Unlike my past trips, it is hard to say that my trip was amazing, awesome, or any other awe-inspiring adjective. I think out of all the places I have been so far that Cairo was the most interesting and the most challenging destination. Unlike the European countries I've been in, perhaps with the exception of Poland, the language was completely incomprehensible. It's amazing what the knowledge of a few key phrases can do for you. My Arabic vocabulary now consists of: habbibi, or 'dear/love', a constant in all modern Arabic music; halas, 'enough', useful in getting camel ride operators to leave you alone or any other variety of hasslers; shukran, 'thank you'.
The other problem I found was being a white woman. It did not help that I was the fairest in colouring for miles around and that wherever I went I got a ton of attention whether it was just stares or people asking 'How much?' in Arabic. In other words, they were asking my male friend Duso, who was the one I was visiting, how much he would sell me for. I did get one of the highest offers - six million camels - which is impressive even for Egyptian standards. Whether it was the amount or the fact the guy knew the word million in English which Duso kindly pointed out, it was still a lot. As for the most ridiculous line I heard, some guy at the bazaar (most of these incidents occurred there where the majority of vendors attempt their best English 'phrases' to win over customers) said, 'Look! You dropped something!' I turned and looked down and when I saw nothing, he replied, 'It was my heart falling as it broke!'It was also amusing to watch the attempt to approach all cultures. When they saw Duso, who is Asian, the vendors would often greet him with a 'Ni Hao!' He was very offended being Chinese neither in nationally or heritage. What was even better was when one camel driver approached him with an 'Aloha!' Again he is not Hawaiian and what are the chances of someone being Hawaiian in the middle of the Egyptian desert? I think proportionately the chances for Chinese are greater.
In general, as long as I was prepared for the comments, the touching (some girl grabbed me and called me 'Moon' in Arabic - a compliment I later learned, as the moon is a sign of beauty in Arabic poetry - while her friend demanded for money), and the stares, I was fine. There were only a few moments where I was not comfortable - i.e. when some guy kept following me through the Egyptian Museum and a different guy attempted to film me at the Pyramids. Unfortunately for us white women, our media has given the Arab world a wonderful view of us - white, non-Islamic women are considered extremely promiscuous, especially in the Islamic world where dating is not allowed, let alone physical demonstrations or public displays of affection. Suddenly, that literature class I took, Passionate Puritans and the Roots of American Literature, is coming back to me.
I got into several discussions with friends before I left for Cairo over the concept of the headscarf. They felt it was a threat to women, and I do agree that with the abstract concept of it comes the repression of women as seen in the various extremist regimes of the Middle East. However, just as I would expect a traditional Islamic person to understand why in my country I would never follow such a rule, I felt that I needed to have respect for their culture and if necessary, follow their rules. Countering my friends' opinions that they would absolutely refuse to cover their heads even in a mosque, I felt my general philosophy applies: If you want to break rules, you must first follow them. The women that do bolster the general equality of women (yes, feminism) are those who follow the rules but use their position to assert change. I think it is most obvious in the realm of the professional: journalists, doctors, teachers, etc.
Currently in Europe, there is a giant discussion over immigration and the immigration of Muslims. In countries like France and Germany, not only is there a mass influx of Muslim immigrants, but a large portion of them are having an extremely difficult time assimilating. Whether this is due to them refusing to assimilate or the governments ignoring that there was a problem is up for debate. Even in Britain it is a major issue with Pakistani immigrants. Just last week the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams ignited Brits over the Islamic tradition of sharia. However, in regards to Cairo, I must have followed the Anthropological view of 'observation'. Although a few acquaintances of mine from Berkeley tend to take passionate roles, whether politically demonstrating in foreign countries and the like, I decided I'd rather just observe for the time being and then decide what my ardent opinion was. No need to call the embassy to ask for legal advice yet.
I did get the sense of repression in Egypt though - whether it was sexual or otherwise. Most of the attention I got was from men. However, after being in Egypt for a week, there was a general atmosphere of despair. The LA Times recently had an interesting article about the buses in Cairo and the average life of an Egyptian. The writer pointed out the terrible pollution, the rising prices and the stagnation of wages. All of those were noticeable while I was there. The dollar does stretch pretty far - it was about 5 Egyptian pounds to 1 US dollar. Duso lives in a very middle class neighborhood, far from the usual haunts of tourists and I saw a variety of interesting things. His apartment (the picture to the left) was previously occupied by a minor Egyptian tv actress. Outside there was the usual view of a
variety of other middle class apartments.When I first got to Cairo, I knew it was not going to be the ideal desert setting, a la Bogart's Casablanca, but I think I was a little more than surprised at the overwhelming poverty. What I would consider middle class was far from what the middle class there had achieved. What also surprised me were the hours people kept. The streets were packed and busy for what seemed like the entire night. The usual hours Egyptians keep are from 10am or 11am to 3am. The shops are not open before that and often don't close until the wee hours of the night. And no one ever seems to be at work. My general overstatement of the day: everyone just hung out at cafes or the local shawarma stand. There is a joke in Egypt that if they say it will take a week to get something done, it will really be ready in a month. Apparently public sector jobs are even worse.
When I was in Poland, my Polish friend Michael explained the poverty situation. 'They are poor because they are lazy. They just take the money the government gives them and drink it all away', he said. Somehow I doubt that in an extremely Islamic country (I think I saw a total of 3 non-hotel establishments that served alcohol) that drinking the government's money is the problem. Then again I'm just another 'rich' girl talking politics. Or a Socialist, as Michael so kindly put it when contrasting his Libertarian ideals.
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