So, I've been living in Egypt now for about three months. Here are some observations about things in absence or things in abundance here.
Things not to be found:
1- Pull-up bars. I'm not talking about inside gyms, but rather in public spaces, like on running trails (which there aren't really any of those either) or public parks (ditto). Trying to do pull-ups on door frames and the beams of hallway arches is either not a good idea or near impossible.
2- Outlets. At least not in the capacity that were used to. It seems, where I come from, that a lot of the time you can choose your favored seat and then plug in there - usually there's an outlet waiting to serve you within cable stretch length. Here choosing your seat in relation to the outlet seems tantamount if you plan on using it. You might no longer be sitting in your favorite seat though. In addition, the outlets are also positioned at odd heights, usually it seems much higher off the ground than is practical. So that, if you wanted to charge your phone let's say it might be necessary, barring the presence of another piece of furniture already in place, to move a chair over to rest your charging phone on. Otherwise it will be hanging in mid-air, dangling there, waiting to either become disconnected from the charger, or to pull it out of the socket.
3- Paper Towels and Toilet Paper. Yeah, that's right. Paper towels and toilet paper. I'm speaking about in public places, like your coffee shop (if you're fortunate enough to be in a coffee shop that actually has a bathroom), or your mosque, or your college bathrooms at times. Thank Goodness though, toilet paper seems to be a little more plentiful though than paper towels.
So, what is one to do in the absence of these very small, yet very valuable slips of paper? Well, get used to using the bidet system. You gotta do it, and there is a bidet installed on like every toilet here in Egypt. Well, at least all the ones I've come across here. And believe it or not, it works a lot better than only using paper - water cleans, paper kind of spreads. Just think about it this way, your white underwear (and I still don't understand why one would wear white underwear) will stay whiter for longer.
4- Dryers, for drying your clothes. There are usually strings attached to your balcony, in some fashion or another, for the purpose of hanging your clothes out to dry. Otherwise there are collapsible wire frame hangers that resemble an ironing board, when unfolded, for sale for use in the house. Thank Goodness there are washers, well at least for some of us. Here is a picture of three of our classmates after finally purchasing a new washer. You can imagine how the poor things must have been before the purchase if this is what they were driven to after it...no worries K, E, and E : )
Things in abundance:
1- Plastic bags. Oh my Goodness! Try being environmentally conscious in this town and you might go crazy. If I forgot my re-usable bags in Austin, I would choose paper bags for the groceries or I would literally carry the individual items out to the car (or stuff them in my bike bag, as was more often the case) and nobody could really have given a hoot. They either sympathized or didn't care. Here, you can't convince somebody to not give you a plastic bag. Buying one bunch of bananas? It doesn't matter how far you're walking, they're going in a plastic bag. Buying a jar of delicious nutella? No worries, it's going in a bag. The one time I did remember to bring a re-usable bag to the store, in the vain attempt at not having to contribute to plastic usage here, the cashier pulled a sly one on me and put all the sweet potatoes in one so he could weigh them. One of these days...
2- Curiosity. That's what's been getting on my nerves for the past three months. Just last week it was brought to my attention when one of our teachers pointed out "That we [meaning the Egyptians] are very curious people." They want to know a lot about you, like you are an interesting sample of American-ness. It probably doesn't help that a lot of the questions are asked within a ten minute time span resulting in the same questions being asked over and over by different people. Egyptians, also at times, seem to be surprisingly outright. For example, my classmates and I have been sitting with some neighbors and one of them will remark, "Abdul-Latif, your friend is better than you at this language." But then they might add, "Your pronunciation is better, but he knows more words and understands better." I can't argue with honesty.
Till next time...
Things not to be found:
1- Pull-up bars. I'm not talking about inside gyms, but rather in public spaces, like on running trails (which there aren't really any of those either) or public parks (ditto). Trying to do pull-ups on door frames and the beams of hallway arches is either not a good idea or near impossible.
2- Outlets. At least not in the capacity that were used to. It seems, where I come from, that a lot of the time you can choose your favored seat and then plug in there - usually there's an outlet waiting to serve you within cable stretch length. Here choosing your seat in relation to the outlet seems tantamount if you plan on using it. You might no longer be sitting in your favorite seat though. In addition, the outlets are also positioned at odd heights, usually it seems much higher off the ground than is practical. So that, if you wanted to charge your phone let's say it might be necessary, barring the presence of another piece of furniture already in place, to move a chair over to rest your charging phone on. Otherwise it will be hanging in mid-air, dangling there, waiting to either become disconnected from the charger, or to pull it out of the socket.
3- Paper Towels and Toilet Paper. Yeah, that's right. Paper towels and toilet paper. I'm speaking about in public places, like your coffee shop (if you're fortunate enough to be in a coffee shop that actually has a bathroom), or your mosque, or your college bathrooms at times. Thank Goodness though, toilet paper seems to be a little more plentiful though than paper towels.
So, what is one to do in the absence of these very small, yet very valuable slips of paper? Well, get used to using the bidet system. You gotta do it, and there is a bidet installed on like every toilet here in Egypt. Well, at least all the ones I've come across here. And believe it or not, it works a lot better than only using paper - water cleans, paper kind of spreads. Just think about it this way, your white underwear (and I still don't understand why one would wear white underwear) will stay whiter for longer.
4- Dryers, for drying your clothes. There are usually strings attached to your balcony, in some fashion or another, for the purpose of hanging your clothes out to dry. Otherwise there are collapsible wire frame hangers that resemble an ironing board, when unfolded, for sale for use in the house. Thank Goodness there are washers, well at least for some of us. Here is a picture of three of our classmates after finally purchasing a new washer. You can imagine how the poor things must have been before the purchase if this is what they were driven to after it...no worries K, E, and E : )
Things in abundance:
1- Plastic bags. Oh my Goodness! Try being environmentally conscious in this town and you might go crazy. If I forgot my re-usable bags in Austin, I would choose paper bags for the groceries or I would literally carry the individual items out to the car (or stuff them in my bike bag, as was more often the case) and nobody could really have given a hoot. They either sympathized or didn't care. Here, you can't convince somebody to not give you a plastic bag. Buying one bunch of bananas? It doesn't matter how far you're walking, they're going in a plastic bag. Buying a jar of delicious nutella? No worries, it's going in a bag. The one time I did remember to bring a re-usable bag to the store, in the vain attempt at not having to contribute to plastic usage here, the cashier pulled a sly one on me and put all the sweet potatoes in one so he could weigh them. One of these days...
2- Curiosity. That's what's been getting on my nerves for the past three months. Just last week it was brought to my attention when one of our teachers pointed out "That we [meaning the Egyptians] are very curious people." They want to know a lot about you, like you are an interesting sample of American-ness. It probably doesn't help that a lot of the questions are asked within a ten minute time span resulting in the same questions being asked over and over by different people. Egyptians, also at times, seem to be surprisingly outright. For example, my classmates and I have been sitting with some neighbors and one of them will remark, "Abdul-Latif, your friend is better than you at this language." But then they might add, "Your pronunciation is better, but he knows more words and understands better." I can't argue with honesty.
Till next time...
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