Culture Shock in Egypt!

When Nate and I first moved to Switzerland, we thought we witnessed a great deal of culture shock, but we realized that it was quite minor in comparison to the culture shock we experienced in Egypt. There are so many cultural differences between the US and Egypt that I probably don't have enough room on this blog to list them all, but I will give you the highlights.

Once we stepped off the plane, the first thing we noticed, were all the men carrying around big guns (very nonchalantly at that!) ... Sorry this is not a very good picture, but Nate thought I should be discreet, which was probably a good idea!

There were also lots of gunmen surrounding the airport. This one looks a bit bored...

Since Islam is the predominant religion in Egypt (over 90% are Muslim), there are many mosques... a little different from the many churches you see in the South.

From what I saw, there were no crosswalks in Cairo and the traffic was horrendous, so we had some adventures crossing the road! Here is a guy just strolling along in the middle of traffic like it's nothing...

The view of Cairo and the Nile from our hotel room... look at all the traffic on the bridge. There was constant honking at all times of the day. Good thing our windows were somewhat soundproof!
All the haze and pollution was very beautiful at sunset.

This is what I saw when I opened the menu at our first restaurant. I freaked out a little because I obviously can't read Arabic, but then Nate pointed out the English section to me...

Meet Mike and Kimberly.

If it wasn't for Mike and Kimberly, Nate and I probably would have never taken a trip to Egypt, but since our good friends were already going, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to spend time with them and travel a new part of the world. We had an amazing time together. When you're traveling alone as much as Nate and I are, traveling with friends helps to keep it interesting!