can i use your mobile?

Hihi everyone!

I am back in Egypt and the work is a lot since its piled up. We have a build team coming in a week and i have a lot to do to prepare for it. But regardless of that i am setting a little time to post to my friends.

So i was in the states for two weeks and i noticed so many differences that i might have not if i never went to egypt. The biggest one was how scared a lot of people are to interact with others. Granted due to my arabic appearance people might be a little more likely to not want to interact with me in fear that i might i dont know i guess go terrorist on them or whatever goes through their minds. But yeah i guess over the last four months i was so used to walking down the street making eye contact with everyone i passed and saying some sort of greeting, even sometimes shaking their hands just for the courtesy of it that i figured it might cross over the seas to America.

So as i walked down the street i would say hello to like everyone or just give them at least one of those nods of acknowledgment to say "yes i see that you exist" but i was a little sad to how many rejections i received. So it would usually go something like this i would be looking straight ahead while walking down the sidewalk or something and see someone i was eventually going to pass by. I would see from a distance that he sees me and he sees from a distance that i see him, so i figure "ok this is cool now i can say hello" so we get closer and as we get to a vocal proximity of one another he looks straight down as if to hide from me or to fool me to think "oh this guy is really busy looking at his sneakers, i shouldnt bother him with a greeting" haha, this happened many many times and some people are more creative like they would look at their watch just as we get close enough to each other, one guy even went out of his way to fumble for his mobile phone just so he can do something which would make him appear busy. It blows my mind the the effort people go through just to avoid interacting with someone else....oh well what are you going to do?

Haha, saying mobile phone also brings up another thing i noticed. One of course is that now i say mobile phone instead of cell phone just out of habit of being in egypt. So what happened was one of the days i was back in the states i went to SUNY albany my old university to pick up some transcripts and see some old chums. So on the way up to albany i was talking on my mobile so long to the point of it completely running out of battery life and left me in a tight situation in that i sort of needed the phone to talk to everyone for the rest of the day. So i get to campus i go to my friend Austin Shea's building but i cant get in since i dont have a key or anything so i am waiting outside in the cold for someone to open the door or something and since i dont have my phone anymore i cant call him. So i see a guy across the road smoking a cigarette and i figure "hey he must have a phone i can use to call austin so i can get inside" i go over to him and ask him "excuse me, would it be ok if i use your mobile to call my friend? the battery in my phone died." He looks at me, and replies "umm, i would prefer not to" haha i had no idea what to say to that except "ok, well i guess thank you for your time..." and i walk back to my side of the road and stand their for about five minutes before someone finally opened the door. Haha, so yeah i dont know why people are afraid of talking to other people in the states maybe its the media, maybe its the educational system, maybe its everything all together, who knows. The point is i am going to challenge you all in the states to just try talking to people you dont have to be their friends, you dont have the feel pressured in that if you talk to them they are going to eventually want something from you or whatever just be polite and say hello at least! I know i am going to pursue this type of behavior when i return and for the rest of my days.

Ok back to work i hope everyone is well. Good bye for now!


I hope Joe got to read this