Oh, Egypt

I thought it would be kind of fun to list things that I've learned/experienced/come to expect with regards to living in Egypt...

1. Your cab drivers whips out a newspaper to read while driving.
2. You have accepted that each breath of air reduces your lifespan by, I'd say, 10 seconds
3. Traffic jams can happen any time of the day
4. Sand storms are no fun and mean that traffic moves very slow
5. Littering is the fast and easy and is, unfortunately, commonplace
   
6. Going to the movies is cool except when the actors do a lot of speaking in foreign languages and the subtitles are written in Arabic
7. You've been asked for backsheesh (tipping money) in church
8. You've been called Santa Claus because you're American
9. A horse and carriage is referred to as an Egyptian Ferrari
   
10. You pretend to be a dumb tourist so you get what you want
11. You get on trains after the man at the ticket counter tells you that the train is full, hoping you will make it somewhere North
12. You feel naked if you wear shorts, even if it's uber-hot outside
13. You get used to the 24 hour clock and metric units
14. Lunch is at 2ish and dinner is around 8 or later
15. Bedouin guide tend to not realize that tourists on Mt. Sinai don't like to run up mountains at 3 in the morning; walking is just fine.
16. The most important phrases in Arabic to know are "I don't want anything" and "No thank you" and "Praise be to God"
    
17. Winter in the desert means cold temperatures
18. Large signs that say "handmade" are a dead give-away that the products are imported from China. The larger the sign, the bigger the selection of imported goods.
19. You realize the miracle of good earplugs
20. Seeing tourists in shorts and tank tops annoys you
21. You realize that you can go through a metal detector wearing sheet metal without anything happening
22. If your cab doesn't look like a disco and have a furry animal skin on the dashboard, then your cab is totally lame
23. You avoid public bathrooms at all cost
24. Bathrooms are called water closest, abbreviated W.C.
25. Americans like toilet paper, not little spray guns
26. Cheesecake and milkshakes just aren't the same
27. Broccoli pizza usually doesn't include broccoli
28. You like how pop cans open better than the American pop cans
29. Plain pizza usually includes peppers and olives
30. You have a list of excuses to get out of going to someone's restaurant or store that you hold near and dear to you

That's my education for the first semester. We'll see what all I learn this upcoming semester, which starts tomorrow!!!!

Happy Saturday!!!