What I learned today (8): reporting can be dangerous

So, I got into a bit of a gnarly situation, trying to do some reporting...

The big news last night was that protesters had broken into (and later supposedly tried to burn down) the headquarters of Ahmed Shafiq, one of the two presidential candidates competing in the run-off for the Egyptian elections.

I had kept myself updated on the situation throughout the evening via Twitter, and had briefly attempted to take some photos of a small protest in Tahrir with a friend.

On my way home, I start thinking.

What I learned today (7) - S is for Football

Our internet connection has been a massive bitch lately, causing me to have to call those lovely people at the LinkDotNet helpdesk many times this week.

What I learned today (6): about recovering pieces of dead people

There was a pretty serious train crash in Amsterdam when I was there. That same evening, when we were on our way back from another city by train, we met a train driver who told us all about the accident.

For some reason the conversation turned to people getting hit by trains and how that is obviously very traumatising for the driver. 'I imagine it is even worse for the firemen who have to come clean it up', the driver added.

What I learned today (5): Hiring standards at Vodafone Egypt are low

Me, at my local Vodafone store: "Hello, I'd like to reactivate the internet on my phone."

Store clerk, looking at my iPhone4 with great suspicion: "You get internet on that thing?"

What I learned today (4): To be in the know

‘When you know, you know. You know?’

- ‘Know what?’

‘Well, I don’t know.’

Thus my American friend's attempt at being philosophical during a late night discussion this weekend. 

No, he wasn't drunk. Or stoned. 

What I learned today (3): Showing your penis to strangers is unacceptable

‎"See, every single male can remember the first time, when he was 5 or 6 years old, he showed his penis to a stranger and everybody started freaking the hell out."

Yep.

What I learned today (2): Cookies vs biscuits

The term ‘cookies’ only applies to the round variety. If it is square, it should most definitely be referred to as a ‘biscuit’. When containing nuts and some kind of honey- or sugar-like substance, it must be called a ‘bar’. 

Incorrect use of the above mentioned terms will highly likely result in confused Brits and Americans regarding the snack you are referring to.

What I learned today (1): Thomas Friedman is not universally liked

He is supposed to come speak at the American University in Cairo this week, but a few people aren't too happy about that.

Someone even devoted a book to his apparent flaws!