Debunking Myths and Calming Concerns

So I've decided that it's about time I do a "Did you know?" and "Things you should know" post about Egypt and my stay here so far. Let's see if I can compile these in a way that won't be too confusing for my mind to handle.

First off, more importantly, the "calming concerns" part of my post. Yes, there have been more protests in Egypt.  No, the revolution is not entirely over. Ever since January 25th and the end of Mubarak's reign over Egypt, the youth of Egypt in particular have been carrying on the new found freedom of speech, opinion, and protest. Actually, they're really fond of protests. But to calm your concerns, I'll give you a map of where I am in relation to where Tahrir Square is and downtown Cairo as it shows up on GoogleMaps.

Click for larger view

A is where my dorm is, on the island of Zamalek. The red circle at the bottom of the page is Tahrir Square and the circle towards the right of the page is the geographic center of downtown Cairo (so Google tells me). It takes about 30 minutes on an average traffic day at the end of the day to get from downtown to Zamalek. Because it's an island, I honestly have no idea what's going on Tahrir until someone tells me something's happening. There are peaceful protests every Friday, and the whole issue with the Coptic Christians and Muslims that have been going on the past few days is bad, yes, but rest assuredly, that people have gone out to Tahrir to speak with protesters and military guards and have come back having gained a lot of insight, and most certainly in the same condition of health as when they left! All is well on little ol' Zamalek! Don't worry! (That goes directly to you Mom & Memaw)

Next bit is the debunking myths and "Did you know?" I've gotten a lot of questions that I can take some time, sit back, and answer.

1. Cairo is a very, very dirty city. It's not on Forbes' new top 25 dirtiest cities list, but I at least think it's number 30-something. There's no form of organized, governmental trash removal like in the states. It's rather unofficial so trash just sits on the street for a while. 
2. Also, the Nile is GROSS in Cairo. You'd only want to swim in it in Upper Egypt, really. Where it's nice and clean.
3. Regarding that Upper Egypt is actually Southern Egypt because of the way the river flows! Lower Egypt = northern Egypt.
4. The Nile is the only river in the world to flow from South to North instead of North to South.
5. Yes, there is sand and desert. But Cairo is actually really westernized. City of the satellite dishes, anyone?
6. New Cairo is literally the middle of the desert. New Cairo is a 45 minute bus ride in the morning, and an 1 1/2 hour bus ride in the evening away from downtown/Zamalek. 
7. Traffic is awful. 
8. Yes, there are trees here.
9. There are tons of stray cats here also. And flies.
10. No one drives within the lines. Wait... lines? What lines?
11. No, I don't have to wear a veil or head covering.
12. It's really awkward when you're walking past someone praying (this happens in the girl's stairwell in Zamalek quite frequently ... bad timing), so try to be as quiet as possible!
13. Ramadan is the worst time ever to be in Egypt and the best time ever to be in Egypt; to find something to eat in the middle of the day is nearly impossible, but the parties at the end of the day are awesome.
14. The Egyptian pound currency exchange rate to the U.S. dollar is approximately 6 to 1. 
15. Hieroglyphs are a legit language and ridiculously difficult to memorize.
16. The revolution is still happening.
17. Nothing is free in Egypt.
18. Do not make eye contact or try to hold conversations with vendors if you don't know Arabic in the touristy places (specifically Giza). Just a "lat shukran" can get you out of sticky situations, but most of the time they will hunt you down and force you to buy things.
19. Alexandria is a lot cleaner than Cairo.
20. La shukran are the magic words (No, thank you). 
21. Imshi is a close second (go away).
22. No, I don't ride a camel to school. You realize how inconvenient that'd be?
23. I'm sure I'll come up with more of these at some point!