place. One month since leaving my friends and family back home in search of some sort of direction in my life. So, one month later… what have I learned?

1. How to Cross the Street – no matter how fast cars appear to be going, they are always paying attention and will at least slow down and/or try and swerve to avoid hitting you. I have made it one month without being hit by a car (knock on wood). Walking into traffic without even turning my head makes me a true Cairene.

2. How to Bargain – okay this skill is slightly a spillover from previous travels and negotiating with purse dealers in Georgetown & Manhattan for my sister… but I have a slightly more advanced system now. The first price they give you is say 500-600% over what it should be. So aim low (I know, high ambition, right?). And then meet in the middle, more towards your side. Or, pretend like you don’t have any money. I once had a Rolex Watch guy offer me a Rolex for 350 LE. I said “I have no money, but I would pay no more than 150 LE for it.” He said 250, 200, then finally 150. Also, have a friend egg him on my saying, “you really don’t need that” or “that is too expensive.” Then I said “I have no money” and proceeded to walk away. 100, finally down to 50 Pounds to which I opened my wallet and showed him by 1.50 pounds I had to my name by that point. Start walking away; if you are actually giving insulting prices, he won’t follow you. 9 times outta 10, he will, though. He wants your business. Also for cab drivers – just walk away. They can shout all the insults at you, but at the end of the day, you are the one with the money and they are not (as long as you get out of the cab prior to handing the driver your money).

3. I am Still Cheap - despite the unfortunately weak Dollar abroad (me=sad for my European travels), stuff here is still wicked cheap. The first few days, 20 pounds was like toilet paper for most of us. “Eh, 20 LE, its not even 4 bucks.” But now I cringe to pay even 10 pounds for anything. Putting a Jew like me in Cairo is like putting a fat kid in a reality television show where he has to eat his way out of a candy castle, swim his way through a chocolate fudge moat, and run (read: walk cause clearly this fat kid can’t run) his way through fields of potato chips.

4. Tourists still Give a Bad Name Everywhere – I have met very few American tourists in Egypt, but I have met plenty others. Mainly at touristy spots, which is expected, but at certain locations (i.e. Zamalek, by AUC, and downtown), wearing spaghetti-straps, shorts, and generally provocative clothing does give tourists bad names because that simply isn’t the culture. I was talking with a Spaniard in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago; wearing very short shorts, and a tank top, while her husband adorned a safari outfit, I wanted to warn them to dress more apt for Egyptian life, but they were leaving that day, so the point was mute. Some walk in with the attitude “I do what I want” (that was our senior motto at Franklin Regional High School) but here, at least respect the culture (you most likely will be treated more like a local and will get better prices on things).

5. BBC News is Far Superior to CNN - briefs are better, breaking news is actually breaking news, there is a wider variety of international stories pertaining to what I actually care about, and finally, it is interesting to view what stories the world actually cares about in America. Nothing involving Rosie O’Donnell or Donald Trump is news, people. Now an MP assassinated in Beirut, or monks clashing with riot police in Burma, I would say these classify as applicable stories (all taken from this AM’s websites).

6. Traffic Laws Don’t Exist – we do have traffic lights, and signs, and road markings, and police directing traffic, but does that matter: of course not. If something is preventing you from getting to work or class on time, or you can’t get to your falafel place quick enough after sundown, why shouldn’t you break every law in order to do it. I mean… it’s not like the government actually enforces these laws (they only enforce laws infringing on important freedoms that ensure their regime stays in power for enough of the next 43928304980934 years).

7. Cairo is Polluted - a recent study (followed by a WSJ article) listed Cairo as the most polluted major city in the world, with the WSJ article so eloquently putting it “Athletes to the Beijing Olympics are being warned to arrive as late as possible to the games as to ensure they don’t get sick from world’s second worst air quality; the first, being of course, Cairo, Egypt.” This is this Third World; their sanitation workers aren’t unionized and clearly the top of their to-do-list is pick up garbage. Also, there are over 2 million cars registered in Cairo! Most of them older than ten years and have very little fuel efficiency, so I am actually glad to be here now because in ten years, it will be even harder to breathe. It smells a little, but you get used to it. Since it is Ramadan, many refrain from using their cars and for the first time in about two weeks, a massive smog cloud lingered over Downtown Cairo this morning as I trekked into campus. Normally, the smog centers around the Nile and today it was even worse than normal.

8. Keep in Contact with Friends & Family – I actually have faster broadband here in Cairo than I do in the U.S. (not counting my house). I am online all the time (probably more than when I am at AU) and I love hearing from y’all. Whether you shoot me an IM or send me an email, it brightens my day. I honestly have no regrets about this experience itself, but I do just wish that I could have picked up my life completely (friends, family, and things) and moved it here, partly because I miss you all dearly, but partly because I want you all to experience this with me. I take for granted crossing the Nile every morning and every evening coming to and from class. I take for granted the fact that probably 95% of you will never see the awe of the Pyramids, or get to climb Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Most of you will probably never make it here and that saddens me, but makes me aware of how blessed I really am and how many opportunities I have been afforded. I have stepped foot on four continents, while I know that some people will never leave the United States (for one reason or another), and they are happy about that. I’m not content with the status quo. I love Cairo and I love this region, enough, that if I didn’t have commitments, and people that loved and cared about me, I probably would stay here. I do really miss all of you, if I didn’t I wouldn’t keep up with this blog so much. It’s my way of showing how much I care about you.

So like I always say: The only way to have a friend, is to be one.

My journeys take me this weekend to Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast. Salaam Aleikum (Peace be with you).