Flirting in Egypt

Yes, it is noisy, crowded, crazy, polluted, dirty, but... if you need to soothe your wounds and heal your scars after weeks of enduring the Chinese rudeness this is the place to be.
On the airport yesterday there was no instance when the appropriate "Thank you", "Please", "Excuse me", "Sorry" missed. Believe me, I was impressed. There was not one elbow kick or push in the crowds today, although the Egyptian bazaar is much more crowded than many places in China.

I loved this place even before landing in Cairo. Next to me sat a soft-spoken giant who hardly fit in his seat. "Welcome to Egypt!" he said as soon as we landed.

It was still daylight when we landed and so I did not get to see that special cityscape: a vast sea of lights dotted with much stronger green lights - the mosques. The colours of the landscape as seen from above reminded me of Tibet. Brown, golden brown in the sunset light, but this is also where any resemblance with Tibet ended.

I thought that the man next to me on the plane was an exception. The few Egyptians I met in Canada were all small or average in height. I was wrong. Egyptians are tall, and they have an incredible sense of humour. They joke so much that sometimes you can get easily misled.

I've never had so much fun in such a short time in a foreign place. For hours today I've been trying to find a word to describe the interaction and eventually - bang! - it came to me: flirting. It's been ages since I last experienced that - no wonder even the word took hours to pop up from the unused vocabulary.
The men are all firting and, for a change, it's been quite fun. They are neither agressive nor rude, but rather witty. "Madame, I don't know what you're looking for, but all these man have what you need" was the top remark today. I wish life were so simple!

Having said that, it's not the smartest thing for me to do, knowing that this way I just encourage these males, but I've been laughing and smiling a lot all day. People are friendly and helpful. They are so nice and the way these simple-minded men try to catch your attention - by saying hello, by welcoming you to Egypt, by offering their help, by scaring you and using many other childish ways - I find so funny, that I can't but smile.
There is not even a hint of aggressiveness or rudeness when they want to sell you something or want to get rid of you. Nobody has turned their back on me even if they did not understand English. People tried to help and were apologetic for not understanding English. They held the door open for me, they let me pass, they said please, thank you and welcome so often.
Nobody insisted or chased me to make me buy something like the hustlers did for example on the Great Wall (I found the solution for that, though!). This doesn't mean that they won't cheat you if they can. Like, for example, when you want to buy some tangerines from the street. But they do it softly, nicely even charming.
If I don't show up to the Tour d'Afrique do not worry: I surely got seduced by an Egyptian.