Gaining my confidence took about a year and was not an easy process, but it was definitely facilitated by being one of the very few single women in a country full of single men. Most of the men were disgusting perverts who came from countries where it was perfectly acceptable to leer at women. I thought the men in Egypt were bad— the men from the Indian subcontinent and South Asia were all much, much worse. But at least they kept their distance. None of them would ever dare speak to me, so I just avoided eye contact and kept my distance.
