Noise Pollution and a Simple Matter of Convenience.

Living in Cairo, as confirmed by different locals, is a very hard life. Nothing is convenient, to which everyone agrees, but what to do? Continue to suffer is the general answer, Allah will take care of you and your family. No one here likes having to run around to so many different places, they dislike the time wasted for simple daily tasks, but they're all so busy running around there is no time or space to improve life. And if it's not broken then it's good enough. Interesting comparison when we live in a society that improves things whether we thought they were inconvenient or not. We make things efficient, productive, useful then we go back and improve on them again.

The Egyptians know they need to improve the living quality, but the problem is where to begin. Like I said earlier, there are 270 thousand gajillon people here and the infrastructure is older than antiquated. Old trolly tracks that have fallen into disrepair are used for parking. One very proud Cairoian pointed out the civil workers digging trenches by hand and commented that they are laying cable. The trenches are dug in many areas and none of them seem to be joined in a pattern, it's all quite random, as well I haven't seen any spindles set out. I didn't ask if it was for electricity or something completely useless like phone since these people seem to thrive on cell phone service. Never assume the obvious here, because you'll never be correct.

One of the biggest obstacles in class is to concentrate when there is so much noise. I don't own a hair dryer because I can't stand the noise. Here - military helicopter flying low, the cacophony of horns, donkeys braying, workers hammering (since heavy working tools are nearly non-existent – nearly everything is manual labor and there is construction everywhere), some religious propaganda via bull horns....It's like a parade with everyone out of tune from 8 am to midnight seven days a week. Give it a rest already.

Driving in Cairo consists of a complex system of communication via car horn. As for skill, acquiring a drivers license – I think you simply buy (bribe?) one. Maybe not.

The car horns are the most annoying, yet persistent. You use the horn to inform the cars around that you are going to:
*speed up
*slow down
*pass
*turn right from somewhere left of center
*turn left from somewhere right of center
*that you're over here or over there

Or – you're letting everyone know you're there and you really like your new stereo system and the cd you're blasting (yep - arab techno music – rock on!). Sometimes you just honk the horn because no one is around you for 5 car lengths (front, side or behind). Of course, when traffic is at a dead stop for untold car lengths, the further back you are the more you honk your horn because, you know, that's what's going to get the traffic moving. Mostly, you honk your horn because you have one.

As for other rules of the road:
*The median strips painted on a road or carriage way signifies that this is a paved road and in no way means that you have to stay in between the lines.
*The direction of one-way streets applies to the direction you're driving – since you can only go one way at a time....ergo – one way. Should you shift into reverse, you're still only going one way.
*You are only responsible for what is in front of you as the person behind you is responsible for what is in front of them.
*A stop light – when they exist - means that you pull out to stop the intersecting car so you can get through the intersection safely (please refer to previous rule)
*Always yield to the big buses since the driver is usually under 25 and in a heated/animated conversation with their best friend/brother and can't be bothered to look where they're going, assuming there are rear view mirrors on the antiquated buses. But then that's what the best friend/brother is there for, as a lookout for the driver as well as to collect bus fare.
*Should the road narrow and two cars meet, the one furthest forwards will slide on through and cause as little damage as possible while waving to the other driver that it's all O.K. Of course, when you have a moment, pull over and investigate the damage done and blame it all on the other driver.

The good part about so much traffic is crossing the street is a million times easier. There is no such thing as jay-walking since there are no cross walks. You just shoot across when the coast is clear, or at least enough room for the car/bus/truck/donkey pulling a cart to swerve out of your way. Inshalla – you will make it in one piece and on-time to your destination, or some place close to your destination but late, or somewhere completely different at the correct time you were supposed to be at your destination. No matter what, you should still be somewhere in Cairo.

At the end of it all, I'd come back. The insanity is becoming familiar.

Speaking of insane, Arabic for the word human (singular) is pronounced, you guessed it: insane.