Every taxi journey home after a certain hour prompts the same questions. The conversations always begin with the driver asking Inta min - where I'm from. Or they ask if I'm Egyptian; "Inta masr", to which I respond "la ana min ingelltera", (no I'm English). Then they either tell me that I look Egyptian or ask if I can speak Arabic, to which I respond "Shwaya Shwaya" (a little bit), or batkalm arabi shwaya shwaya.

Today we discussed the weather, how long I had been here, how long I was staying, and afterwards I asked the driver if he likes it here and he told me shwaya shwaya. I then asked if he had traveled anywhere else in Egypt and he said "la" (no) because he had a wife and a little girl and had to support them. Mamood asked how long I was in Assuit, and if I'd been to anywhere else in Eurobba (Europe). He also said my Arabic was very good. He asked what I was doing and if I was teaching English in Assiut. He tried not to charge me for the journey and then when I insisted on paying he said only £1, but I gave him the correct fare.

Yesterday the name of the Taxi driver was Rume. He asked me all the default questions, where I'm from, what I'm doing, how long I'm here for, all of which I understood apart from his last question; "Assiut helwa wala?" (is Assiut beautiful or not?). I didn't understand the word helwa so I said "mish fahim helwa" - "I don't understand beautiful."

The taxi drivers have proved an amazing opportunity to test and develop my language skills. Maybe one day I'll be able to tell them I'm Egyptian and get away with it (this day is very far away!). I find it really interesting that they spend all day driving people in the direction they want to go, but where are they going themselves, other than reaching their passengers' destinations?

Driving in the streets of Assuit is just a little bit insane. People filter between the cars and the cars seem as though they almost skim people. There is also a tendency to keep beeping your horn even when there is no one or nothing in front of you. Despite not being able to speak that much English, a lot of the people I speak to, mainly those I've met through work and family, and especially boys, can reel off names of Premier League football players, the top clubs and say who is going to win the league. The majority seem to support Manchester United and whether it's because they won the league some year running, may just be a coincidence. They will struggle with the words how are you? But the names of the Premier League players roll off their tongue. I think maybe I need to also work on learning the language of football...

Words: Bede Munnings. 21 year old Bede is currently volunteering as a teacher in Egypt. We share his trials and tribulations
Photos: Hannah Chisholm