It’ll be on time… Egypt time!

So here’s the biggest difference between home and here: shopping. Back home you go to the Sears, buy a washer and dryer, set up a delivery time, they give you a window and the delivery guy comes, brings it in and sets it up. Here, not so much. Here you have a “guy” for everything: one to build furniture, fix broken electronics, plumbing, installing parts, painting, making and hanging curtains (which is actually two guys). So we go to the appliance shop, if you want to call it that, to get a washer and dryer. We also bought a microwave and vacume while were at it. Also, electronics here are EXPENSIVE! (read: WICKEDLY CRAZY EXPENSIVE) So we pick out the stuff and order it. No information on when it will be delivered, when to expect it at all. Also, the place you bought it from will not be the company that installs it. If you bought an LG washer, the LG man comes and installs it, otherwise your warrenty is VOID. So we go out to dinner one night, almost a week after ordering appliances, and when we get back, all of our lovely appliances are sitting outside of our door! Apparently the delivery man came and since we were not there he just left the stuff, not a phone call or a note to be had. So now we have a dryer, washer, microwave and vacume. Quickly we put away our mc wave and the vacume. Two days later some people call to tell us that they will be here soon to install stuff. This is at 7:30 at night. The one man finally arrives and in 5 minutes hooks up our washer and tests it. I ask him about the dryer, he says “not LG, Shokran” So at this point we have an installed washer, a dryer in a box (in the kitchen) and a semi-broken microwave (the turn table didn’t turn). We call about the microwave and they promise to come and replace it… which happens to be at 10:30 at night! He called my flatmate repeatedly and got no answer, because she was asleep! He called back again the next night at about 9:30 and got to my flat at about 10:00 to swap microwaves. The man was very confused about why she did not answer her phone last night and when she explained she was asleep, he was convinced she was sick or crazy. Thus begins our discussion on Egyptian time. Egyptians do not wake up early. The live for the night time.To have something scheduled before noon is pretty much not done, unless you are talking about food places or certain things like manicures. If you need someone to come out to your flat to fix something, they are coming at night. LATE at night. This is common with lots of things. Doctors appointments are scheduled at 8pm or later, groceries delivered, wires fixed, etc. Egyptians have a siesta after their morning routine and when they arise from their siesta, around 4/5 pm, it is then afternoon for them. So if an Egyptian tells you that it will get done in the afternoon, think dinnertime for us Americans. Also, expect them to be at least half an hour, probably more like an hour late. The darker it is, the more you will get things scheduled. The service men are nothing but nice and very efficient, it’s just the waiting for them to get there part that is a killer. For example, we still have a dryer in a box in our kitchen, it’s become more of a second island really. There is also a new in Ma’adi put in place by our mayor to limit traffic during the daytime. No delivery or large corporate vehicle larger than an SUV can make deliveries between the hours of 8am and 8pm. JOY! This means that the 10:00pm visits from the microwave men are the norm and are now regulated by the mayor! Really, you just have to sit back, have a laugh, say “welcome to Egypt” and “I hope it gets here soon, insha allah”(god willing)”.