Hi! I realized from talking to many people online and reading articles online that most people have surface knowledge about Egypt and its culture. So since I now have the opportunity to share about things here on Steemit, I thought I would take you on a journey in a normal day of an Egyptian and expose more of our culture to the masses!
Morning time.
So in our journey, we start of at 6 AM were most people wake up, have breakfast and go to work. The breakfast consists of many legumes and vegetables. we eat things like beans (it's basically the most famous meal in Egypt), eggplant, Tamiaa( a mixture of beans and vegetables), cheese and tomatoes mix, and of course our baladii bread.
The breakfast can be a little different depending on your social states, but these are the main things that almost everyone eats whether they're rich or poor. Some people don't have time to eat in their home, so we have these portable carts that sell beans and falafel for as little as 2 pounds or 0.1 dollars!
These carts are usually widespread across all of Egypt, but are much more common in rural and low standard areas because they are very cheap to eat from.
Now, that we have talked about breakfast, it's time to talk about people and work environments. In general, most people you will meet here will be really nice and friendly towards you especially if you're a tourist. They will offer to show you around sometimes even for free!
One of my american friends came to visit Egypt and his airplane was supposed to land around 7 AM. I had an exam that day so i wasn't going to be able to pick them up from the airport. I ended up giving them the google location of my house and when I came back home, my friend was like
"Amr, you won't believe what happened?"
"What?!"
"The taxi driver showed me all over Egypt. he took me to the Pyramids, The Cairo Tower and refused to take any money for showing me around. This is insane!"
Obviously what happened with my friend is a rare occasion. Most people would actually take money for these services, but you can generally see how nice people are over here!
Cairo's Tower
Now, if by any chance you get invited to an Egyptian house, there are a few rules that you should follow.
These "rules" are not set in stone, but people will most likely appreciate you more if you do these things. I can't tell you the many times I didn't do these simple things and got frowned upon. Some of them might be useless even a little dumb, but it will be considered impolite or rude if you don't do them.
Number 1: ALWAYS take off your shoes before entering someones house...
I can't stress this enough, 9 times out of 10 when I visited my friends, I had to take off my shoes before going in. In our culture, it's disrespectful to go to someones house with your shoes on because to us it's is sorta like you are showing the owners that you don't care about the effort they put into cleaning the place. Kinda weird but that is pretty much the norm here.
Number 2: NEVER show up empty handed:
If you show up empty handed to one of your relatives house with out getting something that is edible, then expect a few frowns and maybe even a bad remark on your manners!
I never really understood why it's rude to not get food when visiting someone, but just make sure you get your friends food when you visit them. It can anything from cake, drinks, or fruits, but whatever you do, make sure you don't forget bringing something with you!
now last but not least, the most important rule of all...
MAKE SURE YOU EAT WHAT THEY OFFER YOU!
I can't stress this enough. If you go to someones house and they offer you something that is edible. You HAVE to eat it no exception. it doesn't matter if you're on a diet, already full, or if it tastes like s***, you have to eat it!.
Substitute grandma for any Egyptian house party!
It's considered a MAJOR disrespect to refuse to eat something that the house owners cooked themselves and would probably make them like you a whole lot less. They won't hate you for it, but you certainly won't be on their good side. Unfortunately for me, I had to learn this one the hard way.
Afternoon - Evening time.
Phew.. now that we're done with these rules, I want to talk about midday to afternoon time. Of course, this is the period where most people finish their jobs and are going back home from work, and it also happens to be lunch/dinner time. Egyptian lunch consists of a few things: mostly vegetables, meat, and legumes. A lot of people eat kushari which is a mixture of pasta, rice, and salsa. Other types of food include Hawawshi, Kofta, Tarb, which are all meat based foods.
After eating lunch, we usually sit down, make a cup of tea, sit down and watch television. We love watching different dramas from different countries, and there is constantly a new trend when it comes to them, but right now the most famous shows are ones from Turkey, India, and Lebanon.
In the evening, families usually gather together and talk about how their day went. Talking about the funny incidents, telling stories and watching videos with each other. That is pretty much it when it comes to a normal Egyptian day.
Now, not everyone will be like what this post describes, but generally these are things that will be common between most people. I apologize if this post was kinda boring or short for you guys. Please leave an up-vote if you enjoyed reading this, and I hope this taught you a bit more about my culture :)
