1. They speak a form of English
2. You are not allowed to intimidate or make insulting comments to a woman alone
3. I don't need a headscarf to try to blend in
4. No one cares what length my skirt is
5. Tea mmmm tea with scones and clotted cream and jam mmmmm
6. Shopping!!
7. Entertainment-movies, theatre,
8. The food isn't too weird (aka testicles never show up on the menu)
9. The metro means I can easily get anywhere
10. It isn't too poluted
11. It isn't painfully hot
12. No Geckos
13. I don't need a man to walk down the street
14. No one has asked me where my husband is
15. Marks and Spencer
16. Cheap Internet
17. I can be anonymous if I want
18. Children don't act scared or me or stare at me like I have two heads
19. No one has asked me for my photo
20. When asked and I say from Canada not one person mentions Canada Dry
21. It's the last stop before going home
22. Haven't been propesitioned once
23. No random marriage proposals
24. I can go outside at night
25. The government isn't obviously monitoring my internet use
26. There aren't armed soldiers outside every hotel and on every street corner
So you can guess the last few days in Cairo were difficult on me. It isn't easy being a woman alone in a muslim country. It was muted during the tour because there was a group of us but by the end of my time in Cairo I just gave up on going out of the hotel. I got leered at enough and strange questions just in the hotel. So I'm very glad to be once again back in London, although I'm pretty much ready to head for home. Today at heathrow I saw the Air Canada planes and found myself wishing I was getting on one of them and heading home.
That being said I am excited to be here I've got tickets for some shows and I'm booking a tour into the countryside. It will be good and I'm excited to see Scotland probably the place I've read more about than anywhere else. I have a weakness for Harlequin Romances set in the highlands...you know the ones with the buff guy in a kilt on the front (LOL)... usually with a big (cough) sword....(shoot mom when you read this please disregard the double entendre)...I'm pretty sure there won't be any fabio types running around but it'll still be nice to see the countryside where so much history took place and that has been described so picturesquely in so many books I've read.
I'm sad to report that I will be sending yet another package home....which is proof that I shop too much....I mean Egypt had nothing except tacky souviners and I still have stuff to mail home. It's all the carpet guys fault. Yup I bought a carpet...not a big one but still a carpet. It's a hand knotted silk/wool blend...very pretty and not a single camel on it....very hard to find things without a camel on it.
Well I'm getting silly partly because I was up at 5am for my flight this morning and partly because I went to a movie and so haven't had supper yet. I'll post more later but mostly just had to say I'm glad to be in London but sorry it isn't home.
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