Trade-offs

Today I resolved to find some good fresh fruit, the intake of which I have been sorely neglecting of late. When I stopped at a decent looking shop to survey the selection, the shopkeeper bade me be seated with him outside for a moment after exchanging a couple of typical Arabic formalities. After speaking to me in rapid Egyptian, I apologized and told him I was actually not a native of this land so he should try to speak slower. He asked me where I was from and I said America.

"Oh, I lived in New Jersey for many years," he told me.

"Really? What made you come back to Egypt?"

"It wasn't my choice, I had visa issues. I hope to God I can get a new visa to go back."

I was suddenly interested in why he was so anxious to get back to the U.S. He seemed like he was making a decent enough living here: nice, full produce shop right in downtown Cairo with a couple of workers to help him out.

"I love America more than here. Much more than here."

I asked him why.

"In America, if you work hard, you have a good life. It's a much better life than here. If you work hard in America, your boss says "good job" and gives you good money. Here in Egypt, you can work very hard and not make any money. You can work your whole life and have nothing."

I told him that there must be some good things about Egypt.

"The only good thing is I can do this. I can sit outside here and talk to you and nobody cares. In America, this would be like a "part-time" job," he said with a laugh. I asked him to elaborate further.

"The pace of life here is slower. People spend more time just talking and getting to know each other. It's not like work work work all the time. But it's still a hard life. America is an easy life, in my opinion."

After buying up his store and bidding him farewell, I began reflecting on the differences between the pace of life here and back home. I've definitely had my moments here where I've gotten a bit peeved at not being served quickly at a restaurant or having to wait too long to get my change because the cashier is busy chit-chatting with his buddy behind the counter. The pace of life here is different, but people are more social and do indeed take the time to get to know each other. Building friendship and trust is a very important part of Arab culture (especially business culture). It's not just like "trust me"... no, no. Let's have tea or coffee and smoke some shisha first. Let's chat a little about religion or politics or each other's family. This is how things work here. America--at least the northeast--is a long way off. People keep more to themselves, aren't interested in others, just want to get in and get out and go home.

I'm not trying to advocate one lifestyle or another. I think there are merits to both and we should try to achieve some measure of moderation: excess of chit-chat and lounging on the job is bad, but not knowing who your neighbors or co-workers are is just as bad.

Perhaps some day we'll achieve the "perfectly balanced culture": one where well-paid work is done efficiently enough that we still have enough time left over for ourselves and for one another.

One can hope anyway.