Okay I admit I like to talk about the weather but only because the one I have to live in totally annoys me especially in this time of the year.

So how is it in Egypt right now? I miss the warmth of the sun. Here in Germany we have cold temperatures, way too cold for the summer month August. My kids were wearing the last three nights tights and pullovers in the bed since the heaters don't work yet. Today its not better its cloudy, it might rain later on, I am wearing a thick pullover and having a hot cup of tea after another.

Can only dream about the beaches of Egypt....

Yesterday there was a terrific wind which helped to cool things down a bit. Mind you it was still 35 degrees when I was on the computer at home last night. No surprise that the sun is shining, as usual, but you know what, when I was watching the weather for the UK and it said it was going to rain, I actually thought: give me 30 minutes of that please.

Would love to go on another vacation before my belly comes out even more and the kids are starting school again. But my husband doesn't get off from work until end of August.

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:
but you might feel better to know that Cairo's heat was totally unbearable. And since my dear Hamburger husband is not used to it, it made our holiday even more difficult (you know that part of our history).

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:
Wow Tigerlily, you're having a baby? How many do you have already? Sounds like 2 or more? If you're German then that's exceptional isn't it?
When are you due?

About my holiday in Cairo, aaah, don't remind me.. I started off by taking the list of restaurants you guys named on my "Help!" thread, and making a plan of going out every other day. The first time we went out, my sister who's getting married in December took us to show us her new house in a place outside Cairo called tagamo3 el-khames. In order to reach there you have to drive (no kidding) through the desert. On the way to there we saw a horrible accident happening, during which a car turned over twice and the top went totally flat on one side.. It actually ended up looking like a pyramid! Since my husband, me, my sister & her fiance are all medicos we wanted to stop & help but my husband went hysterical from the traffic, especially that our son was with us in the car. He started shouting: Let's go home let's go home. He wouldn't stop till we went home..
Second time we went out, we were in Salah Salem str. on the way to Azhar Parks, we saw a car so damaged that you wouldn't think anyone in it came out alive, so hubby panicked again, and we ended up having a short stay at a Zamalek cafe.
The third time (okay you can stop reading now if you think I'm a pathological liar) we actually saw a very old man get ridden over and totally smashed by a maniac. Hubby said: "okay, now we go home & never leave unless to the airport". So we did..
& was your holiday as nice?!!!

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look i'm patriotic, but i still think even unpatriotic people would be surprised at your post. i don't want to offend you, but you seem like the kind of person who only sees the bad things. car accidents thats all you could see from a city like cairo?
you know something a couple of years ago i was in frankfurt with my mother. we wanted a pharmacy so we asked for directions, and proceeded to look for it. before you know it we took a turn into this large street filled with people sniffing cocaine on the ground! which let me tell you shocked the hell out of both of us! if i was like you, i would come home and tell my friends about those incidents and ignore all the great aspects about germany and specifically frankfurt my favourite city
and how come your husband keeps trashing your country infront of you like that? my husanbd is australian and he wouldn't dare do that. he knows how much i love this country and he has learned to respect it for me. i taught him to love it, i talked to him about its history, about the egyptian people and the pressure they are under. i introduced him to great people. took him to some amazing places that only an egyptian would know. i'm sorry for saying all that stuff but you i was really offended by your post.

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Originally posted by Kamal211:
Hi,

I love Frankfurt too, I went there on a Sunday Morning for about 1 hour [in direct flight to and from Alex ], it was so clean and nice, and despite what I heard of Germans being very discrimintive towards "colored" people or Muslims, the Germans I met on that hour were very nice.

Infact after that visit it prompted me to learn German,[enshAllah] and maybe work there after I graduate, for some time.

But nothing beats Alexandria as my #1 favourite city!!

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Originally posted by 7aya:
yeah same here. before i went alot of people told me that germans are not nice, but actually they were very polite! i also heard that german women are plain but i was stunned at the beauties in the street! i felt ugly!

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Don't you ever feel ugly! I thought Egyptian women were beautiful! When I was in Cairo, I was intrigued by how pretty everyone was. I must confess I thought that Egyptians might age more quickly because of the sun. But his mom doesn't look much older than me. My fiance laughed when I told him that, and said Egyptians think *Americans* age really badly, and his family and friends were surprised I was 38.

So we all look good!

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Don't you ever feel ugly! I thought Egyptian women were beautiful! When I was in Cairo, I was intrigued by how pretty everyone was. I must confess I thought that Egyptians might age more quickly because of the sun. But his mom doesn't look much older than me. My fiance laughed when I told him that, and said Egyptians think *Americans* age really badly, and his family and friends were surprised I was 38.

So we all look good!

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Originally posted by Troubles101:
I thought the common idea is a bit different. we usually think western women don't age early as we think they do take more care of their health more than the average Egyptian woman.

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Oh, I don't know...just repeating what my fiance told me.

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Originally posted by Kamal211:
...
But nothing beats Alexandria as my #1 favourite city!!

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True Ya Abu Kamal
I'm going there in a few days. Have missed the place alot

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Originally posted by 7aya:
look i'm patriotic, but i still think even unpatriotic people would be surprised at your post. i don't want to offend you, but you seem like the kind of person who only sees the bad things. car accidents thats all you could see from a city like cairo?
you know something a couple of years ago i was in frankfurt with my mother. we wanted a pharmacy so we asked for directions, and proceeded to look for it. before you know it we took a turn into this large street filled with people sniffing cocaine on the ground! which let me tell you shocked the hell out of both of us! if i was like you, i would come home and tell my friends about those incidents and ignore all the great aspects about germany and specifically frankfurt my favourite city
and how come your husband keeps trashing your country infront of you like that? my husanbd is australian and he wouldn't dare do that. he knows how much i love this country and he has learned to respect it for me. i taught him to love it, i talked to him about its history, about the egyptian people and the pressure they are under. i introduced him to great people. took him to some amazing places that only an egyptian would know. i'm sorry for saying all that stuff but you i was really offended by your post.

ps. before anyone jumps down my throat, i know egypt has a drug problem too but i haven't seen people sniffing cocaine on the streets so far. egypt though has other kind of horrible problems

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My husband never says anything bad about anything what so ever, he is the most civilized human being of his time. Where did you get the idea that he trashes Egypt? He just doesn't feel his best there and he has every right to feel whatever the bug he pleases. And to my embarrassment he knows about Egypt's history much more than I know..

Besides, what got you so offended? I just described what I saw. If you see a car accident you won't turn and look at how beautiful the flowers are!! I was asked about my holiday and I described it.

If you told a German your cities are full of cocaine sniffers on every corner he might smile & tell you that this is how it could be in a free democracy!

Living in Europe taught me that everyone is entitled to his own opinion. I get students who tell me horrible things when they ask about the Islam or Egypt, but I keep my cool and never get offended otherwisw I could die.

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:
My husband never says anything bad about anything what so ever, he is the most civilized human being of his time. Where did you get the idea that he trashes Egypt? He just doesn't feel his best there and he has every right to feel whatever the bug he pleases. And to my embarrassment he knows about Egypt's history much more than I know..

Besides, what got you so offended? I just described what I saw. If you see a car accident you won't turn and look at how beautiful the flowers are!! I was asked about my holiday and I described it.

If you told a German your cities are full of cocaine sniffers on every corner he might smile & tell you that this is how it could be in a free democracy!

Living in Europe taught me that everyone is entitled to his own opinion. I get students who tell me horrible things when they ask about the Islam or Egypt, but I keep my cool and never get offended otherwisw I could die.

Take it easy.

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ofcourse you are entitled to your opinion, and believe me i learned to respect other people's opinions too, you don't have to live in europe to be like that. but i have a right to have an opinion about your opinion right? i was just surprised that when you were asked to describe your vacation all you could think of were the car accidents. cairo is not a city for the faint hearted, but it does have some fascinating things. but i can't do anything about it, its your opinion. and by the way i have told germans about the cocaine incident as well as other slightly negative things, and they didn't smile at all. they were actually pretty pissed

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Originally posted by 7aya:

ofcourse you are entitled to your opinion, and believe me i learned to respect other people's opinions too, you don't have to live in europe to be like that. but i have a right to have an opinion about your opinion right? i was just surprised that when you were asked to describe your vacation all you could think of were the car accidents. cairo is not a city for the faint hearted, but it does have some fascinating things. but i can't do anything about it, its your opinion. and by the way i have told germans about the cocaine incident as well as other slightly negative things, and they didn't smile at all. they were actually pretty pissed

best

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Cairo's traffic never scared me or my husband till we became parents. Can't wait to hear from you when you're a mom visiting Cairo from Australia.

I didn't mean to say you can't respect other people's opinion. All I meant to say is that we Easterners get grudgy too soon in a bipolar discussion (that's why we die young I guess). I actually am very happy to meet a young educated Egyptian like you.

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:

I actually never knew the Germans could smile until I met my husband.......... And tigerlily of course

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Don't you ever feel ugly! I thought Egyptian women were beautiful! When I was in Cairo, I was intrigued by how pretty everyone was. I must confess I thought that Egyptians might age more quickly because of the sun. But his mom doesn't look much older than me. My fiance laughed when I told him that, and said Egyptians think *Americans* age really badly, and his family and friends were surprised I was 38.

So we all look good!

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Hmm, I remember when my MIL went through the photo album I brought with on the first trip. She saw my grandmother and thought she was my own mom. Then she saw what my mother and her sisters looked like and asked how long ago the photos were, "well thats (my daughter) in the picture right there, a few months ago". She started to cry.

Then she mumbled something about Swich (swedes) and Norge (Norweigans) and asked if I was full blooded. And if all Americans were like this "no, my family's few good genes are staying young and pretty and nothing else". Translate. She started to moan.

It really bothered her. I don't know what her deal is, I mean she didn't start to age considerably until my husband went to America. She still is a very beautiful woman.

And, by the way, even though I find Cairo traffic to be insane beyond any experience I have had, I think they are incredible drivers for having so *few* accidents, compared to where I live. I will never cross the street by myself. Even my fiance, native-born Cairene, said he was on one side of a 6 lane highway (road from airport to downtown (el obour?)), decided he would not cross the road to his dad's house, and hailed a cab to take him on a U-turn. He was embarassed, but he was still alive.

_______________________________

DRIVING: These days, Americans and Europeans have bigger differences, but back in 2000, an ABC News report asked, "Are Americans just bad drivers?"

"Experts say American drivers break road rules, are frequently distracted and aren't often trained to handle emergency situations," the correspondent wrote. "In European countries with faster, safer roads, people wonder: Are Americans just bad drivers?

After three weeks surviving the streets in Cairo, one wonders, "Are ABC News reporters just smoking crack?" American drivers look like absolute road-masters after watching Egyptian buses, with half their passengers hanging on the outside, swerve back and forth through lanes of traffic in a manner that makes the chase scenes in the Matrix sequel look like a 1950s driver's ed filmstrip.

Americans just off the plane are about to experience a local tradition for newcomers called the ENDE — Egypt Near Death Experience. Lane lines and speed limits are really just suggestions. They have few lights or crosswalks, so crossing the street resembles the video-game Frogger — forward one lane, then a carefully timed pause, then back one lane, then advance two, then squeeze between a truck and a bus more packed than the last helicopter out of Saigon. Cars careen through at unheard of speeds, only sporadically turning on their headlights at night.

It's worth noting that despite the high speeds, extraordinarily crowded streets, symphony of car horns, constant lane changes, merges, and labyrinthine street layout, there don't seem to be that many big pileups in the Cairo avenues. (Americans living in Cairo say that some drivers don't even bother to stop and inspect the damage after a mild fender-bender.) Perhaps this is the side effect of living in a country with few trial lawyers.

— Jim Geraghty, an NRO contributor, is a reporter for States News Service.

[This message has been edited by Snoozin (edited 10 August 2005).]

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Originally posted by sonomod:
Hmm, I remember when my MIL went through the photo album I brought with on the first trip. She saw my grandmother and thought she was my own mom. Then she saw what my mother and her sisters looked like and asked how long ago the photos were, "well thats (my daughter) in the picture right there, a few months ago". She started to cry.

Then she mumbled something about Swich (swedes) and Norge (Norweigans) and asked if I was full blooded. And if all Americans were like this "no, my family's few good genes are staying young and pretty and nothing else". Translate. She started to moan.

It really bothered her. I don't know what her deal is, I mean she didn't start to age considerably until my husband went to America. She still is a very beautiful woman.

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Did you tell her she was pretty? Not that I would find it easy or even appropriate to tell my MIL she was pretty.....

I dunno. When I see women who are way prettier than I could ever hope to be, I just remind myself that I look as good as *I* can. No use in comparing myself to others.

Perhaps she was a real knockout when she was younger, and if so, it's probably harder for her to face that she's aging. Hell, I consider myself completely average and *I* have trouble facing that I'm aging. I just spent $60 on a tiny little pot of lancome eye creme. The insanity never stops.....

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Did you tell her she was pretty? Not that I would find it easy or even appropriate to tell my MIL she was pretty.....

I dunno. When I see women who are way prettier than I could ever hope to be, I just remind myself that I look as good as *I* can. No use in comparing myself to others.

Perhaps she was a real knockout when she was younger, and if so, it's probably harder for her to face that she's aging. Hell, I consider myself completely average and *I* have trouble facing that I'm aging. I just spent $60 on a tiny little pot of lancome eye creme. The insanity never stops.....

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Well as I put it, I told my BIL that my husband obviously gets his looks from his mother. Which is a compliment because for all his bad qualities, he is still extremely handsome and masculent. Not that MIL is masculent, but in order to have such a striking son the mother would have to be equally striking.

And I don't feel inadequate around women who are in better shape than I or are more beautiful. Actually I find myself giving them a sympathetic look because people often treat the beautiful as stupid or a person with no soul. Sometimes when guys are hassling a woman far more attractive than I and she doesn't have the chutzpah I do, I normally go over there and talk street-tough the bastards in order to allow her to feel like someone cares.

Then some beautiful people really are a curse on this earth. I equally measure up and point out what is missing in themselves in the most snide and undermining fashion possible. Most don't even understand what I am getting at, if they do, they cry.

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Originally posted by sonomod:

I love soaking people with their own black light. I can be so damn mean.

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Why?

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Because people here get so damn uppity. I really get sick of the mentality of former country bumpkins who come here after college become middle class and then assume that they are better than me. I was raised in better neighborhood than them, and raised according to my surroundings.

I might be down, but not out. And due to my upbringing people assume that I don't have it in me to be rude. But I do, and I am very insightful.

Its nice to bring them down a notch. I still prefer the lower income class and the really down to earth wealthy we have had in our metro area (true old money) the two groups have alot in common and I feel comfortable around them.

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Originally posted by Tigerlily:
Ah, you haven't met me yet. By the way I am all smiles about the soon coming up "Sperm Show" on Dutch TV, whats up with that??????

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Originally posted by sonomod:

Because people here get so damn uppity. I really get sick of the mentality of former country bumpkins who come here after college become middle class and then assume that they are better than me. I was raised in better neighborhood than them, and raised according to my surroundings.

I might be down, but not out. And due to my upbringing people assume that I don't have it in me to be rude. But I do, and I am very insightful.

Its nice to bring them down a notch. I still prefer the lower income class and the really down to earth wealthy we have had in our metro area (true old money) the two groups have alot in common and I feel comfortable around them.

I hate former country bumpkins. They don't know when they are out of their league.

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I just think it's obvious you are highly intelligent and very well read.

You don't have to be mean to get your point across, it comes across just fine.

--a former country bumpkin from Scaggville.