Today I went to Starbucks to get my coffee in the morning.
I was still half asleep and my brain was not as active as it should be.
As I give the guy my card to pay for it I ask him to make sure he charges me only once. I tell him that last time they charged me 3 times for the coffee. (Yes, I paid 60 LE for the last coffee.. painful!)
I hate the fact that I need to remind the place to only charge me once... anyway.
Since I am still asleep I cannot even think enough to formulate sentences in Arabic. So I am talking in English.
After I tell the barista man to charge me once he walks to the man in the dress shirt.. (the important guy). I hear him telling him about being charged more than once.. and the he tells him "but she is not Egyptian, maybe American"
Then Mr. Barista Man comes over and tells me that Starbucks is sorry that I was overcharged and that this coffee is on the house.
I don't know if I am being fair.. but I think the free coffee had more to do with the fact that I am not Egyptian than the fact that I was charged 3 times for my last coffee.
If I were completely Egyptian would I have gotten a free coffee? Would they have trusted me about that? Or would they have thought that "the Egyptian" was trying to get free coffee....?
How can the people be so predijuiced towards the nationals of the country? How can they be racist against themselves?
I used to love this... I used to love being trusted, respected, listened to because I am American... but now it only saddens me more about this country.
Is this the result of Egyptians not being trustworthy and trying to scam anyone... or are Egyptians no-longer trustworthy and trying to scam anyone because of how they are treated in their own country.
Note:
I apologize to all the trustworthy Egyptians out there.. I know you exist.. I just have not been running into you for awhile... please tell me where you hold your weekly meetings because I really need to see the good side of Egypt and deal with the good, normal Egyptians....
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
State of the world.. my part of the world
I am sitting here at home contemplating the state of the world today. Actually the current state of Egypt. My part of the world.
It saddens me to see how horrible Egypt and Egyptians have become. I know that this partially stems from the fact that I have had my fill and more of harrassment. I have heard too many stories of harrassment in Egypt. I have been cheated by too many people here. I have been taken advantage of and for granted by too many Egyptian men.
I am over the novelty of taking the corruption of the Egyptian government to my advantage. I do not think it is a fun game anymore.
I miss the days of the night in shining armor coming to my rescue. Independence is great. Rescuing myself is great.... but the knowledge that Egyptian men were great is something I miss.
I miss feeling safe.
I feel sad that the morals, values, and ethics of Egyptians have gown down the drain.
I think I see this clearly at work.
I teach... I spend my day with children who are figuring out life and the world. I feel that people are generally good. I feel that kids are always innocent at first. Evil is something they learn. When they are evil I know that they have learned it from somewhere... most times it is from home. They come to school with the ideas, behaviors, attitudes that they see at home.
When these kids take advantage of eachother, steal from one another, or beat the crap out of eachother to solve a problem... I know that this is what they are getting from their home.
The fact that this does not alarm the school or their parents makes me feel like Egypt has a dim future.
The fact that nobody is trying to save these kids and teach them the right values breaks my heart.
I try.. I try to teach them accountability, ways of solving problems, less vulgar ways of expressing themselves. I try to teach them to be good. Sometimes it feels like I am fighting a losing battle. Right now I do not feel strong enough to fight.. and not motivated enough to convince myself that this battle will change them.
What happened to the good people? What happened to the morals and values of the population?
I know that life in Egypt is hard. I know that many Egyptians do not see a bright future ahead. I know that at times Egyptians feel the government is blind to their struggles... but is that what has changed the population as a whole?
Then how do we explain the successful Egyptians that have no morals or values? I do not think the only problems Egyptians have come from the government?
I do not think that sexual frustration is reason for all the harrassment that happens.... because I think that there are sexually frustrated men out there that don't harrass women. I know there are a lot of sexually frustrated women out there that are not harrassing or molesting men.
I do not believe that money is the root of all evil... because harrassment and money don't come together. Men are not grabbing women in the street for money... they are doing it for other reasons that I cannot figure it out yet. Kids are beating eachother up at school.. and rarely is money the reason.
What is it that happened?
What is the root of this?
When will the population see the problem and actively try to change it?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
It saddens me to see how horrible Egypt and Egyptians have become. I know that this partially stems from the fact that I have had my fill and more of harrassment. I have heard too many stories of harrassment in Egypt. I have been cheated by too many people here. I have been taken advantage of and for granted by too many Egyptian men.
I am over the novelty of taking the corruption of the Egyptian government to my advantage. I do not think it is a fun game anymore.
I miss the days of the night in shining armor coming to my rescue. Independence is great. Rescuing myself is great.... but the knowledge that Egyptian men were great is something I miss.
I miss feeling safe.
I feel sad that the morals, values, and ethics of Egyptians have gown down the drain.
I think I see this clearly at work.
I teach... I spend my day with children who are figuring out life and the world. I feel that people are generally good. I feel that kids are always innocent at first. Evil is something they learn. When they are evil I know that they have learned it from somewhere... most times it is from home. They come to school with the ideas, behaviors, attitudes that they see at home.
When these kids take advantage of eachother, steal from one another, or beat the crap out of eachother to solve a problem... I know that this is what they are getting from their home.
The fact that this does not alarm the school or their parents makes me feel like Egypt has a dim future.
The fact that nobody is trying to save these kids and teach them the right values breaks my heart.
I try.. I try to teach them accountability, ways of solving problems, less vulgar ways of expressing themselves. I try to teach them to be good. Sometimes it feels like I am fighting a losing battle. Right now I do not feel strong enough to fight.. and not motivated enough to convince myself that this battle will change them.
What happened to the good people? What happened to the morals and values of the population?
I know that life in Egypt is hard. I know that many Egyptians do not see a bright future ahead. I know that at times Egyptians feel the government is blind to their struggles... but is that what has changed the population as a whole?
Then how do we explain the successful Egyptians that have no morals or values? I do not think the only problems Egyptians have come from the government?
I do not think that sexual frustration is reason for all the harrassment that happens.... because I think that there are sexually frustrated men out there that don't harrass women. I know there are a lot of sexually frustrated women out there that are not harrassing or molesting men.
I do not believe that money is the root of all evil... because harrassment and money don't come together. Men are not grabbing women in the street for money... they are doing it for other reasons that I cannot figure it out yet. Kids are beating eachother up at school.. and rarely is money the reason.
What is it that happened?
What is the root of this?
When will the population see the problem and actively try to change it?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Friday, January 26, 2007
Prostitute Importation... cure male sexual frustration in Egypt
What could solve Egypt's problems? Well... I am thinking prostitute importation....
If we bring some prostitutes here than men who wanted to have sex would be able to pay for it... women who did not want to have sex could say no easily because the man would be able to find other options. Women in the street would be safe from the attacks, cat calls, stares, and every other perverted thing we are dealing with daily. Women would no longer be called prostitutes just because they do not conform to the Islamic principals or ideals.... because now men would be cured of their ignorance and know exactly what a prostitute was.
The prostitutes would be making money. They would be spending money and would help the economy.
I am sure that the Egyptian government would also find a way of taxing this money and the governmental budgets would increase.....
The parents of Egyptian girls would no longer complain about their daughters coming home late and that this is not safe.. because now any horny Egyptian would have an outlet for venting his sexual frustration. He would no longer have to attack unsuspecting innocent girls/women/ children/ etc....
I think with some development this idea does have potential!!!
If we bring some prostitutes here than men who wanted to have sex would be able to pay for it... women who did not want to have sex could say no easily because the man would be able to find other options. Women in the street would be safe from the attacks, cat calls, stares, and every other perverted thing we are dealing with daily. Women would no longer be called prostitutes just because they do not conform to the Islamic principals or ideals.... because now men would be cured of their ignorance and know exactly what a prostitute was.
The prostitutes would be making money. They would be spending money and would help the economy.
I am sure that the Egyptian government would also find a way of taxing this money and the governmental budgets would increase.....
The parents of Egyptian girls would no longer complain about their daughters coming home late and that this is not safe.. because now any horny Egyptian would have an outlet for venting his sexual frustration. He would no longer have to attack unsuspecting innocent girls/women/ children/ etc....
I think with some development this idea does have potential!!!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Why does honesty intimidate people in Egypt?
80 Million People in this country... and I think most of them are full of shit.
Growing up, I always taught to say please and thank you. I was taught to always tell the truth.
I guess a lot of the Egyptians missed that lesson.
I guess that somehow most people are full of shit... but the amount of shit differs maybe.
Here they really really lay it on thick.
Since coming here I think I found myself getting full of shit too. Its like a plague!
When I came to that realization I wanted to be honest at all costs....but that got me called a bitch.
I feel smothered by the lies, the hypocrisy, the fakeness of it all. Sometimes it is too much for me to handle.
Where does this stem from. Why is honesty bad here? Why are most people intimidated by honesty? People here cannot handle honesty!
So.. to help me make it through living in this country I created this blog; a place where I can escape it all and be honest. Where I can take a breath of fresh air.
Why does honesty intimidate?
Why are Egyptians so quick to judge?
Growing up, I always taught to say please and thank you. I was taught to always tell the truth.
I guess a lot of the Egyptians missed that lesson.
I guess that somehow most people are full of shit... but the amount of shit differs maybe.
Here they really really lay it on thick.
Since coming here I think I found myself getting full of shit too. Its like a plague!
When I came to that realization I wanted to be honest at all costs....but that got me called a bitch.
I feel smothered by the lies, the hypocrisy, the fakeness of it all. Sometimes it is too much for me to handle.
Where does this stem from. Why is honesty bad here? Why are most people intimidated by honesty? People here cannot handle honesty!
So.. to help me make it through living in this country I created this blog; a place where I can escape it all and be honest. Where I can take a breath of fresh air.
Why does honesty intimidate?
Why are Egyptians so quick to judge?
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