To Higab or Not to Higab

After almost two years of dreaming and planning, I finally find myself a resident of Cairo. It's not exactly what I thought I it would be like (big shocker...). It's certainly not as hot as I thought it would be- It's been in the upper 80's, and is pretty humid. I sweat like a pig most of the time, but so far I haven't been too uncomfortable. The pollution here is bad (terrible really) but other then making me feel slightly grimy, it hasn't bothered me. Both of these come as welcome surprises as they were my two biggest concerns.

What has been the biggest surprise to me is how many women here have chosen to wear the higab, or head covering. I had lunch in the mall across the street from my hostel, and while waiting for my food to arrive, did a quick count of the women present. Of the twenty-four I counted, only three were uncovered. Two of those three looked to be under the of 10. I knew that there would be a lot of women wearing the higab, but I expected that it would be closer to fifty percent. I don't know how much my neighborhood affects what I saw, but from all the walking around Cairo I have done, this high percentage seems to be about right. I am immensely curious to see what the student population will be like, and if it mirrors my current observations.

A lot of people asked me if I would cover my head while here in Cairo, but I was never really able to give an definite answer. I have no problem wearing one in a mosque, or if I were to leave the more liberal confines of Cairo. But I did not expect that I would stick out so badly here in the city by not wearing one. That being said, I've had much less verbal harassment from men here in Cairo then I did when I was in Israel, which is a bit of a surprise. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks until school starts and I move in an apartment to make any decisions of whether or not to wear one. I'm not sure that it would make me stick out any less, but it might give me the illusion of anonymity that I badly miss.