If you are in Cairo, and you are me, (which it is fairly unlikely) it would be a good idea for you to not be outside of the gates of the museum at about 10 am on Feb. 4. I'll tell you why, with as much detail as possble, in the following paragraphs. Allow me to explain.
It is a beautiful, warm day in Cairo and I awake at 8 am. I sit down to a delicious English breakfast with Keith and Lynn, drink soothing lemon tea, shower, and prepare myself for a trip to the museum in Cairo to see all of the relics removed from the now-empty tombs that I had seen just days before. The three of us hop into the car that is taking Lynn to work, as the museum is on the way, Keith and I will be dropped off for a morning of exploring. We exit the car directly outside of the gates of the museum at approximately 10:20 am. Looking back now, perhaps 5 minutes later would have been a better time for arrival! We proceed toward the gate, at which there are several armed guards and a metal detector. Keith is just in front of me as I remove my purse from my shoulder to put on the x-ray machine. This is the part where it all starts to get a little bit fuzzy and, in my opinion, hard to follow... No longer than 20 or 30 seconds after our short walk of a few meters from the car to the gate, a man, whose face I have never seen and whom I have never spoken to, says a few words. These words are not in English, and I assume that they are being spoken to the guards standing a few feet in front of me. Apparently I am wrong. Not 1 second after the last word from that man's mouth is uttered, the left side of my face is covered in spit. Yes, spit. Gross!
I, too unbelievably shocked to respond immediately, say not a word to the man. I do not even not even turn to see his face, probably out of fear that the other side of my face will be spit on as well. I simply say (in what must have been a rather "pay attention to me now!" voice) "What just happened?..." By the time Keith turns around, the man is gone. There is a man standing next to me, who immediately backs away. Perhaps he is indeed the one who did it. Maybe he decided to stay but didn't have the balls to look me in the eye and tell me that he was the one who spit in my face. Maybe he really is a bystander and the spitter fled the scene. After a quick questioning session, the guards offer that the man was "English" like us, not Egyptian. For some reason, I don't believe them. Since I didn't see the man's face, the blame is placed on no one. One guard simply says, "Welcome to Egypt." My response, which I keep to myself is, "Thanks jackass."
I must say that a shower seemed so far out of reach for the 4 hours after the event, but did eventually come. As you may be able to guess, my attitude about the whole situation is not great, but I know I'll be able to laugh about it shortly, I'm sure of it. As for the question of "Why?" I have no answer. Perhaps it has to do with the blondeness of my hair, which may have led to the man's incorrect assumption that I am of Russian descent, I know not. All I do know is that I'm not going to take it personally. I did nothing wrong, nothing to make someone angry... I was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Lame!
Oh, and if I ever live somewhere like Egypt, I'm going brunette! Can't hurt, right?
4 comments:
Well that is interesting. but there might be another side to the story. not knowing what the customes are there, it might mean, o my, what a bueatiful woman! i mark her as my love. or even my next wife. one never knows....
Maybe there was a second spitter? Was there a grassy knoll nearby? Did you ask Keith if he did it? Disgusting creature he is...
Hi Amanda - I am happy to see you are home and back on your blog. I know the experience you describe was appalling and disgusting and totally unexpected. Everyone here I told - expat and Egyptian - was totally offended and shocked that such a thing would happen in Egypt. Everyone feels bad for you. I hope you are also able to convey some wonderful stories about your experience in Egypt and the people here as well - aside from this baizare and disgusting incident, your Egypt experience was spectacular, I hope!
Miss you tons already - it was so great to have you here. Love, Lynn
Of course there are what I'm sure will be many blog posts to come over the next few days explaining the wonderful things that happened in Egypt and the great time that I had. The spitting incident is the only one that has been posted simply because it was fresh on my mind and I didn't know where to start with all the good stuff!
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