Nostanbulgia !

 

After welcoming visitors here in Cairo, having visited incredible places and remembering why Cairo is worth visiting, some remaining thoughts are still crowding my Egyptian sky. One should always seek the silver lining and I believe I have exposed many of Cairo. I feel fortunate to be here and love discovering it, yet some things are just not working today and there isn’t enough silver to shine it out yet.

I kept on reflecting on my meeting with the Riddler and kept on asking myself what would he think? Having seen Egypt at its climax, 4000 years ago, he witnessed the civilisation and the wonders the Egyptian people built. It wasn’t a perfect civilisation of course, but this world wonder was built  in the belief that participating in erecting pyramids would guarantee your afterlife.

To consolidate a topic on town, I asked my students to create a brochure in order to “conquer” the tourists again and convince them to come back to Cairo. They did an amazing job and most of them talked about the pyramids, the Sphinx and the museum, which encapsulate the Egyptian culture as it is nowadays. My opinion is that it doesn’t reflect on Egypt today, they are relics of a vanished culture. Cairo today is troubled, politically, financially, religiously, and environmentally: It is nothing like what it was then and the unfortunate current circumstances will not help.

We are off Monday and Tuesday. Yeah, extra days and week end, well no, not really! Morsi will be judged and town is not quite the place where to go, as protests will probably erupt. Yes, you get use of hearing about protests, and yes, it is safe where we are. However, once you, yourself, are in a taxi to El Khalili to discover the souk and the places around, and you are stuck in traffic, surrounded by protesters, there are several thoughts rushing through your head: “Putain, my Buls are here, what if they start tapping on the car and scare them”, “my parents are here and witnessing it, so much for reassuring” and lastly “I am not prepared to see this again and say that it’s fine, it’s just the way it is”.

This is the reality here, it is beyond us and “no matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse”, so you just duck down and wait.

When I lived in France or England, I would rarely get phone calls from random guys who, I assume, try their luck at calling, hoping you would pick up, listen to them and marry them! It has happened and never bothered me, I would go back to my life and laugh about it. 

Here, I have had a few of those and on one particular occasion, whilst I was alone with the Buls, I was called 52 times by some young boys, at night, just for fun I suppose, to hear some woman’s voice. I was the jackpot, because I was foreign. I can not claim that I went back to bed at 2.00 am and slept. My mind became paranoid, and Morpheus' arms didn't see me for another few hours.

We go back to that time when I talked about refining my “I’ll shoot you if you dare to do more than stare” look. I have used it, unfortunately quite often. These men, and there are A LOT of young men, who devour you with their eyes as a starving animal would. Their big brothers or dads honk the horn or grab at women and they will grow up to do just the same! Is it a lack of outlets, it being sports, communication with the other half of the population? I do not have the answers...

Evidently, this is not a generalisation, there are some wonderful young men, but harassment is a fact here.

No, not a positive entry! It isn’t full of promises. It is what it is, and some days you handle it better than others. 

I should insist on the great moments that happened over the past few weeks, and insist on the many wonderful people we have met here. I should have talked about my wonderful friend Marwa, who took us with her beautiful girl to see the Sufi Dance, in El Khalili: a colourful whirling dancing to the most musical tunes. I should tell you about the people we met that evening, as we walked up the streets.

And I will, just not this time. Instead, I recall more the arguments seen between random people in shops or on the streets, that make me uneasy, even if here, raising your voice doesn’t mean anything... 

I do not regret coming here and I still feel fortunate to be here, I just wish Egypt was better already for the sake of its people. Also selfishly, I wish it would make me fall in love with it the way Istanbul conquered my heart. 

It is a two way thing of course, and I will keep working on it.