I sent an angry tweet at some point this week lamenting the lack of respect that has been abound in this city. People always tell me that New Yorkers are rude and that we aren't nice people, I would contend that Cairo could easily take that moniker from the Big Apple. Now I am not saying that everyone that I have met has been rude, or has just stared me down, in fact the people that I have had interactions with have been very helpful nice people (sometimes too nice when they act as if they know the answer to a question but don't actually). My complaint has to do mainly with simply walking in the street or riding the Metro, simple everyday interactions, that are usually non-verbal in nature. The amount of just abject staring and whispering that we have been subjected to by simply being foreigners has really started to irk me. I think it annoys me because even after following "precautions" as to avoid being "different" (like the girls wearing non-revealing clothes, and the guys not wearing shorts) the staring and whispering still happens.
Even beyond what is done directly to us, or I guess indirectly done depending on how you look at it, the level of rudeness that I have seen displayed amongst the people of Cairo themselves has shocked me. From pushing past people to simply get to the door of the Metro because you are getting off at the next stop, or knocking people over and not saying anything in apology, or the lack of decorum when it comes to entering and exiting doors...I have been thoroughly shocked. I try to live my life on the principle of respect, so things like this do really get to me. I also consider myself lucky that I do not know that much Arabic, because anyone that knows me knows that I can be pretty vocal when I feel that I am being disrespected...and lord knows there have been a few times when I just wanted to snap at someone, but alas I am unable to communicate my thoughts in this foreign tongue...at least not yet.
Al-jau (al-gau in Egyptian Colloquial): the weather. The weather here has been very pleasant for the most part, most days being in the low 80's earlier on. Recently though we have had a snap of "real" Egyptian weather, yesterday getting up to 100 and the day before that 105. But more interesting than the numbers on the thermometer have been the conditions. A couple days have been hazy and smoggy looking but yesterday I experienced my first sandstorm, at least I'm pretty sure it was my first. I have an application on the homescreen of my Blackberry that tells me the weather and the condition. During the sandstorm the application showed a temperature of 97 and a condition of N/A...not applicable! My vaunted Blackberry couldn't figure out how to word or illustrate a sandstorm. I couldn't help but laugh at that. Here are a few pictures from the roof of the hotel during it:
Today everyone in Group A (the people with Arabic experience on the trip) called in sick, effectively cancelling our morning classes. My ailment was eating KFC chicken at 1145pm and then promptly going to sleep. I couldn't get up at 7am for the life of me, but I didn't know that I was last man standing until I was informed that all the girls had various ailments of their own and that they wouldn't be going in at all today. I was at least able to make into Hedayat to watch this funny movie called "13 Wives", but I do feel bad that we all happened to check out on the same day. I highly doubt that will happen again.
Stay tuned because I will have a reaction to the Jim Joyce blown call in the perfect game yesterday...if you are a baseball fan like me I would really like to know your opinion of that situation too.
Again thanks for reading!
-Diggs
Even beyond what is done directly to us, or I guess indirectly done depending on how you look at it, the level of rudeness that I have seen displayed amongst the people of Cairo themselves has shocked me. From pushing past people to simply get to the door of the Metro because you are getting off at the next stop, or knocking people over and not saying anything in apology, or the lack of decorum when it comes to entering and exiting doors...I have been thoroughly shocked. I try to live my life on the principle of respect, so things like this do really get to me. I also consider myself lucky that I do not know that much Arabic, because anyone that knows me knows that I can be pretty vocal when I feel that I am being disrespected...and lord knows there have been a few times when I just wanted to snap at someone, but alas I am unable to communicate my thoughts in this foreign tongue...at least not yet.
Al-jau (al-gau in Egyptian Colloquial): the weather. The weather here has been very pleasant for the most part, most days being in the low 80's earlier on. Recently though we have had a snap of "real" Egyptian weather, yesterday getting up to 100 and the day before that 105. But more interesting than the numbers on the thermometer have been the conditions. A couple days have been hazy and smoggy looking but yesterday I experienced my first sandstorm, at least I'm pretty sure it was my first. I have an application on the homescreen of my Blackberry that tells me the weather and the condition. During the sandstorm the application showed a temperature of 97 and a condition of N/A...not applicable! My vaunted Blackberry couldn't figure out how to word or illustrate a sandstorm. I couldn't help but laugh at that. Here are a few pictures from the roof of the hotel during it:
Today everyone in Group A (the people with Arabic experience on the trip) called in sick, effectively cancelling our morning classes. My ailment was eating KFC chicken at 1145pm and then promptly going to sleep. I couldn't get up at 7am for the life of me, but I didn't know that I was last man standing until I was informed that all the girls had various ailments of their own and that they wouldn't be going in at all today. I was at least able to make into Hedayat to watch this funny movie called "13 Wives", but I do feel bad that we all happened to check out on the same day. I highly doubt that will happen again.
Stay tuned because I will have a reaction to the Jim Joyce blown call in the perfect game yesterday...if you are a baseball fan like me I would really like to know your opinion of that situation too.
Again thanks for reading!
-Diggs
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