Questions...
So a few questions have come up...
Did you get to the Valley of the Kings? No, I have not gone down to the Valley of the Kings... I might depending on how much longer I'm in Egypt.
You mention foreign women attracting unwanted attention. Could you elaborate on that? What sort of attention from who? Well let me just give you a little background first. As foreigners, people stare at us no matter how we dress or what gender we are. One of my classmates pointed out that we are kind of like celebraties without the money! Everyone wants to talk to us... Some seem to want to practice their English, others want to get us into their or their friends shops, and at times it seems like it's a little bit prestigious to be walking around with foreigners. Being a woman can attract additional attention. Many things appear to play into this. In my experience, women here are not nearly as likely to approach a foreigner, so most people who talk to us are men or children. In Egypt, the concept of "dating" someone isn't very common. If you like someone, you marry them, and that's it. (I've heard that to say "I like you" and "I love you" in Arabic, you use the same words. There isn't really a difference...) Another friend of mine mentioned that all lot of Egyptian people's exposure to western people comes from the movies, so they have a very skewed concept of what western romance is actually like. Or what western women actually want for themselves (which often isn't romance at all, but you wouldn't know that from the movies!) Of course, I don't know what people are thinking... I'm not them! Many people just leave us alone, or give a friendly hello. Others though will persistently ask us to a cafe. We also are often told we are very beautiful, and whoever is talking to us will make us very happy! We also get all sorts of cheesy bad pick-up lines, like you would get at a bad bar in the States. Men also make a hissing noise, which is not malicious, but is similar to a "hey" or whistle in the states. (They do it to get each other's attention all of the time. One women hissed to get my attention and indicate that I had dropped something.) In short, on certain days this really gets to me. It reminds me of the ways that women are subtly oppressed all over the world including the US. But I've always felt safer here then in the states. I can walk around at 3am by myself, and no one will lay a finger on me. And if someone did, the next person I met (and there are always people out) would help me out... Not to mention that in Cairo, there is a cop on every corner.
Have you figured out the dress code yet? Who does the enforcing of the dress code?
Well, the dress code in Alexandria is a bit different then Cairo. People who live here wear a huge variety of Egyptian and western clothing. Egyptian women are not required to cover-up or wear a headscarf, but some choose to do so. My understanding is this choice comes from a combination of family/religious tradition and fashion. (I've heard that the berka, and hijab are actually quite fashionable here.) Overall though, it is rare to see a women expose her knees or shoulders. It is common for women to cover to their ankles and to their wrists. There are different expectations for westerners. In Alexandria it was best to wear short sleeves and pants that covered the knees. Less then that and women would approach you and speak in Arabic... It seems that they want to make it known that they have their traditions and don't approve. (This never happened to me, but I dressed conservatively on purpose.) In Cairo there are a lot more foreigners, so I've seen all sorts of shorts and tank-tops. It just seems like the normal attention is multiplied when foreigners were such things, so I haven't tried it. As one of my classmates explained (she's lived in Yemen) to them, it's like seeing someone partly naked...
What kind of food is the standard Egyptian fare?How many meals per day? When is their big meal?Do they shop for food daily or weekly or ... ?Are cold drinks commonly available? Or are drinks normally served tepid?
Well, of course there's Egyptian restaurant food, and what Egyptians eat at home... My understanding is people eat a lot of fish and rice at home. I don't know what else. Common food in restaurants includes: lamb, taamia (falafel), fouul (beans), lentils, koshery (a lentil, noodle, rice, tomato dish), pizza, feteer (pizza like, but the toppings are inside instead of on top), rice pudding, cookies, bread, croissants, hard-boiled eggs, salad (tomatoes and cucumbers...), tahini, baba ganoush and lots of flatbread/pita! The biggest meal seems to be dinner (which can be anytime during the night!) There are also fruit stands and juice shops everywhere. People just drop in for fresh mango, lemon, or strawberry juice (among others). I'm not sure how many meals per day or how often people shop. Drinks are sometimes served cold, sometimes room-temperature.
You mention getting used to being stared at: Is the staring that of curiosity or of nosiness?
I'm not sure I'd describe it as either. People just seem to be interested. I experienced this in Italy as well. It's not considered rude to stare there like it is in the States.
Did you get to the Valley of the Kings? No, I have not gone down to the Valley of the Kings... I might depending on how much longer I'm in Egypt.
You mention foreign women attracting unwanted attention. Could you elaborate on that? What sort of attention from who? Well let me just give you a little background first. As foreigners, people stare at us no matter how we dress or what gender we are. One of my classmates pointed out that we are kind of like celebraties without the money! Everyone wants to talk to us... Some seem to want to practice their English, others want to get us into their or their friends shops, and at times it seems like it's a little bit prestigious to be walking around with foreigners. Being a woman can attract additional attention. Many things appear to play into this. In my experience, women here are not nearly as likely to approach a foreigner, so most people who talk to us are men or children. In Egypt, the concept of "dating" someone isn't very common. If you like someone, you marry them, and that's it. (I've heard that to say "I like you" and "I love you" in Arabic, you use the same words. There isn't really a difference...) Another friend of mine mentioned that all lot of Egyptian people's exposure to western people comes from the movies, so they have a very skewed concept of what western romance is actually like. Or what western women actually want for themselves (which often isn't romance at all, but you wouldn't know that from the movies!) Of course, I don't know what people are thinking... I'm not them! Many people just leave us alone, or give a friendly hello. Others though will persistently ask us to a cafe. We also are often told we are very beautiful, and whoever is talking to us will make us very happy! We also get all sorts of cheesy bad pick-up lines, like you would get at a bad bar in the States. Men also make a hissing noise, which is not malicious, but is similar to a "hey" or whistle in the states. (They do it to get each other's attention all of the time. One women hissed to get my attention and indicate that I had dropped something.) In short, on certain days this really gets to me. It reminds me of the ways that women are subtly oppressed all over the world including the US. But I've always felt safer here then in the states. I can walk around at 3am by myself, and no one will lay a finger on me. And if someone did, the next person I met (and there are always people out) would help me out... Not to mention that in Cairo, there is a cop on every corner.
Have you figured out the dress code yet? Who does the enforcing of the dress code?
Well, the dress code in Alexandria is a bit different then Cairo. People who live here wear a huge variety of Egyptian and western clothing. Egyptian women are not required to cover-up or wear a headscarf, but some choose to do so. My understanding is this choice comes from a combination of family/religious tradition and fashion. (I've heard that the berka, and hijab are actually quite fashionable here.) Overall though, it is rare to see a women expose her knees or shoulders. It is common for women to cover to their ankles and to their wrists. There are different expectations for westerners. In Alexandria it was best to wear short sleeves and pants that covered the knees. Less then that and women would approach you and speak in Arabic... It seems that they want to make it known that they have their traditions and don't approve. (This never happened to me, but I dressed conservatively on purpose.) In Cairo there are a lot more foreigners, so I've seen all sorts of shorts and tank-tops. It just seems like the normal attention is multiplied when foreigners were such things, so I haven't tried it. As one of my classmates explained (she's lived in Yemen) to them, it's like seeing someone partly naked...
What kind of food is the standard Egyptian fare?How many meals per day? When is their big meal?Do they shop for food daily or weekly or ... ?Are cold drinks commonly available? Or are drinks normally served tepid?
Well, of course there's Egyptian restaurant food, and what Egyptians eat at home... My understanding is people eat a lot of fish and rice at home. I don't know what else. Common food in restaurants includes: lamb, taamia (falafel), fouul (beans), lentils, koshery (a lentil, noodle, rice, tomato dish), pizza, feteer (pizza like, but the toppings are inside instead of on top), rice pudding, cookies, bread, croissants, hard-boiled eggs, salad (tomatoes and cucumbers...), tahini, baba ganoush and lots of flatbread/pita! The biggest meal seems to be dinner (which can be anytime during the night!) There are also fruit stands and juice shops everywhere. People just drop in for fresh mango, lemon, or strawberry juice (among others). I'm not sure how many meals per day or how often people shop. Drinks are sometimes served cold, sometimes room-temperature.
You mention getting used to being stared at: Is the staring that of curiosity or of nosiness?
I'm not sure I'd describe it as either. People just seem to be interested. I experienced this in Italy as well. It's not considered rude to stare there like it is in the States.
posted by Abby at 10:03 AM
2 Comments:
Some more facts, insights and nuances about Egypt can be found at the Berlitz School's profile of the country.
Well, OK, perhaps there wasn't as much insight in that link as I thought. There was so much about life in the UAE, I thought that there would be as much for Egypt.
Post a Comment
<< Home