I don’t know if Egypt is becoming more normal or if I’m just getting used to it, but I’m seeing much less strange stuff to photograph and blog about. But then again, I have been home for much of the week both recovering and encouraging (somewhat futilely) baby sleep. That does cut down on quite a bit of the potential for crazy.
I was sitting in church last night and there were a few stray cats roaming up and down the aisles and under the seats, so I guess that qualifies as strange. I was watching one cat weaving in and out of the chair legs and I realized, “Oh wait, this is not normal.” You see cats everywhere you look so you stop noticing them after a while.
Another crazy thing here is the prejudice against headlights. Yep. Those little shiny things you have on the front of your car. About 50% of the people here drive without their headlights on because it is considered “rude” and they don’t want to “blind their Muslim brother.” (Quote from a friend who lived over here before us.) Another 25% have replaced their lights with these super dim things that barely let out a yellow glow. I don’t know if you can buy bulbs with that low of wattage or if they salvage bulbs that are on the verge of burning out, but they can’t possibly provide any visibility for the driver.
Of course we are using our headlights cause, hello! The streets are narrow, the roads have potholes and speed bumps, there aren't many streetlights or other ambient light, and people walk into the street wearing black robes without any care for oncoming cars. I know Egyptians don’t want to blind their Muslim brothers, but they don’t care about running them over?
When we drive at night we have people constantly flashing their headlights at us, like we’re brighting them. Then Josh flashes his brights to show them that indeed, we are not.
There is even a special hand signal to tell people that their lights are too bright: hold your hand up, palm out and make a strobe-like motion at the offender. Josh was driving one night and the dude ahead of him kept turning back and giving him the hand signal, wanting him to turn off his headlights. Josh ignored him so the dude pulled over and let Josh drive in front of him. We can’t figure out if they don’t know how to adjust the rear-view mirror so that the lights don’t shine in their eyes or what.
I promise you that it’s not that people have just let their headlights burn out. It’s an actual thing, an unwritten rule. One of the only rules here that I know of other than the one that says if your bumper is in front of the other dude’s bumper (by any amount, even inches) you have the right of way – including cutting in front of 4 lanes of traffic from the right lane to make a left turn.
Oh, the other rule that seems to be followed religiously is the rule of the cement blocks. People will double and triple park here, but there are people that will set these parking spot placeholders on the street that are coffee cans filled with cement with a piece of re-bar sticking out of them. Then they move them around to create and block off parking spaces. It would be super easy to scooch one over and create a space for yourself, especially when parking is at a premium, but everybody honors the cement blocks. Go figure.
The other night when Josh was driving down a narrow street, an oncoming car (without headlights on) was zipping toward him, frantically flashing his headlights at Josh, signaling that he was being blinded by his headlights. After they passed each other Josh heard this horrible scraping sound and turned to see the dude, because he was driving in the dark, had inadvertently run over one of the cement blocks and it was wedged up underneath his car. And that is why you always use your headlights! (Arrested Development reference)
