Hello all! So I am going to write about England in a separate post, but since it’s been a whirlwind last few days that is going to have to wait for a bit longer since I wanted to tell you about my first 12 hours or so in Cairo!
Well yesterday morning I woke up at around 3:30 in London, after neither of my alarms went off, in a bit of a frenzy to make sure I had everything & was going to be on time for the bus/train to the airport- cause the route that the transport for London website gave me was very complicated & involved a lot of me hauling ass in small spaces & amounts of time with my massive (unwheeled) bag. So I started off the day in not the greatest mindset for one who is on the verge of fulfilling her lifetime dream of going to Egypt. However, the thing that is great about being me is that I am quite easily satisfied/entertained, so an “Innocent” (that’s the brand) smoothie later after having gone through airport security I was fully focused on the journey at hand, albeit a bit tired & a lot sleep deprived.
The plane ride was good, no complaints or remarks on that one. I’m a bit frustrated with BMI as, after having called them 3 times (one of those times charging quite a bit of money on Hayley’s mobile) they still got my order for my meal wrong- even though in the system it was listed right next to my name when I checked in. Ahhh well, you win some you lose some- I’ve definitely been losing with some airlines recently! Haha.
Right, well I had a big cup of coffee on the plane because, on the fork between sleeping through the plane ride & being distracted by the map that tells you where you are/the window, the map/window combination side won. PS- it’s true what they say about Cairo being the most polluted city on earth- as we were landing all you could see was the dominating cloud of black smog blanketing the city:
But don’t get me wrong, it didn’t at all deter me from the wonder of what was happening. As the flight attendant said “welcome to Egypt” it really hit, in an unexpected way, that I was finally here. I definitely got a lump in my throat & a bit misty every now & then for the next hour or so as I passed through customs & saw all the first signs of DEFINITELY not being in Kansas (er- Indiana) anymore. Brilliant! I did have to go through passport control twice as the first time I was silly & didn’t realize that you had to buy your visa from the bank before you went through. So that took a bit of extra time, but me being the small child at heart that I am I was thoroughly entertained by the shiny new sticker in my passport (it’s really pretty!).
Everything basically went without a hiccup, though when we went out into the arrivals area there was a bit of confusion as our ride was waiting for us in a different terminal. Anyway we got that sorted out quickly, I just called the hostel & the driver was rerouted in a couple of minutes. He became our first new Egyptian friend, called Ahmed. Side note- it was RAINING when we stepped out of the airport- it never rains here! I'm not complaining though cause it's warm & anything in Egypt is fascinating right now!
This is me giving the thumbs up about 30 minutes before landing & SO excited! Please disregard the lack of clean hair in this picture
Ahmed taught us some very important & useful lessons about Egypt. The very first one explains the title of this post. Ana la’a atakalam arabiyya is how you say “I don’t speak Arabic” in Arabic. I’m aiming for this to no longer be the extent of my Arabic over the next few weeks (isn’t it kind of ironic that that is the majority of my Arabic vocabulary?). I’ve been practicing very hard at committing that one phrase to memory so I’m hoping to pick up on others just as easily (though we’ll forget about that whole alphabet thing for a while). I did also learn that shokran = “thank you”, another very important one- I was even able to pick that one out in conversation! It’s the little things in life. I was also quite proud as on the shuttle to Ahmed’s car at the airport, I was practicing my little phrase, & the man sitting across from me clearly understood what I was saying as he laughed (I probably would too, if I heard an Egyptian in America practicing saying “I don’t speak English” over & over again is the extent of their vocabulary)- go me!
Anyway, moving on to other lessons learned from Ahmed. First & most important, never EVER try to drive a car in Egypt as a foreigner. I did work this one out on my own- that car ride to the hostel was about as stressed in a car as I’ve ever been. Everywhere you turn you are about to hit someone, or they are about to hit you. Drivers have absolutely no regard for street signs, lane lines (a two lane road would have 3-4 lanes of cares), or pedestrians. The cars all drive two inches away from each other on any side (I was really surprised that we didn’t at least bump any cars). I’m planning to run as fast as I can whenever I need to cross the street.
Ahmed also affirmed my previous suspicions regarding smiling in this culture. We all know I smile at everyone, & also have a big problem with laughing/smiling at inappropriate times. Basically here if you smile at a man he thinks you are coming onto him or you are getting married. Note to self: don't smile at anyone.
So we drove from the airport to downtown which, due to the crazy traffic, took a while to get to. Ahmed, being as incredibly helpful as he is, brought me to a shop to buy a new sim card, so now I'm all hooked up with an Egyptian cell phone number! If anyone wants it I'll put it on my facebook profile.
---BY the way- speaking of phones. I have a google voice number set up, which is a plain old American phone number where you can send me text messages/leave me voicemails & I can pick them up online (& I can text you back too!). If you would like that number just ask me & I'll send it along!---
Anyway, so after getting hooked up with the mobile world (cause life wouldn't be complete anywhere without that right? hehe), I exchanged all my cash for Egyptian pounds & then we headed to the hostel. From the outside/elevator entrance it looks like a dump but it's on the 10th floor of a highrise building & it's really nice! Old but very charming & CLEAN (when you read about my adventures in London, you'll learn about how disgusting the hostel was there). & I'm actually quite glad we're in a hostel instead of a hotel because then it's easier to make connections with the locals that run the place & they can help us to settle in. & it's basically a hotel anyway cause we have our own room. So yeah!
So all in all, I'm feeling pretty great about being here! I haven't been nervous in the least in the time leading up to coming here & that hasn't changed. I will admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed driving around Cairo last night, with everything in Arabic & all the cars & everything, but it's a good kind of overwhelmed, & really I would probably have to be a bit inhuman to not experience at least a tiny bit of culture shock. After a good night's sleep I'm feeling quite settled & really just mesmerized...&, most importantly, so incredibly happy & excited!
Last night as we were checking into the hostel & paying for everything, I was having a bit of trouble due to the language barrier, (the woman working at the front desk doesn't speak the best English- NOT that that is, by any means, a complaint, & I still I say it's wonderful for an Egyptian!) & feeling like an idiot for not being able to understand what she was telling me, & just generally a bit flustered & even more sleep deprived. & then in the background I heard singing in Arabic (which, in Ahmed's car, I had quickly gotten used to), & didn't think anything of it at first, but it kept going. & I realized that it didn't have any music accompanying it & it definitely was not coming from the common room at the end of the hall, & it seemed to be echoing. It then dawned on me that I was hearing my first adhan (Islamic call to prayer), playing from different minarets all over the city. For a brief second I felt the buildup of the last few months, & years of dreaming about this experience, amalgamate into one tangible realization of where I was & what was happening. It really cleared out all of my momentary frustrations (again, which were really due to tiredness! hehe), as all of the sudden everything did not feel so foreign. I know you're probably thinking that that's about as foreign as you can feel, but really it was just reassuring. Underneath the mask of the arabic, the vast differences in cultural norms, the desert, the crazy drivers, the intense feel of the city, the minarets everywhere, & everything else that makes Cairo so incredibly different than what I am used to, this is really just another person's home, way of life, & faith. I am not by any means religious, but I have a strong belief that religion to anyone is really what just gets you up every day & gives you a drive or purpose to life, even if it doesn't involve a god, an organized practice, prayer, etc. So really underneath what seems to be so vastly foreign in the playing of the adhan, hearing it, in a strange way, made me feel a closer connection to the people around me as it was giving me insight into their background. This is just their way of practicing their faith & I am truly grateful to be able to experience that in someone else's homeland. I woke up to it again this morning (it's REALLY loud!), & while, yes, I know I haven't even been here a day yet, I kind of doubt it will ever get old. I'll try & record it from my window for y'all today so you can hear it- it's totally hypnotic. On a completely different note, I was also thinking if they had the adhan back in the US then maybe getting up for clinical at 5:30 would be MUCH easier ;)
Alrighty, so those are my first few thoughts from Cairo! It's time to set off & explore the day. Today we are probably going to walk around, explore, & do "touristy" things- our third roommate of four gets in this evening so we'll probably wait to go apartment hunting until tomorrow. I'll write again really soon (I'll try & get that post about England in tonight), but until then I'll leave you with a few pictures of my surroundings:
First glimpse of the Nile & Africa!
View from my bed in our room. Note the minarets in the distance
View the other way out over the bridge across the Nile. It being at the crack of dawn the traffic congestion isn't that horrible here, but man is it an entirely different story during the day!
