Egypt - Post revolution

The Immam let us have a good look round despite being underdressed and 50% female

To begin with, if you want to read a good blog post about expat Englishmen in Egypt,

EDIM already beat me to it here:

Snow to Sand

For me, going to Egypt was a chance to have a well deserved break in the sun and to learn a bit about a new country, culture and to suss out any potential teaching opportunities... should I need to leave Poland in a hurry ;)

Quite a few peeps have commented that I must be crazy to go there now but let's be realistic: no body wants tourists to be hurt.

In Egypt I tried to pass myself off as a Polish man because things are inevitably cheaper if you say you're Polish and not English. Russians are not well liked in Egypt because they are seen as being rude which I kind of understand but also think it's a bit harsh. English people are seen as drunkards which is true, Americans as cowards because they have all disappeared since the 'crisis' but Polish people are seen to be people Egyptians have a shared history with. Years of oppression overturned by protesting and the hopes of a bright future powered by European economies.

From my perspective as a fake Pole Englishman. The closest correlation I saw between Egyptian culture and Polish culture was the fact that both are hardcore workaholics. Sorry for these generalisations but it has to be said, I saw the similarities.

It's also pretty clear to see that Murbarak was/is hated by everybody on the street. Without fail through the hundreds of people I spoke to in a bizarre mixture of English/Polish and Arabic everyone said that Murbarak going was a good thing. The picture to the left was given to me buy someone I spoke to, it celebrates the revolution and for some reason blogger won't let me orientate it correctly :/

APC - for traffic control and sun shelter

In terms of the army. They seem to have everything under control. Movement is monitored by checkpoints on the edge of all cities and towns but the army rarely bothers any form of transport carrying tourists. Taxis and minibuses are often spot checked by uniformed or plain clothes Police officers giving the overall all round effect of feeling quite safe.

The only unusual thing I thought was that our hotel had a sort of security procedure similar to an airport with a metal detector and a pat down. Sometimes they just waved us through but once or twice we had to do the procedure properly. I'm not entirely sure what they were expecting to find on us tourists but hey ho, it all added to the sense of adventure.

We had planned on doing a lot of travelling but that went to pot when I realised how luxurious life can be in an all-inclusive resort with limitless beer but we did get out and about for a few days. Heading west towards Libya was not an option because travelling through Cairo takes a long time so we headed north towards Israel and Jordan (subject of a future post). The biggest benefit of travelling outside of the cosy resorts is the fact you can really see the level of development. In some places the standard of living was shocking.

Really shocking.

2$ a day is what the average Egyptian lives on and when you see all the tourists and the Suez canal - you begin to see why people got cheesed off. Egyptians should be rolling in cash. The people who have jobs in the resorts are the lucky ones. They have health care, free holidays (at other resorts) and the possibilities of tips from tourists but for everyone else...it's a pretty bleak, dog eat dog world.

The haggling for absolutely everything you buy would be the main reason why teaching in Egypt would be a problem. Everyone would constantly take you for a tourist and try to charge some ludicrous price like the guy in the petrol station who tried to make me pay 10$ for 1.5l of Pepsi. If you wanted to be a teacher I'm not sure who would pay you. I mean a lot of the rich people in Egypt now are slightly pre-occupied with where the hammer will fall next although I'm sure in Cairo you could find easy work. But aside from the rich people, everybody else just couldn't afford your services. If you earn 2$ a days how much can you spare for an English teacher?

Although I have to say, In a few years and if Egypt does begin to develop... I'll head out there like a shot. I can't imagine how good my tan will be after a few months living out there. I have found a few job adverts online for English teachers claiming to pay 500$ (in Egypt you would live very well) but obviously they are for international schools and I'm not sure how recent or genuine they are.

Finally, I have had the good fortune to have visited many places in our small world but Egypt would definitely be a place I would return to. Good people, Good weather.