SnapShot: Cat Proctor

"You know you're in Cairo University when a cat is helping you proctor mid term exams" :-) Thank you E.G.

Photo: I am the Government... of coffee and mess

Thought this photo is funny and was worth a share:

It's from a commons area at Cairo University and it basically says "eating and beverages on these tables will be banned if you keep on leaving your garbage around" 

It's signed by "the director" and next to that, someone wrote "I am the government" in Arabic. I'm not quite sure if they meant that the director is the government or if the writer is.

Also notable that there are coffee marks on the paper, a blatant provocation... ahh... youth these days...

I guess the "I am the government" addition is funny, but it also exemplifies the I'm-a-rich-Egyptian-and-there-are-poor-people-around-to-clean-up-after-my-shit syndrome.

"I am the Government" of coffee and mess. 

Soon, I'll probably write another post going into more detail about this syndrome and other things that illustrate some of this country's underlying problems.

Street Ad Commentary, Giza, Egypt

This advertisement struck me as interesting because of it's combination of both English and Arabic. The words "buy and sell" are written in "Arabic" and "in your city" is in English. I think that words relating to buying and selling are almost always thought of in Arabic (even after I left in 2009, I continued involuntarily speaking Arabic in the streets of Buenos Aires when I wanted to buy things). The fact that the rest of the sentence is in English says "we're a classy, respectable, hip company". There have been some other ads embracing this form of public persuasion, such as the Pespi ones (e.g. يلا, now, pepsi ) which are quite good in my opinion. 

No comment on www.dubizzle.com except that it seems like a bad name for what the service they claim to provide. and then, there's craigslist, anyone?

Then, you have your regular Giza crowd. Notice the man in the foreground is holding a child's hand. The "renaissance" statue is in the background. I like the general movement captured.