I can't believe I'm posting this, but here goes :)
This afternoon I ran out of tampons. Not such a terrible thing when you live in an all-girls dorm, but everyone hates the girl who always mooches. I strolled to the pharmacy around the corner, and greeted the well-trimmed older man in the all white galabaya (ankle-lengthed tunic that conservative men wear), who owns the pharmacy. His little grandson helpfully followed me around the pharmacy as I circles it a few times, looking for the tampons. They were nowhere. I wondered whether they maybe weren't carried on principal. (They can be quite controversial in the Muslim and sometimes even Catholic world.) I don't know the word for tampon in Arabic, so I couldn't ask, but finally behind the counter, I spotted blue tampax boxes. I pointed to the box I wanted, but the owner didn't want to move from his chair by the door, so he called his son Mahmood from the next room. Young, handsome Mahmood reluctantly left his tv show. I pointed again to what I wanted, and he grabbed a package of Depends (diapers for old folks). I shook my head and pointed up. He grabbed the batteries. Frustrated, I imagined his horrified expression if I tried to act out what I wanted. I pointed to the left, and he passed me a box of tampons. Only they were super-plus sized. I motioned for other box, and finally he grabbed the ones I wanted. His father then got up to ring up my item. Thirty pounds for a box of twelve tampons. Fifty cents a tampon! Well-trimmed man then put my receipt along with two candies in my bag. Glad to know he likes me. While I've had my share of embarrassing things for one day, I'm proud to say I bought tampons from three generations of men in a Middle Eastern country.
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About Me
- georgia
- I am living in Cairo for a year to study Arabic at the American University in Cairo.
9 comments:
Egyptian women normally prefer pads, especially unmarried because of a myth that tampons might affect their virginity. I dont know the Egyptian word for tampon either..pads are just called 'fawat sahia' (Hygienic towels)
I am an egyptian girl and I'm 13... l'd just like to say that w dont call pads fawat sahia we just call them pads as you do. Egyptian women don't prefer pads.. they just don't know tampon because they weren't taught what they were so thus they don't have the myth of losing virginity. I learned about tampons on the internet a year ago,and I don't think any of my friends know about them. In fact, I have seen tampax boxes put on shelves along with pads and pantiliners a year ago in carrefour (obour city) and I stood nearby this shelf for a while and I noticed that nobody even LOOKED at them and I didn't see anybody purchasing them...... I know that someday everybody will use tampons. I wish I had enough courage to ask my mum if I can use them but I'm too embarrased bec I'm her only daughter
Hi, I am the same Egyptian girl that posted the reply last year, I am now 14, and last week I was buying some bread and chicken at the same Carrefour (Obour City) and a saw a woman with a baby in a stroller in front of me buying a small box of the Carrefour manufactured tampons, since Tampax is considered way too expensive (why buy 12 tampons for 30 L.E. when you can buy 18 extra long value pack always maxi pads for 8 L.E.,yeah tampons here miay be considered cheap for foreigners but it's expensive for Egyptians). I do have another observation which is that tampons have become much more common than last year. I now have been seeing them in almost every average sized supermarket even in supermarkets on the beach! I have seen also brands different from Tampax which are a lot cheaper.(I really can't recall the brand name,sorry) I still haven't told my mother about it and when I once said "You know, I've heard from my classmates that there's this thing that you put inside your body and you can swim with it" she cut me off saying "this is not safe, your are not putting anything inside your body, pads are dangerous enough" She thinks that pads are dangerous cuz you can get an infection and die, which is true but bery unlikely
Hi, I am the same Egyptian girl that posted the reply last year, I am now 14, and last week I was buying some bread and chicken at the same Carrefour (Obour City) and a saw a woman with a baby in a stroller in front of me buying a small box of the Carrefour manufactured tampons, since Tampax is considered way too expensive (why buy 12 tampons for 30 L.E. when you can buy 18 extra long value pack always maxi pads for 8 L.E.,yeah tampons here miay be considered cheap for foreigners but it's expensive for Egyptians). I do have another observation which is that tampons have become much more common than last year. I now have been seeing them in almost every average sized supermarket even in supermarkets on the beach! I have seen also brands different from Tampax which are a lot cheaper.(I really can't recall the brand name,sorry) I still haven't told my mother about it and when I once said "You know, I've heard from my classmates that there's this thing that you put inside your body and you can swim with it" she cut me off saying "this is not safe, your are not putting anything inside your body, pads are dangerous enough" She thinks that pads are dangerous cuz you can get an infection and die, which is true but bery unlikely
Hi egyptian girl, it's good to know that we can find them at carrefour. I tell you what happened to me recently... As it happens to you with tampons! I'm 34 and in the last couple of years a new way to "fight" ;) cicle appears in pharmacies: the menstrual cup!! Search it in the internet :D When I saw it for the first time I was really surprised and curious, so I bought it some month ago... but up today I still haven't use it because it seems too weird to me!!
Maybe in some years you will see the menstrual cup in egyptian shops! ... Let us know! ;)
Ps: i'm italian :)
Hey I’m from London and I recently moved here to Cairo and it’s so frustrating because I cannot find tampons anywhere! I’ve looked in every store and pharmacy in my area and I always come by the same thing: always pads. So annoying! Anyone know where I can get any?
I have seen the smalllest Tampax tampons in Carrefour (cairo festival) and in some Saeudi (Waterway, new Cairo).
Otherwise you have to take from your country (like I do)...
Hi girls, please where in Hurgada is possible buy menstrual cup?
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