get up, stand up
back in november, naveed, bikey and i went to dahab during our eid break. dahab is about a 10 hour bus ride from cairo. our ride to dahab wasn’t that bad except for some rich egyptian guys singing 80’s one hit wonders in english with an egyptian accent. however, our ride back to cairo was another ordeal…..
on the bus, i was sitting next to bikey. naveed was sitting in the seat in front of us next to an egyptian lady. we were sitting at the front of the bus. across from naveed were two guys…one american and the other german. the bus was filthy dirty but we didn’t know it at first. we were just sitting and relaxing on the bus with some bags of chips between us. we come to a bus stop. that’s when naveed informs us that there are roaches on the bus and they’ve been crawling up the window next to the egyptian lady. of course, bikey and i get scared but especially bikey ‘cause she’s sitting next to the window. we still have 6 more hours left on the trip but alhamdulillah, bikey and i haven’t seen any roaches by our windows. naveed has the brilliant idea of asking the two guys to switch seats with her and the egyptian lady.
naveed (to the guys): would you guys like to sit next to roaches?
me: naveed!!! what are you saying?!?! why in the world would they wanna sit next to roaches?
guys: umm…we don’t know what roaches are.
naveed: they’re brown insects about an inch in size…
me: umm..naveed…i think they’re joking…
naveed (continues): they live in dirty areas….they multiply like crazy….
me: naveed!!! they’re joking!!
naveed: oh….you know what roaches are? well, do you guys wanna switch?
guys: umm..no, not really.
me: well, you guys probably have roaches by your window anyway.
so the bus continues along its journey towards cairo. we come to another bus stop. the guys see a roach by their window and flick it. it lands on the lady sitting in front of them. she flicks it. it lands onto naveed. i start laughing as naveed screams and jumps out of her seat. i jump out of my seat and run to the back out of fear of any roaches getting flicked onto me. after i think the coast is clear, i cautiously go back to my seat. but after a few seconds, bikey starts to scream ‘cause she sees a big roach on the bag of chips between our seat! i scream and she screams and naveed screams and i fling the bag forcefully into the aisle. the guys stomp on the bag of chips crushing the roach with such chivalry. but it doesn’t stop there. a few seconds later, bikey screams again because there’s a roach on her scarf! we all scream and i run to the back. there are a bunch of egyptian guys sitting in the back laughing their heads off just watching the show. naveed, bikey and i are nearly in tears, hearts are pounding, legs are shaking…we can’t sit down 'cause it seems to be raining roaches and still 4 more hours to go! the lady sitting in front of the guys and her husband start yelling at the bus driver about the filthiness of the bus and demands him to do something so we can ride the bus in peace. what does the brilliant driver do seconds before we depart? he sprays raid all along the windows. mind you, the bus is enclosed. i guess he thought by killing us off, the ride back to cairo would be peaceful.
on the bus, i was sitting next to bikey. naveed was sitting in the seat in front of us next to an egyptian lady. we were sitting at the front of the bus. across from naveed were two guys…one american and the other german. the bus was filthy dirty but we didn’t know it at first. we were just sitting and relaxing on the bus with some bags of chips between us. we come to a bus stop. that’s when naveed informs us that there are roaches on the bus and they’ve been crawling up the window next to the egyptian lady. of course, bikey and i get scared but especially bikey ‘cause she’s sitting next to the window. we still have 6 more hours left on the trip but alhamdulillah, bikey and i haven’t seen any roaches by our windows. naveed has the brilliant idea of asking the two guys to switch seats with her and the egyptian lady.
naveed (to the guys): would you guys like to sit next to roaches?
me: naveed!!! what are you saying?!?! why in the world would they wanna sit next to roaches?
guys: umm…we don’t know what roaches are.
naveed: they’re brown insects about an inch in size…
me: umm..naveed…i think they’re joking…
naveed (continues): they live in dirty areas….they multiply like crazy….
me: naveed!!! they’re joking!!
naveed: oh….you know what roaches are? well, do you guys wanna switch?
guys: umm..no, not really.
me: well, you guys probably have roaches by your window anyway.
so the bus continues along its journey towards cairo. we come to another bus stop. the guys see a roach by their window and flick it. it lands on the lady sitting in front of them. she flicks it. it lands onto naveed. i start laughing as naveed screams and jumps out of her seat. i jump out of my seat and run to the back out of fear of any roaches getting flicked onto me. after i think the coast is clear, i cautiously go back to my seat. but after a few seconds, bikey starts to scream ‘cause she sees a big roach on the bag of chips between our seat! i scream and she screams and naveed screams and i fling the bag forcefully into the aisle. the guys stomp on the bag of chips crushing the roach with such chivalry. but it doesn’t stop there. a few seconds later, bikey screams again because there’s a roach on her scarf! we all scream and i run to the back. there are a bunch of egyptian guys sitting in the back laughing their heads off just watching the show. naveed, bikey and i are nearly in tears, hearts are pounding, legs are shaking…we can’t sit down 'cause it seems to be raining roaches and still 4 more hours to go! the lady sitting in front of the guys and her husband start yelling at the bus driver about the filthiness of the bus and demands him to do something so we can ride the bus in peace. what does the brilliant driver do seconds before we depart? he sprays raid all along the windows. mind you, the bus is enclosed. i guess he thought by killing us off, the ride back to cairo would be peaceful.
posted by sarwath at 1:45 PM
7 Comments:
*applause*
Brilliant, brilliant post mA.
Well worth staying up to read!
"naveed (continues): they live in dirty areas….they multiply like crazy…." - ROFL!!!
Sarwath related this story to me on MSN right after it occured...i could not stop laughing...
I was soooo not nearly in tears! Merely joining in with the spirit of things (and a cockroach landing on your scarf is not the most pleasant of experiences).
However, Tharwa dear, 'big roach'??? Slight exaggeration!! They were all babies!!! Still, it was pretty gross, but the guys swapped seats with us after I made a huge scene about the cockroach on my head - nice to know chivalry hasn't died a complete death ;)
And yay! You saved me the trouble of blogging it!
wassalam x
I feel like I need to redeem myself...if you knew how traumatised I was my cockroaches (my first flat here was infested by them) you would understand why I reacted the way I did!
Bikey I think they swapped seats not because they were being gentlemen but because you were screaming and I think you scared them... they swapped seats out of fear (of you).
bikey...you 'aint off the hook yet. you still need to write your version of the cockroach story.
salaam sarwath!
i hope you are enjoying yourself, inshaAllah. well, it looks like you are. my spring break is coming up, so i'm excited.
best,
sabahat
brilliant! Wow I never heard that roach story before- LLLLOL! Bikey's found a fine blogger to replace her.
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