“A City Where You Can’t Hear Yourself Scream” is a NYT piece on Cairo. I received it today from my father, with a note:
“Dear Kate & Jack – Thought you’d find this interesting. Your apartment must have very good windows and thick walls. Love, Dad”
As I wrote back, we DO have very thick walls – all concrete – great for blocking out street noise, but terrible for hanging artwork. We are also lucky, in that our windows look out over a central courtyard. There is noise, from the students, but very little compared to the noise that the NYT article talks about.
When the article mentions Tahrir Square, that is where I work. I only have to spend a handful of minutes in the square while I am walking to work, hailing a taxi, waiting in traffic, or crossing to another destination. In the short term, the noise is noticeable, but bearable. I’ve learned to ignore it – even get used to it. (Friends and visitors are stunned that Jack and I don’t even flinch at car horns, even when they are only millimeters from our elbows)
The references to lawn mowers, freight trains and jackhammers may be accurate, but, in my (not so humble) opinion, make it out to be worse than reality. Yes, it is loud. Yes, the noise is tiring. Yes, I am probably irreparably damaging my hearing. And it is not that horrible – it is just the way it is. El donya kidda (Life is like that).