A Little Less Noise, There!

A friend sent me the link to this article in the International Herald Tribune today, suggesting that I might write about what the noise is like here where I live. Assuming most of you won't follow the link and read the whole story, I'll excerpt the parts that hit home with me. (You really should read the story, though.)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/14/mideast/cairo.php

"Noise - outrageous, unceasing, pounding noise - is the unnerving backdrop to a tense time in Egypt, while inflation and low wages have people worried about basic survival, prompting strikes and protests.

We're not just talking typical city noise, but what scientists here say is more like living inside a factory.

"It's not enough to make you crazy, but it is very tiring," said Essam Muhammad Hussein, as he sat in a cracked plastic chair outside the corner food shop his family has owned for 50 years. He was shouting as he talked about the noise, though he did not seem to realize it."

....

[Scientists at Egypt's National Research Center] "spent five years studying noise levels across the city and concluded in a report issued earlier this year that the average noise from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. is 85 decibels, a bit louder than a freight train at a distance of 15 feet, or 4.6 meters, said Mustafa el Sayyid, an engineer who helped conduct the study. "All of greater Cairo is in the range of unacceptable noise levels from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m."

....

"The noise bothers me, and I know it bothers people," said Abdel Khaleq, driver of a battered black and white taxi as he paused from honking his horn to stop for passengers.

"So why do you do it?" he was asked.

"Well, to tell you I'm here," he said. "There is no such thing as logic in this country."

And then he drove off, honking.

....

And so the people shout, and shrug.

They shout to be heard, and shrug because they say there is nothing they can do but join in, honking, banging, screaming, whatever they need to do to make it through the day - or the intersection. The noise is the cause and the reaction, they say.

My thoughts:

First let me say that I love that the Egyptian taxi driver's comment was, "There is no such thing as logic in this country." That made me laugh.

Somewhere else in the story they said the volume in Cairo is basically equivalent to having a lawn mower running next to your head all day. Yes, it is LOUD here. First, there is the call to prayer which can be heard no matter where you are in the city. That's what you would probably notice first if you visited or moved here. Each mosque has its own muzzein, and the two nearest our house seem to take joy in singing the long notes of the call to prayer just a half-step off from each other, creating a harsh, dissonant, wailing sound. Some of my friends think it's a beautiful sound to hear the call to prayer, but they clearly don't live in the vicinity of two mosques with competing muzzeins! They call the faithful to prayer beginning at about 3:30 or 4 AM, and the last call sounds about an hour after sunset. I could hear it just as I began this post.

The next noise you'd notice is definitely honking. I've written about this before, but it's been a while. The traffic is unreal. The only time crossing the street is NOT like playing Frogger is on Friday mornings, which would be comparable to Sunday morning at home. There are VERY few street lights (can't think of where one even is), and the stop signs might as well have "if you feel like it" written underneath "stop." However, drivers seem to be much more aware of their surroundings than most American drivers are. They use their horns to signal that they are getting ready to enter an intersection, to alert pedestrians that they're coming, to express frustration. Usually it's just a quick little beep, but there are many cars with tricked out horns. I wish I could record them for you, because it's amusing what some of them sound like. None of them play "Dixie," but they do have horns that sound like sirens and beep repeatedly and then fade away. You hear horns at all hours of the day.

I've written about the loud schoolchildren outside our house all afternoon long. They play in the street, unsupervised, for four or five hours. People in general are loud here. (My friend Nabeel warned me about this, and I've watched him talk to his family on the phone before in Arabic. It's something to behold!) Egyptians might be having a conversation about what kind of ice cream to pick up at the store, but the way they communicate, gesturing wildly, speaking at the top of their voices, it sounds like they can't stand each other!

So yes, the city is loud, the people are loud, and my ears very rarely get the quiet I enjoyed living in Justin, where the worst thing I had to complain about was the neighbor's incessantly barking dog! I don't know that it's really any louder here than it was on Hong Kong Island, though. When we lived there I felt just as crowded and longed for quiet, without the constant obnoxious ring of cell phones and people yelling, "Wai?" (hello) when they answered their phones.

The whole experience brings new meaning to the phrase "noise pollution." Next time that airplane flies over your house, imagine that it's followed by the call to prayer, a whole lot of honking (sometimes a whole line of cars honking in unison and in the same rhythm), and a street full of kids. Then you'll hear what we hear every day! It's a wonder anyone gets any sleep around here!