On the streets of Alexandria

Walking in Alex is a dangerous and surprising experience due to at least 3 factors:

1) The heat. Ok, we knew this already, it's hot in Africa, right, but it isn't the heat as much as the humidity of the littoral town (ok, city) that bothers you when walking. My Swedish/Finish hair is not made for humidity levels up to 95% and I am seriously thinking of a radical cut next week when I get back home for a wee spot of training. I'll probably change my mind in super dry Scandinavia though and then end up regretting having to go to a hair dresser here. Not because of the lack of Arabic words pertaining to hair but because they will never have seen or touched Nordic hair before and 'm quite sure they don't know how to cut it. Like those barbers who specialize in frizzy hair - often beheld by the people coming from Sub Saharan Africa (gotta be politically correct).

Where was I - yes, the heat. Ok, so that is factor 1 and it is quite logical. It is also a factor which will get better as the summer comes to an end, which however is about a month or two away - and I am not complaining, I'll choose heat over cold any day. The humidity, however - I could do without.

2) Traffic. Honestly I have never seen people drive like this anywhere else. There are lanes marked out in the roads but if you have 3 marked out lanes, that means 5 actual lanes and it is very Nordic of me to call them lanes, as if the Egyptians would stick to neat rows of cars. In fact, you drive where there is a spot free to do so. You push cars next to you to drive to the side by approaching them from behind, you honk the horn.

Honking the horn is a very common practice here and it is good for anything - also for what I am about to develop under item 3 below. But when it comes to the actual getting somewhere on the road it is good for any junction up ahead - honk honk, I have made sure I am free of responsibility if there is a car coming from any other direction. It is good for going the wrong way up a one way street - honk, honk watch out, I'm coming through!. It is good for passing a red light at 70 km/h - honk, honk full speed ahead Insh’Allah! Yes because I suspect that the great God has a lot to do with the way people drive. Their lives are in his hands with the symbol of the God - the blue eye, hanging from the rear view mirror. However, sometimes he has a bit too much to do in this part of the world to protect all people in the mayhem on the streets. Walking to work last week I saw a nasty accident with two mini buses - the drivers of which seem to be the worse kind of speeders. On the side of the road - by the Court house lay a dead woman in a puddle of blood, covered with a blanket. Nobody seemed to care or to even take notice, I did.

Another truly surprising thing about the traffic are the pedestrians. They are just as much a danger to traffic as the speeding drivers in their small cars, which most probably were sent to be scrapped in Europe a decade ago. People cross roads and high ways here as there was no tomorrow. They just head out, completely oblivious of the cars passing by them on 5:th gear. They laugh at me when I wait for a spot free of cars to cross the street. I would have loved to see statistics on how many accidents that are caused by pedestrians on the street when drivers are forced to swerve or to hit the breaks and steer clear of the fragile human being on the street. I am quite sure though that this kind of statistics doesn't exist here - I am wondering if they at all have statistics for deaths in traffic.

And so for my last reason for finding walking a bit precarious:

3) The attention. About 90% of the people that I pass by on the streets address me in one way or another. The most common form of trying to get my attention is "welcome to Egypt", "you're welcome" or just "welcome". I get the first and the last but I don't know for what I am welcome? Their interest in me as a very pale white woman? I put it down as a lack of knowledge of the English language - they want to say welcome really.

Then there are other forms of attention seeking: The more verbal Egyptians (verbal in English): "What's your name" - a classic in its genre, "How are you" - very polite, "Where are you from" - very unusual because it is a difficult sentence for an Arabic speaker who would say "Where you from" and maybe they know they are wrong so they try another phrase. Then you have the "Do you play basketball" - which isn't so surprising to people who know me and know I have been getting this question since I was about 13 years old, it is probably the most effective way of getting my attention too - over here it makes me laugh, at home it is sort of boring. Now I know that the people using these phrases cannot really speak English very well because if they would they would follow me on my way and speak to me (and this isn't really a sign of being a good English speaker, it is a sign of self confidence more than anything).

Then we have the more Neanderthal approaches: The ksskskks... calling as if I were a cat, the whistles or the honking of horns or blinking the head lights. Taxi cars use the latter technique to ask if I want to catch a ride with them - obviously charging me the double of an Egyptian. The animal-calling-cries or whispers infuriate me, but I admit I do not know what kind of status they have in society here. I mean - do they do that because I am white and I am treated differently from the Egyptian women, or do they use these calls also for them, I hope so. Because even if I know I am different here I don't want to be. I don't want to ignore people as I do now on the streets - to avoid too many questions or having to buy too many things on my way home. I want to be proud and be able to respond to people if they ask me things, but I want to be able to do it in their language - as an equal, even though I will never be like them.

So, my experience of walking in this town may be a bit traumatic at times but apart from the traffic - which will not get better during the course of my stay here - I will learn the language as I already have coped with the heat (and maybe my hair will too with the humidity). They aren't strange - I am the stranger and I need to learn their ways. I will do it insh'Allah - I will do it!

Peace out!