Talks in Taxis

Each taxi ride is an adventure. You are gambling with your luck as soon as you get in one. You never know if you will get a crazy man, a quiet man, a talkative man, a creepy man, a mad man, a generous man, a greedy man, a helpful man..well I think you get the point. There are an endless number of possibilities of what kind of person your driver will be. You just have to take whatever taxi comes driving along. Black taxis of course because the white ones are always overpriced. Taxis have become part of my daily life here in Cairo. I take then to and from Arabic three times a week,and then any other time I go out of the house without my family. Now that I think about it, I take atleast 12 taxis a week, probably more. Taxis are quite convenient, they are on practically every street, and you simply tell them where to go, and they take you there. The money is an issue, but if you only give them what you know it should be, and put up with some yelling here and there, then you usually get off pretty reasonably. For example, to get to arabic I pay 7 pounds($1.50) give or take. It is usually a 20 minute ride if there is not much traffic. The very first day of arabic, our teacher taught us how to say we are not married because we are too young. We all thought he was crazy. What use is knowing how to say that when we could not even ask people how they were doing? We all quickly learned why. After learning our names and ages, many taxi drivers quickly shift the conversation to asking whether we are married or not. It all made sense as to why our arabic teacher taught us that on the very first day. Mostly if taxi drivers talk, they ask your name, your age, where your from, why you are here, and various other questions of the sort. Many taxi drivers are very glad when I tell them I am from America. They immediately begin to talk about how Obama is "helwa"(great), and Bush is "wahesh"(very bad). Many drivers also love Jimmy Carter. He is the best president in their opinion. Well, it is true from an Egyptian perspective. He is the one who sealed the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt for those of us who can't remember. I have had taxi drivers point out statues and tell me who they are and what the did. It was all in Arabic, so I didn't understand it all, but the thought was still nice. I have had a few drivers teach me Arabic words. They would point out things in the street, and tell me the name for them. One guy, even wrote out letters on his hand. I have had drivers tell me the names of all the streets. It just amazes me sometimes to see how nice some people are. Not all the drivers are this nice. Some get frustrated when you try and tell them a way to go, and the biggest problem is paying them. To avoid discussion about the money, you get out of the taxi, hand the money to the driver, through the window and walk away. Most the time, I am fine, but occasionally drivers will yell, hiss, or give some other expression of discontent. If I know I cut it close, and I have a spare pound, I will give him more, but if I know he was paid sufficiently I just walk away. There is the occasional driver who will get out of the taxi, in his anger, but usually people on the street help you if that happens. The highest percentage of taxi drivers are quiet and you listen to music or the Koran with them, directing them where to go, and everything is fine. I enjoy riding in taxis, it is always something new, and they get me where I need to go.