Who Needs Seatbelts?

My life in Cairo would not have been the same if I didn't ride a microbus three times a week. So, Fernando and I have decided to recount some of our most exciting microbus experiences here, to make sure we never forget how much fun it is to ride a microbus in Cairo.

I documented our first few adventures on the official blog a few weeks ago, recalling the first time when we didn't understand how paying our bus fare worked, and my arms getting a lot of attention as the guy in front of me wouldn't stop staring at them.

We certainly can't forget the pimped-out party bus we got on once, with its blue lights, fringed dashboard, red-tinted ceiling lights and serious bass which shook the seats. Or the time we drove by what appeared to be part of a wedding procession, where one of the cars had a grid of Christmas lights covering the windshield. Or Fernando getting so crammed between me and a random lady that he had to hold himself up using the seat in front of him so he wouldn't squish her. That ride was the same one where a man turned and chastised me for cracking my knuckles, using a combination of Arabic, English and French. Or the time when the seat in front of Fernando had this strange, basketball-sized growth that was looming onto his seat. Or the two guys who jumped on the back bumper of our bus and free-rode for a little while.


One of the most exciting adventures was when we were sitting in the bus near the metro station, waiting for it to leave, when this little kid started yelling with our bus driver. All of a sudden, the kid runs to the front seat and snatches away the keys, running away with them. The driver got them back pretty quickly, and we pulled away from the bus stop leaving behind this kid crying and screaming something in Arabic. We still have no idea what happened.

Oh, or there was the time we discovered the alternate route back to the metro station. We were just driving along when all of a sudden the driver turns us into some random alleyway. We got back fine, it was just a different way to get back, but we still speculated that we'd been kidnapped for a while.

One of our favorites happened this week - our driver started racing the bus next to us. They took turns cutting each other off, racing to go the next 5 feet ahead before traffic forced them to stop, and occasionally pulling close so the driver could hit the other bus. In fact, he got so engrossed with his rivalry that he almost forgot to let all of his passengers off at our stop.

But by far the strangest occurrence was today's: on our way back, after Fernando made 2 guys squish over so he could sit for a little (it was a really full bus), another guy came in at one of the major stops and sat down next to him. The guy looks over, and asks a strange question (in English, no less): "Do you have a Facebook?" Fernando, at this point, is a little sketched out, but answers yes only to find that this guy not only has a friend in common with Fernando on Facebook but also had seen an old picture of Fernando, prompting the question: "Did you used to have long hair?" It was too strange an occurrence for the guy to have been lying, and the bus ride ended with us getting invited to a party this Saturday.

All in all, we've so far had some great times on our various buses. And, in shah Allah, our last two weeks will give us more exciting microbus stories to share. It's so weird to realize that we have so little time left - there's so much more I want to do!


Also, real quick, I wanted to address some reactions to my "Some Time Off" post. For one, I'm really enjoying my time here, and would change very little. The purpose of the post was to reflect on how we live in Cairo and how it could be better, or worse, or just different. I don't think that DukeEngage has wasted its money on us - I think every single one of us has learned and gained so much from this experience. I was just trying to examine the program to see how changes could affect how we learn from our time here. Also, technical note: DukeEngage is not paying for all of our trips, especially within Cairo. They helped sponsor our trip to Alexandria, and our trip to Sharm el-Sheikh over our last weekend in Egypt will be partially paid for directly by DukeEngage, but things like our faluka rides and adventures at various places around Cairo are mostly paid for by us. But, DukeEngage did give us a stipend, the spending of which is left to our discretion, to help cover our expenses here in Cairo, like transportation and food - so, you could think of them paying for our faluka rides and City Stars outings through that, I guess.

Anyway, just wanted to make sure those points were clear. I made this blog so I could record my own thoughts and reflections away from the official blog. I know the official blog links here, so they are connected, but I am not going to censor my reflections or feelings here just to spare DukeEngage some constructive criticism. Please, if you have any comments or reactions to this, comment here so I can address any concerns or whatever!