Talkin' bout a Revolution

"Don't you know pump it up, you've got to pump it up"

I still can't get used to the fact I've to pump up water every day so that I can use the shower. Think it's fascinating.

Cairo is not like any city. It’s big. Very big. And dirty. Throughout the Middle East they seem to find it extremely hard to put garbage in a bin, everybody just throws it on the street. It took a while to get used to this, but there are few things that surprise me anymore after three weeks in the region. I’ve heard that there live 21 million people unofficially in Cairo and it shows. The traffic is a mess and there is almost no public transport. One out of the three cars you see is a taxi and this actually comes in quite handy, because it’s rare to wait for more than 2 minutes on a cab. Our way of transport is always the taxi, whether it’s going to the supermarket or Tahrir Square, walking is not really option; you’ll get lost before you know it and the distances are far too long.  This brings me to a funny anecdote. I went to the biggest mall in town alone to activate my internet usb-stick, because they had forgotten to do this the day before. On my way back I negotiated a fixed price for the taxi ride of 10 pounds, which comes down to around 1.20 euro. This may seem extremely cheap for a 20 min ride, but it’s average. After we drove for 2 minutes the guy started asking for 25 pounds, to which I answered it was 10 pounds or I would leave the car. 5 minutes later he turned on the radio and said it was 25 pounds now. So I replied in the same manner and asked him to turn off the radio. He didn’t give up. A few minutes later he closed the windows and put on the airco, again asking for 25. My reply was the same and the guy was starting to get frustrated. He tried once more, pulling a very sad face asking for 20, but it didn’t work. When we arrived at my home, he asked again for 20 and when I gave him 10 he drove away angry, probably cursing me.

From the above it may seem that I’m a tough bargainer. Well as you probably know, I’m quite the opposite; a soft boiled egg. I got hustled big time. After two weeks of travelling my clothes got really dirty and I decided to bring my clothes to the dry cleaner. The owner of our apartment, which we call the general, offered to let a local kid bring my clothes away and pick them up. The kid would be back after evening prayer, around 8pm. Well the kid showed up at midnight, while I was vast asleep and when my roommate told him to return the next day he just insisted to wake me up. Sleepdrunk as I was, I got out of my room and asked the kid how much I had to pay him. He demanded 100 pounds, or 11 euros. I knew this was far too much, but he pretended to be East-Indian deaf everytime I tried to lower the price. So I just gave him the 100 so that I could go back to sleep again. The kid was even so bold to ask for some more money because of the services he provided me, but I was smart enough to reject that. The next day, the general came to me and asked me how much I paid the kid. When he heard the amount, he actually became angry with me and told me I paid a ridiculous amount of money. He felt responsible and called the dry cleaner. The bill was only 50 pounds and thanks to Amir, my Egyptian friend, I even got this back. The general told me to sort out matters with him next time and I guess I’ll just do that. On the one hand this situation shows how easy it is to get hustled in Cairo. Believe me, they are professionals. On the other hand it shows how much the Egyptians care about the well-being of the tourists. They’re proud of their country and truly want tourists to have a great experience.

One thing that can’t go unnoticed in this story is the Revolution. It has left such a deep impression on the people and it actually still is the talk of the day. Through my internship, I got to see some art galleries about the Revolution and the pictures speak for themselves. It intrigues me so much, that I’ve decided to have interviews with locals from Cairo. Ideally I will start with this next week. Hopefully I will get a good idea of what has happened and possibly use it for my master’s thesis. Maybe I will even join a protest that is planned in two weeks. Sounds as quite the adventure and an opportunity to witness the atmosphere and environment in which these protests take place. 

“Don’t you know you’re talking about a revolution. It sounds like a whisper. Poor people are gonna rise up and get their share. Wasting time in the unemployment lines, sitting around waiting for a promotion. Don’t you know you’re talking about a revolution”.

Enough for now.