3 Dating Expectations in Egypt

Dating in Egypt brought up alot of feelings of good and bad from our blog audience. Some think there is no such thing as dating and others feel it does exist.

I know it exists because thats how I found my wonderful husband. I had to go through 2 years of frogs until I found my Egyptian prince. Cliche I know, but true.

Let's start at the beginning. One of the reasons I was moved to Egypt was for the beautiful men. My type dark, handsome and foreign and Egyptian men were definitely that, eye candy. I fell for many at once, upon arrival. Met them mostly off of Facebook, unfortunately all weirdos. I finally resorted to dating sites, especially Tinder.

I was wary at first because Tinder dating app in the states was basically a hookup app. Okay there was a few everlasting stories but it was known as a online meat market. So seeing that Tinder dating existed in Egypt, I was not too sure. So, I swiped left or right mostly for entertainment.  

Then I met Abdelmoneam.  He asked me out after the 2nd day of messaging. We met in my neighbourhood.  We had a great half day date. He was a complete gentleman.  We met a few times but nothing more because he said he didn't have time, mother had cancer. But I knew it was a nice way of saying, I'm not interested.

Second Tinder guy, Ahmed. Great guy, so funny, spoke American English but he groped me on our second date. And after our third date we went to 3rd base in my apartment. (I knew it's a big "no, no" to have an Egyptian guy in your apartment alone. If an Egyptian man is caught in an apartment with no chaperones, he can be thrown in jail.) After a month or so of dating, he ghosted me. Another dead end on dating.

There were many admirers on Tinder but once Corona hit us, it was only chatting no dates. Then I almost gave up when Hamid stepped into the limelight. We just chatted online every day during the month of Ramadan.  (Ramadan is holy month of fasting in Islam.) I took our chatting casually,  no expectations.  I was done with expectations and dating.  When Hamid asked to meet, I was like okay. Our first date, it felt so easy. Every time we met after that, him always coming to me, I felt easy and respected. He never tried to grope me or ask to come up to my apartment.  He was a complete gentleman. In all the years of dating,  I was only treated like this once from my high school sweetheart David, so it was a new experience of being courted. 

Hamid knew after the second date, I was the one, his heart. It took me a little longer. I met one of his sisters on our second date. We were talking about getting married on our third date. It went fast but I never felt rushed or that it was the wrong decision. 

I think the only thing that haunted my thoughts after getting married to Hamid. The 3 expectations an Egyptian man wants from a foreign partner: a Visa, sex or money. I had heard this over and over from foreigners who been cheated in their relationships. We had discussed these before entering wedlock, but it still haunted me. Now, it's all a distant memory.  Just settling in my new life.