Egypt: Muslims vs. Christians. This has gone on long enough.

Friday, to use the words of FDR, was a "day that shall live in infamy".

Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt were attacked during mass. There were injuries and a single death. For more prescise information on what happened, you can access Al-Jazeera's coverage of the issue in Arabic and English. You can also check out other bloggers' views on the matter. Antisocialite's post, Manal and Alaa's post (Arabic) and Sandmonkey's view on the matter. (Most of this information was collaborated by the Egyptian Arabic Daily: The Egyptian Today [El Masree El Yoam], which I believe is a credible newspaper.

You can also check out this post on a Blog subscribed to Manal and Alaa's Aggregator [Note: His opinions are his own. And, even though he mentions the reaction of the Christians at the scene and the congregation, please do not think that I chose to include this article to imply that Christians hate Muslims (as someone mentioned to me)]. Two things though, it's in Arabic and has one pretty graphic picture of the person killed during the events. The only reason I've included it is because this blog's owner was an actual eye witness to the events (or so he claims).

What do I think of the whole issue? (I'm going to swear, possibly frequently.)

I think it's fucking pathetic. Most of the other bloggers have covered what I will say, but I will say it again. And again. And again. I think it's fucking pathetic that the man was not stopped after entering the first church. I think it's fucking pathetic that the man, who apparently was screaming "There is no god but God", was allowed to enter the church in the first place. I cannot believe that the guards did not open fire and kill the stupid son of a bitch. They should have.

I think it's fucking pathetic that the government says that the man was mentally deranged. EVEN IF the stupid son of a bitch was fucking deranged, that excuse is so pathetic and offending that it should not have been used. I'm also "surprised" that they managed to find out that he's mentally deranged on such short notice, knowing that most of their "investigations" take weeks if not months if not years if ever to conclude.

You know, I'm generally one of those people who says: you shouldn't judge all Muslims by the actions of a few, but I know that I'd be one pissed off mother-fucker were I Christian. And I'd be completely in the right too.

Islamists are going to burn. Oh yeah. They need to.

7anshouf feekom yoam ya welad seteen kalb. 7anshouf feekom yoam entom we kol el kelab el zayekom.


That's the way I fucking see it.

Tags: alexandria, egypt, christians, muslim, church, coptic, wtf

ACHTUNG Egyptian Drivers! I value my life.

I don't drive.

I should say that I don't drive because I don't own a driver's license at the moment. At the moment has been a period that has extended for almost seven years now... but who's counting. Because I don't drive my usual modes of transportation include (limited to, actually): friends' cars (friends included), cabs, the metro (not a lot nowadays) and walking.

Now, if you've read any of my previous posts, you might have noticed my tendency to quote cab drivers and talk about them. I don't know why I do this. Is it because there's the variable constant in my life? Possibly. Maybe the reason is their way of thinking (definitely different from my clique)? Possibly. Is it because I find them interesting and fascinating, driving around Cairo all day long (or however long their shift may be), meeting people on every street and corner? Oh yes.

*Looks up*

Ok. I rambled again.

On my way home last night, at the very late hour of 10:30 pm (I was dead tired, honest!) I had three automobile-related near death experiences. This is the average number of near-death experiences one can have on a single thirty minute car trip in Cairo, so I was not overly-concerned. Because I was sleepy (Im guessing) all cars were trailed by a long streak of light. Much like the delightful Red Arrows' planes look during an Airshow.

In fact, the cars did look like they were performing some sort of show, albeit a land one. Drivers were twisting and turning,speeding then braking, passing and stopping, taunting and swearing and finally... crashing (witnessed a minor car accident - didn't even look twice. Too tired.) The realization came to me then that upon entering any four-wheeled vehicle in Egypt, you are automatically placing you life in the hands of your deity (should you happen to have one. Metaphorical hands for muslims and Jews.)

Egyptian drivers (and yes, I'm generalizing) have an amazing tendency to ignore the fact that there are other drivers on the road. This was made obvious yesterday by two volunteers who willingly chose to prove my point.

First Volunteer: Un-identified Egyptian male in his mid to late fifties accompanied by his family.
Car: A Lada 2106 if memory serves me correctly.
Incident: Just before going up the two-lane Malek El Saleh bridge, my cab driver and I were introduced to our first volunteer.
What happened: The man came over all the way from the right lane (three lane road) and attempted to hijack our left lane (bypassing the middle lane in the process).
Why we think he did that: We came to the conclusion that he was either absent-minded or tired and forgot that he wanted to get on the bridge, opting for the right lane exit into Manyal. Suddenly aware of the fact that he did not, in fact, wish to do that, he swerved all the way to the left to get on the bridge.
Why it was really stupid: There was a small Toyota Mini-bus parked at the bottom of the bridge. Parked at the bottom of the bridge. In the right lane. Of course, it wasn't parked per se... the driver was letting out passengers and letting in new ones... but it was there, stopped, completely immobile for a period of at least fifteen seconds. The man in the Lada must have known this; it was right in his path. It was really stupid of him to attempt to squeeze himself between the bus and us in a two lane road. Fortunately, my cab driver's nerves of steel (which manifested themselves in the fact that he did not divert an inch from his track) forced our first volunteer to drastically slow down. Thanfully.

Second Volunteer: Unknown driver of a souped-up Honda Civic.
Car: Souped-up Honda Civic.
Incident: Man almost hit by speeding car and the chaos that ensued almost caused a four car pile-up.
What happened: On the Corniche, again, approaching the Sadat Academy entrance to Maadi. This is a usual station for mini-buses and, true to that, another mini-bus was parked at the side of the road. Apparently the dude (or dudete...?) in the Civic believed that you need a minimum speed of 280 km/hr before the Civic has enough speed to achieve un-aided lift-off. It's that, or the car was being clocked for some kind of urban land speed record, because he was 'tearing up the tarmac'. What happened was, as soon as the Civic came to the entrance, a man popped up from behind the Mini-bus... obviously to cross to the other side of the road. Screeching sounds occurred and panic ensued. The civic dude hit the brakes... though realistically, had the man decided not to stop, the civic would have hit him. Hard. He stopped though.
Thing is, when the Civic driver hit the brakes, 4 cars behind him hit the brakes. For a period of two seconds, me and the cab driver watched 4 car drivers momentarily lose control of their cars; it was magnificent (I'm allowe to say this in retrospect since no accident occurred). Four cars fish-tailing for two seconds. It looked perfectly coordinated.
Why we think he did that: Young. Into cars. Reckless. Nothing new.
Why it was really stupid: Ok. There are many good drivers out there. There are many good drivers who know they're good drivers. There are many good drivers who know they're good drivers and thus the usually tend to 'push the pedal to the metal', even during traffic jams. But basically, it's like my grand-father says "You're a good driver but can you vouch for every other driver near you?" Man in the Civic (i'm convinced it's a guy, from experience) probably forgot the whole thing 4.8031 seconds later. Im guessing that's about how long it took him to get from 0-100.

What we need to do: Two things really - hope we never cross paths with these idiots and pray like hell everytime we get into a four-wheeled vehicle. You never know... you might be lucky.

*Pause*

Speaking of road incidents, next time I write on the topic, I'll have to mention the story of the guy and girl who chose to engage in *ahem* quasi-sexual activities in the back of a two-door 4x4 with the whole of Cairo watching them. Oh yes. They were like a pace-car in a Formula One race... no one attempted to pass them.


*Nod* Yup, that's just the way I see it.

Tags: cairo, egypt, driving, automobiles, cars

Arab music channels and... theological advertising?

The strangest thing happened today.

I was browsing through various web-pages and glancing every now and then at the tv that one of my brothers had tuned to an Arab music channel, Entertainment Television (E Tv) to be exact, when the most peculiar advertisement I've seen in a long time started showing.

At first, I didn't notice it. But, the dialogue and the lines used forced my attention to the screen. Anyhow, the ad. went something like this (imagine this with me now):

[This starts from when I first saw the ad. I have no idea how many seconds, if any, I missed]

A fashionably-dressed, beautiful woman in the back seat of a luxury car with a cell-phone to her ear. She is speaking to her husband, apparently, asking him how his day was and that she'll see him soon (I think). The expression on her face was a mixture of slight melancholy and tiredness. Next scene, she's walking into her apartment/home. The place looks simple yet very expensive. Like everything in the apartment is a 10 carat diamond.

She walks across the bedroom, throws a jacket (I think) and her purse on the bed and then goes out to stand in the balcony. She then enters a short soliloquy about how there is something missing from her life. There's that one thing, without which she is incapable of being happy. She asks God why she isn't happy and asks Him to help her.

The scene then skips to her walking alongside a wall, towards the camera and a bit to the left of the frame. As she moves closer, the camera turns to the left with her until the camera has turned 90 degrees and we realize there's a mirror on the wall. When she walks past the mirror, we realize that her reflection is wearing a Hijab and a long-sleeved top (the mirror only shows her upper torso). Again, she is dressed well. The model glances towards the mirror and is obviously surprised by her reflection and audibly expresses her surprise by saying: is that me? Her reflection merely nods at her and smiles.

We then see her in the final scene walking on a sidewalk, taking large steps, smiling and looking content (wearing her Hijab and long-sleeved shirt or top). Then, in arabic font accompanied by a pleasant sounding male voice, we see/hear the phrase: Obeying god is the road to happiness. And the Ad ends.

Before I continue, I will make a few observations concerning the advertisement: The car in the beginning made it seem like the whole thing was an ad for a new BMW or Mercedes; the car was perfectly polished and reflecting what looked like tunnel lights. The interior of the car looked so new and pristine, you could smell the leathery new-car-smell. Everything looked cool, efficient and organized. When you saw the model, it seemed like the ad was a woman's fashion ad, then possibly one for skin and hair products; she looked that perfect.

The model herself looked like she was in her mid to late twenties. Her face looked young, but not naive or childishly youthful. She looked like a mature young woman.

After the model wore the Hijab there were also differences in the ad; more colors and an increased sense of cheerfulness. Before that, the ad was mostly shades of browns, greys and blacks. After the Hijab, it was all very vivid greens and blues and reds and yellows and oranges (in addition to the deep browns, blacks and whites). The change was subtle, but I noticed it.

The message of the ad was obvious: through the Hijab, you'll be a happier person. Also, as is obvious, the advertisement targeted the more financially capable segment of society; possibly to transmit the message that you do not have to be poor and conservative in order to wear the Hijab. The model could have been any of the young women that I personally meet and know everyday.

There were a couple of things that surprised me (other than the advertisement as a whole, of course). First of all, the channel is a lebanese one. Second, it's that same channel that shows the exact same music videos (along with most of the other arabic music channels) that kept the arab world in a constant state of uproar (some say "and the arab world still is", but there are other matters that have distracted the critics) because of the way female singers sing, dress, dance and behave. What an irony.

What I really want to know is this: who was behind the advertisement? Who paid for something like this? How on earth did E tv management allow such an ad to be aired on their channel?

Having written all this, I feel that this is the part where I critically analyze the whole situation and give my view on the matter. Yet, I find myself incapable of doing so. On the one hand, I am totally and fanatically against the idea that the Hijab is a Fard; i.e. a tennant of the muslim faith that needs to be upheld on par with praying, doing good and observing shariaa laws because the verses from the Quran that are used to support this argument are shady and quite open to interpretation - at best.

On the other hand, since I believe that any person is allowed to do what they wish and express themselves in whatever way they deem fit as long as they do not harm others, I see no problem with the advertisement. Either way, this ad. heralds (to me, at least) a new step taken by Islamic groups or individuals. They might be moderates, almost definitely are considering their choice of media and the way they put forward their advertisement.

Hell, it might even be Hizbullah. I don't know. But whomever they are, they've done it the right way.


And that's the way I see it.

Tags: cairo, egypt, islam, etv, hijab, veil, television, advertisement

Blogs... should they? Shouldn't they?

A few minutes ago, I came across an interesting Post in Manal and Alaa's Blog. Apparently, an article written in the Egyptian Daily, The Daily Star, on the 1st of this month ,criticized Manal and Alaa's Blog as being "self-important, self-indulgent and incoherent", in addition to other points. I found the link for the article (which I included here) and promptly clicked on it and read the article in full.

Apparently, the article was an attempt, by its author, to offer an opinion on blogs in Egypt, albeit a short one. Having read the article, which was entitled "Local bloggers offer the constructive, the amusing and the pointless" and written by a Mr. Tarek Shahin, there are a few points that I would like to put forward.

First of all, it appears to me that Mr. Shahin (whom I personally know and would consider a friend) should have research the issue a tad bit more before commenting as he did. He makes it a point to mention that...

While freedom of expression is sacred, one takes exception to a few local blogs, not because they have gone too far in terms of boldness (there is no such thing), but in terms of silliness and futility. They are simply ramblings that are best kept in a notebook under a bed, not shared with the world.

I realize there are no rules to which bloggers should adhere and I make no foolish attempt to impose any, but in my humble opinion as a reader, a good blog is one which masterfully expresses a whole set of thoughts and emotions within an independently set theme.

I will not claim to know the inner thoughts and ideas of Mr. Shahin, nor will I stoop to a level of pretentiousness to strike down his ideas as being absolutely incorrect or mistaken, but through his phrasing of his opinions in such a manner as to make them appear as facts, he seemingly unilateraly decides on which blogs are deemed 'worthy' and which are not.

I think that people have to keep in mind that when the concept of "web logs" was first used, they were used as personal diaries where people's thoughts and ideas were transmitted electronically across the globe. To say that everyone's thoughts and way of thinking in general are organized and follow "an independently set theme" would be be naive. I do not mean to insinuate that Mr. Shahin is naive, merely that blogs offer a "purer" representation of people's mind processes than, let's say, BBC Online.

This takes me to my second point; that Mr. Shahin, and according to what I infered from his opinion piece, expects Blogs to be much like an academic paper, a Master's thesis, an investigative reporting article or even a published opinion piece like his own; clear, organized and coherent with a set theme and obvious points being made. I think that's being too harsh.

To me, Blogs are the best of both the worlds of personal webpages and online forums; they allow the owner/contributor to post/publish their thoughts on whichever issues they wish to put forward and, at the same time, recieve feedback which can be discussed and criticized. Even more, Blogs have come to be accepted as a means through which one can express their opinion on certain issues and not hold to accepted standards of journalism and not have to endure the cuts of the keen editing sword; they are one's personal opinion after all.

I personally found it ironic that two out of the seven blogs that Mr. Shahin mentioned are linked to from my own Blog; Manal and Alaa's Bit Bucket and Baheyya. Obviously, and if you let your eyes stray to the sidebar on the left, I enjoy the content of these blogs and believe them to be of value to me (and have faith that they could be of value to others). In all fairness, their methods of presenting information are different both content and design-wise. The irony I mentioned lies in the fact that Mr. Shahin has Baheyya's site as an example of a "beautifully written blog" while his description of Manal and Alaa's I've already mentioned before.

Now, and in all fairness, I understand that Mr. Shahin was discussing his own particular views, he doesn't need to say them word for word in order for me to understand that. It is my belief that he should have researched beyond the regular known blogs in student circles. Blogs in Egypt, as with most things internet in developing countries, are known and visited because of word-of-mouth advertising or information passed on. This is, of course, they have been mentioned in the mainstream media which automatically gets them more attention and exponential hits.

If you wish to find more Egyptian Blogs, I'll start you out with a few sites you could visit:

The Egyptian Blogger Ring

Technorati

Manal and Alaa's Aggregator

Al Bab's List of Blogs (Egyptian & Arab)

Blogflux

That was to get you started. There are definitely many more Blogs that originate from Egypt that will not be found in Blog directories simply because their owners haven't listed them.

And that's the way I see it.

Tags: egypt, blogs, news, daily star, opinion

Battle of the Wafd II

I've been meaning to write something about this..

Basically, i just thought to point out that the stories that have emerged from the battle field have been completely contradictory. It seems, people cant even seem to agree on whether the gomaa partisans started on the inside or outside of the compound. (Some relations claim that gomaa arrived extremely early in the morning and welded the doors shut, while others say he stormed the building. Still others claim that he did both: stormed it in the wee hours of the morning and then waited in ambush). From there, narrations diverge. Was it only gomaa who hired thugs (a very NDP method)? Who started the violence? Who set fire; gomaa and crew or the "reformers" trying to get in with molotovs? Incidentally, who had the molotovs? As you can see there, are already a few dozen possible combinations.

The other aspect of this, is of course, the government's role. I'm not so sure gomaa is a government lackey, although i'm sure it;s possible. Maybe, it's just that being of that same generation who wont leave politics alone, his way of doing things is very akin to that of the npd. As for the security forces notable lack of interference, I would say that this was the result of an order and not the lack of it. I dont think they were confused or incompetent (well, maybe they're incompetent). They were either told not to interfere, or they had prior orders making it out of their jurisdiction to interfere in such (political) issues. I would not be surprised if this was the case with parties and unions in general.

Regardless of whose side the government is on, there's no doubt they're sitting buy watching gleefully as yet another party falls apart. I'm not claiming that there was much there to fall apart, it's just that what little there was, is crumbling. How dare they claim to represent an alternative liberal platform?

Battle of the Wafd

Former head of the Egyptian Wafd Party (Officially the Neo-Wafd, after its reformation in the 1970s) Noman Gomaa, and 14 others) has been placed under arrest and will be imprisoned for a period of four days while the investigation into the events of Saturday the 1st of April. Gomaa, and the 14 others (including Wafd MP Ahmed Naser and his two sons), were formally charged with attempted murder, possession of firearms and munitions without license, arson, thuggery, disturbing the peace, possession of arms, disturbing the peace and the injury and wounding of 27 people.

Noman Gomaa. Former Head of the Neo-Wafd Party.

Apparently, Gomaa thought to return to his former position of party leader.

How ridiculous!

The Egyptian press had pictures of people carrying Molotov grenades, different bullet-casings of spent bullets used in the attack. There were also pictures of the party headquarters after the attack:



I'm reminded of pictures of Palestinian homes after the Israelis have been through town, or the old pictures from my history book which have french houses after the Germans have bombed them to hell.

Gomaa (71) had been removed from leadership of the Wafd party by the party's general assembly but apparently refused to accept the decision. Rumour has it that party opposition claim that Gomaa is merely a government agent and accomplice; ensuring that the semblance of Democracy is upheld while ensuring that the party is ineffectual (I think it will be ineffectual either way, but that's just me).

What's interesting about the whole thing is that its not (and I really have no problem with this) of enough importance to warrant a place on the Home Page of the news websites that I visited to get the pictures you see above.

One last thing: there were rumours that Gomaa's move was carried out with government blessings but that the carnage and destruction that resulted were just too much for the Egyptian authorities not to act. It is a fact though that there were security personnel (Central Security forces - the equivalent of riot police) present during the "attack". Im guessing because of the extreme centralization of the Egyptian bureaucracy, especially when it comes to such situations, they didn't life a finger until other police forces arrived on the scene and Gomaa was arrested and taken from the scene, under police protection, in (get this) an armoured car. Apparently Gomaa forces broke through the Wafd lines but were surrounded, and could not escape without police support.


And that's the way I see it.

Tags: cairo wafd egypt news politics party

Some Hepatitis C and TB, please. Thank You.

While heading over to meet my extremely significant other tonight, via taxi, an interesting thought came to me; most of my blog posts seem to have been inspired, in some way or another, by conversations with cab drivers. At first, that started an alarm bell buzzing at the back of my mind. You see, there wa this university professor of mine that got all her information from taxi cabs. She said so herself. Naturally, we all thought it was ridiculous (we, as in her students).

Either way, I started a conversation with the driver. It had been raining, the streets leading out of Maadi were relatively crowded; a phenomenon that does not occur without the presence of an accident, a broken-down car or other possible major traffic obstacles. But it was merely the rain. Not the same rain of Last Tuesday, this was actually sporadic rain that never-the-less flooded Maadi more than the previous bout of water.

The conversation with the driver jumped from topic to topic and issue to issue. First was the rain, then the traffic, then the quality of driving, then the quality of the streets, then the government followed by the Prime Minister, the previous Prime Minister and finally... Corruption. Yes, indeed, corruption. The Modern Scourage of Civilizations. Corruption, the root of all evils, especially in a country like this.

The Taxi driver began recounting personal experiences to do with the bureaucracy and how it took him one months to get the new computerized birth certificate from the office of civil records. Every time he'd go to the office, he'd stand in line only to have the power go out, the computer crash or go bust in some way or the employee simply disappearing. I nodded. Such was Egypt, we all knew.

Then it was my turn, so I complained about having to go to the Main Office of Civil Records over in Abbasiyya. Since I was born outside of Egypt, and until the system was computerized (I dare not say fully, I think that is quite improbable - not to mention impossible - in this country), I needed to go there whenever I needed new papers, or official copies of old ones. This Office consisted of many, many floors in a high building. It wasn't easy, as almost anyone who had to go through the endeavour would tell you.

I would have thought that the conversation would end at this point, I would take out a cigarette, smoke it and stay quiet, waiting for the cab driver to intiate a new topic of conversation. Or he might stay quiet himself. Instead, the driver then mentioned the idea of the office boy at the telephone company. Usually an old man, he would go around to people standing in line to pay their bills, take ten pounds to all those that wish to "speed up" the paying of their bill. The money would then be shared with the clerk who would, indeed, help with the completion of the aforementioned transaction. The idea of the office boy followed my description of how smooth these matters occurred when I lived in the U.A.E. We discussed the fact that Abu Dhabi has a much smaller population, that the country as a whole was much richer. We discussed the fact that these clerks and office boys barely get enough money to sustain themselves... not to mention buy food, feed a family, pay rent, food for clothes, books for the children, school fees etc.

We understood all that, me and the cabbie, and agreed that it's a vicious cycle that is quite difficult to break out from. What irked me though were all the things that had nothing to do with the money, or the technology or the population. The things that had to do with the people. I let him know my thoughts. He summarily pointed out that everything has to do with money. To that, I immediately agreed... there was no way I could argue against that.

The man then proceeded to tell me an interesting tale:

"You know how all these Gulf Countries ask for medical tests and Blood Analysis results to grant work permits?" he asked. I didn't, but I nodded my head never-the-less. The Cabbie figured out that I didn't - there was a slight smile and a look with obvious meaning - but he continued with his story, seemingly unaware of this.

"Well, everyday, everyday! in front of the Ministry of Health and their laboratories, at six or seven in the morning, you will find lots people, young men and old, sitting all over the sidewalk."

I commented that this was not an unnatural phenomenon in Egypt. We all know about how people have to line up in front of government buildings, often with the break of light, to be able to put through an application or request or whatever. The man smiled and shook his head slightly. Unexpectedly calm, even though most other Cab drivers' voices would have been raised at this point - becoming one with their story and living the experience through their story-telling - and their arms (or at least one arm - they are driving) would have been flailing, the driver continued his story;

"No, no. You misunderstand. They are brokers." (He actually used the arabic word samasra.)

I raised an eyebrow quizzically and then quickly put to words my thoughts, lest he think the gesture was one of disbelief, rather than surprise (which was what I was feeling). He smiled.

"You see, they wait for those helpless workers who come in the morning, hoping to get their tests done. The test results come out in two months, two months. These people take a bit of money, and the results miraculously come out in two days. What a difference!" The last sentence was said with a short sardonic laugh and a cynical smile followed. He paused for a bit, shook his head, then continued;

"You know what they do? They switch the vials." My eyebrows knotted.
" You know, they take the vials that have tested negative for any disease or virus, and switch them with these vials. They switch the labels, the lab technicians. This way they cannot be blamed. Sample for sample. Vial for vial." I was surprised. Even though one learns to expect the unexpected in Egypt, I was surprised. But, I nodded my head and made the usual derogatory remarks aimed at the government and the so-called brokers. I also asked the guy if that means they speed up that person's test while other tests are left behind.

"No. They just switch them. The Lord knows who has what virus or what disease. They just switch them, ya basha. If you have Hepatitis C, or TB, or Bird Flu or anything else, and you pay those brokers, you'll get a paper saying that you're the perfect man. Someone else gets your disease."

I askecd him how much you pay for the blood analysis thing. He mentioned a number that I don't remember... but it was not some small amount. Keep in mind that the people who visit the Ministry's Labs are usually poor workers that cannot afford to private clinics or centers which would carry out the same tests.

That just about cinched it for me. Egypt. In all its glory.

The ride didnt end there, we discussed how his License-reneweal medical check-up costs 10 L.E. to perform, but 80 to get it in three days; a huge disparity if you think about how much that amount of money means to a Cab driver.

We discussed how the President cannot choose someone who understands all these below-the-table dealings and attempts to reform them without offering some sort of substitute (they'd be assassinated, was our conclusion). Finally, we discussed how the Prime Minister is always the political scape goat. Someone who greatly represents the element of magnesium (isn't this the one that ignites when it comes into contact with air? - I got a C in Chemistry; shines for a bit but burns out real quick.

I paid the man 15 pounds for a 12 pound trip (or 10 pounds if you're my brother).


He helped me with the way I see it.

Tags: cairo egypt corruption taxi cab