My Egyptian Odyssey Part 2: My Triumphant Arrival
Cairo, Egypt. 21:00 4 Nov 2004
My Lufthansa, or flying bus, flight to Cairo was less eventful than my flight into Frankfurt. The
screaming babies were not in my row, and there were only three of them in my
cabin. However, one of the tires in the landing gear was flat, so we had to
wait to land “just in case”.
Upon arriving in Cairo,
there was a mass of people at the international arrivals building. I wandered
the length of terminal two twice trying to find my friend Chris. Finally,
starting to worry, I sat down outside to ponder my options. An Egyptian man
approached me and asked if I needed a cab. I said I was trying to find a
friend. For two euros, I used his phone to call Chris, who was waiting at
Terminal 1.
After reuniting with my friend Chris, we took a taxi to his apartment in Zamalek. Cairo is how I imagined it on one hand, but very different
on another. It is a very, very dirty city. There are many run down streets and
buildings. The traffic signals and lane markings are merely suggestions, of
which no one heeds. It is every man for himself. However, at the same time, it
is an intriguing combination of Islamic and traditional culture and recent
globalization. Next to an old mosque is a Pepsi ad, with young, attractive,
Egyptian men and women in western-style clothing drinking Pepsi. Chris rents a
condo from the owner of the 13th floor. The floor itself is
immaculate, with beautifully carved wooden doors. The staircase is covered in
cat poop from the many strays that live in the building, and the lobby was a
former shopping mall, now boarded up
