Not just a small world, it’s a brand new one. On Thanksgiving, the ship was near Kaum Umbu. That is to say, in the middle of nowhere. My cell phone rang, and it’s Gina, calling to say happy holiday! Last place I would have expected cellular coverage.
Cairo is nostalgically full of old Fiat 128s, just like the one I had in grad school. Mine floated out to sea during a hurricane in New Jersey, and was never seen again, at least by me. Maybe it made it to Egypt. Anyway, dear readers, don’t park your cars on the beach when the weather’s rising.
There’s nothing like a good pizza, and this was nothing like a good pizza. (You want me to slice that for you?) Though it’s on a boat in the Nile in downtown Cairo, the food at Chili’s here tastes pretty much like Chili’s in Austin or Beaverton, i.e., quite palatable. The best we can say about what we ate at the Aswan airport’s Sbarro’s is that it was cleverly disguised as pizza. Not at all like the good Sbarro’s in Portland. Marketing students take note: this strengthens Chili’s brand, eviscerates Sbarro’s.
One of my students is CFO of a Middle Eastern firm that owns some KFC franchises. They opened an outlet in Yemen. The Yemeni employees not only refused to don the uniform, but insisted on wearing, while working, the traditional swords that are part of everyday dress in that country. The firm soon closed the restaurant.
Wharton School, eat your heart out. I’ve been in some spiffy business school buildings, but my classroom in Cairo is literally a palace, built for one of the last king’s nephews. See photo at right.
There has been scattered violence here due to
parliamentary elections. One of my students had to break an
appointment with me because the police cordoned off his neighborhood to
contain a riot. Religion-based political parties are illegal in
Egypt, but members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood have been running
as "independents," and winning a lot of seats. The ruse is
transparent to everyone; some of the riots have been in favor of the
MB, some opposed. The MB's authoritarian stance appeals to many
Egyptians who have continued to get the short end of the stick under
the Republic. (As for the presidency, one café denizen
told me Egyptians prefer the incubent. "He might be satisfied with what
he's already stolen. A new president would start to steal from us
afresh.")
For all this, Egypt remains a fairly tolerant multicultural
society. Our Nile guide said, "Egyptians believe religion is for
God, but the country is for everybody." The level of economic
development here is comparable to Brazil's. Brazil, it is said,
is the country of the future - and always will be. Egypt just
might break through and do a South Korea. The obstacle is that
Egyptians feel comfortable, secure, and not too motivated. After
all, nobody's starving. And for thousands of years, things have
got not much better here, but never much worse either.
A student invited me to his new villa in Palm Hills,
part of a huge new district (6th of October City - some of you will
remember the unfortunate origin of that name) being built in the
desert. Looks and feels identical to Orange County, very
Californian, total contrast to noisy, dirty Cairo. His in-laws
live next door. "Don't they miss the social life of the city?" I
asked. I thought it was a tactful question, but as the
conversation progressed, I saw I had been wrong even to
voice this gentle challenge. His move to the 'burbs was not about
being rich, looking rich, or escaping the city, though he does like his
big back yard. The move is symbolic of his membership in the
class of young professionals who want to reach out to the wider world
and effect change in Egypt.
