Life in Cairo seen through the eyes of a foreign woman, that is what is supposed to fill this page. I have just moved to Zamalek, admittedly not a very original thing to do, but an easy option if you are going to live alone in this huge city. Less hassle, fewer comments and conveniently close to everything. Now do not get me wrong, I have been in Cairo for the past 8 months and Egypt has been my home for 7.5 years now, so I may be a new resident of Zamalek but Egypt is an old friend.
Until recently the Red Sea was my home, blue skies, sunshine, divers and shipship, a simple and clean life compared to living in this baffling compilation of noise, traffic, pollution, smells and people. Culture shock does not even begin to describe it. But what fun it is, every corner holds a surprise, stories unfold in my head wherever I look and the fast pace of the city is exhilarating.
Ok, I know I sound like a lovesick teenager, but believe me you, that description does not fit my age or my general sarcastic outlook on life. I just figured it was nice to start off by making clear that you are not in for a standard moaning session that we ex-pats are so very good at.
Now that I have mentioned it, let’s think about that for a second. Foreigner moves to Egypt, is mesmerized for a while by the exotic new surroundings, overwhelmed by the daily sunshine (especially if you are from Holland like me, the country where summer is on Tuesday) and pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness and courtesy of the local population. Sounds good one would think.
But then a few months pass, and the reality of living in a culture so very different from what was known before poses interesting challenges to say the least on a very regular basis. And slowly the complaining starts and lo and behold, suddenly not very much is good and most of it is actually very bad.
You see them everywhere, small groups of people clumped together, huddled over alcoholic beverages as they share the latest misfortunes they suffered at the hands of the same people that went out of their way to help them find the washing machine they so very much needed. And conveniently forgetting that some of the people at the table are actually Egyptian, completely unaware how insulting their stories are to their local friends.
The behavior itself is not that surprising to me, we all enjoy a good whine every once in a while. I am having one right now. The fact that it does not result in any other action than incessant complaining is what gets to me. I usually try to avoid these gatherings, they just annoy me and my tendency to speak my mind on this subject is mostly not appreciated. I seldom manage to keep silent though, either in general or on this specific topic. I tend to get defensive of what I care about and after all this time Egypt has become my home. So, hands off there, my friends.
Do I not get annoyed at times? Of course I do, besides complaining about this particular form of ex-pat entertainment I can think of many other things that bother me on a semi regular basis.
Are these annoyances that much worse than the ones that would confront me somewhere else? No, they are not.
Wherever you may be on this planet, there are always going to be things that will be annoying. And it is for each of us to figure out which level of irritation is acceptable in order to still have a good life in general.
And that is what gets me to the point I am trying to make. The solution to all these grievances is so simple that I am surprised that no one thought of telling it to all these long suffering foreigners so they could end all this pain.
This is what you do, my poor fellow foreign imported Egyptians: take your passport and go back to where you came from.
It really is that simple. One of the privileges we have is possessing a passport that allows us to go wherever we want whenever we want. My advice is to use it. And quickly please, tomorrow if at all possible.
Because no matter how hard life here may be at times, and unless there is a gun held to your head that stops you from having the freedom of choice, it still offers a lot of amazing advantages over living in many other places. So, if it is really that bad, get out. Please. Soon.
And yes, I just filled this first column with complaining. And that may happen again at times. But you will not see me blame Egypt for all that is wrong in my life.
If I ever do, you are all invited to throw my own words back in my face.
