Jan11, 2012
Final Chapter of Egypt Travel Log...
I was having dinner alone, partaking in my favorite solo
sport- eavesdropping. I was listening to a British expat talking to another
American about bedbugs in American hostels (ew!) and the Tahrir Square
protests. The American tourist asked about all the eye patches and bandages he
had seen in Cairo. The expat responded that it was a known fact that the police
were systematically targeting the protestors eyes! She had one close Egyptian
friend lose an eye in a protest, kept returning Tahrir Square, until he lost
his other eye. “He is now totally blind.”
A lovely Nile River Cruise, lol
Believe it or not, this is where our sugar comes from...and global warming.
The barge is carrying trucks, which are carrying sugar cane.
It's harvest season.
It takes a little work, but if you look closely,
the middle figure lying down is Osiris masturbating!
It finally happened! I was on my way to the airport to
return home when my driver Ah’med struck up an interesting conversation. It
started benign enough, “Are you married?” I respond, “No, I’m divorced.” He
says, “I’m not married.” The conversation just got odd, an unmarried Egyptian
man in his 30s proudly proclaiming he’s not married?! I ask, “But you want to
be married, right?” He said no and that he had no interest in getting married.
In an effort to clean up my lie and encourage an honest dialog, for the first
time in Egypt I back track and tell him that I’m not divorced but find it
easier to say I am. Ah’med then says he has a “secret friend.” Uncertain of
what I heard, I parrot back, “A secret friend?” He says yes, and does the
Egyptian hand sign for secret; the palm of the hand swipes the mouth.
Symbolically, this looks like wiping away words. Ah’med asked if I had a secret
friend, I told him I did, but not any longer. He asked if I had an a secret
friend in Egypt. I laughed and said no, and try to tiptoe the issue by saying
it would be too hard with the cultural differences. But he asked what did I
mean. Still smirking, I told him if I tried to have an Egyptian friend I would
most likely have to pay him money and where I’m from I don’t have to pay for
secret friends (yet, lol). He laughed and said it's true! He even has to give his
secret friend money.
Actually, it’s kind of sad…
and my favorite bakery...
I hope you all have enjoyed the Egypt chapter...
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