20 Things You Can’t Live Without in Egypt

Surviving in Egypt is no walk in the park. From ruthless traffic that starts right in front of your building to fights with microbus drivers and endless family gatherings with your aunts, some things will never go away no matter how many decades pass.

Here are 20 things you wish you could live without in Egypt — but you just can’t get a break:

 

 

 

A broken rear tail light

 

 

 

 

A bawab that you’re scared of more than your father

 

 

 

 

A driver’s license that you never knew was expired and now you’re stuck in a two-hour-long line to renew it

 

 

 

 

Stress is literally Cairo’s oxygen

 

 

 

 

A sleepless night before your midterm because the store opening across the street has music blasting out of speakers the size of a car

 

 

 

 

A family 3ozoma that you don’t want to go to

 

 

 

 

A mother whose biggest fear is you staying single

 

 

 

 

A BFF whose biggest fear is el7asad

 

 

 

 

Saying or hearing the line, “Enty hateb2i meraty. 3arfa y3ni eh meraty?”

 

 

 

 

Avwara over everything that doesn’t matter

 

 

 

 

An offensive word carved on your car

 

 

 

 

The musical background of your life is car honks

 

 

 

 

Accusing your makwagy of losing a shirt

 

 

 

 

Buying yameesh Ramadan but never eating it

 

 

 

 

Saving the mini ketchup packets and throwing them away two years later

 

 

 

 

A sayes that opens the car door for you but never helps you park

 

 

 

 

Arguing on the phone with your bank for an hour

 

 

 

 

Thinking, “Why not double park when everyone else did?”, only to find a fine glued to your window

 

 

 

 

Ghada Abdel Raziq in Ramadan

 

 

 

 

And every citizen’s nightmare: Shehadet Ta7arokat

 

 

 

 

WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss 25 Egyptian Things That Will Make You Feel Older Than Gedetak.