20 Million People

October 25, 2008

At 40 years old a city of 20 million people shouldn’t be intimidating. I’ve been to some of the biggest places the US has to offer…LA, Houston, San Francisco, to name a few. But as my plane descended through the clouds into Cairo my eyes were greeted by one of the most amazing sites they’d ever seen. It was a city of dingy brown Legos that went on and on for as far as I could see from 10 thousand feet up. I have spent the last 10 months in Baghdad and have seen some pretty crazy things, but this shocking site gave me pause and all I could simply say was…”Wow.”

I found a flat to rent in Cairo on the Internet. I figured I should come to Egypt with an open mind and so a hotel room for 2 weeks just didn’t seem like the right move. I got lucky and stumbled upon an add for a “flat mate” placed by a British woman. She advertised half of a flat for rent or share, and I thought that getting a flat in Cairo from someone who spoke English would be a huge plus. So I emailed her but didn’t hear anything back. I thought I had missed the boat but decided to try one last time before settling on another flat owned by a local dentist. When I wrote to the Britt, (Her name turned out to be Amanda), this time she wrote back and said she had already found a flat mate. But I persisted, applying the appropriate amount of charm needed to get her to reconsider. Of course she did, (This is me we’re talking about…), and she offered me the entire 2nd floor of the flat, (4 bedrooms in all). I think she must have seen the dollar signs written on the wall because when all is said and done I will pay $950 for the 2 weeks. Now that’s American dollars…which translates into 5130 Egyptian pounds. This is cheap considering a hotel was going to cost upwards of $120 a night. Amanda hasn’t come out and told me…yet, but I imagine the entire flat doesn’t rent for more than 2000 EG a month, (which is about $400.) So she and her German flat mate are basically getting 2 months free rent thanks to the rich American. But it works out well for all parties involved because it comes out to only about $65 a night for me for a fully furnished HUGE, (my portion of the flat is easily 2000 sq ft!), flat complete with an English speaking woman and access to all her contacts, and a 22 year old German teaching student named Olga. Amanda may think she got the better of me…but I KNOW I am the one who’s getting a steal here.

So I went for a walk this evening to find the liquor store and market, aptly named The “Alpha Mart.” (Locations sought out in that exact order.) The liquor store, called “Drinkies”, is about 6 blocks away and I had to traverse some mean Cairo traffic and a crazy labyrinth of buildings, shops, hotels, etc. to get there. I think the liquor is state run here because it reminded me of the little places you find in Oregon and Idaho that are basic and have no frills. They didn’t have a big selection and the only thing I recognized was Heineken. So I said to the kid behind the counter, “Whiskey?”, and he went into the back room and got me a bottle of the only kind they had called “Auld Stag”, which is an Egyptian brand that I had never heard of. So I took it, a bottle of the local vodka, 2 bottles of white whine, (for Olga and Amanda…), and a six-pack of Heineken. The kid rang it up at just a smidge over 300 pounds. ($55) I paid him, asked him to box it up, and then headed off down the road enroute back to the market. 10 minutes later…I was lost. I jinked when I should have juked and ended up way off course…and believe me; the box of booze was getting damned heavy! But I have learned over the years never to panic and to trust my internal compass…it has yet to ever lead me astray. (Yes Courtney…you inherited that gift from your old man!) After a couple of lefts and a few rights I ended up right back at the “Alpha Mart” where I wanted to be. I checked my booze at the door and went in to buy some provisions, (The guy at the door actually took my box and gave me a numbered card…kinda like checking a coat at a fancy restaurant.) I got the usual eggs, milk, bread, booze mixers, and headed to the register. The gal rang it all up…338 pounds. No sweat, right? But when I got into my pocket I found that I only had about 200 pounds on me. I fully expected to have to leave the market with my tail between my legs and go get more money. But, not to fear …the kid bagging my stuff volunteered to escort me the one block back to the flat, pushing the cart full of my groceries all the way, carry the stuff to my front door, collect the difference in the bill, and do it all with a giant smile on his face. What a country! And did I forget to mention that the flat is on the 3^rd floor? The kid carried all my stuff, including my box-o-booze, all the way up! I was happy to give the kid a 5 pound tip after all was said and done, and he was all smiles to receive it. What a country! (5 pound tip = .92 cents!)

So I guess I could have written about the sprawl of the city, or the way that the whole thing looked like a model of stacked Legos from 10 thousand feet, or how the traffic exceeds anything I’ve ever seen, (6 lanes of traffic squeezing onto a 3 lane highway!) Don’t worry, I will, just not tonight. Instead I decided to write about the small things today that struck me. I am so happy that I chose to rent a flat rather than stay in a hotel. The “Drinkies” and “Alpha Marts” are going to make this trip to Egypt all the better. Baghdad and the war won’t invade this little corner of my world. For the next 2 weeks it’s just gonna me and 20 million people.

-Jim Franks