My instructor's rant

[RFQ 110]

I have every single female relative on both sides of my husbands family from all over Cairo and Giza (that are actually are known to be on fb ofc), on my facebook, as well as two girls I consider my best friends, that I've known before I became engaged to my husband. I don't have an issue getting first hand information.

But regardless of that, I have no issue of anyone telling me to be careful in a volatile country or even when telling me to be careful when traveling to a destination within my own town. Its about what is said, why its said,how its said, and the attitude its said with. Take for instance the completely different approaches to "help" you find on this forum....

Edited December 5, 2012 by RFQ

[zahrasalem 114]

I have every single female relative on both sides of my husbands family from all over Cairo and Giza (that are actually are known to be on fb ofc), on my facebook, as well as two girls I consider my best friends, that I've known before I became engaged to my husband. I don't have an issue getting first hand information.

But regardless of that, I have no issue of anyone telling me to be careful in a volatile country or even when telling me to be careful when traveling to a destination within my own town. Its about what is said, why its said,how its said, and the attitude its said with. Take for instance the completely different approaches to "help" you find on this forum....

I understand exactly what you're saying. We also have first hand knowledge of what's going on since we speak with my husband's mom, brothers, sisters and friends a couple of times a week. Granted, most of them live 10 minutes outside of Cairo in a village, but they all get out everyday to work and shopping in Cairo and they do not have an overwhelming fear of being afraid to go out. A few of his family members live in the wealthy areas of Cairo and they haven't had any problems either.

I don't doubt the violence that some VJ members have reported seen living there, but it certainly is not present everywhere, in every city and village.

Edited December 5, 2012 by zahrasalem

[sandinista! 1,816]

Be careful of snakes on planes headed to Egypt-

http://m.gawker.com/5965760/cobra-bites-man-aboard-commercial-flight-in-egypt

[Mithra 1,185]

Bahahaha! Oh Egypt!

[Staashi 371]

The leading story on msnbc today is about the prevalence of the sexual attacks on women in Egypt. They said the police (the few there are) don't do anything to prevent these anymore.

What a country!

[sandinista! 1,816]

You are not Yakov Smirnoff Staashi!

And I should say it was a plane headed out of Egypt, rather than to. So no worries until anyone leaves.

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Ok, lets get real IHQ. You're a sweet gal but I'm surprised you didn't confide in me when I asked you about the the truth of the matter a month ago. I was direct with you several times and we've know each other for years. After spending all day talking with fellow Egyptians and Expats in Egypt they are calling bullshit on the hype. The Egyptian government never sent out police officers to any crime scene even prior to the revolution. The only time they ever did was if a foreigner was involved and that is still the case to this day.

It's one of the points that is currently infuriating Egyptians living there because why don't they get the preferential treatment. So please stop scaring RFQ because the general consensus is that this whole situation will blow over like a bad storm if that in one to two weeks. They believe that the constitution will pass and things will begin to settle down from there. That the Egyptian people like it or not will accept it. Morsi is banking on it because he was elected by the majority so he believes he has the power to back him.

I also call bullshit on this CBS pkg ( Link ) that is being presented to the people in the US because Morsi never had control of the constitutional court. The constitutional court was established entirely by Mubarak 15 years ago and calling them all Islamist implying that they were somehow controlled by Morsi or the MB is a total crock and entirely misleading. Not everyone agrees on the same definition of Islam and that is a major point in the current protests. The constitutional court didn't exist before any of this upheaval. And they believe that all of this is blown way out of proportion and those locally that are in Egypt and educated know better and some are taking advantage of the situation.

They said that you can't believe that a country that is 90% Islamic and 10% Christian to not pass a constitution that represents 90% of the country. The liberal minded can't honestly believe that they can come out and say that the constitution doesn't represent them in Egypt and in the same week say they support gay right. That just won't pass in Egypt. I'm sorry. The vast majority does not and will not support the sentiment even if 200,000 - 300,000 supporters come out in Tahrir square in Egypt. It's still not a vast majority of the population. That's not to say their battle is entirely lost in the Egyptian Parliament. There can always be referendums and possibly one day their own bill of rights.

Personally for me it's a sad loss for women's rights and I hope that they keep fighting and get some amendments recognized for themselves.

Wow, seriously Olivia? Where are you getting your information? Have you spoken to your husbands family in Egypt? Have you read the news lately?

This isn't just "blowing over" any time soon. My sister in law lives just blocks from Tahrir and it's a crazy mess! She's been attacked twice being less than one block from our home as recent as two months ago and we live across the street from a police station. Does she ever see the police out? Just about never.

As for the majority voting Morsi in, by what percent? Really? Not much and what he did win with was probably more because his hetchmen where out offering bribes for votes (BTW, both sides did this not just the Brotherhood), We know for fact, since if happened to my SIL, aunt and cousins.

I'm not trying to scare RFQ, but the reality is Egypt is a mess. Foreigners aren't safe like they used to be. Period.

I know people who visited and were perfectly fine. Most of them stayed outside of downtown, which is better but bad things are happening all over Egypt. As long as RFQ is with family I'm sure things will be okay but it's better to be aware then not, just don't down-play something you don't know for certain, Olivia.

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

BTW, Morsi was elected by 25% of Egyptians, which isn't a majority by any stretch of the word. His election results were a whopping 2% higher than the next guy, who happened to be Mubarak's last Prime Minister. They were choosing between the lesser of two evils, knowing the result was going to be evil. For those who weren't convinced, kilos of meat, refrigerators, and air conditioners helped sway their opinion.

Exactly!

Be careful of snakes on planes headed to Egypt-

http://m.gawker.com/...flight-in-egypt

Snakes on the plane!! Who would have thought it would become a REAL event!

Edited December 6, 2012 by 100% Al Ahly Fan

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

REALLY? Isn't that just a bit insensitive?? I mean first of all my husband doesn't even live in the MIDDLE EAST. Second of all-- what does he know about it? It was okay when he first told me to be careful (on my upcoming trip), but then he got really incessant about how bad it is over there. I tried to explain a bit about say... how the protests in Cairo are pretty consolidated and the city has more people than our state x4, so the turmoil is rather small really. Its not like I'm going to the Sinai Peninsula border or anything. But every time I tried to enlighten him he stressed even stronger "You're AMERICAN."

He made it sound like t I'm American and that automatically mean everyone is on a witch hunt for me. I really resented that attitude, especially the unwillingness to here anything else.

Whadyya think? Am I being overly sensitive to the comments?

*edited misspellings*

Chicago has a murder rate that is out of control and the National Guard has been called in to protect residents. Hopefully you will not have to go through O'Hare airport on the way to Egypt. Maybe that is what he meant?

[Ihavequestions 419]

This isn't just "blowing over" any time soon.

Yeah it is. In two weeks. I've marked it on my calendar.

[Roosha 51]

I don't have anything to add to the discussion except an appreciation for this comment:

But then I'm no longer newly in love and I'm more aware of my husband being full of sh!t most of the time lol.

I was on the floor! Mostly b/c I feel the same, mine is the same way and the blinders were taken off a loooooong time ago!!

[RFQ 110]

I don't have anything to add to the discussion except an appreciation for this comment:

I was on the floor! Mostly b/c I feel the same, mine is the same way and the blinders were taken off a loooooong time ago!!

LOL... it is pretty terrific comment. My first marriage made it 10 years and I was blind as a bat for most of those. The good thing is, this time I went into this with a total different mind set and 10 years of marriage taught me oh so well what becomes of that flitty little emotion people think is love. I definitly know what marriage ISN'T.

My hubs totally gets made fun of if he tries to BS me. #jaded.

Edited December 11, 2012 by RFQ

[Roosha 51]

My hubs totally gets made fun of if he tries to BS me. #jaded.

Oh hun, mine works in sales. I'm constantly telling him to stop treating me like one of his clients, I'm not falling for his BS!

[Ihavequestions 419]

So please stop scaring RFQ because the general consensus is that this whole situation will blow over like a bad storm if that in one to two weeks.

Well, it's been two weeks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lhg-JNsZwWg