The other day I was talking with my sister, who is a professional Middle Eastern dancer and has made several trips to Egypt. She asked me about my impressions of Arabic culture. This was a good question; I've never taken the time to make them comprehensible to anyone else. Or to myself, for that matter.
So I started blogging on how Egypt is different for female tourists than for male tourists, and a bit about the dirt, garbage, and pollution, and a bit more about how religion is a part of your life. Everyday. 5x a day.
BUT after reading what I wrote it all sounded like whining and I don't like whining. I don't want to get all down on Egypt, because it really is a cool place to be. Do I want to live here for ever and ever? No. Am I glad to have been here for 2.5 months? Heck yes!
Instead, I will share a couple of amusing bits of conversations we've had with locals.
The waiter(? owner?) at the fuul place we frequent complimented my husband on the fact that I was dressed appropriately. That was weird: my way of dressing was a good reflection on my husband! Of course, this was all said in a nice, friendly way with lots of smiling.
Our neighbor has told us that she really wants to go to America, especially Las Vegas where she hopes to make it rich on the roulette table. Then, she tells us that gambling is not allowed in Islam, but she wants to do it anyway! She also told us that if she was to meet Bin Laden she would hit him with her shoe!
I do want to share this pic with you: In Cairo the sun doesn't set as much as it sinks into a thick sky.
Another neat cultural difference is in all the greetings! Every other day we find another way of saying "How are you?" There's also greetings for the normal stuff like congratulations, condolences, and welcome back. The funniest one is the greeting for having just gotten a haircut or taken a shower: "naiyman" to which you reply "allah yenaiym aleek." There is no direct translation, but based on all the other greetings and their resposes it might be something like this: "That is a nice haircut/ You are nice and clean." "Yes, but God has the best haircut/God is always April fresh." XD
I do hope you make it to Egypt.
7 comments:
I know exactly how you feel about Egypt being different for men than women. And men really, really don't get it. *sigh* I too have written and not posted blogs on this subject because it seemed too whiney.
I'm afraid that we don't know teh people we are having thanksgiving with that well to bring you with us. I'm so sorry! :( But in the mean time, we should def do coffee - maybe on Wednesday downtown somewhere?
*whew* so glad it wasn't just me. i have spoken about this w/my hubby a few times and while he is sympathetic, he doesn't really know what we, as women, go through.
also glad to hear that i'm not such a wuss for not posting about it.
no worries re:potluck. wednesday for coffee sounds good. the only thing i've got that day is my arabic lesson from 3-5. so maybe sometime before that? it's downtown.
I usually have Arabic on Wednesdays. LOL I canceled tomorrow's out of laziness. :p How about around noon at the Costa near the AUC campus?
noonish tomorrow is perfect! i assume that costa's is on the same street as mcdonald's and cilantro's?
That's the one! :) See you there! :)
hooray! see you there.
Hi! I'm Danielle's Middle Eastern Dancing(read: Belly Dancing) sister. [Visit my website is www.andreabellydance.com]
Looking at the picture of the 'aish makes me miss it so much. Haven't found any like that stateside. :(
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