Did I just stop being pessimistic?

Week one in Egypt has officially been conquered and I have gotten over my constant desire to let those crazy taxi drivers run me over. Dying in Cairo traffic seems like a sure way to end it if one so wished. Fortunately for me, the initial shock of actually having to live here now is about to stop paralyzing me thanks to my first weekend as a working professional in the Middle East's biggest city. This life is everything I thought it would be. Sadly, that's not a good thing. However, I have decided to change everything about myself and embrace every bit of the situation. I wasn't the best person I could be the last couple of years so I'm just going to change. And the new person likes cussing out staring men, having feet dirtier than a hobbit and being stuck in traffic.

Speaking of traffic, I have spent more hours in taxis or the metro than in bed in the past week and that has pissed me off a lot. My time on earth is limited and I intend to waste as little of it as possible. Now being stuck in transit is just that: an incredibly huge waste of time. As there is nothing to do but to ignore people's stares and try not to lose my mind over the loud, obnoxious music I decided it would be a fantastic chance to get creative. I own a smart phone (which I can't use in Egypt but oh well) so I get writing as soon as I sit down in public transport. In fact, I am on the metro right now, hoping nobody follows me off the train. Once off the train the real quest starts: locate a cab that's refraining from ripping me off. And funnily enough, while I write this bit the cab driver is taking me around the whole town except to the place I have to go to. But I won't let it piss me off anymore.

Even the hobbit feet come with quite a fantastic story. It starts at my recent belief that I was cursed. I didn't seem to find an explanation anymore as to how I could possibly be that unlucky lately. All the big things in life were rubbish, and then the little things stopped working out as well. For a few weeks everything I attempted failed and I left destruction only. The day I moved into my new apartment my roommate told me how that same day the sink broke. Speak about being cursed, right? But it officially ended on Thursday as I was preparing for the weekend because I would no longer accept being cursed. What happened next was ridiculous: a friend invited me to a full spa day. So next thing I know I'm at the Meridien in front of the Great Pyramids getting a pedicure, washing that dirt off my hobbit feat and putting some pretty colors on my nails. Way to go, Karma!

Last but not least, being mean and arrogant to men will probably be the easiest feat. I am very, very friendly and I love smiling at people when they look at me. Well, that's gotta stop! It sucks because I like being nice but I just have to give in to the fact that "nice" is the new "screwed" in Egypt. Best would be if I stop smiling all together which appears to be quite popular around here. Maybe women have nothing to smile about in Cairo. But maybe they just want to look as bad as possible so that the thousands of guys in the street finally stop staring at them. Me having my hair out probably doesn't help my invisibility, my chronic bitch face might. Shouldn't be too hard for me to pretend I'm an arrogant badass as my entire Volleyball team seemed to be convinced I actually was in the past. And being a bitch to men sounds refreshing, too. I can finally think about my ex-boyfriends and let my face speak louder than words. And I'm crap at flirting anyways.

Quite visibly I just managed to see positives in things that well and truly suck. Really, there is nothing at all amusing or positive about traffic, dirty feet and obnoxious men but I suppose that's what was the difference between me and non-pessimistic people: talking stuff up. I'm not actually convinced I can see positives in everything. In fact, it annoys me when people do that. However, I will try step one of being positive more often now, and that's convincing myself that there are silver linings in everything and that it's really not that bad at all. Although living in Egypt sounds like an absolute nightmare I am going to do everything necessary to not make it one. And so far I think that's going great...