No one can hear you scream

Until you visit Cairo, it's impossible to understand just how bad the staring is. There is always a pair of eyes on you. Furtive glances is one thing; intense, creepy leering is quite another. It's so hard to ignore. The other day, I asked Sonia what the Arabic was for "What are you looking at?", in the accusatory sense of the phrase. "Boo-see-lee-lay!" she informed me, along with the appropriate eyebrow and hand gestures. I was even informed of a follow up question: "Hodlak-soorah?", meaning "Do you want a photo?". (I thought it quite amusing that the sarcastic follow-up is the same across the globe. For the record, she agreed that there was a problem with people staring at you in this city.)

I tried it last week at everyone who leered at me. Despite being quite good at disdainful scorn, it didn't have the desired effect. Instead, it seemed to act as an invite for further leering and, in some cases, the clear intended instigation of a bollocks-laden conversation about how I am, and whether or not I love Egypt.

Today, a particularly bad day for it, I just told them all to fuck off. That seemed to work.

This place has utterly destroyed me.