A common myth

Estonia is a relatively cold country. By cold I mean in winter it sometimes might reach minus 30C. For Egyptians it is of course unimaginable and I seem like a person from another planet for them because the coldest that can get in Cairo is +5 at night in January.

The temperature here is currently around 24 during the day and maybe 15 at night. The biggest mistake a person from the North can do here is to complain about the cold weather. If you forget this for a second and still decide to do it all people in hearing range will turn their highly surprised faces to you and the following statement sounds something like this “But hey! You come from a cold country. You shouldn’t feel fold!”

I am really sorry to disappoint you but I actually am able to feel cold. It doesn’t mean that if most of the year I am used to bad ski-weather I am less sensitive towards low temperature.

Geräuschkulisse

Egypt is very different and weird. I have to get used to so many things that I could never even imagine. I am still working on adapting; I enjoy some of the changes in me more than others. But the fact is that Egypt will never get used to me. I am still a tourist, from random country, Eastern European, white woman, whatever.

For example I am constantly surrounded with Arabic blabla. I now can imagine how it feels to be handicapped and have one or more senses less than “normal” people in order to live a full quality life. I feel that I am excluded from so many things from important notices to random discussions.

The positive side is that it has pushed me constantly being out of the comfort zone to improve my Arabic, taking classes, trying to understand what is happening.

I love it and I am having the time of my life!

On the picture: My hometown Cairo in pollution cloud from distance around 6am

I don´t want to leave

Egypt is giving weird signs like it doesn’t want to have me here anymore. First it’s getting cold at night. I need to wear a jacket and I even sleep with a blanket now. Secondly my visa got rejected. I got a stamp in my passport that says I need to leave Egypt before 18^th of November 2006. And the reason they said is that they just didn’t understand what I am doing here. I have been tought that if you don’t know you don’t assume but ask. But they didn’t ask me and when I naively went to pick up my passport yesterday from the main house of bureaucracy this is what was waiting for me there. A nice stamp in my passport – Leave!

Of course everything concerning my stay is legal and they have no right to send me away.

And definitely I am not done with Egypt yet! I will fight till the End! Wish me luck and good connections.

I can´t believe...

I can’t believe I missed my first rain in Egypt! Yesterday while going to work I noticed the streets were wet. Bu tit was too late and I didn’t have the chance to feel the acid rain on my face.

Last week was also the long-waited Eid. It’s a holiday after Ramadan, everybody gets three days off and its time to celebrate. People went literally crazy. Especially a certain group of Egyptian men, horny as ever. There are many postings on different blogs and news articles about this certain happening. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6106500.stm

It’s up to non participants of this “event” to evaluate the information and only imagine what happened.

I didn’t have the honor to see it myself but when we had late breakfast and walk on the same street that day I noticed people were much more open and rude as normally. Tradition is that you get some deep looks and comments lets say from 60% of men but that day the percentage was nearly 95% and people paid attention in a really loud and rude way.

Probably it was the high feeling of escape from holy Ramadan.

Just different Muslims understand Islam differently.