"Malesh" by Andi and Hillary

Chaos. If we had to describe Cairo in a phrase, it would be ubiquitous chaos. And, while this makes for a very interesting and enjoyable cultural experience, it also means that in order for most things to work out the way you want them to, it usually takes an act of God. Consequently, we quickly made the acquaintance of our good friends “malesh” and “insh’allah”.

“Malesh” is a much-used Egyptian phrase that translates as “no problem”. Closely linked to malesh, is the Muslim phrase “Insh’allah” which means “God-willing”. These two phrases are heard everywhere in Egypt. We began using the phrase “malesh culture” to describe Egyptian culture because daily hiccups in plans are inevitable in the chaos of Cairo.

An example of this would be the first Wednesday of classes when we had planned (and been clearly told that it would be possible) to watch the US-Algeria World Cup match on the community center’s TV with our students and to have the other Downtown site over. However, ten minutes before the match we discovered that the center did not get the channel with the game and all of our plans were shot. Our community facilitator Muhammad then jumped in, and we all followed him around Cairo in hopes of finding a coffee shop that could accommodate seventeen people. As usual, everything worked out wonderfully and our students enjoyed watching the game with a pack of fifty Egyptians at an outdoor café.

After this very malesh incident, we realized that we were the only people who had been bothered by this unexpected chain of events. The “can do” Western attitude with which we had grown up is at complete odds with the malesh culture. In the West, we want to be able to control and predicate every moment instead of just letting things flow. We are scared of being wrong, messing up, getting sick because we believe that those things get in the way of our lives. In actuality, that fear-inducing mentality gets in the way of living.

This prompted Andi to remark that she had read that language reflects the culture around it. She admitted that since the first day of Arabic 1, she had been perplexed with the popularity of the phrase Insh’allah because to her Western mind it always seemed a rather fatalistic statement. For example, why couldn’t a simple question like “Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow?” by sufficiently answered with yes or no. Andi’s remarks also reflected my previous mindset. After that conversation, we made a decision to let the Western impediments melt away and since then, slowly, we have found ourselves adapting to and even enjoying the malesh culture.

So, we were prepared for our next malesh moment. It was a week later and we had spent the hour before stressing about readying materials for class (the printer ran out of ink). Four p.m. rolled around, and we began to wonder where the man with the key to our classroom was. We continued waiting until 4:15, when we finally ended up calling him. At 4:30, he returned the call and finally let us know - half an hour after class was supposed to start - that he wouldn’t be coming in with the key.

For a brief second, our Western selves panicked. “What to do?” our minds screamed. Then, the malesh set in and we decided to take an impromptu felucca ride with the class. The hiccups that followed seemed negligible. We had to lead a class of about sixteen refugees through the congestion known as Tahrir Square to the Nile. Malesh. When we arrived, the felucca driver told us he could only fit twelve people on a boat. Malesh, we got all twenty plus the driver on it. Ten minutes later, we were sailing along the Nile, dangerously low to the water. Malesh. Instead of stressing, we all found ourselves enjoying the situation.

Now, when mysterious air conditioning fuel drips on us or when we unknowingly buy and eat liver from a street vendor, we find ourselves saying “Malesh” and truly meaning it. We have fully adjusted to this Egyptian mentality, at least we hope so. Insh’allah