Tuesday, November 15, 2011




What DA F..........................!!!



Daily life in a country shaped - even legally wise- by some strange (at my eyes) interpretation of the "Coran" is, not only bearable, but even interesting while you are allowed not to be immersed and brainwashed by it in a way that runs into de clinical madness marathon.


I observe egyptians are, in general, very fond of following rules, laws and traditions directly connected to their religion (may that be muslim religion or other) and yet they are flexible and seem to accept, to a certain point, other religions and individuals who don t follow the rituals they do.

Egyptians are social beings with a great sense of humour and a light heart. Usually, they will accept the differences you may find in a country like Egypt, with so many foreigners living, working, taking vacations, investing in this country.

It is all very interesting and challenging till the point when you feel that your own right to think and live with your born freedom is being taken away from you and that phenomenon takes charge of your life in the subtlest, more wicked details.
On a trip to the biggest shopping mall in Egypt, I caught myself inside of a mosque (nobody asked me if I was interested in going to a mosque or even invited me there!) listening to the preach of a "sheikh alongside my cup of cappuccino and club sandwich.

I was used to the mosques INSIDE of these public places and I accept them because everyone is free to use them or not and they don t interfere with my own freedom BUT paying good money to have some relaxing time with a friend over coffee and, suddenly, seeing myself in the middle of an enraged religious discourse was too much. Instead of the chill out music of the "Beano's Cafe" I listened to a sheikh for one whole hour, trying to convince me God knows of what with that hangry/hungry voice that only demons have.

Then I returned home and tried to speak on the phone with a friend from Portugal, barely listening to her, because the taxi driver had the "muezzin" call to prayer blasting at full power from the radio.

This morning at the gym, I was stopped from going into the "steam/kind of turkish hammam" because I didn t wear a full swimsuit.
What?!
Let s see...I am in a sexually segregated gym, meaning that ONLY women are allowed there.
I am ALSO inside the locker area (destined to showers and dressing up) and I will be the only one using the small "steam room".
YET I cannot go into the steam without a full swimm suit.
I am wearing underwear AND a towell wraped around my body BUT the danger, oh the dancer!, of having some parts of my body disclosed to the microbes present in the steam room is against the good morals of the Gym's administration.

WTF?!!!!!!

Of course I refused to obbey this crazy order, I enjoyed my steam time and complained about this episode to the girls in the entrance desk who could not explain to me why I HAVE to cover my body to be alone in a small room which is inside a locker space which is also inside an exclusively feminine gym.
I've seen A LOT in this life time. I also have an, often, inconveniently fertile imagination YET, YET, YET I cannot imagine what those dirty heads are thinking to make such a law.
What would I do in the steam room in the company of very sexy microbes?!
Any suggestions???

Am I the only one who thinks this is getting wayyyyyyyyy too much?!

3 comments:

kariman said...

Episodes such as these are exactly why i couldnt live there. I would be mad all the time! I have spoken up to men in public places and people looked at me like im crazy!

Joana Saahirah of Cairo said...

Well, it is a hard subject to comment.
My freedom ends where another person s freedom starts and extreme/erroneous islamic views and "freedoms" are being shown in a scary crescendo that makes me fear for the future of Egypt.
I have nervous attacks many, MANY times too. Some foreigners live in their "expatriate" bubble gums and do not even have to mix with the locals. I LOVE living between egyptians, working with them, learning from them but that exposure I put myself into - partly because to my work which envolves 100% egyptian people - I also get bothered, disappointed, irritated, shocked. That s the point about dealing, from close and personal, with a mentality and culture I don t completely accept.
Some other foreigners adapt themselves completely to everything they don t even understand, just not to be bothered. I am not one of them. Egypt is my home and my Great School, it has taught me everything I know worth of KNOWING, but I will NEVER forget about the VALUES I consider are RIGHT and I ll also NEVER shut up and accept ignorance and brainwashing. This is the battle field LIFE chose for myself. we all have ours.
Love, from Cairo (shocking and marvellous, at the same time!).
J.

Anonymous said...

that is EGYPT
country of contradictions
even I am - an Egyptian - but found myself between that and that
but if you accept this nature , it is easy to deal with it (and with us)

you are not the only one in that