The simple things that make me smile...

I am aware of how fortunate I am to be on this trip and try not to take it for granted.  That may be why the differences between here and home usually make me giggle instead of making me frustrated.  Below are some things that make me laugh on a regular basis...

• The man who bangs on the steel pot at 7am each morning announcing he has gas for sale has good rhythm (and good lungs!)...
• Egyptians use hissing/psssttting to get your attention- it is not meant to be scary, sexual or intimidating.  They hiss at babies to get them to look, ladies to get their attention, pedestrians to warn them of a cyclist heading the wrong direction down the street...
•  If you want to befriend an Egyptian or make a good impression just say something nice about their country.  “Anna baheb Misr” (I love Egypt) and you will hear “Egypt loves you!”  They are so welcoming.  Actually, "Welcome to Egypt" is a popular phrase I never get tired of it.
• Driving in Egypt is a never ending practice of merging.  You can do anything you like so long as you merge your way into/through the traffic.  Same goes for pedestrians.  No one stops for anyone- you just have to merge yourself in the direction you want to go....
• Everyone has an uncle in Canada- or so I`m told daily.  Interesting...
• Street touts seem to have their specific zones.  If someone starts talking to me and I am not interested in their attempt to befriend me (they have so many ways, they are ingenious really) I am polite but keep walking.  At a certain point they stop walking but continue trying to talk to me in hopes I will stop walking too.  Eventually when their shouts out to me do not elicit a response they move on to someone else.  Hehehe.
• Street touts are also gossip whores.  I think all of downtown Cairo knows where I am at any given time, where I’ve been that day, how long I’ve been in Cairo, where I am from....One day a street tout was asking me the usual “what’s your name, where you from” and all I said was Carrie and  Canada.  He started to ask if I like living in Calgary- his uncle lives there don’t you know- but not once did I mention Calgary.  Disturbing, no, it`s and Egyptian thing... 
• People tell me they love me every day.  Strange men of course, but it is nice nonetheless.

Below are some pics from my trip to Alexandria as well as a Bedouin music performance.  Alex is a nice city on the Mediterranean but still authentically Egyptian J.  The disc-shaped building is part of the famed library.  I fly to Istanbul next week so I will have some more exciting visuals soon.  Thinking of home but happily abroad,

Carrie