Egypt in Retrospect

Observations of Egypt:

Before we left home my sister, Dani, the anthropologist gave us some advice that I keep close in mind whenever experiencing a new culture/country. She said "There's no best or worst way to live. Just different." What she means is that when traveling for a while, or spending a long time in a different culture, it's easy to lose yourself. You can either become so immersed and impressed with this new and different culture that you start to view your own with disdain. Or on the other side of that, you could be disgusted with the culture you are visiting and see your culture and home as superior. I'm sure you've picked up on my allusions to my disdain for Egypt in my emails about our experiences here. As much as I'd like to sound impartial and give you a view of Egypt that is neutral and fact-based, I'm not an anthropologist. And while I'll be one of the first to point out the many flaws of my own culture, I'm also a glass-half-full kind of girl. All that being said, here's my impression of Egypt:
Egypt kind of looks like a country recovering from a war. The buildings are dilapidated and crumbling. In fact, yesterday a building in Alexandria just collapsed, killing 12 people. There is no sense of organization or order here. The country would do good from a pressure cleaner and a coat of paint. No one takes care of the public places. Stairways, hallways, spaces between shop fronts are filthy. But people do take care to keep their immediate property clean. There is no trash removal, and the few trash cans that are placed throughout the cities are quickly stuffed to the brim and overflowing. Empty lots, fields, alleyways are filled with trash. It seems like all progress ended in 1960. The public busses, most of the cars, and most of the architecture are all from the 50s. I guess corruption really ruined this country. Our tour guide, Mamdoh, told me that Egypt was quite industrialized throughout the first half of the century. But it really all just stopped.
Michael and I experienced some of this corruption first hand one afternoon while having lunch. We were sitting on a bench outside a restaurant, just off the sidewalk. Actually our view was pretty spectacular: we could see the pyramids of Giza if we looked over and through the throng of traffic on the street. While we were sitting there, a man dressed normally in a button-down shirt and pants, wearing a gun in a holster on his hip walked by us. He smiled as he walked by and said, "Hello!" He took a few more steps, before stopping and turning around to come speak with us. He didn't come that close, keeping about 10 ft. between us. He said, "Hello. Welcome!" (They all say that here) Michael and I smiled back, apprehensively. We didn't say anything. Then the man said, "English?" So, we both kind of nodded, but still, we didn't say anything. The man looked around, then pointed to the gun in his holster and said "Police." So I gave him the thumbs up. Then he said pointing to his chest, "Not normal police," shaking his head. Puts out his hand, "Give me money." Michael and I were dumbfounded. We just continued to stare at him blankly, heads cocked. He stood there for another minute or two, asked for money a couple more times, pointed to his gun a bunch, but we didn't budge. Finally the man got bored and walked away.
Everyone wants you to give them money! There were 6 of us riding in the back of a pickup truck through a non-touristy town called Dawar (or something like that). As we drove through the village 3 little boys, around 10 years old, ran up and jumped onto the back of the truck. The smallest one yelled, "Hello how are you!" (like they all do). So we all yelled back "Hello!" They were cute kids. Then the boy put out his hand, palm up and said, "Money!" So Michael leaned forward, put out his hand, palm up and said "Money!" The boy was confused. He tried again, "Money." Then we all leaned forward, hands out, palms up, "Money!" we all yelled in unison. The boy laughed nervously and tried one last time before jumping off and running away.
But then there's the waiter who gave us a big bottle of water for free at the restaurant. And the other waiter who took my flip flop from me when it broke and fixed it with a nail, and wouldn't even accept our tip. And the guys who own the hostel where we are staying who are just gems!
Fashion also seems to be lost here. Color is cherished, and no color combo is wrong. Yellow and green were a favorite of the girls of Alexandria.
Boys hold hands and link arms with their friends. This is not at all considered homosexual. Mustaches are revered as studly. Greasy hair is handsome.
They seem to like meaty women. Or at least the Bedouin do. While having dinner at our Bedouin friend's house in Bahayira, his creepy half brother showed us some videos on his cell phone of thick women wearing tight clothes, showing off their cleavage belly dancing. It was quite provocative and disturbing. Some of the videos looked homemade. He was giggling scandalously like he was showing us porn.
Men will take every opportunity possible to touch a boob. The donkey boy who helped me onto my donkey in Luxor picked me up under the arms with a hand on my right boob. While driving in the front seat of a taxi one of the girls in our tour had her boob brushed several times as the taxi driver pointed out sights.
Our Bedouin friend showed me how to tie my scarf like the Muslim girls do. Then he told me that I looked pretty now!
If I was Muslim I'd have to wear the scarf over my eyes since my hairline runs into my eyebrows.
High speed Internet does not exist in Egypt.
Music sound quality does not exist in Egypt. All music is ALWAYS garbled.
There are stray cats EVERYWHERE.
Little babies have the faces of grown men.
Grown men have a wolfish quality about them.

The sights are worth the visit, but no one needs to spend a month here.
I think we've overstayed our welcome.