International Jay-Walking
In no place have I quite lived up to my name as I have in Cairo. And there is no other way.
Though I am now writing about this about 600 km away in Aswan, my memories of Cairo traffic and Cairo itself are quite vivid. I'm still trying to cough up the petrol fumes that have diffused throughout my lungs.
There's a saying here that if you wear a white shirt in Cairo, by the end of the day it will be black. After my second day, I took a paper towel to my face...and it came away with what looked like a layer of soot. Lovely.
Anyway, as I was saying, jay-walking.
There's no other way to cross the road here. No one follows traffic signals or signs, and you just fearlessly march on to your destination, swerving and turning your body to the tide of traffic. I love(d) it. It seems like I've been well trained.
The drivers here too...are incredible. I saw two accidents my first day there, nothing serious though. A lot of my fellow "Westerners" go into a bit of shock trying to deal with the traffic or car driving tactics here. Oddly enough, I feel at home. Ha.
Oh, on a bit of a nonsequiter here, I never mentioned the fact that girls in Morocco are called "gazelles"--"Hey there gazelle!" or "Look at those gazelles" can be commonly heard on the street. I actually find it one of the few nicknames for women that seems actually somewhat complimentary. (The men are "gazous.")
Anyway, dodging traffic in Egypt (and I still am having a hard time readjusting my references--Egyptian pounds not Moroccan dirham, we're in Egypt, not Morocco!...) makes one distinctly feel like a real-life gazelle.
Though I am now writing about this about 600 km away in Aswan, my memories of Cairo traffic and Cairo itself are quite vivid. I'm still trying to cough up the petrol fumes that have diffused throughout my lungs.
There's a saying here that if you wear a white shirt in Cairo, by the end of the day it will be black. After my second day, I took a paper towel to my face...and it came away with what looked like a layer of soot. Lovely.
Anyway, as I was saying, jay-walking.
There's no other way to cross the road here. No one follows traffic signals or signs, and you just fearlessly march on to your destination, swerving and turning your body to the tide of traffic. I love(d) it. It seems like I've been well trained.
The drivers here too...are incredible. I saw two accidents my first day there, nothing serious though. A lot of my fellow "Westerners" go into a bit of shock trying to deal with the traffic or car driving tactics here. Oddly enough, I feel at home. Ha.
Oh, on a bit of a nonsequiter here, I never mentioned the fact that girls in Morocco are called "gazelles"--"Hey there gazelle!" or "Look at those gazelles" can be commonly heard on the street. I actually find it one of the few nicknames for women that seems actually somewhat complimentary. (The men are "gazous.")
Anyway, dodging traffic in Egypt (and I still am having a hard time readjusting my references--Egyptian pounds not Moroccan dirham, we're in Egypt, not Morocco!...) makes one distinctly feel like a real-life gazelle.
posted by IJW at 10:01 PM
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