How to be distinctive and the wrong approach

[MaidenScotland]

Originally Posted by mardini

mmmm, I feel you, so you are bound by the lodging provided, not good. I have an apartment overlooking the Pyramids in Haram street, I can actually see the Pyramids from my balcony, great view huh? Believe me I haven't been to it for over 8 months, because I find Haram street too annoying.

Some companies provide lodging reimbursement for their employees so they can lease the place they want in the area they want, your situation is obviously different.

Just too bad, is it too noisy there too?

I live in a beautiful building.. yes even here in Agouza we have beautiful buildings.
I overlook the river and the island.
Agouza is not an area you would avoid as there is nothing to bring you here to start with. It must be the smallest district in Cairo.. It takes 7 minutes to walk the length of Nile St that is in Agouza

[Beatle]

Originally Posted by mardini

I drive my car all the way up right till before the check point at the Pyramids, I am not sure about Taxis but I am inclined to believe it is a scam.

Haram street is way too crowded and noisy, and belly dancing there is not genuine either.

I personally like the Khan but on certain days of the year, two to be exact; a day every 6 months. Go there, enjoy the crowd, have a cup of tea, sometimes do shisha and talk to the little sales kids there and listen to their jokes, and there is an excellent restaurant there managed by the Oberoi Hotel Group, it is called Naguib Mahfouz restaurant, I love the food and it is the second cleanest restaurant I trust to eat in.

No it is a scam - they got a bit of a shock when I spoke to them in Arabic (as rubbish as my language skills are!)

I have not tried that restaurant - I had heard it was quite expensive. We will usually have a drink in Feshawi. Where is the cleanest restaurant in your opinion?!

[mardini]

Originally Posted by Beatle

No it is a scam - they got a bit of a shock when I spoke to them in Arabic (as rubbish as my language skills are!)

I have not tried that restaurant - I had heard it was quite expensive. We will usually have a drink in Feshawi. Where is the cleanest restaurant in your opinion?!

I don't know the name of the restaurant, it is at the Grand Hyatt hotel, closer to the nile bank but indoors. It is also clean but the food is not close to as good as it is at the Naguib Mahfooz restaurant at least for my taste.

[Beatle]

Originally Posted by mardini

I don't know the name of the restaurant, it is at the Grand Hyatt hotel, closer to the nile bank but indoors. It is also clean but the food is not close to as good as it is at the Naguib Mahfooz restaurant at least for my taste.

I have eaten at the food court there a couple of times before going to the cinema. The food in the hotel and food court is good

[Mario]

Admit it or don't; you are part of this society and are contributing to the continuous wrong-doing either by personally being part of the wrong-doing or by not taking action to correct the wrong-doing when possible, and if you have had successful stories where you were able to correct things, then please share with the rest so we can give you credit and neutrally evaluate your contributions to this forum about "your" country and society.

It is easier to not do anything than to take action, but then this what differentiate good people from just people.

Ibrahim[/QUOTE]


Well said! and makes and absolute sense Ibrahim!
BUT......

Allow me to quote and comment on some paragraph of yours please!yes, any citizens have a responsibility to towards their well-being and the wrong-doing deed's prevention(as you said above"when possible"), and to make it POSSIBLE, it has to be done through the local authorities, BUT without the local authorities implementing such laws into the societies either via schools educational programmes, penalty fares, prosecution....etc...the nation shall not be following the right deed (you called earlier as common sense).Because might be common sense for someone, might not be for another!!...

having said that,this doesn't mean that I don't agree with you still...it's just the fact that sometimes they are expected to act and follow the traffic rules correctly/properly so we say that they do respect the existing law! but I say that the law maybe there, whether it's been implemented FAIRLY and CORRECTLY or not..this would be the BIG question?

All I am trying to say that one certainly can not only blame and criticise a nation for their wrong-doings, like the motoring traffic issues, because simply road users don't even realise that it is wrong. the most blame should be thrown on the government 's shoulders, rules and regulations should be implemented and displayed clearly for road users to read and react upon,and most importantly is educational schemes should take place for obtaining a driver licence for example, so locals can realise and differentiate between the should dos or don'ts as you mentioned previously.
So whenever they breach it they get punished, like some other EU countries but if the speeding camera is hidden so what is the God damn point of it except catching out drivers when it's too late where damage might have occurred already.

good example, as this is where I currently live in ...In london, some minorities tend to break the law if they get a chance to, either by traffic offences or scam or others, but the only difference is you complain about it and surely something is got to be done about it because if not, complainers voice tend to go up high to the top rank, while in Egypt as they say (you complain to anyone apart from God, then you're only casing yourself nothing except humiliation)...

I used to live in Egypt more than half of my life and not once I've been convinced with how daily life operates out there,but however anti-wrong-doing actions you take..wouldn't certainly be enough to improve a whole society unless it comes from the law executor(government)

No offence please (As if it's a shepherd and his responsibility is to make sure his herd live together in harmony)
As half Egyptian, I love Egypt and always will...if only government cares and country's internal issues are being focussed on and addressed!!!!

I believe in (however long it takes to get things right, as along as you're trying hard you will get there eventually... )

Good Day everyone!

[Mario]

well, tolerant thoughts towards the local Egyptians rather than the can't-be-asked government...which I do support 100%

My country is falling apart

[Mario]

[QUOTE=mardini;290327]I have to make 4 posts before I can reply to any post, otherwise I would have replied to some posts on this forum rather than starting a new thread, in which I would argue the negative attitude towards any country by its own citizens.

This post is not intended to be offensive in any way, and if some one believed he/she was spoken to in this thread and then felt offended, please reply with your concerns.

I have read few posts written by western expats in Egypt sharing their experiences when interacting with the locals, or sharing situations they were in where things didn't go according to what seems to be common sense elsewhere in the world. Then I continued to read replies to these posts and always noticed local/citizen participants attribute the negativeness to a nation-wide degrading morals, sometimes they would make arguments that the nation in its entire is no more than what you experienced, and continue to curse the fact they were citizens of this country in a implicit fashion.

I can understand when foreigners share experiences and feelings where some of them seem negative because they come from societies who live by different sets of rules, in these societies the social and public behavior is not apart from the law practiced within their society, things there make sense because the public behavior is in harmony with the laws established and practiced not as an option but as a way of life. I understand their approach because when they arrive into Egypt they experience a different social behavior that might lure us to believe that the only rule in practice is the absence of rules.

Therefore, when foreigners share their experiences it can be understood that when a certain practice should have been different because it would have been more logical, I take it that may be there is something I should learn from this: Either something actually was done wrong based on the experience I read; or I argue that it was done perfectly right because there are established social practices that allow for this experience to happen the way it did or may be the law allow for it. If the first then I would abide by what makes sense and entertain the common sense practice among those I interact with on daily basis, if the latter then I would reply with my understanding of the social behavior or the law and clarify the experience. In both cases, I would have shown positive attitude.

Now, I know negative practices exist everywhere on earth, that's why we have laws. I lived in the U.S., in France, and been to many Arab states, I can comfortably say that wrong-doing existed in the places I've been to. Of course the extent and severity of wrong-doing varied, and the scale of how massive or narrow it was always had to do with how abiding the society was with the established laws. How is all this related to what I want to deliver in this post?

Simply put, societies are made of individuals who shape its behavior, and therefore if the Egyptian society is at large - as entertained by locals/citizens contributing to this forum - messed up and seems unrepairable, then the question would be, how much are you or have you - locals/citizens contributing to this forum - contributing or contributed to this unacceptable behavior? Or is your criticism and frustration due to the fact that you are so different from the society in which you live.

Admit it or don't; you are part of this society and are contributing to the continuous wrong-doing either by personally being part of the wrong-doing or by not taking action to correct the wrong-doing when possible, and if you have had successful stories where you were able to correct things, then please share with the rest so we can give you credit and neutrally evaluate your contributions to this forum about "your" country and society.

It is easier to not do anything than to take action, but then this what differentiate good people from just people.

When I read the posts I referred to earlier, I noticed that the wrong-doing is attributed to people not abiding by the law. My personal experiences in Cairo also strengthen this conclusion.

Egyptians might argue that everyone else is not abiding by the law and the whole thing is just a mess, but... two wrong things don't make one right. Here is a hint: why don't you start by respecting the established laws, lets say start by adhering to the established traffic laws, I know they exist because I read them, then may be the next step would be to refrain from throwing left-overs on the street, and use the trash cans, if they don't exist where you live or walk or drive then keep it with you till you find one. Then ultimately move on to the peak of it; show courtesy to your fellow citizens, allow them to cross roads safely for example, as it doesn't mean you were cheated when pausing for few seconds to allow an old lady, an old man, a child, or an animal to cross the road safely. Don't push people around as you walk, and if you accidentally did, then apologize, it is so polite to do so. Don't honk your horn in the same instance the green light flashes, allow for few seconds for the traffic to move as the 100 cars ahead of you takes a few while to move, given of course that you actually stopped for the red light, oh and by the way, stop for the red light, it will save your life, or mine.
Wear the safety belt and enforce it on people who ride with you, and if your car generates lots of led-smoke don't drive it, fix it first, and if you don't have the resources to fix it, then park it and use an alternative mean of transportation until you have raised enough to fix it, you definitely will save my and other people's lives. If you are driving a car, stay on your lane, don't drive on the white lines as this misleads other drivers, keep at least one car distance between you and the car ahead of you, it is safer, remember if you can't see the rear tires of the car ahead of you, then you are dangerously too close. It is not too crowded out there, just too disorganized. Use the signal lights when shifting lanes, speak to me, your flash light is your language when you and I are driving, and use your rear mirror and side mirrors, don't keep them bent-in when you ride in your car and move. If the street is divided to 3 lanes only don't form a 7th lane, better late than dead, don't overtake my right at the U turn, don't come from the far right and stop your car in front of me, you blind my view and it is rude. If I am talking to the help desk anywhere after I have waited in line, don't jump in front of me and talk to the front desk the same time I am talking, take time; stand in the line and be polite, your time is not more precious than mine. Of course this is not everything but the things I could think of momentarily.


Well said! and makes an absolute sense Ibrahim!
BUT......

Allow me to quote and comment on some paragraph of yours please!yes, any citizens have a responsibility to towards their well-being and the wrong-doing deed's prevention(as you said above"when possible"), and to make it POSSIBLE, it has to be done through the local authorities, BUT without the local authorities implementing such laws into the societies either via schools educational programmes, penalty fares, prosecution....etc...the nation shall not be following the right deed (you called earlier as common sense).Because might be common sense for someone, might not be for another!!...

having said that,this doesn't mean that I don't agree with you still...it's just the fact that sometimes they are expected to act and follow the traffic rules correctly/properly so we say that they do respect the existing law! but I say that the law maybe there, whether it's been implemented FAIRLY and CORRECTLY or not..this would be the BIG question?

All I am trying to say that one certainly can not only blame and criticise a nation for their wrong-doings, like the motoring traffic issues, because simply road users don't even realise that it is wrong. the most blame should be thrown on the government 's shoulders, rules and regulations should be implemented and displayed clearly for road users to read and react upon,and most importantly is educational schemes should take place for obtaining a driver licence for example, so locals can realise and differentiate between the should dos or don'ts as you mentioned previously.
So whenever they breach it they get punished, like some other EU countries but if the speeding camera is hidden so what is the God damn point of it except catching out drivers when it's too late where damage might have occurred already.

good example, as this is where I currently live in ...In london, some minorities tend to break the law if they get a chance to, either by traffic offences or scam or others, but the only difference is you complain about it and surely something is got to be done about it because if not, complainers voice tend to go up high to the top rank, while in Egypt as they say (you complain to anyone apart from God, then you're only casing yourself nothing except humiliation)...

I used to live in Egypt more than half of my life and not once I've been convinced with how daily life operates out there,but however anti-wrong-doing actions you take..wouldn't certainly be enough to improve a whole society unless it comes from the law executor(government)

No offence please (As if it's a shepherd and his responsibility is to make sure his herd live together in harmony)
As half Egyptian, I love Egypt and always will...if only government cares and country's internal issues are being focussed on and addressed!!!!

I believe in (however long it takes to get things right, as along as you're trying hard you will get there eventually... )

Good Day everyone!

[Sofia Cooper]

Originally Posted by Mario

Admit it or don't; you are part of this society and are contributing to the continuous wrong-doing either by personally being part of the wrong-doing or by not taking action to correct the wrong-doing when possible, and if you have had successful stories where you were able to correct things, then please share with the rest so we can give you credit and neutrally evaluate your contributions to this forum about "your" country and society.

It is easier to not do anything than to take action, but then this what differentiate good people from just people.

Ibrahim

Well said! and makes and absolute sense Ibrahim!
BUT......

Allow me to quote and comment on some paragraph of yours please!yes, any citizens have a responsibility to towards their well-being and the wrong-doing deed's prevention(as you said above"when possible"), and to make it POSSIBLE, it has to be done through the local authorities, BUT without the local authorities implementing such laws into the societies either via schools educational programmes, penalty fares, prosecution....etc...the nation shall not be following the right deed (you called earlier as common sense).Because might be common sense for someone, might not be for another!!...

having said that,this doesn't mean that I don't agree with you still...it's just the fact that sometimes they are expected to act and follow the traffic rules correctly/properly so we say that they do respect the existing law! but I say that the law maybe there, whether it's been implemented FAIRLY and CORRECTLY or not..this would be the BIG question?

All I am trying to say that one certainly can not only blame and criticise a nation for their wrong-doings, like the motoring traffic issues, because simply road users don't even realise that it is wrong. the most blame should be thrown on the government 's shoulders, rules and regulations should be implemented and displayed clearly for road users to read and react upon,and most importantly is educational schemes should take place for obtaining a driver licence for example, so locals can realise and differentiate between the should dos or don'ts as you mentioned previously.
So whenever they breach it they get punished, like some other EU countries but if the speeding camera is hidden so what is the God damn point of it except catching out drivers when it's too late where damage might have occurred already.

good example, as this is where I currently live in ...In london, some minorities tend to break the law if they get a chance to, either by traffic offences or scam or others, but the only difference is you complain about it and surely something is got to be done about it because if not, complainers voice tend to go up high to the top rank, while in Egypt as they say (you complain to anyone apart from God, then you're only casing yourself nothing except humiliation)...

I used to live in Egypt more than half of my life and not once I've been convinced with how daily life operates out there,but however anti-wrong-doing actions you take..wouldn't certainly be enough to improve a whole society unless it comes from the law executor(government)

No offence please (As if it's a shepherd and his responsibility is to make sure his herd live together in harmony)
As half Egyptian, I love Egypt and always will...if only government cares and country's internal issues are being focussed on and addressed!!!!

I believe in (however long it takes to get things right, as along as you're trying hard you will get there eventually... )

Good Day everyone![/QUOTE]
Hi Mario ....maybe now in the uk we may see a differance , maybe a fall in crime levels now there is a new goverment in ....but i doubt it , as everyone of them have promised us better policeing , and our crime rate in the uk has risen .
They say is has dropped but it hasnt ..and this has been going on for many years and many goverments have been in power
Enjoy your stay in the uk & keep safe

[DeadGuy]

Originally Posted by Mario

well, tolerant thoughts towards the local Egyptians rather than the can't-be-asked government...which I do support 100%

My country is falling apart

Hi there,

I can't quote your first post for some reason........But anyway,

Rules do exist in here, well, if you can call them rules anyway!


"Rules" in here are usually made for a bunch of reasons, but the main reason for most of the rules made is MONEY! How to charge a fine for this and that! Take the traffic rules as an example that you've mentioned, hidden cameras! What's the point of hiding them if they're worried about people's safety?? Or am I getting it wrong by thinking that the point of having those traffic rules and regulations is people's safety??!!!!


It's really annoying when you see a police officer in a road block saying "Hi" to some hot shot that was over speeding and wishing him a safe trip while the driver of the vehicle right behind that hot shot gets nagged about EVERY small detail about his vehicle, just cause he's a taxi driver or cause he's a guy that owns an old car that helps him doing his job! And if there's NOTHING wrong with his car, then there will be something wrong with him! He MUST pay something just to leave the road block and continue doing whatever he was in the middle of!


But the problem is, and as one wise man once said, a rule that doesn't get applied for everyone isn't a rule to be followed!! There's no point if you obey some rule that someone else won't follow for whatever reason! Cause the rule is being broken anyway!


However, it's just pointless to talk about anything, everything in here is "totally fine" and "under control" somehow!! And people in here just gave up, and that's much more worse than having no rules or having rules that's not being followed!

Just enjoy being away from here dude

Have a nice time!

[Mario]

Originally Posted by DeadGuy

Hi there,

I can't quote your first post for some reason........But anyway,

Rules do exist in here, well, if you can call them rules anyway!


"Rules" in here are usually made for a bunch of reasons, but the main reason for most of the rules made is MONEY! How to charge a fine for this and that! Take the traffic rules as an example that you've mentioned, hidden cameras! What's the point of hiding them if they're worried about people's safety?? Or am I getting it wrong by thinking that the point of having those traffic rules and regulations is people's safety??!!!!


It's really annoying when you see a police officer in a road block saying "Hi" to some hot shot that was over speeding and wishing him a safe trip while the driver of the vehicle right behind that hot shot gets nagged about EVERY small detail about his vehicle, just cause he's a taxi driver or cause he's a guy that owns an old car that helps him doing his job! And if there's NOTHING wrong with his car, then there will be something wrong with him! He MUST pay something just to leave the road block and continue doing whatever he was in the middle of!


But the problem is, and as one wise man once said, a rule that doesn't get applied for everyone isn't a rule to be followed!! There's no point if you obey some rule that someone else won't follow for whatever reason! Cause the rule is being broken anyway!


However, it's just pointless to talk about anything, everything in here is "totally fine" and "under control" somehow!! And people in here just gave up, and that's much more worse than having no rules or having rules that's not being followed!

Just enjoy being away from here dude

Have a nice time!

Hi deadGuy,

Although I doubt that you're dead, as here you are talking to me!)

yes, I agree with your Thread word by word..

Take care mate