Egypt Day 8, 9 & 10

I can't believe I've only been in Egypt for a little over a week. I feel like at least a month has passed. Perhaps it is due to how full the days are here. Maybe it is just the energy that always seems to be in the air. I can already sense that this place has become a part of me, its people my friends. I want to make the most out of every last second here. Anyway, here's some things I've learned over the last few days.

-Watching an international football (that's soccer to us Yanks) match in Egypt requires a certain amount of protocol, as follows:

1. If you can't get tickets to the game itself, the next best thing is to join your friends in a café. For the full experience, arrive a few hours early and pass the time talking, drinking (non-alcoholic beverages only, please!) and, if it's your thing, smoking.
   
2. Be as quiet as possible during the game. Any sound above a murmur will result in angry complaints conveyed by your waiter from the surly-looking group of men in the next room. Keep off-topic conversations to a minimum; why would you talk about anything other than the game for the next 90 minutes, anyway?
   
3. The exception to rule 2 is when Egypt scores a goal. At this juncture, feel free to shout, high-five and wave the flag you brought with you (provided someone has not co-opted it for a stylish red, white and black bandanna). You DID bring a flag, didn't you?
   
4. Make sure you get in all your drink orders at halftime, as per rule 2. The rest of the café will be doing the same, so be patient.
   
5. If victory looks assured, you can pack up and move towards the entrance-but don't leave! Make sure you wait until the clock's run out completely before you leave the presence of a television.
   
6. Once time's up, celebrate! Whoop and yell and honk your car horn (if you weren't already, which, given traffic in Cairo, is a remote possibility at best). If you're a foreigner, ignore the feelings of guilt you have surrounding the fact you're celebrating a resounding victory against Rwanda.
   

• The Cairo Metro only runs until 12 or 1. Is this preposterous, given the fact no one here seems to even consider sleeping before well after that? Yes. Did I have to find this out the hard way? Thankfully, no. My host brother told me about this and added that it's suggested that after the metro closes Cairenes should take the pricey private busses that are often well out of their price range. Nice work, Metro.
  
• On Monday we were running so late I suggested taking a cab. My host brother begrudgingly agreed to hail me one after warning me it could be 30 times the price of the bus. Thankfully, we got a cab driver who agreed to take us to the school for just 25 pounds, about $5. Unfortunately, the cab dropped us off about a mile from the school, and we had to walk fast to keep our tardiness down to half an hour. I asked my other host brother, who goes to the school with me, why his brother negotiated to have the cab drop us off so far. Apparently, the extra mile would have brought the fare up by 5 pounds, or about a dollar. This kind of thing didn't really surprise me. Along with being incredibly generous, Egyptians also always seem to know exactly when they're getting their pound's worth, and won't put up with otherwise, especially when the money involved is a guest's.
  
• This late-night society is a procrastinator's dream. Get home tired? Nap until 9 pm and then go out to get your watch fixed and talk to someone at the cell phone store. Don't worry if you miss your alarm, they may stay open for hours yet.
  
• Give up on the food issue. Everyone will continue to demand you eat more at every meal, even after a week of explaining that the food is delicious and that you are perfectly capable of determining when you are full. This will never change. Just accept it with a smile, a blocking hand, and a "hamdoulah"("Praise be to God"), a phrase whose many meanings include "I'm full".
  
• Likewise, accept the fact you're a foreigner. Greet the unsolicited stares, the "Welcome!"s and "Hello!"s with a grin and a few words of Arabic. Tell yourself a few weeks of these exchanges will be enough to change the course of public opinion about America in the Middle East.