Hi, I haven't posted much lately. I recently relocated to Cairo. The day of the presidential election in this country seems an interesting choice to move, but there you go.
I have been in Tahrir Sq. and seen the crowds, the tents and the tourists. It is funny, this trip I haven't yet seen(even glimpsed!) the pyramids, and they are pretty visitble from any tall building in the city where I am (Giza).
I have seen first world and 3rd world sitting next to each other on the train-or buildings that are right next to each other.
This is a wonderful diverse city. Don't let anyone tell you differently. It is challenging, exhausting and cheap! I just had medicine delivered (w/in 5 min of ordering it) for 10LE. That is about a buck fifty. $1.50. I took the metro which is 1LE (.15). This of course makes a taxi ride that takes a half an hour and costs 22LE seem kind of extravagant, but as I was coming down with Pharoah's revenge and the demonstrations were gong on in the square, it seemed justifiable.
I haven't met any JWs here, but I've been here less than 2 weeks. I do know that there are a lot of non Muslims running around and they seem to be doing just fine (actually live better than most locals). I am just recovering from my introduction to the Pharoah and I still feel like crap, excuse my french, so I have no energy to do anything but go online.
You can have everything delivered here! It only costs 1-2LE to have clothes ironed/picked up/delivered. Food delivery 24hrs a day(theoretically)The flats are HUGE, but the older cheaper ones are either cruddy in the corners or pristine, but have no elevator and are on the 5th floor. There are thousands of years of built up girme here, but it does add to the atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, don't breath deeply.The auto fumes will kill you. If ever there was a good place for electric cars, this would be it! And a good recycling program. 20 million people in this city and no recyvling other than the kids I see with carts filled with cardboard boxes.
Kids here work. Granted, the work is often selling things or begging or some other kind of hustling, but you often see them helping their parents in the family business, like bakeries, restaurants, etc. HERE, that is just part of being a family. It is very different than in Qatar where NO kids worked, not even in McDonalds when they are teenagers (which would be useful for the work ethic issue).
One reality of this place is the heat. People in Africa work slower and with less intensity than we tend to in America because most are working outside or with no AC, inside. Expending a lot of energy here would literally kill you. You have to take it easy. Tourists find this out to their dismay. I remember my first trip here and I couldn't find much in the way of full day tours. There is a reason for that! You really need a rest in the afternoon if you do the Pyramids or the souk all morning.
Politics are interesting. People are (the ones I meet) mostly voting Mursi (sounds more like Murszi) but I have heard the Shafiq contingent who doesn't know what was so bad about the last regime. There is definitely a division. The demonstrations have remained peaceful. I saw a werid little demonstration the other day. About 20-25 people. The men leading it were carrying a big old plywood coffin. There was a trail of people behind them, men and women, not a lot. They didn't look particulary sad, so it was hard to imagine there was a death involved, but they didn't look mad either (like they were protesting). My friends said it was a protest, just to remind folks that it took a revolution to get rid of Mubarak.
Speaking to a doctor, he told me that he thinks the revolution was wasted, the young people have been kicked out of the new governance and they had a chance to work with Mubarak. I don't think that Mubarak would have ever made any real changes, so I respectfully disagree with him on that point. On the other hand, the younger ones have certainly not been represented in the polls, though i think many will vote Mursi just to make sure that there are no remnants of Mubarek (Shafiq) in the presidency. There are a lot of others who are afraid of the brotherhood, so I think that is what will make it so close. I am finding the poilitics here a lot more interesting than that of the States. We have an election coming up there, don't we? What do you all think will happen with that one?
