Enigma

The amount of mild cardiac arrests I've had in the last two days has risen to somewhere in the vicinity of ten, which I feel is about ten more than is normal for a 48-hour period. People think this place is dangerous for reasons they see on TV. They're wrong. The most dangerous thing about this place are the two ton automobiles that they sling around the roads like there never was such a thing as traffic violations or driving rules. I like to think I'm pretty laid back. Granted, driving in DC makes me wonder at the fact that stupid people are breeding, but still. I don't stress too awful much. 

Here? Oh my word. At one point, I pulled my scarf over my face, and Romany, my driver, laughed and said "Ley?" (why?). I said, "Because everyone here drives crazy!!" He laughed again and turned up the radio. Of course. No worries. There isn't a truck two times our size mere millimeters from my window. We didn't just almost cream that guy on the Vespa (wearing sandals and no helmet, might I add). There isn't some guy being lifted into an ambulance on the side of the road, conscious but blood running down his temple as his friends look on.

"Kull yoom," says Romany. Every day. Oh sure. Because that makes me feel so much better. 

But for all their craziness, these people are probably the best defensive drivers on the planet. They have to know everything that's happening on eight sides of them in addition to predicting what all 105 cars within five feet of their bumpers are going to do. I'm a smart girl, but I don't think my brain could fragment into that many pieces at once.  

The heart stopping trip today was to Saleh-el-Din citadel. I've been before, but as I still have one more day until I start working, it gave me something to do. When we got to the entrance, the cashier said to my Egyptian friend that it would cost what equates in the US to 50 cents. Then he pointed at me and said that for me, it would be what equates to almost $10. What the??? Because I'm pretty sure that's about a 90% mark-up just because I'm a white girl. I understand locals getting discounts, it happens in the States too, but this was ridiculous. So I shook my head and fumed as best I could in Arabic to my friend. Unbelievable, this guy. But then, this is the enigma that is Cairo.