Injustice Day
I've always said, Egypt has a gift of kicking you while you're down. Somehow, on a bad day, Egypt just knows... The cab drivers will scream at you, the kids will grope, the shops are out of everything and everyone is miserable to you.
Last night I went to bed early in hopes of getting a full 6.5 hours sleep (the most I would have had in weeks). Sadly, Egypt figured out my plan and proceeded to send a swarm of hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-mosquito-scorned army to my bedroom. I woke up in the middle of the night because I itched so badly, my arms, shoulders, legs and back covered in bites. I showered, hoping it would reduce the itching, and then in 32 degree celsius (90 degrees fahrenheit) I dressed in a t-shirt, long pants, socks and crawled back into bed. I changed the bug device, lit a outdoor de-bug flare in the corner of my room and tried to get some sleep.
All of my efforts were met with limited success, somehow, the bugs, impervious to my intense chemical cloud, and 5 layers of clothing still managed to attack.
I woke up at 7:30 am covered in welts, exhausted and moody.
Then, the day began. I went out to catch the bus downtown only to find, overnight, for no apparent reason, the bowaab (doorman) changed the padlock on the front gate. I tried all four of my gate keys and none of them fit, I walked up to the bowaab's shed and shouted, knocked on his door, and generally acted annoyed.
Obviously, because this is Egypt, and I was having a bad day, he didn't answer.
I went and woke up my roommate to ask if he had given her a new key for the lock, she said no, but told me the second gate can be forced open with a lot of pulling. I went to the side gate, and sat there jabbing at for ten minutes, nothing happened. I looked at my options, I could not go to work, call in sick, go back to bed and wait for it to be tomorrow (this would've been the right choice) or I could scale the wall in my already slightly too short for the neighborhood skirt, get covered with Nile dust and jump the gate.
So, I did what any foreign girl dressed a little bit too trampy for the extremely poor and conservative neighborhood across the road would've done- I jumped the fence, got covered in grime, and flashed Imbaba.
That's right Imaba, the underwear is red today. I know you all were wondering, well, now you know.
I figured a latte would fix all of this, and while I don't normally indulge in the more expensive prospect of proper coffee, I thought it was my only shot at salvaging the day. I got off a metro stop early, walked to the American-style coffee shop Cilantro and ordered what turned out to be the weakest latte ever.
Warm milk, and more warm milk.
Sigh.
It's only 9:30 am.
Last night I went to bed early in hopes of getting a full 6.5 hours sleep (the most I would have had in weeks). Sadly, Egypt figured out my plan and proceeded to send a swarm of hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-mosquito-scorned army to my bedroom. I woke up in the middle of the night because I itched so badly, my arms, shoulders, legs and back covered in bites. I showered, hoping it would reduce the itching, and then in 32 degree celsius (90 degrees fahrenheit) I dressed in a t-shirt, long pants, socks and crawled back into bed. I changed the bug device, lit a outdoor de-bug flare in the corner of my room and tried to get some sleep.
All of my efforts were met with limited success, somehow, the bugs, impervious to my intense chemical cloud, and 5 layers of clothing still managed to attack.
I woke up at 7:30 am covered in welts, exhausted and moody.
Then, the day began. I went out to catch the bus downtown only to find, overnight, for no apparent reason, the bowaab (doorman) changed the padlock on the front gate. I tried all four of my gate keys and none of them fit, I walked up to the bowaab's shed and shouted, knocked on his door, and generally acted annoyed.
Obviously, because this is Egypt, and I was having a bad day, he didn't answer.
I went and woke up my roommate to ask if he had given her a new key for the lock, she said no, but told me the second gate can be forced open with a lot of pulling. I went to the side gate, and sat there jabbing at for ten minutes, nothing happened. I looked at my options, I could not go to work, call in sick, go back to bed and wait for it to be tomorrow (this would've been the right choice) or I could scale the wall in my already slightly too short for the neighborhood skirt, get covered with Nile dust and jump the gate.
So, I did what any foreign girl dressed a little bit too trampy for the extremely poor and conservative neighborhood across the road would've done- I jumped the fence, got covered in grime, and flashed Imbaba.
That's right Imaba, the underwear is red today. I know you all were wondering, well, now you know.
I figured a latte would fix all of this, and while I don't normally indulge in the more expensive prospect of proper coffee, I thought it was my only shot at salvaging the day. I got off a metro stop early, walked to the American-style coffee shop Cilantro and ordered what turned out to be the weakest latte ever.
Warm milk, and more warm milk.
Sigh.
It's only 9:30 am.
1 Comments:
Hi,
I came past your blog via another one. Being Egyptian I like to read other views regarding Egypt. Your writings are super witty and insightful but stood out from other blogs because you seem to have moved on from the major stumbling block of judging culture from the standpoint of economic status and seen a little of the humanistic side.
Sorry you had a bad day but you're obviously not proper egyptian yet ;) If you were you would have shouted the neighbourhood down incessantly- well min. 10 minutes- for the bawaab to come and open the gate for you.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Egypt
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