Day 17

February 5^th

As I finally start to settle into Egypt I am beginning to finally internalize the differences between our cultures. The countries are quite different and I think it’s important to actually analyze the differences thoroughly if I wish to truly understand the two.
First there is the fact that we live in a country that is not only 90% Muslim, but it also the state religion. So that means we get to hear the Call to Prayer five times a day which is beautiful, but if you think about it you can never hear Mosques in America. Religion is very widespread and deeply inbred into the Egyptian society. I have had several instances where I have walked into an office not seen anyone and then was surprised when the dude stood up and I realized he was in the middle of prayer. However, I must stress that it is there is diversity in adherence to beliefs. Apparently, a building doesn’t have to pay taxes, (or less taxes) if there is a mosque in the first floor of a building. Therefore, there are a lot of mosques around. However, at the time of prayer, life does not really come to standstill at all during the time. In fact, it’s the exception not the norm for people to stop working and prayer. But I guess, you can put all your prayers together at the end that way you don’t have to stop working. It’s kind of a way of combining the demands of western culture and the restrictions of Islamic culture.
The second is gender-relations. If you travel anywhere away from AUC, the number of women you see goes down dramatically. Most of them stay in their homes and are “house wives.” Then almost all the women that you do see are wearing the hijab. The nijab is a little bit less frequent, but not at all rare.
There is also the notion of the evil eye. Apparently, there is a belief that if you are doing well and feeling good or somebody thinks that you are going to be successful then the evil eye is going to get you and ruin your success. So whenever you talk of success or someone’s kids then you have to say maasa-allah. Its apparently something that is quite prevalent in Muslim society.
Okay I want to write more, but I am tired and kind of discombobulated so I will talk about this in more depth tomorrow. I will have more classes to rant about too.