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Funkytable
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Name: Greg
Gender: Male
Interests: My two Greatest loves in life are Jesus my Lord and Savior and Stephanie (friend_of_issac), my gorgeous babe-wife. I also enjoy science fiction novels, comics, rock music, video games and have recently gotten into academic Bible study.
Expertise: I Graduated from Texas A&M University in 2004 with a degree in Civil Engineering specializing in Transportation. I am currently working at a Civil Engineering Firm
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/23/2004
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| Egypt - Part 6c - Censored from Supporter Blog
These entries were deemed to racy for the supporter blog.
PDA
When I say PDA, you immediately think about a couple making out in public. This idea does not stem from the term public display of affection as much as our cultural perception of acceptable physical affection in public. Holding hands is a sign of affection, and if done in public, therefore it’s PDA.
Any form of PDA is taboo in Ugandan culture. I never saw a couple holding hands once the entire time I was there. Of course Steph and I didn’t hold hands while there to be respectful of the local customs, but this made me very sad, because I like holding her hand.
In Egypt, I saw several young couples holding hands or locking arms, which made me very happy. I just like to see people open about the love they have for each other in public. It’s happy.
Later I learned that this practice is a product of the rebellious youth culture. The older generation does not find it acceptable, but it is widely practiced with the new generation, which raises an interesting question for westerners. If it’s acceptable for young Egyptians, is it acceptable for young foreigners, or should foreigners adopt the more rigid traditions of the older generation?
I don’t have a good answer to that.
Anyway, it was nice to see people holding hands.
Orderly Stores
Shops had organized shelves, rather than appearing as a packrat’s garage which is what I became used to in Uganda. | | |
| Egypt - Part 5 - Standards and Holidays
A Happy Religious Holiday
Islam is known for being a strict religion with a very long list of solemn rituals. This side of Islam is visible everywhere in Egypt. Several times a day I would hear the words "Come to Prayer! Allah is Great" chanted in Arabic over the megaphone. More than once we had to cross the road to avoid a mosque whose attendance was so high people started lining up to pray along the side walk.
But there was a much less formal and even happy side of Islam that I got to see in Egypt, Ramadan, which operated similarly to Christmas in many ways. There were traditional Ramadan decorations all over the city. Streamers were zig zaged between high rise apartment buildings. Christmas lights (though I doubt they were called that) are also strung along windows. Fanoos (Arabic for lantern) were hung outside of shops and homes that were beautifully decorated. If you look, the one in this picture has certain familiar arches on it.
 
There was an atmosphere of happiness and goodwill. My favorite example of this took place while I was purchasing a bookmark for Stephanie with her name written in Hieroglyphics. I joked with the woman writing her name saying, "How do I know this says Stephanie. I mean, you could write "Your wife is ugly" and tell me that it said Stephanie and I wouldn’t have any way to know the difference."
Her response was simply, "Oh, but you must trust us. We would not do that to you during Ramadan, so you can trust us."
Of course it’s still true, that this lovely bookmark may say "Your wife is ugly."
Also, many people told me that during Ramadan, people get a lot more time off to spend at home, and not as much gets done. This also has to do with the fact that they don’t eat from sun up to sun down, so they are sleepy during the day. The soap operas on TV tend to be more engaging during Ramadan because they know people will be relaxing at home.
It was just neat to see that a religion so foreign to me, yet it developed a religious holiday time similar to Christmas.
Note: Yes I know that the reasons we celebrate Christmas are different then the reasons Muslims celebrate Ramadan. But you cannot deny that a large bulk of what we associate with Christmas is cultural tradition, and not religion.
Engineering Standards
In the third world, there are often no building standards. Often, all that is needed is approval from a city official, which of course can easily breed corruption.
This was not the case in Egypt at all. Even though the building codes were probably not as strict or extensive as exist in the USA, they still exist. That’s important.
Fanoos shaped decorations
Streamers between Apartments
An Egyptian Market
Some old buildings | | |
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