Very worried

hi there
Hope your well i have recently traveled from the uk to Egypt and was in the same mind frame as you. Should i go or should i not.

however i decided to go, i think what your friends are saying may be over reacting.

i have not felt any animosity towards me at all, however i would make sure you are not located near the protests and try to plan your journeys on Fridays and Saturday. Dont go out by yourself very late at night unless your area is busy. keep up to date on line and watch the news

i have been back and forth to Egypt for that past five years, yes things have changed however i dont believe it is that bad.

hope it helps

Hi,

Not true (unless you're heading to the protests carrying banners and all, although some of my foreign friends have participated in the peaceful protests and came back with very positive memories ). I'm a foreigner in Cairo and so is my mom, and we travel to and from work every single day and go out on weekends. Everything's fine, you just need to check the road apps to make sure the road you're taking is free of any traffic jams. Where in Cairo are you planning to stay?
Good luck!
Maria

Maria_Andreeva wrote:

Hi,

Not true (unless you're heading to the protests carrying banners and all, although some of my foreign friends have participated in the peaceful protests and came back with very positive memories ). I'm a foreigner in Cairo and so is my mom, and we travel to and from work every single day and go out on weekends. Everything's fine, you just need to check the road apps to make sure the road you're taking is free of any traffic jams. Where in Cairo are you planning to stay?
Good luck!
Maria

I totally agree with you but would add it would be always be better if you are going to participate in the protests to go with an Egyptian friend not alone at least to understand what they are saying and what is happening..

Thank you ever so much for putting my mind at rest. I am so grateful and I can look forward to my new life in Egypt with ease now.
I will remember what you have advised me.

Thank you again.

I'm glad that you feel better now and if you need any thing never hesitate to contact me or ask your husband to contact me i would advice him what to do any time..

Wish you the best stay in Cairo..

Helloooooooo Lin.. my besti.

Come with me to Hurghada instead loooool xxx

Well there was a warning from the army that foreigners will be arrested for espionage. I don't mean to sound political but the Egyptian media is one sided and the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides. The exact same situation with the protests against Mubarak.

Lol I will come and see you I promise you will be sick of me lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx see you Thursday. Xxxxxxxxx

mydream wrote:

Lol I will come and see you I promise you will be sick of me lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx see you Thursday. Xxxxxxxxx

I wont be sick of you xxxxxx

ExpatEnglishTeacher wrote:

Well there was a warning from the army that foreigners will be arrested for espionage. I don't mean to sound political but the Egyptian media is one sided and the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides. The exact same situation with the protests against Mubarak.

Where did you take this warning from? I never heard of something like that...

Foreign media showing both sides? what are the two sides anyway...

I am moving around, too, even very close to Rabaa and life goes on as usual. But road blockings could occur anytime so you better stay informed in the local media

ExpatEnglishTeacher wrote:

Well there was a warning from the army that foreigners will be arrested for espionage. I don't mean to sound political but the Egyptian media is one sided and the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides. The exact same situation with the protests against Mubarak.

I will never be surprised one day about how fake media can mislead people or how do these nice people  get biased  when they believe such media.

1- Regarding the "army warnings":
I don't know from where did you get them?
I am sorry if i have to call your words as rumors, because they are completely out of the truth.
You cannot imagine that,based on these words, I received many messages from foreigner friends who planned to come to Egypt and when they heard such things they panicked.

Army warnings were so clear and straight forward:
"Foreigners (Syrian and Palestinians) "please" don't get involved in either the MB Picket located in Rabaa crossing (Nasr city) or in any violence activity".

More specific, some of the people who were arrested upon previous violence activities were Syrian refugees and Palestinians of Hamas. These are, in fact, the foreigners meant-by these warnings.

2- Regarding the "Egyptian media is one-sided":
My friend, I invite you not to out-loud any judgments with no evidences.
You were telling that Egyptian media is one sided. Well let me ask you one question, do you speak Arabic? i guess not. So how could be so certain of that?
Despite speaking Arabic or not, haven't you watched hundreds of videos on youtube (shot by regular individuals) showing the truth?.

3- Regarding "the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides":
I completely and strongly disagree with you about that. I have clear evidences(videos montaged and  presented by Russia Today, L.A Times, CNN). Such videos i already shared and discussed online (through showing the original videos) on many sites with people all over the world (who had same opinion as yours) and afterwards they thanked my for clearing things. It will be my pleasure to share them with you if you want. 

My friend, I know that you have been here in Egypt over 5 years teaching English, however, i am afraid that you still cannot get everything clear.

Here again, I invite you to post through Egypt forum if you need any explanations about the current situation. I will be glad to discuss with you reasonably.

Cheers,
MO.

MO2013 wrote:

ExpatEnglishTeacher wrote:

Well there was a warning from the army that foreigners will be arrested for espionage. I don't mean to sound political but the Egyptian media is one sided and the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides. The exact same situation with the protests against Mubarak.

I will never be surprised one day about how fake media can mislead people or how do these nice people  get biased  when they believe such media.

Exactly what I was saying! ( I don't believe any media I watch and read tens of media outlets from Egyptian to jazeerah to British to Turkish to Iranian to American etc) I remember during the mubarak protests when the Egyptian military had a girl on and they blurred  her face and she was saying she was spying for America and Israel and how fake that turned out to be!

1- Regarding the "army warnings":
I don't know from where did you get them?
I am sorry if i have to call your words as rumors, because they are completely out of the truth.
You cannot imagine that,based on these words, I received many messages from foreigner friends who planned to come to Egypt and when they heard such things they panicked.

Sorry about that. Maybe I shouldn't have put that out there without checking the source myself. A good friend of mine told m pe this and I took it for granted that it was an official statement. I just tried to find it online but I couldn't so I guess that warning wasn't issued. I'll ask for the reference to see if it's true or not.

Army warnings were so clear and straight forward:
"Foreigners (Syrian and Palestinians) "please" don't get involved in either the MB Picket located in Rabaa crossing (Nasr city) or in any violence activity".

More specific, some of the people who were arrested upon previous violence activities were Syrian refugees and Palestinians of Hamas. These are, in fact, the foreigners meant-by these warnings.

No comment

2- Regarding the "Egyptian media is one-sided":
My friend, I invite you not to out-loud any judgments with no evidences.
You were telling that Egyptian media is one sided. Well let me ask you one question, do you speak Arabic? i guess not. So how could be so certain of that?

الحمد لله أتكلم العربية و زوجت في عائلة مصرية

Despite speaking Arabic or not, haven't you watched hundreds of videos on youtube (shot by regular individuals) showing the truth?.

Yes I've watched a lot of conflicting videos, what is the point of that? I didnt say the Egyptian media was wrong I said they are one sided. Cann you provide me one instance that proves they're not?

3- Regarding "the foreign media are the only ones showing both sides":
I completely and strongly disagree with you about that. I have clear evidences(videos montaged and  presented by Russia Today, L.A Times, CNN). Such videos i already shared and discussed online (through showing the original videos) on many sites with people all over the world (who had same opinion as yours) and afterwards they thanked my for clearing things. It will be my pleasure to share them with you if you want

I don't understand your point? Yes all media is biased but I have seen many times on aljazeerah a representative from pro military side like Khalid from Jabha al Inqath debating a pro morsi representative. Have you ever seen such a thing on CBC?. 

My friend, I know that you have been here in Egypt over 5 years teaching English, however, i am afraid that you still cannot get everything clear.

I know. Who ever thinks they see things clear in a time when the powers to be are hidden and playing mind games with people isn't right.

Here again, I invite you to post through Egypt forum if you need any explanations about the current situation. I will be glad to discuss with you reasonably.

I don't want any explanations about the situation but thank you. Don't be too one sided either. Remember aren't you all Egyptians? That's what I hear both sides saying but you keep fighting! ( and then blaming the other for fighting, by the way as all teachers say to their students it takes two to fight)
Cheers,
MO.

Sorry I wrote my answers between your concerns. I thought that would make it easier to read but it probably mad eit harder.

Anyways just one more thing to add

The press freedom index had Egypt at 169 then it went up to 158 after the January  25 revolution. Where do you think it will be now? Egyptian media is deplorable when it comes to freedom of the press. Everyone knows it. I'm sure your just biased right now and pro military or soemthing and that's why you're not agreeing with me about the the media. we're not talking about the military or the political situation I'm commenting on the media and journalistic integrity of Egyptian media.

To deny that the Egyptian media is not terribly biased is like watching Egyptian movies like asl aswad that show the streets of Egypt as being clean and tidy while in fact they're not. Okay yes the  higher class neighborhoods are pretty clean but it's funny how some of the movies depict and show the general Egyptian streets as if everywhere is rehab or Beverley hills or soemthing

I'm shocked when I hear Egyptians believing so firmly in the media with people like lamis hadedi who was just a coupe years ago doing the exact same thing for Mubarak. The media personal are the same as during the Mubarak age why would they all of a sudden wake up and gain integrity?

I just wanted to say I'm glad to see you write you would be okay to speak and reasonably most people shut off and insult the other if they have different views from themselves. I don't think this is the place to speak about situations and politics and I wouldn't want to get into that. I'm not pro military or pro morsi I'm pro life. H problem with this world is everyone feels and thinks that others life's are less valuable than their own.

@ ExpatEnglishTeacher
I have to say that I wasn't really expecting such shallow replies.  This is because I offered to discuss the topic of your thread reasonably, but you refused my offer with a fake and showy way.
Actually, you didn't provide any reasonable information to support your points of view. In addition,you just started to through around non-sense accusations as well as hidden comments because I stated different point of view. In this regard, you tried to play the role of a nice and wise person; this however, doesn't suite you at all. As it is so clear, to any reader, to which side you belong.

I am not going to discuss anymore on this thread because it is going to be a waste of time. However, I am going to end my posts on this thread by the following tips:

- I encourage you to be smart enough and not to listen to any rumours and repeat it as it is without being sure of it. Repeating rumours as you already did in this thread, make your posts non-trustable.

- I can tell that you didn't understand my post and you didn't even bother to ask for clarifications. Moreover, imeadiatly refused my explanation offer and accused me wrongly all over they way.

-Accusing me (that I am too one-sided and pro-military), because I have different opinion than yours, is an(a) old/classic way of response to backup a weak point of view. Please try to be more creative with your responses in the future. It would be more respectable for you if you provided supporting evidences instead of such poor accusations.

-I am, truly, sad to see a Canadian is thinking/and discussing in this way. Actually it is very strange because out of my own long experience in Canada, I know that the Canadian way of discussion is based on logic sense, providing evidences and always respect the opposite opinion. But I have to thank you because your posts provided an idea about how a brainwash can work.

-As a teacher to come on the site and spread rumours, and discuss topics in this way, it is really poor. I will make sure that you will never be "at any time" the teacher of my children when I have ones.

-Finally, after I read many of your posts on this site I can tell that you mix up a lot when you discuss about many things. This is exactly what "you admitted already" when you were discussing on the thread entitled "Raw Milk". In addition, it was also proved when you "quickly deleted" your thread entitled "lies of Egyptian media".

Mo2013

I personally would like to thank you for your posts and the advice you gave me. I can tell you you made my mind much easier and I am now very excited to be in Cairo again.
Thank you so very much.

mydream wrote:

Mo2013

I personally would like to thank you for your posts and the advice you gave me. I can tell you you made my mind much easier and I am now very excited to be in Cairo again.
Thank you so very much.

mydream,
Please don't thank me, it was really my pleasure. You are welcome, as well as, any other expat in Egypt. If any help is needed please don't hesitate to text me.

Have a safe and pleasant stay in Egypt.
Cheers,
MO.

Im sorry you feel that way and I didn't mean to be offensive. I shouldn't have accused you of being pro military but I said that out of my own experiences with people, not Egyptians but people in general. Even if something is so clear they would regect based on a biased opinion.

I already apologized for the statement about the military arresting foreigners. Are you going to crucify me because of that? You've never repeated a statement from a close friend that turned out not to be true?

I believe the Egyptian medias corruption is so clear that if anyone denies it it could only be out of being biased. Maybe I judged you wrong, but honestly did I? ( if your pro military that's cool with me as I said loud and clear I'm not pro morsi or pro military I'm pro life, I'm against anyone who thinks someone else's life is less valuable than there's for a silly reason such as political views)

You asked me in point 2 and 3 if i wanted an explanation about the situation in egypt. Obviously thats political and i dont want to get into that.I'm wrong because I don't want to speak about politics? By the way I don't think Expat.com will even allow that. This country seems to be full of experts on politics and the current situation it doesn't need me throwing my 2 sense in the argument too.

My post was simply about the Egyptian medias lack of integrity I didn't want to discuss politics and I don't want to fight.

I'm not fighting with you and i don't want to fight. Again sorry if I offended you but that's the problem of the internet and written communication. Some of us write something and the reader reads one tone of voice that the writer didn't intend. Dor example somenone could write "get over here" meaning they miss that person but the reader here's " wtf are you doing hurry up and come home asshole"

By the way I didn't erase my post about the translation mistakes Expat.com did.
You think I'm pro morsi but I'm not. By the way during the elections I told everyone NOT to vote for Morsi so please don't keep accusing me of being pro morsi

The rest of your post about my posts what shall I say? You think I insulted you and so you insulted me. That's why I wrote the third post saying thank you but no thanks for your offer so you could understand I don't mean any disrespect.

But honestly a yes or no, do you think the Egyptian media has journalistic integrity and is not one sided? ( please yes or no I won't argue anything back but I would like to ask is that an honest answer and not a biased answer, again I won't argue eit you whatever you say I'm curious to know how you think)

Icouldnt find any proof for what I said earlier regarding the military warning foreigners funny thing is I came across an old article about Morsi's citizens arrest law. I didn't even know about that. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent … yptia.aspx

no problem you can come here .. your moving in cairo depends on the area where you want to go ... now there are foreigns and no problem

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=197602

just try to have a travel egyptian or forigner travel buddy in order to help you with his / her experiance whenever you could need it