Nutella...

It tastes so much better over here!

Honk, Honk!: part 2 is also coming to a blog post near you soon...!

!!يا ايمالي

فدالوقت انا باتبع مدون كوري ولورا ومش عارف مين كمان لكن انا ما سمعتش حاجة في اللي بتاعك انت إلا انه فيه مدون او حاجة.  فالسؤال بقى انه انا هكون قادر اقرأ المدون بتاعك؟ انا عايز الشارع ده, يعني شارع المدونات, يكون شارع بتاع حارتين مش حارة واحدة...وبس

: )

My apologies to the readers of this blog, as this post is obviously limited to a selected audience, but hopefully it's meaningful enough to make a post out of it!  Oh, and the post is coded in Egyptian dialect which Google Translate doesn't speak too well, so have fun copying and pasting!  The translation looked pretty disastrous when I tried it...

Honk, Honk!: part 1

Traffic and transpostation is probably the largest subject I could hope to tackle here on this media interface.  There are, depending on who you talk to, everyone seems to have a different number, anywhere from 8 million to 12 million people in Alexandria.  And everybody needs to go somewhere at just about any time of the day.  There aren't many times when the streets are not bustling with combustible-gasoline-fed energy.

Types of public transportation:

1) Taxi - On the roads of Cairo in 2008 there were 1 million taxis pummeling the streets.  I wouldn't doubt it if there were that many in Alexandria by this point.  Taxis are popular but more expensive.  You can expect to pay about a dollar for a ride to most places in the city.  You can also expect to ride often with more than one passenger as the driver will pick up other customers along the way.

Bargaining is an essential part of riding taxis.  If you're Egyptian expect to pay the proper price and not receive any flack from the driver about him being shorted.  If you're a foreigner, especially one that doesn't speak Arabic, expect to be generously overcharged.  I would estimate an average overcharge to be about double the actual price.

There are no meters either.  Well, there are no meters in actual use.   You can see the meter sitting on the dashboard, screen blank, probably having not been used in who knows how long.  If the meter were to actually work that would probably put a dent in exploiting foreigners...

The way in which you pay the taxi is also of importance.  You don't sit in the cab and fumble through your pockets looking for exact change.  No!  Alight from the taxi, close the door, and pay from outside.  If you know that the price you paid is correct, don't tarry waiting for his approval, rather turn and walk away.  Asking Egyptian friends before riding is a good way to estimate the appropriate prices for individual trips.

If the taxi driver knows you are a foreigner, and a clueless one at that, there is a possibility he's going to prolong the trip by taking a different route, or getting stuck in traffic, for the purpose of increasing the fare.  Knowing the route and knowing where to pick up the taxi is essential so as to shorten the route and lessen the fare.

2) Microbus - coming in the next edition
3) Tram - dido
4) Bus - don't have much experience with them.  They seem crowded, rowdy, and cheap though.

p.s. - i would say the above picture is no where near an exaggeration of how driving on the streets of Alexandria looks. 

Jeepers Creepers, why do you keep staring at me with those eyes?

Me: It's weird when I catch people staring at me and as soon as I look at them they avert their gaze [as if their eyes were just passing by me].

Corey: Yea. But, I'm more concerned about those that don't avert their eyes when I catch them, and they just continue staring at me. [As he bored his eyes into me, a lifeless expression displayed on his face in imitation of those people.]

That was probably one of the funnier things I'd heard as of recent.  To put it into context, I'm kind of tall and don't dress like a very good Egyptian for my age, but I do have black hair and a beard and might pass for something other than American, perhaps Arab.  Corey, however, has no escape route.  Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, with pretty white skin.  To picture him, think stereo typical German, or Swiss, or Austrian, or something similar.

You kind of get used to heads turning in your direction...

Who knew I was Pakistani? : Part 2

When being asked where I hail from, I've taken to turning the question back around on the person asking.  Partly because I want to know their thoughts, partly because I get asked the question so often it's nice to switch up the conversation, and thirdly it extends the conversation.  Here is a list of all the places I have been asked or assumed I was from.

Pakistan - by far tops the list.  

India - a close second.

Morocco - apparently my accent has some elements of Moroccan dialect in it.  I got asked this even from some of our teachers back in America.

Kuwait - or some Gulf Emirate in general, for the same reason as above.

a Levantine country - I don't remember which one and I don't remember why either.

Libya - it was a shot in the dark attempt by a taxi driver.

Oman - There is a mosque nearby the apartment that I've prayed in a few times.  The farthest any conversation between myself and another congregant has ever gone is the formulaic greeting of peace.  The neighborhood is small and everybody is on a first name basis with each other; my presence as a newcomer is certainly perceived. Apparently word spread somehow that I was from Oman.  

Bosnia - Let's not forget this anomaly.  It's also the newest of the bunch.

So that basically covers about half of the Arabic speaking world.  If Libya, Tunis, Yemen, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and hopefully Egypt, come into play I'll be sure to update.

The confusing story of me to Egyptians continues, and other events

"Oh, you speak Arabic well...[are you] Bosnian?"

That's what my taxi driver this morning told me.  So add Bosnia to the list of my possible origins!

That was right before the car ahead of us rear ended the car turning in front of him because there is no organization to the streets here other than un-organization.  Then he, my taxi driver, proceeded to yell out the passenger window, pinning me between the seat and his outstretched right arm, pointing finger and all, in defense of the one who was rear-ended.  And that's because there is no officially followed or obeyed system for driver's insurance here.  Instead the two parties just work it out on the spot deciding who pays what and how much.

Literally, if you can imagine braiding hair with cars, that's what the streets of Alexandria look like.  Occasionally the hair gets a knot in it.

It's fall,...

...and the trees of Alexandria are blooming.  And as far as I know, this city doesn't know frost.

Talk like an Egyptian

So, here's the thing, Egyptians are sweet talkers.  Real sweet.  There are about thousand expressions to learn, but the one for right now is, "Just five minutes."

Before the actual flight over here, we had a day-and-a-half pre-departure orientation/culture-adaptation workshop in D.C.  One major point I picked up on and thought might come in handy later then, was "reading between the lines" of people's speech and expressions.  Right now, it's 3:45 in the AM.  I walked over to my neighbors front door 6 hours ago.  Guess what phrase the conversation started with?

This is kind of like when the taxi driver tells you, "It's on me."  He was impressed with your Arabic (the Arabs know their language is hard and are proud of it.  They respect it when others take the effort to learn it) and doesn't extend his hand to accept the payment immediately.  He doesn't mean don't pay me.

I was caught off guard by the first taxi who pulled this one.  I nearly believed him.  I almost just thanked him and climbed out, but figured paying at least half would be appropriate.  So I offered him the 5 Egyptian pounds out of the 10 total.  He smiled.  And then said, still smiling, "The other five too."

Point in case here, any estimate of time (for a casual event, that is) valued at less than about two hours holds no water and is not worth its salt.  Also reading "between the lines" requires cultural understanding and experience.

Other examples of smooth talk from Egyptians:

Myself, Joey, and Ryan were eating outside of Tibawy restaurant.  Three young Egyptians students, probably about 20 years old each, keep stealing glances our way.  One was practically staring.  I suppose it's not every day you see three white dudes talking Arabic in a funny accent on the streets of Alexandria.  I turned towards them, smiling, and said, "We pretty much look exactly like Egyptians, huh?" kind of playing with the obvious.  "No. There are no Egyptians with that beauty," he responded!

It doesn't seem to matter where your from, when you say your from such-and-such place, the response is "[those people are] the best of people."

There is another one that I am not remembering at the moment...I'll write it down here when I remember it, God willing.

The Stone of Rashid, er, I mean the Rosetta Stone

Oh, and yesterday we visited the place where the Rosetta stone was discovered: the city of Rashid, to the East of Alexandria.  In French Rashid is pronounced Rosetta...

Pretty cool stuff.  More on it all to come soon though, God willing.