Positive Thought of the Day: I Didn't Die!

My guidebook warned me about the streets of Cairo. This is what it says: “At all times crossing the road takes boldness. Drivers will slow down to give people time to dart across, but dithering or freezing midway confuses them and increases the risk of an accident. A prolonged horn burst indicates that the driver can’t or won’t stop. Remember that motorists obey police signals rather than traffic lights, which were only installed in the 1980’s and have still to acquire any real local credibility.”

My greatest feat of the day: not getting killed. (don’t worry mom and dad, I’m still in one piece!)

The streets are CRAZY. I can’t even begin to describe how nuts it is- think K Street rush hour traffic times a thousand with no rules. The first few times I needed to cross I got very panicky. My heart was racing and I felt nervous. I really didn’t want to do it and thought about going really out of the way to go to where I wanted to go. So then I decided to just follow the Egyptian men. It was so scary. Cars and busses are whizzing past you. You are in the middle of the street, in-between vehicles. I hated it! By the tenth time or so, you see how it works, but it never became less scary to me. I don’t like it!

The American University in Cairo (AUC) where Nic, Kate and several of my friends study Arabic

For much of today I was on my own. Nic and Kate both had classes, and I didn’t want to sit in the apartment all day, so I came along. American University in Cairo (AUC) is downtown. We took the Metro there, which is surprisingly clean. It’s packed like Japanese trains, though, and that stinks… literally. We were, of course, the morning freak show. Guys were taking pictures of us with their camera phones. Upper-class Egyptians refuse to take the Metro, so they are always surprised to see tourists on it. Hey, it’s 1 Pound (5 pounds= $1 American dollar) But we made it after only two stops.

The Cairo Metro- supringly clean, but very crowded

Kate showed me a good place to grab coffee and breakfast, and I was on my own until the afternoon. Now, mind you, I know no Arabic other than a few phrases, I can’t read the numbers (but now I can! I learned numbers 1-10 this afternoon!) and I don’t quite understand the money.

Somehow I found the coffee place and managed not to screw anything up. I picked a good spot to people watch and settled in to watch the rush hour traffic of downtown Cairo.

This isn't where I ate breakfast, but it's a big hot-spot in Cairo. So are Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Hardee's.

You’d never know it was rush hour because it’s always busy on these streets, always. But everyone on the sidewalks is taking their time, slowing their pace. This is unlike DC where if you’re not paying attention a women with red heels, a blackberry and a two-shot mocha cappuccino will mow you over. The old men are smoking hookah in small storefronts. Everything is taking double to triple the amount of time it would take in the US, including getting my orange juice.

I watched the “car parking attendants” and how they “moved” cars. Basically they smash the bumpers of all the cars together that are parked on the curb to make room for more. It’s hard to watch… I hope they don’t do that in the states.

After walking all around downtown, making friends with two guys at the car dealership and watching kids at school play on their “exercise hour,” I was already hungry again. So I stopped at the place I was supposed to meet Nic in an hour and got some pesto. Nic showed up and we headed to Coptic Christian Cairo. (Read about it in the journal entry below)

An Egyptian crosses the street in front of the museum

After visiting all the Coptic churches, Nic had to get back to school for one more class. He put me in a cab and I was on my way… sort of. Traffic was horrible downtown. It was clear the driver was very frustrated. He tried several different routes, but just couldn’t get by.

So after 10 minutes of this, he motioned for me to get out of the cab. He was tired of dealing with the traffic and was giving up. I didn’t pay him and I got out. I had NO clue where I was. I knew Nic and Kate lived on the other side of the Nile, so I started walking in that direction. After awhile I saw the Metro stop that was one stop away from their apartment. Thankfully Nic showed me how to use the Metro earlier!!! So I got on, went one stop and got home no problem. I crashed on the couch for a bit then started uploading all my pictures. Some life I have right now! :-)

I got one picture out of the cab window before I was kicked out

Tomorrow afternoon Kate and I are going to the pyramids. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I don’t even know where to start. Just the thought that I will fulfill one of the many things on my “Must Do Before I Die” list is so neat to think about.

We may get home late tomorrow, so the entry might not go up for awhile, but I promise to keep you all posted!