Well when I was 21 my best friend & I decided to go to London and do the working, travelling thing, we did it for a year, it was learning curve and a blast at the same time. 1 place we went to was Egypt and did I love that place, after we had gotten back to London, then come back to sunny SA for a holiday, she stayed here and I went back to Lon for 6 months to save like mad then went to Egypt. I just loved that place. I stayed at our tour leaders place for a few weeks, went down to Hurghada, but didn't find work, so went back to Cairo, I found a job through a sister of a friend of the tour leader and worked as a teacher for 2 months, I taught English to 6 year olds and I seriously didn't cope. They came crying to me in Arabic and wanted me to fix them, I just couldn't as my Arabic was non existent.
So I put my cv in at a agency and became a secretary for a lawyer. Dr Nagla, she was 1 lawyer in a huge huge law firm over there, she was just brilliant. I loved working for her. She was such an inspiration to me. I used to work the oddest of hours 10am - 8pm and then sometimes when an article had to be in, I would work 24 hours, but get the next day off. We worked 6 days a week and Friday was our day off.
Was interesting in all as I worked in reception and there was a big hall outside my door on the 4th floor and at prayer time the guys would all throw down their mats and start their prayers, but to me it was awkward as Mecca was behind me ... not good, so I used to go disappear into the offices long side until they were finished and if the big boss called during that time, it was a nightmare to get upstairs to him, as I had to go past the prayers without them seeing me as I felt it was disrespectful to run past while they were praying. There was such a nice group of people working there. I became really good friends with a lawyer there, he was such a good friend and still is to this day. The amount of times I crashed into his office to chat and he was praying was uncountable, but he never got angry with me, he always just laughed later. He showed me places and introduced me to new people.
I became good friends with the tour leaders 1 friends ex girlfriend M. She was lovely, she reminded me of my 1 sister here. Her and her family were so kind to me. Her sister M2and I used to have major debates all the time, it was always good fun! It was an interesting family as the mom was Christian and the father was Muslim and the kids were brought up Muslim, but accepted the christian beliefs. they lived over the road from a church and the singing that came from there used to bring tears to my eyes. They had a cook that would come once a week and make food for the week. I loved the food there! Just loved it!
I got so used to the mosques and the calls it became part of my life and the cars charging down the 3 laned roads 5 cars abreast, was crazy, with all their honking and yelling, I am surprised there weren't more accidents.
Another friend of mine was a tour-leader's sister and her family, I was always invited to stay there and eat their. I became friends with 2 of the daughters and 1 ran away while I was there and the other 1 sadly died of MS at 26 years of age, a year after I got home. Was so sad as it happened so quickly, 1 minute fine, next minute MS and collapsed int he bat and couldn't be revived. She was an angel. So kind and caring.
I don't know what I would have done without these wonderful people in my life. I rented a 2 bedroom apartment and shared a phone with the floor below me. Was very weird! I learnt how to speak street Arabic from the tea boys at work and could shout the shop owners down, just like the rest of them. They used to refuse to bring me more of the coffee saying it was too rich for my foreign stomach. they were funny!
The poor Egyptians used to get so confused, they thought I was from America cause I was blond, but when I told them I was from South Africa, they used to laugh and say no way, you not black!
I went all over Egypt, to an oasis and down sand dunes on land rovers and Alexandra and the Pyramids way too many times and riding on Camels, now camels are not the most friendly creatures, they stink and they blow raspberries at you if you not careful. Every time I had people come visit from England (those were my only visitors, friends I had made there) I had to do all the sights with them, was quite funny, them with a foreign guide.
I took them all to a cruise on the Nile with Belly dancing and such. Always a bit hit and the people on the boat got to know me and make way for me, was fun.
I had a friend over from England and we were in another friends car and we were in a major accident, my friend was driving fast, but another car was reversing on a highway in the fast lane, so they hit each other. I broke my nose and stuffed up my back, my friend was in the front and she broke the windscreen wither her head and my friend the driver, he got beaten up by the other driver??? Was all crazy and all I could think was I must hold my handbag so it won't get stolen ... it wouldn't have there, crime was non existent then. We went to a hospital and were treated like queens!
There were some really dodgy guys, but learnt how to handle them ... I got a taxi once (that was how I travelled) and 1 drove away with me, wouldn't let me go, I had a gold ring on purpose and shouted at him that my husband was Egyptian and going to kill him, he took me straight to where I asked. I learnt the hard way there, but never felt threatened or unsafe. I even learnt the buses to the shock of my friend who would never catch a bus in their own country! i found 1 driver who I phoned and he would do my usual trips for me, made life easier!
I went to the dodgiest of dodgy neighbourhoods with a friend and as we walked to the flat we were going to the door opened by a fully covered girl and she was a guest there too, and the person I was with said "oh wow I haven't seen you for years, how are you? I didn't know you were coming", I sat there thinking, how how how did you know who that was under all that! Haha!
My friends came in all shapes and sizes and all religions and I love and respect all of my friends. Some were half covered and some didn't cover at all. I was treated like a man there because I was foreign. I could sit with the ladies or sit with the men. As they ate in separate rooms to eat if they were traditional. I often sat with the men, purely cause lots of the woman didn't speak English. was always a tough call for me.
I left there after just over 1 year to come home, it was my cousins wedding and I felt it was time to come home after travelling for just over 2.5 years. It was an experience of a lifetime and I loved being there and living their life. I look back now 11 years on and wonder how I did it, how I went to a foreign country that spoke no English and lived for a year with friends who's English was never excellent, but were kind and amazing. I could never do that now, no way, but guess it was something I had to do in my life and am so glad I did.
