Trip to Israel

We returned to Cairo, from our Christmas trip to Israel. It was a trip full of insight into the interaction of religion, politics, geography, culture and the simple vagarities of life all mixed together. This picture is probably the most photographed in all of Jerusalem. It shows the Temple Mount, a mosque with a golden dome, along with the many Christian churches that dot the Jerusalem landscape.

The curent day Mosque is built on the site of an ancient Jewish Temple. This Temple was the holiest of holy places for the Jewish people because it housed the Arc of the Covenant--the tablets given to Moses containing the word of God. The Temple was destroyed by the Romans and the tablets scattered or destroyed--no one knows what became of them. They are lost. All that remains of the Temple is the foundation--the famous west wall, affectionately called the Wailing Wall. It now is the a most holy place and designated as a synagogue with its own rabbi. At all hours of day and night people come to the wall to pray.

The most famous church is probably the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site of the Cruxification. It is at one end of the Via Dolarosa, which was the road Christ walked from his imprisionment to his cruxification. Along this street and in the church are the 14 Stations-of-the-Cross; those places where something significant occurred along the way.

More about our trip in future posts.

Women Only

This sign designates where women wait for the Women Only cars on the train. There are several cars on each subway train allocated for women only and some for women and families. Men, husbands and young male children, of women passengers are allowed on these cars. The Women Only cars have a red designation over the entryway of each car, and the family cars have a green designation.

On many of the subway platforms there are special police that patrol the women-only area preventing men from getting on these cars. Up until last night I was only aware of them standing guard over the women-only area on the platform. But last night I saw these police in action.

A woman friend and I were coming home from a dinner party on Zamalek. We got on the women's-only car and were astounded by the number of men on the car. Somehow these men had gotten by those platform police.

(Here I must interject that the women's car is always cleaner and smells nicer than the other cars, so it is no wonder that some men might prefer them, not to mention the opportunity to pick-up an interesting conversation, and perhaps, make a new friend. )

Older women were arguing with some of the younger men aboard, and things were getting heated and loud. We couldn't understand their conversation, but figured out the gist of it from the body language and tone of voice. Those women wanted the men out of the car. The men didn't want to leave.

Several stops later, police boarded the train, banging their nightsticks, yelling and making lots of noise. It was a raid! We just sat there wondering how this was going to play out and impact on us. We had no idea what was going on.

The police never came more than a foot into the car and then jumped off. Whatever they yelled, the message was clear. The women sat tight and the men scattered, tripping over themselves as they ran to make a fast exit from the train.

After things died down, you could sense that the women on board were thankful for the raid. My friend and I speculated that perhaps someone called the police to alert them to all the men aboard our train. We will never know.

The rest of the trip home, was in a true women-only car, with nary a hint of testosterone.

A Visit to Masaraa Monastery

Today one of our teachers arranged to use our school busses to take us to the Masaraa Monestery in a poor section of Cairo south of Maadi on the way to Helwan. This monastery is the seat of the Bishop of the Coptic Church for the area. On the grounds are various buildings dating from the 11th century. Once upon a time the Monastery owned land all the way to the Nile River. Much was approriated for public use after the revolution in 1952, when Nasser took control.

Our teachers have supported this monastery over the years with donations earmarked for their kindergarten/daycare program. We have donated money to purchase a bus, playground equipment, repair and repainting of the kindergarten rooms, and most recently the purchase of a microbus or mini-van, as we would call it. This is Sister Christine. She seems to be in charge of much of the goings-on here. This is a view of Sister showing the teachers the new construction for housing for orphans and the blind that the school supports. I never did find out the name of the religious order these Sisters are affiliated with.


Here is the bishop with Santa Claus and some AIS teachers. Today was the Christmas Bazaar hence the Santa. In the background is the mini-van bought with the charitable contributions of the AIS teachers, the monastery just took delivery of. Unfortunately the bishop turned just as I snapped this picture

The Monastery is founded on the site of a miracle attributed to this saint. It is told that this man, Abba Barsoum, referred to as St Barsoum, El Erian (the naked) because he shunned earthly things and wore only a goat skin for a covering, was praying on the roof of a church. People came from all around to pray with him and the Bishop feared there was not enough food to go around. So Abba asked that a bit of the soup being prepared be brought to him. He prayed over the soup and then instructed the monk who brought the soup to mix this small bit of soup with the rest of the soup being prepared. Miraculously there was enough soup to go around.

The picture most often seen of the Saint is of him scantily clothed with a snake wound around his feet. The story goes that this man shunned his earthly possessions and went to live in a cave that would now be in old Cairo. In this cave was a snake that Abba Barsoum prayed over and 'tamed', so that it would not bite and kill him. One of his many miracles.

This is the current Bishop of the Masaraa Monastery.

Rug Repair

While wandering around Zamalek one evening last week after school, I came across this little shop that repairs oriental rugs.

The were three men working there. This one graciously allowed me to take his picture. They were busy repairing and reweaving what looked like serious problems with rugs. Some of them they had waiting to be picked up looked like nothing had ever happened to them. Others were obviously repaired, but still had lots of life left in them. Much depended on the tear and what was needed to repair the rug.



This is a closer view of the little man working on the rug. He used a variety of common tools to do the job, but mostly he matched colored wool yarn to the rug colors and worked the stitches in, retying them as in the original. He had to make a new foundation and weave that in and then format the repair. He did a wonderful job, but it looked like tedious work.

The shop was just a teeny-weeny little place; couldn't have been more that aobut 15 feet wide by about 25 feet deep. Inside it was stacked with work waiting, and as well as work that was taken apart for materials to be used to repair other rugs.

Zamalek is a large island in the Nile. It is fairly upscale. There are embassies there as well as dignitary housing. The American University of Cairo also has a dormitory there as well as one of their marvelous bookstores. The new Cairo Opera House is also on Zamalek as well as wonderful waterside restaurants, as well as lots of shopping. It is a fun place to wander.

A Wedding

On my street are two Christian churches. They are always busy with one activity or another. Tonight at the church two buildings down from mine, An Arabic Evangelical Church, it was a wedding. There are weddings there often and I always miss things. When I look down from my balcony the trees obstruct my view. So tonight I grabbed my camera and went down to have a closer look. This is what I saw.

The bride and groom are up on the altar, turned into a stage. They faced the congregation. The minister? is on the right side of the picture and the videographer is on the left side, video taping the entertainment. Yes, entertainment. This wedding lasted over an hour and had singers and a guitar player. On the walls to the right and left of the central cross, you can see big video screens, where a live feed from another camera was projecting the whole ceremony onto those screens. Down the center aisle all that white netting is hiding the myriad electric chords that go to the various cameras, lights and recording devices.

This fellow was outside in the courtyard, connected to the inside by all those chords covered in white netting. He has four scenes he is monitoring on the screen to the right as well as a fifth screen which is focused on the singer who is entertaining at the moment. He is directing his team on the inside via the microphone. It was a very sophisticated set up. I have seen set ups like this at this church for other weddings as I have walked by. I can only surmise that video taping the wedding is an important thing to do here. I slowly walk by and gawk and the stuff that I see.

After the ceremony the bride and groom get into a decoratd car like this one. There will be several of these decorated cars carrying the family and friends to the reception, often held in one of the big hotels nearby. The car with the bride and groom will have some of that white netting connecting the flowers on the hood to the flowers on the trunk, and wrapped around mirrors and handles. I have seen cars on the street after a wedding with so much netting that you wonder how the driver can see where he is going. There is lots of horn honking and noise making as the wedding party proceeds to the reception.

This isn't about Egypt today. It is about my mother. You see it is her birthday, and I know that she is missing me. I miss her too. Although I am not able to be with her, I do think about her often. I especially remember and think about her today, on her birthday.

This is the woman who got me through high school English class, editing my papers so they were coherent and eventually made a writer of me. This is the same woman who taught all my brothers how to iron their own shirts--a feminist before her time. (She got fed up with their fussiness and decided that if they wanted the ironing done in a certain way they could just as well do it themselves.) This is the woman who, when my dad and us kids brought a goat home, milked her twice a day religiously--something we kids thought she would NEVER do. We drank the cold milk at the next meal and she made goat cheese of the leftover. This same woman planned all our family trips, packed us up and got us moving. I have such fond memories of all those trips. Between my mother's organization and my father's wonderlust we traveled a good part of the Europe as kids.

Mom is very up to date, especially when you consider her age. You cannot pry her computer away from her. She keeps in touch with family and friends via the internet, does her banking via the internet, downloads her beloved New York Times Crossword puzzle weekly, and is quite put out when things are running a bit slow. She loves to write and the word processor was a Godsend to her. It sped up the writing / revision time.

My mother is 89 today. She was born the year the women got the vote in the USA. Her doctor tells her that she will probably live to be 100. She isn't so sure. She is slowing down a bit these day. She has seen and experienced so much--so many phenomenal changes over the span of her life. I just hope that she has it down on paper or stored on her computer so we can all benefit from her life story. And I hope she has a very pleasant birthday today. I love her.

Rain

Today a short cloudburst come over Cairo and unloaded a few raindrops--just enough to slick up the roads and necessitate a quick wipe of the windshield with the wipers. Cairo only gets about 1/4 inch of rain a year, so rain here is something to rejoice and sing about. People go outside and revel in the few drops that reach the ground. However be careful where you stand.

This car was clean this morning, but parked under a tree. Now I have been warned never, ever, ever, to stand under a tree when it rains in Cairo. You end up filthy from all the accumulated dust and dirt that runs off the leaves. This car shows you just how dirty you will get if you stand under a tree when it rains. So never ever ever stand under a tree in Cairo when it rains, unless you like doing laundry.

And Then....There Are Palm Trees

These are just ordinary palm trees that line the streets of Cairo. Cairo has several kinds of palm trees. I only point this out because there is another kind of palm tree that took me a while to figure out. The fronds never moved and the tree was almost too perfect.

After looking at it for a while I realized I was looking at a cell phone tower. Yes--a cell phone tower, disguised as a palm tree. What will they think of next? I must admit that this tower is far more pleasing to look at than the usual cell phone towers I see at home.

If you look closely you will see that all the fronds are perfect. There is some electrical aparatus near the top of the trunk, and you can just barely see the antennas in the fronds.

Once I noticed this, I began to see them all over. Where once I thought I saw a lone palm tree, I now realized I was looking at a cell phone tower. Soon enough I saw lots of them around town. What fun. I wonder if they can camoflage cell phone towers to look like Michigan White Pines, or a copse of Northern Michigan Cedars?

The Gas Man

This is the gas man--the bottled gas man. He comes riding along on his motorcycle, which has been modified to carry all those cans of bottled gas. He can carry 7 cans. You can count 6 cans in the picture ; two on each side and the 2 on top but he can carry one more on top of the two horizontal ones. It seems a little ungainly to me, but this fellow manages.

He stops at the corner, near his customers. and begins banging on the gas can with a wrench to get their attention. He waits patiently for people signal him from their balconies, that they either need more gas or not, as the case may be. He then parks his cycle, unloads a can, hoists it on his back and carries it up to the apartment and brings down the empty. He saw me taking his picture and kindly stopped so I could get a really good view of him.

Lots of goods are sold and delivered this way. It seems simple enough.

I have natural gas piped into my apartment. Natural gas is incredibly inexpensive here. The only thing that uses gas is the stove. It costs me about 5LE a month. That converts to a little under a dollar for my cooking gas. Cheap enough. I wish the hot water heaters were gas as well. Mine are electric and electricity is expensive here. But that is another story.

Caught

The trap went off about 11:00 in the evening. I was in bed but I heard it. In the morning I found this little fellow caught on the sticky paper after springing the trap set with tempting peanut butter spread on bread, hanging from the center of the trap.

Poor fellow. All he wanted was a good meal, I almost--I say almost--felt sorry for him. But not sorry enough. He now has a new home. The building boap (caretaker) disposed of him--I know not how, nor do I care to know. He is out of my apartment and I am happy.

I reset the trap just in case he has relatives.

Taxi Cabs

When I first came to Cairo about a year ago, these black-and-white taxis were the only taxis cabs available. Some were so old and used up that they barely ran. Often they broke down en route. I have been in cabs that got flat tires, overheated, broke some major engine component and stopped abruptly. When that happens you just get out, pay a few pounds for the distance you did travel and hail another cab. Most of the old cabs were very inefficient and spewed out whatever it is that cars spew out. None of them had meters, or if they did ther meters did not work. The avrage cab fare for a short trip was 5LE. You had to negotiate the fare for a longer ride--say to downtown, Zamalek or Giza. None had air conditioning. Most were rickety.

Recently the government offered cab owners the opportunity to turn in their old cabs for new cabs at a very reasonable pay back rate. The old black and white could be used as a down payment and a 5 year pay-back schedule set up. Owners had a choice of 5 different manufacturers, Lada, Puegot, Kia, Hyundi, Daewoo.


Now we see more and more of these new whites on the road. They are clean, efficient, and have meters that actually work. It turns out that they are cheaper than the old black and whites. So the newer, black and whites still on the road have had to adjust what they charge. Everyday more and more of the new whites, as they are now affectionately called, show up, really giving the older cars a run for their money. They are equipped to run on compressed natural gas so they are not as polluting to the environment, AND they are air conditioned!

Many of us prefer the new whites and pass up the older taxis for these newer ones.

Houseguests

I have houseguests.

Jim and Inge Ledahl arrived over a week ago from home--that being our dear little ville of Horton Bay, Michigan. Here they are at the Egyptian Museum, where we spent the better part of a day wandering the halls and exploring the King Tut exhibits. I am so glad they decided to accept my hospitality and visit Egypt. They have been fun to have around and we have explored a good bit of Cairo.

I also discovered that in addition to the two legged variety of houseguest; fun to have around and do things with, I have another smaller houseguest--a four-legged one.

I went into the kitchen one morning at my usual time of about 6:30 am to make some coffee, and found this fellow, or one of his relatives. He/she--can't tell which when they are scampering away at a good clip--decided to make a hasty retreat, running around the entire perimeter of the kitchen counter to the refridgerator and then disappeared. I have no idea where. This is a most unwelcome houseguest. I searched for "leavings" and found none, so it was a clean houseguest at least.

My apartment building is not new, but it is n0t old, in the ancient Egyptian sense, either. It is holy, though. Because there is no rain here and the temperature is mild all year round, workmen just drill holes through the walls for cables, electric lines , antennas, plumbing or anything that needs to come into the apartment from the outside that was not built in originally. One example is the plumbing and evaporators for the air conditioning systems. These buildings were built before air conditioning was commonplace. The condensers sit outside suspended on the side of the building with the electrical and plumbing connections coming through the walls. Same for cable T.V. So there are lots of holes that mice can surely fit through.

Then there is the door wall that I leave open to let fresh air blow through the apartment when I am home. I suppose a little house-visitor---isn't a guest here really, although it did take advantage of my hospitality, could come in.

This little visitor shall be discouraged once I fnd the proper traps to set around. I will let you know how it goes. Jim and Inge have yet to see this little fellow. I hope it is gone by the time they get back from their cruise.

Time and Numbers

This clock is on the subway platform where you wait for the train. It is a great way to learn the numbers---at least what they look like. I especially like the 7 and 8. The 6 looks like a 7 to me and the 5 looks like a 0. The 2 looks like a backwards 7 and the 3 and 4 are strange enough that I remember them. Actually I think the three should be the four and the four should be a three, because it looks like a backwards 3 to me. But that is just my humble opinion.

For those of you interested in such things here are the numbers. You can see what they look like on the clock. Pronounce the capital letters with a heavier sound for the letter. Here goes: 0= sefr, 1= waaHed, 2=ethayn, 3=thlaathah, 4=arbaAh, 5=khamsah (you don't really pronounce the k at the beginning--sort of give it breath only), 6=settah, 7=sabAh, 8= thamaaneeyah, 9= tesAh, 10= Ashsrah, 11= Hedaash and 12=etnaash. There you go, Now you try to say them.

According to this clock it is just about 10 minutes before 5:00 PM. The subway was crowded with people going home from work.

My view

As I sit at my desk at school and look out my window, this is what I see. You may think it looks rather shabby, but the reality is that what you see is actually new construction. Cairo is expanding. This new construction is out on the desert, in an area called New Cairo, near Katameya--if you are looking on a map. Katameya is a purpose built community, with golf, shopping, restaurants, villas, and apartments. Our school is in the 5th settlement. I am not quite sure what that means. My guess is that it is the fifth area outside of Cairo proper to be developed. We are across from the Mubarak Police Academy, which is a major landmark in the area, and we are not far from the Cairo airport--for those of you looking on a map.

This entire area is being developed as a very upscale community. These are villas, meant for families, albeit exteded families. When you walk over to the window you get a little better picture of the houses--pardon me--villas, being built across the street.

These are huge places--mansions to us. Some of our students live in villas much like these close by. Slowly these villas are being completed and landscaped. The compounds typically have a park in the central area, with garden areas, sidewalks and running through the community. Because this community is still being developed, the streets are not yet paved sending up clouds of sand and dust as construction vehicles rumble by. One day, though, this will be a beautiful area, full of families.

Air Conditioning

Yes, this is an air conditioner. You might wonder why I have posted such a thing. Well.......it is because ours at school have been turned off. Yes, sir-ey, Bob, turned off, as in OFF. We have been told by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education that we must open our doors and windows and let the breeze blow through so as to keep our rooms aired out. This is the Ministries concept of fighting the swine flu problem in schools. Now, no where can any of the staff who are researching this, find that the swine flu is an airborne contagion, but you must remember that this is the country, that killed all the pigs, contrary to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. What can I say. This is Egypt. If this is incorrect, I shall stand corrected but those who seem to know about these things wonder.

Of course there are other measures taken in school as well. Most of them make good sense, like having hand sanitizers in all the rooms for kids to use as they enter, disinfecting the railings and hand holds, setting up a quarantine room, reminding the kids to refrain from shaking hands or hugging and kissing on cheeks in greetings, because the swine flu is passed in droplets from person to person. All sneezing and nose blowing needs to be with tissues immediately disposed of in baskets, set up all over the school. We have an excellent doctor on our staff who is taking all this in stride and doing an excellent job of keeping up with the decisions of the various ministries, doing her level best to keep the staff and students healthy.

The air conditioning, though, has everyone baffled. Our school is on the edge of the desert. The air is hot and dry. Luckily we are going into autumn, and the 100 degree days are now past. But temperatures in the building still build to the high 80's in the afternoon, and both teachers and students find concentrating on work a difficult task when it is so hot, and the air is not moving as anticipated.

There are places in the building that are air conditioned; that need to be. But the rest of us suffer, often not so silently.

So far as I know now, none of our staff or students have the flu. Let us hope this good health continues. I will keep you posted.

These are the logos for the school that are embroidered on the school uniforms. Kids can wear an official white crew-neck t-shirt with this logo, or the polo shirt with this logo, and navy trousers, skirts, or shorts. There are other official clothes students can wear as well, like sweaters, and jackets. But all must conform to the uniform policy which is strictly enforced.

Well, it looks like we are going to start school tomorrow.

Because of H1N1 (Swine flu) concerns we are gathering all students outside on the school grounds and playing fields. This is to minimize having large groups of parents, drivers, grandparents, etc., congregating in the hallways of the school, especially in the elementary section.

Kids will meet their teachers / homeroom teachers for middle school, on the field and be taken into school. Only students and teachers will be allowed into the school. Parents will go to the bleacher area for a welcome address from the elementary principal who will outline for the parents some of the changes that are taking place to minimize problems with the swine flu; changes to the calendar, and various other parental concerns about this late starting school year. I am sure parents will have lots of questions, and hopefully, the principal will be able to answer them, or at least put parents' minds at ease.

Once we get our students inside our homerooms, we will go over some of the same information. One thing that the students will find especially difficult is the request that they not touch eachother, shake hands, kiss cheeks, or be physical with eachother. Middle school boys are especially physical so it will be interesting to see how they adapt.

The school has turned off the air conditioning and wants us to open up our doors and windows to get air moving through the building. We wonder how long that will last. The first really hot day, may doom the open window policy. They have also installed hand sanitizers in each classroom and are asking kids to use them before and after each class. Lining up to get to the hand sanitizer may prove to be problematic. We shall see.

It is going to be an interesting school year. This swine flu business has everyone on tenderhooks just waiting for the first few cases to surface to see how the school will handle it.

I will post more as time passes and things develop. For now wish us well as we finally begin a new school year.

Chicken

I bought this small frozen chicken, more for the label than anything. I am not sure you can read the small print in the red boxed area under the picture of a hand holding a large knife. Inside the red box it says "slaughtered by hand with a sharp knife as per Islamic rites."

Many of the Islamic food restrictions are similar to those of Judiasm, for the same reasons. I am told that the Islamic rites referred to on the label are similar to kosher slaughtering, and butchering.

It is a well traveled chicken. It came all the way from Brazil.

Cairo Traffic

Much has been written in various travel books, about the traffic here in Cairo. I can vouch for the accuracy of all that has been written. Cairo traffic is amazingly chaotic. Yet, somehow, it all works. There seem to be unwritten rules that all drivers seem to know but remain elusive to those of us who do not drive here.

The best time for maneuvering around Cairo is on Friday mornings. Friday is the sabbath for Muslims, so traffic is lightest. It is the heaviest on Thursdays afternoons at rush hour.

As you can see traffic is choked. Cars are parked on the sides--even double parked--sometimes triple parked-- which causes constrictions as traffic attempts to merge and move around the parked cars, or delivery trucks. Everything slows to a crawl. Other cars then start crossing the flow in both directions by sticking their noses into oncoming traffic creating more confusion. Add into the mix pedestrians trying to cross the street, and you have----Chaos! Interesting to watch--but you hate being caught in it.

Relaxing

Husband Jack is relaxing on our wee, small balcony. We shopped the district for two chairs and a table that was small enough to allow us to enjoy having our morning coffee on the balcony.

The balcony is only about 3 feet wide at the most. As you can see the table and chairs just fit sideways. If we want to sit and look straight ahead we have to move the chairs into the room.

You can see the building under construction, across the street, with the scaffolding in place. The exterior work is almost completed and we expect that scaffolding to come down any day now. You can also see a street the comes into our street right in front of our building.

Two doors south of us is an Arabic Evengelical Church and on the north corner, there is a Catholic Church. We see the nuns walking down our street. So we have safely assumed that we live in a more Christian section of Heliopolis. Both churches are very active and busy.

Spices

This is the spice section of the Metro Market where I shop for most of my everyday grocery needs. It is a very western-type grocery store, with Egyptian overtones. I especially favor this store for heavy items, like a case of bottled water and soda pop because they deliver!

This store, unlike other grocery stores that cater to westerners, also has a large Egyptian following, which accounts for this spice section. Egyptians prefer to buy their spices like this where they can smell the spices, and know they are fresh. These spices sell out regularly and are replenished everyday so they are always fresh. You can buy as much or as little as you need. Unfortunately the signs are all in arabic so I only have my nose to guide me as to what's what. I stick to the bottled spices that have labels in English so I don't get misled. But I am dying to try and figure out what all these spices are and how to cook with them. The smell is devine, and very intense.

Kahk Cookies

These are KAHK COOKIES. You see these cookies displayed in all the pastry shops right now. They are a very traditional and popular cookie served at the end of Ramadan for the feast of the Eid-al-Fitir, which marks the end of the Ramadan month.

They can be filled with dates, walnuts, a nougat filling or whatever you like. Most often, though they are served plain with just a dusting of powdered sugar.

They are easy to make, but call for some special ingredients that are not commonly found in U.S. grocery stores, like KAHK extract and MAHLAB extract. You can find a recipe for these cookies at www.epicurious.com.

The End of Ramadan Approaches

Ramadan is almost over. There are just a couple of days left until the Eid holiday that marks the end of the month of fasting, prayer, self denial, and spiritual introspection. It is prime travel season for Egyptians, who travel abroad as well as head for Red Sea and Mediterranean resorts to relax and get back to a more normal daily eat-sleep schedule. Schools, however, will remain closed until October 3. The Ministry of Health and Education are still determined that the Swine Flu scare is a real threat to Egypt, especially crowded Cairo, so schools will remain closed until well after the Eid holiday travel week to allow for a quarentine period. That way the Ministry will able to see how much Swine Flu comes into the country with returning travelers.

Grand Hyatt Iftar

Jack and I decided to go downtown for dinner last night. We decided to go to the iftar meal at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which begins seating at about 5:45pm in time for the breaking of the fast at about 6:10pm. The hotel has a revolving restaurant on the 40th floor. We wanted to take in the view in both daylight and night. We stayed two hours, enough time for the restaurant to make one complete revolution.

The meal itself was spectacular. It was truly a feast. There were side dishes of every type of food, from fruits and vegetables to dips and various breads for dipping.

The hotel, as well as most restaurants, starts seating for the iftar meal around 5:45 pm, so all are seated in time for the breaking of the fast at about 6:10 pm, with the siping of a traditional juice. Our juice was an apricot-ty tasting juice as well as a hibiscus drink. Both were very refreshing.

The meal began with a choice of soups. Jack had chicken and I had tomato. We then moved on to the smorgesbord of small dishes set about on the table. Some were dips for bread, like tahini, babakanoosh, and cucumber yoghurt, as well as fruits and vegetables to nibble on, little sausages and other finger foods. In addition there was various meat dishes. One was a fish dish with a delicious sauce; another was a beef dish, and another still, was chicken, all beautifully presented. Then came the main course. We had a choice of veal or sea bass. We both chose veal. The chef came out to see how we wanted our veal prepared. We were the only Westerners in attendance so the chef decided to check on us in person. We prefered our veal rare. It was done perfectly!

You can see the soup cups and the side dishes that began the meal.

After the main meal we sat and watched Cairo pass below, as the lights came on all over the city. It really was quite a view. After a while the desserts--yes plural--came. Then the mint tea. We tasted some of the desserts, but had little room left to properly enjoy them. There was a platter of pasteries, like bakalava, and other similiar sweets. There was a bowl of rice pudding and a bowl of bread pudding, an a large bowl of fresh fruit to share.

The food was delicious. We can understand why Egyptians gain weight during Ramadan. If they eat like that during the month it is no wonder.

A Shave

Jack needed a shave and decided to stop at this little barber shop.
He got the royal treatment for 35LE. That converts to about $7.00.

Here he is getting lathered up. The barber used a straight razor, sharpened on a strap that hung next to the chair. Afterward he got a facial with some sort of skin softening, then a hot steam treatment. He was so smooth, soft and sweet smelling when he was done. He liked the royal treatment and will go back for a haircut in a day or so.

More Drinking Water Containers

Here are two more examples of watering containers found on the streets of Cairo, which offer water to people passing by. All of them have a cup for drinking. Most are set in the shade to keep the water cool. The top one is nestled in among furniture for sale, propped up against a tree. The bottom one is set in a lean-to type enclosure attached to a small shop. The clay keeps the water nice a cool.

Jack Comes to Visit

The Ministry of Health / Education has decided that with the Swine Flu pandemic, coupled with Ramadan holiday, it was in the best interest of the country to postpone the opening of schools until after the 26th of September. They no sooner decided this when they again posponed the opening of school for another week. Now the opening of school for this year will be October 3. In addition any teachers or students traveling outside Egypt, may not attend school until after an 8 day quarantine period. Consequently my school decided that all teachers had to be back in the country by September 18 to insure the timely opening of school, with a full compliment of teachers.

With all that in mind, my husband decided it was easier for him to visit me, here in Cairo, than my trying to visit him in the US or meet up in Europe. He decided to fly over for my extended summer vacation.

We have been enjoying the streets of Cairo in the evenings, after the Iftar dinner feast. We go out walking. The streets are alive until well after midnight. The shops are open and the streets are thronged with people and deliveries. In the photo Jack is standing in front of a truck, stuffed to overloaded with electronics being delivered to the little shop directly in back.

Batteries

I needed one of those small little flat batteries that fit into my travel clock. I could not find them in the grocery store, but did find them at this wee, teeny shop, very near my apartment. It is on a corner, carved out of the recess where two stores come together at an intersection. This fellow had every shape, size and description of small battery imginable, besides the normal batteries like AA, or AAA. He also had the tools and exertise to put the batteries into your watch, travel clock, or whatever required. Best of all, he spoke French, so we could communicate. What a find! He folds the sides into the recess at the end of his work day and locks things up. When you pass by all you see is a padlock on a shiny , silver metal cupboard.

Water

Water is a gift from God, and must not be denied, it is said in the Koran I am told. To that end, coolers like this are set out on the streets of Cairo. They are put out by various shops and businesses all over town as a public service. They have a cup attached, are filled with cool water and are available to all. I am not sure I would feel comfortable taking a drink form a communal cup like this one, but others feel quite at home using these. You see people taking a drink all the time.

When I first saw these coolers set out on the street I wondered why they were there. They were most prevalent in shopping areas. As I pondered the next one I saw, a man came up and took the cup down, got a drink, rinsed the cup and set it back on the cooler. Question answered. This is Cairo's way of sharing the water. It is a rather nice service when you think about it--I still think I prefer a swig from my bottled water--but Cairenes take full advantage of these coolers in the course of their shopping and moving about town.

My Aparment Entrance

This is the balcony of my apartment. I am on the second floor. It is the floor above the balcony with the planters on the railing.

There are two apartments per floor. Each apartment runs the entire length of the building and half the width. So my apartment has long halls with the entrance in the center of the building next to the elevator. Half my apartment goes toward the front of the building--the living and dining areas as well as the kitchen. The rest of the apartment is stretched along toward the back of the building--the three bedrooms, and bathrooms.

I get my exercise going from the living room in the very front with the balcony, to the back when I forget something in my bedroom--at the very back of the apartment.

Here is my address in both English, and Arabic--22 Cleopatra Street.

The street entrance to my building. You can see my balcony--second floor--second balcony up. There is no first floor. The lobby area is very tall and there is a bank right next door, so no first floor. The elevator begins at 2. There is underground parking for tenents with automobiles, but I think they pay extra to park inside.

Today I successfully got keys made at this little place. This was the only advertising. It was lucky I noticed the big key. I held up the number of fingers for the number of keys I wanted and was happily on my way in 10 minutes time. All the keys work beautifully.

Shopping during Ramadan

This is Spinneys. It is a supermarket, a hypermarket really, that has a beauty section, clothes, housewares, linens, a bakery, electronics, small appliances, etc, all at fairly reasonable prices. In this picture it does not look crowded because this was taken in the early part of the day. However yesterday, I went there and the place was a madhouse; an absolute madhouse. People were shopping for Ramadan. They were loading up on food, clothes, electronics; you name it they were buying. The store runs huge sales and also has foods especially for Ramadan, that are not carried in such quantity at other times of year, much like we see food in our grocery for the Christmas holidays that we do not see at other times of the year. I saw tables full of dates, and apricots, and other fruits.

It is customary to eat as well as one can during the Iftar--breaking of the fast--each night. These meals usually are large family affairs, with lots of sweets and special baked things, and candies. The confectioney section was doing a brisk business. Often new clothes are worn or given as gifts, especially to children, so that section was also packed. People are out buying. AND the store is open until 2:00 am during Ramadan--right!--2:00 in the morning.

I happened to buy a coverlet that did not fit the bed and had to return it. I went back at 11:00 pm. I am usually in bed by 11. I can't imaging how our students will keep their eyes open at school, even with a shortened day.

I will keep you posted.

Ramadan

Today is the first day of Ramadan, a very holy month for Muslims. During the day shops were 0pen, but closed for prayers then reopened. I was shopping for some needed things for my apartment, when I was asked to leave because the store was closing for an hour. I didn't go back. I will go another day, but I will remember that during Ramadan schedules change.

This evening, after sundown, the streets were massed with people. Restaurants were full to overflowing, cars were parked everywhere--places they normally are not and should not be now. I was on an outing with some of the new teachers and the busses carrying us got so muddled up in traffic and narrowed streets that we were stopped twice while two of the men got out and guided the bus through. We cleared the narrowed streets with less than an inch on each side. The bus driver was magnificent. Such is life in a Muslim country during Ramadan.

I must share this with you. Egypt went off daylight savings time yesterday, just in time for Ramadan.

I am Back On-Line

Meet my new best friend. His name is Wael Gergis. He is a computer wizzard. He and his brother have a small computer business, setting up computers for folks like me, and selling internet services. He was over to my new apartment this evening to set up the router and get the internet service established. Now this may not sound like it requires a guru to do these things. But you must remember this is Egypt and things are done a bit differently here. Besides Wael speaks very good English in addition to his native Arabic so he can interface with the internet company far better than I can--seeing as I only know what I call Taxi Arabic--go left, right, straight ahead, and stop here please. So Wael--pronounced like whale--was a very big help. He said he would call from time to time to see how things are working. I hope I don't need him to return, but it is nice to know he is available. He works with many of the folks at school and is a known quantity and trusted. I liked him.