Enta Mosri? - Are You Egyptian?

Apparently I’ve been challenged to a game of Scrabble by Luli. Probably won’t happen for a couple of weeks, but stay tuned for the result. She’s talking like she created the game, so I’ll just have to put her in her place by showing her the inherent superiority of Canadian English.

Now to the point…

As has happened for the past two days, I missed the train by 1 second, only to have another empty one arrive 1 minute later. Under normal circumstances, I’d have to wait 5-10 minutes for the next one. This is always appreciated. Thanks Cairo Transit Authority.

Anyways, as I was standing on the platform, I heard “Fen Mogamma? – Where is the Mogamma?” I turned to see who said it and who the person was saying it to and realized that I was the only one within earshot. After performing my first ever Egyptian headshake (I learned the other day that it means “What did you say?”, and is not to be confused with the more noticeable Indian headshake), the guy’s words were repeated.

Hmm…I just got asked for directions by someone who looked Egyptian, had a baby in his arms, a wife, with baby in her arms, next to him. He obviously wasn’t from Cairo, as the Mogamma is the most menacing building in town—it just reeks of bureaucracy. But how could I say, “Go up the flight of stairs, turn left, go through the turn-style, make another left, go to the American University Cairo exit, walk up the stairs, and look for the building that’s shaped like a semi-circle,” in Arabic? Obviously that wasn’t possible, so I just pointed in the general direction and said, “Hinna. – Here.”

Same thing, right?