Sunday, April 08, 2012

Getting excited in Cairo.


Before you wonder- no, I am not about to start writing about anything rude! That’s not my style!

Before living in Egypt, when someone said something good was going to happen I was able to feel that excitement... yeah I have a great gig coming up, or yeah, they are going to write up an interview in the newspaper... or whatever it was. Even down to the yeah- I am meeting my friend ‘so and so’ for dinner tomorrow night..

Here, in Cairo I have learned that when someone tells you something is going to happen... you really have to hold back on your excitement until there is more proof to back it up. The number of times I have been bitterly disappointed since moving here 6 years ago has taught be that level of self control. My response to good news if often ‘Hanshuf’ (we’ll see) or ‘Inshallah’ (god willing), rather than the ‘hurray’ or ‘yippee’!

 It often gets called cynicism by people who haven’t lived in Egypt long, realism from those who have.

The anticipation and excitement about something adds to the pleasure of the event. That’s why advent calendars were invented!

I really miss that in my life.

I wish I could do what many Egyptians I meet do, which is get excited about stuff... and then if/when it doesn’t happen just shrug it off with an ‘oh well, it wasn’t meant to be’ type attitude.

Until I reach that level of emotional control, please forgive me if I ever come across as negative. It’s called self preservation!

2 comments:

Abbanapper said...

I feel your pain. As Westerners we are so used to planning and keeping those plans confirmed. But here, you can't even plan until the day before because people forget or it's just lip service until that moment. OR traffic gets the best of you and your plans fall through the moment they're to happen.

Cheap Flights to Cairo said...

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.