Your experience of culture shock in Egypt

hi
Egypt is a great place to live in, better than other places among the world, even in west side, I believe what cause the culture shock is to think that we will find all the places among the world have the same rules, we have to know that every place have his own rules and his own codes and more than that has his own properties.
we have to adapt to the community we live within.
but agree with you there a lot of things we have to change in our Egyptian community , like using car horns ,that really make confused while driving to hear all that horns around me, but i will be positive and said i like and dislike in Egypt community and not only seeing by one critic eye .thanks

There is a dynamic in Egyptian culture among men where at least two, but possibly more than two of them will be involved in a conversation.  Egyptians can really talk loudly if they feel like they need to.  Sometimes, to a westerner anyway, it may sound like one of them is “yelling at” another or at more than one other person.  Frankly, if I spoke Arabic, all of this would be much easier to interpret, but I do not so I am left to reading reactions and body language.  If you watch the person being “yelled at” this is not necessarily the case. 
The reaction of the person getting talked to should tell you a lot.  I've seen instances where someone is clearly being yelled at and the conversation my turn into an argument.  At most other times however, it is simply one person loudly asserting their opinion because the person getting talked to still looked relaxed.  It is a strange dynamic.  Again, if I knew the language, this would be much easier.  I imagine that most people who read this have seen something similar at one point of another.

the amazing place to my heart and very culture the cairo down town and Khan el-Khalili bazaar with Islamic culture its  amazing place all over the world Egypt like paradise in land but we should all Egyptian people care about Egypt.

Yea , sadly part of this is a result of some thinking loud voice is more potent than talking in reason and relaxed manner
Some will think , that when you talk in calm and normal way , that you yourself not believing or backing up your point enough ,

The tradition spread widely here , that loud voice means you are right , you know it all , and eventually it will cover up the  truth and there is an idiom : خدوهم بالصوت  =" literally means : overtake them by loud voice" 
which is said usually when some one is babbling  with any gibberish just to make his point
which ultimately leads the other person to try overcome this loud voice by even speaking louder ( if he is able to )  or making fun of him , this usually leads to arguments not a healthy conversation as you've said

the roots of this problem is due to most people  in EGYPT won't admit that they were wrong , if we manage to fix this i think we might be able to have a more productive and healthy conversations 

It was interesting reading your points. I find Egypt is a wonderful place full of warmth and love.
I live mainly an Egyptian life due to my husband,  however he is cutured and educated so no different from living in the UK.
I find the lack of sports for women a little disappointing.  You can hire a tennis coach for an hour which is great but theres not that social tennis I love and do miss. However I swim everyday and make the most of walking as much as possible.
I also work here and the difference between work ethic here and the UK is huge. With education being private and ran by huge companies (for me anyway) the lack of resources and conditions is poor. Nothing is checked and people tend ti do the.mimimum they can get away with. If you ask for a pen, your asked why?
I have also found that people tend to reinvent themselves here. Possibly because people can lie and get away with it. As a specialist teacher for children with additional needs,over twenty years experience in the UK, I find it highly frustrating to find people call themselves teachers with no formal qualications or training and just because they speak English or come from the UK that this is enough to work with young and vulnerable people.
Anywat my rant is over...I went back to the UK for six weeks in the summer holidays and couldn't wait to get back!
Egypt is a great.place, just keep your eyes and ears.open and you will be fine!!

I did not find it too bad really, but then again it was my first intention to mix with local people to learn and understand the culture. That would be my advice to anyone. Whenever you move to a different cultured Country, understanding and tolerance have to be the order of the day. You will soon come to the fact that by following this code you will quickly adjust and fit in.

I agree with you  when I first arrived here I was astounded by the way everyone yelled and always sounded annoyed with each other. I now know I was wrong in thinking this. They (mostly men) just speak very loud with a lot of animation. I really haven't heard the women speaking the same way as the men do to each other. Is this because they are submissive and afraid?

That is a pretty good question.  I have heard women be loud too, but not nearly as often as men.  It definitely seems to be outside of the norm for the way I think people expect a woman to conduct herself here.  There seems to be a kind of behavioral conservatism here that I've also seen to varying degrees in other places in this part of the world.  It's actually pretty liberal here compared to other parts.  My wife visited here last spring and made an interesting observation.  When she arrived she saw a bunch of ladies wearing hijabs.  She asked sort of an open question: "Do I need to have one of those on?"  The Egyptian woman she was talking to giggled and said something like, "Absolutely not; this isn't Saudi Arabia after all."  It was a funny, but telling comment.  Given all of this, I've also observed that Egyptians seem well aware that there are a lot of foreigners here and that we all have our own ways.  While we expats do our best to behave properly here, Egyptians seem to be doing their best putting up with us!