Culture Shock

I’m Egyptian so I thought that being raised according to Egyptian culture was how my two sisters and I were raised. It was not until I went to Egypt alone for the first time that I realized how different the two cultures actually were. To start from the beginning I was born in Los Angeles, California. I have been living in New Jersey for the majority of my life. I would classify my family as a standard middle class family. For me, I felt that we had an ordinary life here, I mean it was nothing spectacular. That is until I went to Egypt. My parents had sent me there for my 16^th birthday. I spent a month there and from that one month I understood how hard my parents worked to achieve the lives they have today and how thankful I should have been for my life here.
Generally Egypt’s culture seems to be much stricter than the American culture. I believe that my first experience with culture shock with this trip happened while I was still at home. The reason I was being sent to Egypt was because I was going to meet a perspective fiancé. In Egypt arranged marriages are customary. Even though not all families still believe in the concept of arranged marriages, my family does. So when I first heard about this I believed it was a joke. It was not until I was actually in Egypt that I began to realize the situation. Along with this news, another aspect of Egypt that was culturally shocking was the airport. It sounds odd but at an American airport you expect terminals and severe organization and security measures. When I got to Egypt I was astonished. There was no terminal we got out of the plain using stairs and our luggage was on these little trolleys on the ground. The second I came out of the plane I was bombarded with people asking to carry my luggage to give me a taxi ride and just offering services. It was very strange to me seeing that many people willing to help. Little did I realize at the time, that was their only form of income.
The homes in Egypt are very different architecturally as well. There are no suburban style homes there. All the houses are in apartment buildings and wealthier families will own up to four floors in a building. On top of the houses there is almost a farm. Cages holding chickens, rabbits, pigeons and other small animals are used to provide food for the families because meat in Egypt is very expensive to buy. Another aspect about Egypt that shocked me was the antifeminism of the culture. I was not allowed to leave the house without either a group of girls or a male escort. On taxi busses women were allowed to sit anywhere but recommended to sit in the front and men were only allowed to sit in the back, the same rules also applied to trains and other public transportation.
I think the most shocking thing to me about Egypt’s culture was the religious differences. In America we see it today all over the news the controversy in countries in the middle east fighting over government and religion. There is no separation of religion and government there. It is a constant fight in the middle east to defend your religion weather it is Christianity or Islam. It is a war that neither my sisters nor I have ever actually believed because we do not come from a country or culture where discrimination based on religion is not acceptable. When I was given dirty looks once people knew my religious preference I was very surprised. Response Paper 2 : Culture Shock