The other day, I had several errands I wanted to do:
- get copies of our apartment key made
- drop off some clothes at the tailor for alterations
- do some minor clothes shopping
We got up, we went to the local coffee shop for a coffee and pastry to start the day around 9am.
Kaddee got called by a colleague and ended up meeting her to go into school so she could show her around the department, so I was on my own.
I finished my coffee and headed out. It was 9:30-ish. It was a Thursday. Friday & Saturday is the weekend.
So, I strolled towards Brazil St (which is where the tailor is) in a zig-zag fashion, attempting to stroll by the various clothing stores I had seen in previous walks.
None were open yet. Hmmm.
I get to the tailor’s shop.
I need to digress a moment about the “tailor”. Our orientation buddy had introduced me to this man. He had used him for some simple alterations: pant’s hemming, replacing a button etc. Good for simple work, cheap. I would not go to him to have him make me a suit, most likely, but I needed my pant’s hemmed and the sleeves on a jacket shortened. This gentleman is perfect for that kind of work.
The tailor’s “shop” is an 6×12 foot stall with a rollup metal door. about 80% of the shop space is heaps of bags of clothing and fabric in plastic bags.The tailor sits on a chair on the sidewalk, sewing by hand. I see no evidence of a sewing machine, nor even electricity in his stall.
This is “the tailor”.
So, I get to the tailor’s shop, and his metal store is rolled shut and locked. Hmmm. It is about 10:15.
I go to the key making stall. He is open! Praise Allah! I have some keys made.
I remember now that I had been told that things get moving around 11am-noon. I have at least 45 minutes to kill.
Ok, I find a restaurant that is open and have a late breakfast/early lunch and read the Herald Tribune.
I finish lunch and strike out again.
By now it is really heating up. I find the tailor, give him my clothes and head back to the apartment.
It is too warm now to entertain the thought of clothes shopping and trying on clothes in a cramped dressing room. I go home.
In every other “hot” country I have been in, people tend to get moving early-ish (not 6 am early, but 9am early) to beat the heat of the day. Here, nothing really gets going till 11 at the earliest. Just in time for the heat to really pick up.
Egyptians on the whole seem to be really late night people. There are several bars that don’t get going till 1am and are open 24 hours.
Most of open air concerts and entertainment venues (of which there are many) list showtimes of 11pm and midnight starts are far from uncommon.
Having dinner before 8 or 9 is kinda like the “early bird special” in places that have a large retirement community in the US.
All this translates into very quiet mornings for sleeping in.
Which works for us, mostly. Except when “we have stuff to do” and want to get going.
I have been told, repeatedly, by people here that:
The American way is to make a list of things you want to do today and check them off as you go
The Egyptian way is to have a list of things you need to do, and a time at which you will quit for the day. When that times comes, you’re done. The rest can happen Bukra. (Bukra is egyptian arabic for “tomorrow”. It has the same meaning as “manana“. It doesn’t really mean tomorrow, it just means “not today“)
It’s gonna take some getting used to…