Learning to Cross Streets

Welcome to my blog! With my first entry entitled as "Learning to Cross Streets", one might assume that this Fulbright scholar intends to build bridges between my culture and that of old Cairo. While this allegorical purpose is charming and would fit in with my pledge to "build understanding" between the United States and the rest of the world, there is in fact a literal meaning behind this title. In Cairo, you seriously have to re-learn how to cross a street. Honestly. If you go by the old-fashioned rules of the US, you will never end up on the other side of the boulevard. Traffic here is a video game in which taxi drivers get bonus points for how many clueless tourists they almost run over, for how many "traffic lights" they ignore, and for how many lanes they swerve in and out of in the span of 100 yards. I had always heard that the traffic here in Cairo, lovingly called "zahman" by locals, was atrocious, but nothing could have prepared me for the shear insanity. The first time I was dropped off by a taxi on the wrong side of the street, it took me 15 minutes to timidly wait for a gap in traffic. The cars come at approximately 40 mph, more if there is a green light, less if there is a red (but actually stopping is optional, as are head-lights at night). As I waited, I watched with amazement and jealousy as savvy Egyptians, gabbing on their cell-phones, casually weaved in and out of the oncoming traffic. If they couldn't cross the entire 5 lane road in one go, they would wait on the white dotted line, as traffic whizzed by, nipping their coat tails and hijab, never batting an eye-lash. While I don't think I will ever acheive the talent exhibited by Cairo's locals, I hope that by the end of my stay I will truly learn how to walk like an Egyptian.