My Experiences in Egypt - Part 3

In this edition, I will tell you about Living Style of People here.....

People are simple, friendly and very good. Normally, they follow Islam very very strictly. All pray according to the timings of prayer. Some beautiful Mosques are built in Cairo.

Ramadan Month is like Wow..........Its very very hard during Ramadan month here. People work for the whole day so the roads are very very quite and in the evenings around 6.30 pm they start gathering for their dinner. All the restruants are very busy and occupied. People roam around for the entire night.

The roads are very very wide and the city planning is beautiful. But the traffic is too bad here. Traffic jams are the daily stories. The parking system is so very funny and you will find vehicles parked on the both sides of the road. Half of the road is occupied by the vehicles being parked and its very hard to find a parking place.

Nile flows in between the city which is a beauty to watch.

And Nile has many ways to flow in the city and it keeps on flowing through out the year. People love their river very very much.

The people are very friendly yet very rigid. Sounds strange ???? Yes, it is strange but it is true. They are very friendly with you during working hours. But they are not so receptive towards you (to their homes). They are very particular about inviting people to homes and if you are a boy / male, its even difficult.

There are lot of customs to follow. Don't offer a hand shake to an Egyptian Woman, unless she offers first. Always greet people with SALAM WALEKUM where ever you meet them (parking places, elevators, super markets, cinemas, working places) which means You must stay with peace. Refrain from kissing children or do not praise children too much (if the its a baby girl, be more careful).

And when it comes to work, people are so cool. Be very very proactive with people here. Any work, simple or complex will take weeks together. There is no sense of urgency  seen here. People will only do work, if they want to do it. Other wise, huh..... forget it. It takes ages to make them understand th importance of it. (But not with all, there are exceptionally good people.) Most of the companies work 5 days a week. Friday is a public holiday and Sunday is working day. It took a while for me to adjust for this.

For Indians especially there is a community here called ICAE. They organize get together and lot of events (like Dussehera, Diwali, Holi ) etc., You can register with them online @ www.desiegypt.com for receiving email updates. Even, local egyptians can also be a part of it.

( More in Part 4)