Some thoughts on Egypt - Part 1

Since most people who read my Blog arent egyptians, i thought u might be intrested in the real Egypt :)
I realised fast that living in Egypt shows u different sides of egypt than if u only visit it. Same for the case if ur a muslim or not, its just a big difference.

When i first came here in september 2008 i directly had 2 be very independent and find out things by myself. Fortunatly people didnt always recognize am not egyptian as i dress just like them and as long as i dont speak they mostly think iam egyptian and so they treat me like that.

One thing i found out very very fast is that woman arent supposed 2 be outside at night alone. Now i dont mean a time like 2 am cause that wouldnt be so good elsewhere 2 ( though it wouldnt be so dangerous).
But its better not 2 go out without a male after about 10pm. After 12am its really getting strange if u are out without a male and believe me u wont feel so comfortable.
There are some places where this rules are not working like in citystars ( a big mall in nasr city).
But in generell i would advice u 2 avoid going out after 10pm alone.
I dared 2 go stay out until 12 am one night in alexandria cause i was waiting for a friend of me and this friend just came late bcz of transportation. And i felt like all males watching me very strange. Alhamdulillah iam a muslim and i was wearing hijab and abaya and iam sure this kept the guys from harassing me.
Its the culture here that a woman that hangs out on the street alone at that time cant be a good one, bcz the good girls stay home with their familys or go out with their husbands. So if u are out alone its shows u r not protected and maybe u even looking 2 meet guys..

Another thing that doesnt really exist in europe ( at least in germany) are cafes only for males. Mostly they are really simple shops where they just serve coffee and tea (and shisha of course).They are never fancy shops with nice decoration and special drinks, its just a simple place where the man meet and drink tea together.
If u as a woman go and sit there they will watch u in a strange way :)
I know it bcz i did it out of not knowing. But actually i wasnt alone, my arabic teacher took me there and later he told me that this cafe normally is just 4 males and that we gonna study in another cafe next time ( he was just 20 and obviously hadnt experience about cafes).
Now since i married i realise it more than before how much egyptians care for this.
Like if we go 2 a cafe and there are sitting only males, than my husband insists 2 go 2 another cafe. Not if its a cafe like cilentro, beanos or any cafe like that.
But im talking about the local ones, where u pay 2 pund for a tea and u mostly sit outside on wooden chairs :)
So if u plan 2 go out with girls only choose a cafe where already girls are sitting and better avoid 2 much empty cafes cause it might be a really bad one.

Ill think of more later as iam going 2 drink qahwa with my husband now :)