Something that I struggle with here is always feeling like you are being cheated just because you are a foreigner. I am slowly starting to realize just how much. Getting in a black and white taxi at the beginning and paying 10LE for a ride and then getting into a white metered taxi and finding out that same ride should have only been 5LE. Getting in a taxi to go to the same place you have been several times before and you know the way but yet the driver thinks you have no clue, so they drive you in circles or way out of the way to run up the meter. Going to a fruit stand where all the numbers are in Arabic and having the guy ask for more money just because he thinks you do not know how much you owe. Eating in at a restaurant, getting your bill, paying and then not getting the right change back. Which by the way they bring you your change with no receipt and somehow you have to convince them that you gave them a 200 LE note and not a 100 LE note. All because your waiter or waitress want to pocket the remainder of what ever they can. Getting a taxi in any tourist area or any major shopping center where you have to get a taxi because you have way too many bags, so they know that they are your only hope of getting home, so they triple the price and refuse to turn on the meter. I have had several drivers leave me on the side of the road because I ask them to turn on the meter.
Where does it end...Oh and did I mention if for some reason a grocery store does not have change they used to pay you in candy or matches but now they just round up and give you no change. It may only be 50 piasters (Which is a half a LE) or so but after a while that adds up and at the end of the day these people are pocketing all that extra money. You also have to check your receipt and make sure you are not being charged for more items than you have (I wish I could count how many times this has happened) I now check my receipt before the person behind me can go. They may get annoyed at me but I am tired of being overcharged! Oh and the museums that are 2 LE for an Egyptian, but 50 LE for a foreigner, come on now I never heard of this going on in my home country. Yes students always got a discount which is why college students try to keep their ID for several years after they graduate but because of where you are from?!
It may not be a huge amount of money for a "foreigner" but when you live here, it adds up fast. I have to constantly be on guard and always watch my back. I had to learn very quickly...Everyone here seems to be out to get whatever they can from you especially if you are a blonde haired blue eyed American. They can spot me from a mile away. I need to learn more Arabic!!!
I do love living here and I want to make my life here for as long as I feel called but some days I get SO frustrated and it can dip in to how I treat people here. I feel myself rude at times because the last person lied or cheated. I try to be Christlike in all that I do here and show Gods love but on some days it is just HARD. I try to remember that not everyone is exactly like the next but here it is very few and far between that you find that honest cab driver, waiter or cashier to wait on you...
Egypt is a great country to live in and if you can get over things like this, life can be good just sometimes a little frustrating.
Kolo tamem!
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
He is over all, through all and in all
I have been reading "Practicing the Presence of God" and trying to keep in the forefront of my mind to seek Him in everything throughout the day in all moments and in any circumstance.
So I was on the Metro the other day headed to a friends house who lives about ten stops away. About a 40 minute ride. I was looking around at all the people and their faces. Everyone looked so depressed and so sad. I am not sure I saw one happy person on that metro. As I sat there a lot was going through my mind. I like to sit on the metro and just pr for those around me. And I felt like crying out to Him and say "G, where are you in this" these people are so lost. They need you, where are you...
So anyway, I am sitting there deep in thought and then the metro jolted at the next stop, drawing me back to where I was and as I look up this local lady is getting on with this huge picture of "Him." I am not sure where she got it or why she had it but all I know is she had this huge smile on her face and she looked straight at me and our eyes met and she smiled at me. It was the neatest thing. It was almost like "Hey look, I AM here." I almost burst into tears...It was a sweet reminder that He is everywhere, He is over all, through all and in all.
He is good all the time! :-)
So I was on the Metro the other day headed to a friends house who lives about ten stops away. About a 40 minute ride. I was looking around at all the people and their faces. Everyone looked so depressed and so sad. I am not sure I saw one happy person on that metro. As I sat there a lot was going through my mind. I like to sit on the metro and just pr for those around me. And I felt like crying out to Him and say "G, where are you in this" these people are so lost. They need you, where are you...
So anyway, I am sitting there deep in thought and then the metro jolted at the next stop, drawing me back to where I was and as I look up this local lady is getting on with this huge picture of "Him." I am not sure where she got it or why she had it but all I know is she had this huge smile on her face and she looked straight at me and our eyes met and she smiled at me. It was the neatest thing. It was almost like "Hey look, I AM here." I almost burst into tears...It was a sweet reminder that He is everywhere, He is over all, through all and in all.
He is good all the time! :-)
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Oh me, oh my, it is another taxi experience
Hmmmmmm SOOOOOO I have been told that I need to blog more often. But SOMETIMES life just gets really busy here!
So today I literally thought I stepped out of reality and into a disco club with the taxi I got into today. I have my share of taxi stories both funny and a little scary. Which I never blogged about my crazy taxi experience that was actually pretty scary. Back to the later....So anyway disco club...I finally was able to hail a cab after about ten minutes of waiting after school today. I was so tired and had so much to carry home that I was not going to walk the 35 minutes home, so I decided to be lazy and take a cab. The cab that finally stops, is blaring music, it has mardi gras beads hanging from the mirrors and strung throughout the cab. Then he had flashing blue lights somehow rigged to the inside of his car that were giving me a headache. If that wasn't enough he had "bling" dangling from every nook possible and to top it off a tissue "cover" of a couch that said have a comfy ride! LOL. Why did I get in you ask? Well...Did you miss the part that I had been waiting for ten minutes and I was tired! Oh the taxi's in Cairo. Never seem to be dull or boring. You either have a crazy taxi drivers in the white cabs that love to drive as fast as he can so you can get to your destination anywhere in Maadi in under 60 seconds or you have the drivers who drive the black and whites and know the white cabs get all the good business so they spruce up their cab as much as possible to catch the eye of the on lookers. It's like they have a contest to see who can stuff the most decorations in their cab and still get business! LOL. I think I have seen it all...From my disco cab today to a taxi covered in blinking lights inside and out from bumper to bumper as it flashes on the way down the road!
As far as my crazy, scary taxi ride. Here it goes...
I went to Heliopolis to meet up with a couple friends for dinner. After dinner we watched TV and then realized how late is was. It is really hard to find a taxi to go to Maadi as the hours go on. So Kenny (HIm and his wife are from Tulsa!) walked me downstairs to get me a taxi. He is fluent in Arabic and was going to tell the guy how much I would pay and where to go. First mistake: Telling him I would take a black and white taxi. (It's all we could find) Second mistake: Getting in the taxi! Third mistake: It was 10:00PM at night.
So anyway I get in and we made a deal. 40 LE, which by the way is TOO much but it was late and I was tired. So the driver started off in the right direction but we hit major traffic. (Hello it's Cairo, if you are not used to this by now, DON'T be a taxi driver!) Anyway he was getting irritated by all the hold up so he flips a u-turn and goes back to where we came from. Then he decides to go off on a side street that takes us out to a deserted area. Tons of buildings but they had all been abandoned. NO other cars were around and we were hitting big potholes left and right. I thought, oh great we are going to get a flat and be stuck out here in the middle of no where! After about 15 minutes of this we finally saw civilization again! (Not sure where we were but at least people were around) Then the taxi driver proceeds to ask everyone in sight how to get to Maadi. One answer was not enough. He literally asked someone on every block! I should have counted. It's like he knows they are not for sure but give you directions anyway.
We finally made it to a familiar place and I was trying to tell him where to go and he would not listen. He kept stopping and asking like I didn't know what I was talking about. FINALLY he listened to me and I made it close enough to walk home (at this point it is 11:30PM.) I was tired, frustrated and I was a little worried but I paid the guy his 40LE and he actually apologized and I walked the rest of the way home. I never thought I would go off roading in a taxi.
I wish I could grow wings and just fly everywhere I need to go. I do not missing having a car payment and insurance but days like this I do miss having a car!
So today I literally thought I stepped out of reality and into a disco club with the taxi I got into today. I have my share of taxi stories both funny and a little scary. Which I never blogged about my crazy taxi experience that was actually pretty scary. Back to the later....So anyway disco club...I finally was able to hail a cab after about ten minutes of waiting after school today. I was so tired and had so much to carry home that I was not going to walk the 35 minutes home, so I decided to be lazy and take a cab. The cab that finally stops, is blaring music, it has mardi gras beads hanging from the mirrors and strung throughout the cab. Then he had flashing blue lights somehow rigged to the inside of his car that were giving me a headache. If that wasn't enough he had "bling" dangling from every nook possible and to top it off a tissue "cover" of a couch that said have a comfy ride! LOL. Why did I get in you ask? Well...Did you miss the part that I had been waiting for ten minutes and I was tired! Oh the taxi's in Cairo. Never seem to be dull or boring. You either have a crazy taxi drivers in the white cabs that love to drive as fast as he can so you can get to your destination anywhere in Maadi in under 60 seconds or you have the drivers who drive the black and whites and know the white cabs get all the good business so they spruce up their cab as much as possible to catch the eye of the on lookers. It's like they have a contest to see who can stuff the most decorations in their cab and still get business! LOL. I think I have seen it all...From my disco cab today to a taxi covered in blinking lights inside and out from bumper to bumper as it flashes on the way down the road!
As far as my crazy, scary taxi ride. Here it goes...
I went to Heliopolis to meet up with a couple friends for dinner. After dinner we watched TV and then realized how late is was. It is really hard to find a taxi to go to Maadi as the hours go on. So Kenny (HIm and his wife are from Tulsa!) walked me downstairs to get me a taxi. He is fluent in Arabic and was going to tell the guy how much I would pay and where to go. First mistake: Telling him I would take a black and white taxi. (It's all we could find) Second mistake: Getting in the taxi! Third mistake: It was 10:00PM at night.
So anyway I get in and we made a deal. 40 LE, which by the way is TOO much but it was late and I was tired. So the driver started off in the right direction but we hit major traffic. (Hello it's Cairo, if you are not used to this by now, DON'T be a taxi driver!) Anyway he was getting irritated by all the hold up so he flips a u-turn and goes back to where we came from. Then he decides to go off on a side street that takes us out to a deserted area. Tons of buildings but they had all been abandoned. NO other cars were around and we were hitting big potholes left and right. I thought, oh great we are going to get a flat and be stuck out here in the middle of no where! After about 15 minutes of this we finally saw civilization again! (Not sure where we were but at least people were around) Then the taxi driver proceeds to ask everyone in sight how to get to Maadi. One answer was not enough. He literally asked someone on every block! I should have counted. It's like he knows they are not for sure but give you directions anyway.
We finally made it to a familiar place and I was trying to tell him where to go and he would not listen. He kept stopping and asking like I didn't know what I was talking about. FINALLY he listened to me and I made it close enough to walk home (at this point it is 11:30PM.) I was tired, frustrated and I was a little worried but I paid the guy his 40LE and he actually apologized and I walked the rest of the way home. I never thought I would go off roading in a taxi.
I wish I could grow wings and just fly everywhere I need to go. I do not missing having a car payment and insurance but days like this I do miss having a car!
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