Taxi Driver

I am especially sad today because I will never again see my taxi driver. His name was Abdoulazim and he was a superb driver. I thought New York cab drivers were nuts until now, but I'd like to see them try to drive in a city of 22 million where there are no traffic lights, no speed limits, and little respect for a car's paint job (or pedestrians for that matter).

Anyway, the reason I refer to Abdoul as my taxi driver is because we had a deal that he would pick me up every morning, take me to work and pick me up at night and take me home. We had a set price, so I was to pay him LE 75 (egyptian pounds) weekly - thats a little less than $15. I wish I could say that I used my incredible Arabic skills to negotiate this deal with him, but no. A friend named Hend arranged it for me since she's Egyptian and she speaks Arabic.

So Abdou drove me for 5 or 6 days and I really enjoyed his company. We had a number of great conversations in a messy mix of broken English and Arabic (his English was a lot better than my Arabic). I learned that he is 38, unmarried, and speaks German, which is a bit ironic since I was enrolled in a German class about 5 months ago, but I dropped it after the first day. Strangely enough, Abdou hates Cairo (probably because he has to drive here).

Driving in Cairo is only for the very brave, and I don't think I would attempt it without a few years of practice. Literally not a single second goes by when you're on the street that you don't hear someone honking their horn. In the states you only honk when you are very annoyed or someone does something really stupid. Here they use a horn like a gentle reminder to look out. Most cars have scratches and dents on them from little bumps here and there. When I was driving with Abdou it wasn't uncommon for the side mirror to get folded in as we just nicked another car. It has been a wild ride to and from work everyday.

Trying to keep a long story short, I had to back out of my deal with Abdou because I don't get off work at a regular time everyday - sometimes I have to stay late and have no way of communicating that to Abdou. And so I'll have to start getting a different cab every time I want to go to and from work, which is actually a good thing because I'll have to practice negotiating prices (they don't use meters) and speaking in Arabic.

On another note, I went to do some serious grocery shopping today for the first time since I've been here, and I made spaghetti tonight with Harrison. It was so good. No dining hall here, so I guess I'll have to start cooking more often.