The Cairo-nian Life of an American Girl, Continued

I'm thinking of starting a blog dedicated solely to all the stupid things guys here say to me in an effort to flirt. That sounds mean... but really. Here's the story: I was walking from my apartment to meet my American guy friend to walk to the ACE Club yesterday to have lunch (I was finally feeling better and decided to actually leave my apartment). I saw this guy walking in front of me, no big deal... there are usually people walking everywhere. I see him turn around, and stare at me for a while. I am getting used to being started at by men here, it kind of comes with being foreign. I usually look at the ground, or sometimes look at them in an extremely irritated manner if I'm feeling testy. In this case, I just looked at the ground and kept walking... and he kept staring. I stopped where I had to meet my friend, and he stopped too. Then he started talking to me. No big deal, I can hold my own. Turns out he's from Southern African from Zulu. He instantly starts asking me where I live, if I'm married, etc. I tell him that it's none of his business where I live, and if I'm married or not, I'm still allowed to talk to people. He says that he was watching me and that I "walk like an angel." Seriously. Thank God my friend showed up and we went on our way. I think being an American here means you could have any guy you want because in the US I'm not even that cute. That sounds bad... but you know what I mean. I'm cute when I try I guess. But I don't even try here. I don't even own hair products. Literally... my hair dries in the wind outside and then does whatever it wants to. It's just insane how much attention Americans get....

It almost makes me miss American men at home who are smelly and gross and don't apologize for it... almost. I will admit that a lot of Egyptian men are good looking in my opinion. But also will fall in love with you in about 5 minutes. They dress well, do their hair, have beautiful skin, and speak Arabic. That's hot, right? There's something attractive about the unknown... but I've always been like that. Attracted to who I shouldn't be, story of my life. Why am I writing about this?

I walked to the pharmacy today after school. I like to go there because it's right next to my road and the people there are nice. I bought some shampoo and soap. The guy that was working today clearly did not speak a word of English. He looked at me when I came to the counter and had a look of panic. He rang up my items, and then punched the total into a calculator and showed it to me. HAHA. I wanted to laugh. So I paid him and left. It was cute. But hey, I'm in his country... I should be the one able to speak Arabic. I can say "how much is this?" But if he told me how much in Arabic, I wouldn't understand. I'm still learning how to say numbers... but I can say my street number to get home in a taxi. One step at a time.

Ramadan is also over if you didn't know!! YAY!!! It was over on my birthday, which I think is a good omen. It is still a little strange to see Muslims eating and drinking and smoking in the middle of the day, like they're committing a sin or something. It's also nice to not hide when I'm drinking water, or to feel bad about it. The Eid break is also over, so Insha Allah life will be "normal" here. I've never known Egypt when it's not Ramadan, so we'll see what happens. Cairo is slowly becoming my home for the time being. I guess that is a good thing. I'm getting accustomed to walking on the street and getting out of the way of traffic so I don't get hit, getting around in taxis, knowing what shops to go to for what I need around my apartment, picking up more Arabic words everyday, etc. My new favorite word is "meshi," which I'm not sure how to spell. I say it all the time. It means "okay" or "I'll do it" or "I'm leaving." I'm pretty sure that when I come home I'll accidentally let Arabic words come out that I say all the time here like "aiywa" and "la" and "meshi" and "shukran" and "mumkin" and others.

I also like to look at the surprise in people's faces when I say certain things in Arabic. They say "Oh! You speak Arabic!!" And I'll say "La." Which means "No." And they'll laugh and say "You speak Arabic very well" which is a total joke. This guy in Dahab, who I actually had a conversation with in Arabic (granted it was about buying alcohol), was hilarious. He asked me "If you can speak Arabic so well, why don't you understand what I'm saying?" HAHA. I told him it was because I don't speak well, and then we laughed. Arabic is hard. Why didn't I move to a Spanish speaking country?