Thursday, April 16, 2009

Ma Salama Misr

So we are down to our final days in Egypt. So I thought that making a list of the things I will miss and will not miss about Egypt/Cairo would be a nice ending. I’m trying to get Josh to do a list too but  I don’t know if that will get done. He still hasn’t written about his horseback riding trip from Giza to Saqara with the Boy Scouts at least a month and a half ago.

Now Josh wanted me to start with the things I will miss first. But I thought I would end with that list…you know kind of end on a happy note. So without further ado here are my two lists.

10 Things I will NOT miss: (These are in no particular order)

1. The constant honking which includes the honking for no apparent reason. If you thought NYC was bad, you haven’t seen nothing yet.

2. The pollution and cigarette smoke smell. Josh was helping a boy he tutors with his science report and he found out that depending on where you are in Cairo, it (pollution) can be anywhere from 10-100 times worse than the standard. I’m sure my lungs have loved that.

3. The cab drivers. I should just end it at that because there is so much I can say about them that I don’t like. I could seriously just do a blog solely on cab drivers. But I probably won’t so I’ll just give you a sample of what I don’t like. Most of them are just out to get money fro you. They are also a big source of the honking. I will not get in a cab that is honking at me to try to get me in their cab. To me, that’s like answering to your date when he comes to pick you up after honking instead of going to the door and ringing the doorbell. That’s just a small amount of what I don’t like about them. Now I know there are some good cab drivers and I am very thankful for them.

4. I will not miss every Egyptian being late for an appointment or spending too much time with you. We once waited for a guy 3 hours after he was supposed to be there. And I thought Mormon standard time was bad. Then there are those who want to spend every minute of your spare time with you. It can get annoying and little rude.

5. Oh the lies. All the lies. Mainly the ones about product shipment dates. “Oh it will be here bokra  (tomorrow)”, but it never shows. Then they say come back  on Saturday. Finally once Saturday rolls around after 3 or 4 days, and surprise surprise they still don’t have it. Even when we are gone for a week and half, they still don’t get it.

6. One of my pet peeves is getting the tourist price or getting ripped off. We know what the prices are; we aren’t stupid. We tried buying a bottle of water and the guy told us 5 when it was clearly labeled 2. Honestly…. We also have some friends who went shopping together. They were each buying the same bracelet. For one it was 5 and for the other was 10. They try to do this right in front of your face. If it was me, I would try to take the customers’ money in a different way so I don’t look so rude and dumb.

7. One of things I hate the most is the men here. To me it seems like they treat foreign women as objects instead of people. This is usually the younger men not the old grandpas or those old enough to be grandpas. The older men have respect for us like the men should and they are a lot nicer. When we or just I am walking, I zone out and don’t pay attention to any male except my hubby. These men just give Egyptians a bad name.

8. Now this one can be funny when you think about it. A lot of the cabs, buses, and mircobuses are rickety and old. I’m surprised they are still up and running. There was one cab that we rode in, Josh was in the front and I was in the back. Every single time we went over a bump (and if you’ve been here, you would know how bad the roads are there are bumps everywhere!) metal pieces would cling and clang together behind me. Inside this cab, it was just the bare minimum. There was literally nothing inside, no  fabric, it was all metal. I even think my seat have no cushion left it, it was just a dip in the seat. Anyways, every time we went over a bump I truly thought that all of a sudden his car was going to literally fall apart, that all that was going to be left was the seats or lack of. Like the whole frame and wheels were going to fall off. And would you be surprised that he got a flat tire just a couple blocks from our apartment building. We had to walk the rest of the way.

9. If anyone has been here, you would know there is no order or organization here. There are no lines anywhere, it’s just a big blob of people. I could that this could be a cause of fights/arguments. But this topic of no order brings me to the next and final thing.

10. DRIVING! I am so glad to go back to driving order not be in a land where they drive like animals. They have traffic laws but NO ONE abides by them. They don’t even drive within the lines, the straddle the lines. Because of this, there could be 3 or 4 cars in a 2 lane road. It’s not uncommon to see people driving on the wrong side of the road either. I have also seen people backup on a FREEWAY! They probably missed their turn so instead of making a u-turn, they just backup. People either drive too fast or too slow. There is no in between. Because of all this crazy driving and dumb people, I’m not surprised that so many people die trying to cross the streets of Cairo.

Now there are other things that I will miss but these are the first ones that came to my mind. Here is my next list and again these are in no particular order.

10 Things I will miss:

1. So there is this really cute old man on the main shopping street in Maadi. We go to him for almost anything whether we think he has what we want or not. If doesn’t have what we want, we ask him where we can get it and he’ll tell us a good place to get it. We bought most of our souvenirs from him. As Josh would say, we are putting his grandkids through college. He is a very nice and honest man. And he loves to talk with you. It’s kind of like going to grandma and grandpa’s, you have to plan to be there for a couple of hours no matter what. Anyways, this guy, Sobrey, always says اهلاَ و ساهلاَ when I come to his shop. It means “Welcome” in Arabic. I never knew what it meant until we were looking at wall hangings at another store and that was something that was written on one of them. As soon as I heard the guy say it, I immediately thought of Sobrey. Since then I always think of Sobrey when I hear it. I just wish that people would say it in America but that’s not going to happen.     

IMG_0615I don’t know who the other guy is but Sobrey is the one in the middle. The other guy just wanted to join in the picture for no reason. They like to do that here.

2.  I love the cheap prices for the local items. It’s so nice. Isn’t it weird that if you want them in the states, you have to pay extra but here you pay like 1/4 of the price if that. I figured out that I was paying half of what my mom was paying for pomegranates. I was just paying cents for a pound…course everything here is measured in kilos which is 2.2lbs. But if we want something that’s American, you have to pay and arm and leg for it. I saw a can of root beer (which you don’t see very often, I can count the number of times I’ve seen it on one hand) for $3. I will be glad to go back to American prices for American products but I will miss the cheap prices for fruits and vegetables mainly.

3. Speaking of cheap prices for fruit and vegetables, I will miss the local food especially fruit like mangoes, clementines, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, bananas, etc. I don’t think for any fruit, I was paying more than $1 for a kilo. How awesome is that?!

4. Whether you buy juice from a box or from a fruit juice stand, you know you’re in for a real treat. Both Josh’s and mine favorite is guava juice from the stand and from the Enjoy brand box. It’s like drinking a milkshake it’s so thick and yummy! Oh man, I’m really going to miss that one. Anyways, I have had fresh orange, lemon, sugar cane, mango, strawberry, strawberry banana, guava, and pomegranate juice. To narrow the list down, the only ones I didn’t like was sugar cane (although I do like straight from the sugar cane) and pomegranate.

5. There is a little kiosk sized convenient store right across the street from us. For such a small place, they really do have a lot to offer. We go there almost every day to usually buy soda and ice cream. A cute little family owns and run the place and they are really nice. They know that they can speak Arabic to Josh and barely none to me even though I will say “hi”, “bye”, and “how much” to them in Arabic. I just don’t know what they’re saying in return. I feel bad when it’s just me trying to buy something but when you think about it, it’s funny. I’m sure they make fun of me too.

6. I will most certainly miss the friends that I have made in the branch here. Basically, I’ll miss the whole branch.

7. We have had some great neighbors like Cari, Ayman, Hannah, and Hannah’s new roommate from Holland who we’ve only met once which was the night before we left for Israel. Cari, was Hannah’s roommate before she got married and she is from Michigan so it’s nice to have an American close by. Ayman is Cari’s husband who is Egyptian and he is funny. Hannah is just a sweet a fun loving girl who also happens to make excellent Egyptian food. She is always offering food to us and we do the same. We use each other for things that we don’t have. She let us take her camera to Israel with us. How sweet! Hannah’s new roommate is very nice from what little I know about her. She is probably at the same level of Arabic that Josh is right now. She just started studying Arabic.

8. I love walking down the street and smelling the fresh bakery. It smells so good, we almost always stop by if it smells really good. And what’s even better are the prices. Prices could never be lower! (like that slogan?) We like the bread loaves, flat bread, and croissants. They are yuuuummy! This one bakery now has chocolate croissants! So good!

9. Our boab (pronounced bow abb) which is the Arabic word for doorman. He cleans the building and takes care of our trash and anything else we need him to do like carry bags for us up 4 flights of stairs. He is so kind and happy. He once carried two boxes of water up to our apartment and wouldn’t accept   any money from us for helping. He usually wears the same galabaya, a dark green one, and he has a lazy eye so we feel bad for him.

10. Now this one I will not miss very much but if I ever see one in the states it will certainly make me think of Egypt and have a special place within me. Like seeing someone who is a member in a place where there aren’t very many members, you kind of feel obligated to talk to them. But the thing in Egypt that I’m talking about is the hijab (the head wrapping) and burka (the whole outfit that women wear that cover their face). I hope you can kind of see what I’m talking about. You don’t see women wearing these very often in the states so if I ever did see one, it would be special to me.

So those are the things that I will and won’t miss about Egypt. Today is our last day here. Surprisingly, it doesn’t even feel like we’re leaving even though everything is packed and we are just waiting for time to pass before we leave in the morning. Josh’s lists probably won’t be up until after we have gotten home in the states. Oh I will put more pictures up with this one but it will take awhile for me to find them all.

Ma salama Misr!

3 comments:

Lis said...

what a nice list! Sounds like ya'll have had a good time, what an adventure for your first year of marriage. We'll be excited to have you back in the states. :)

K.E. Ogden said...

Wow, I'm kinda jealous of all your adventures! I'm excited to possibly be able to see you wicked soon though! You and Josh have to let me know when you're back in Provo...you have my number, right? Shoot, I should just email you.

kyle, emily, grace and ava said...

Oh, Carolee, I love your list of things you will and will not miss. Those were fun to read. The thing about the men, that's true no matter what country you're in. If you're not a local, they know and they will LET you know that they know...so annoying :) Love you! are you going to be in RExburg again? We're actually in New Mex for the summer, but we'll be back in the fall.