Abulublog

12-20-2008

Bahrain.

I found an electrical outlet in the airport in Amman (I’m experiencing a 6 hour layover) and some wi-fi streaming in from somewhere, so I thought I’d sit down and write about Bahrain. It’s a lot different than I expected, I’ll be honest. I suppose I imagined more green for a place that is basically an island. In fact, it’s a desert. A large desert island. The first day I was there, my aunt and cousins took me to Arad Fort, which was an old military fort, now turned museum. We got a bunch of good photos there because the sun was setting and it made for great light over the water.

(Wow, I just yawned and my ears popped, I can totally hear again!)

I happened to arrive on Bahrain’s National day (sort of like our Fourth of July) and witnessed happy Bahraini’s everywhere. People painted their cars, put up red and white lights, attached flags to everything imaginable and drove fast, sitting outside their car windows blasting music. ‘Twas a sight to see. Actually it was pretty cool, lots of the buildings were decorated and they lined the highways with red and white flowers. The fountains were lit red and white and it was a very festive atmosphere. For being in a majority Muslim region during Christmas season, I feel as if I got my fill of flashy lights no problem.

I also experienced another kind of Christmassy tradition. We went to the regions largest Mall (City Center) a few nights in a row. I didn’t end up buying anything (save the most expensive white chocolate mocha I will ever buy) because the exchange rate is redic right now. Again, the malls here are crazy. I think it’s what people do. Not only are these places complete with all the stores, food court options, coffee shops etc…They also have movie theaters, water parks, amusement parks, and live performances. We happened upon a cirque-de-sole-esque pirate performance. They had such an elaborate set, and costumes, and yes…the performance wasn’t complete without a dance to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song.

I also got to spend time with my one of my great aunt’s grandkids. We went to visit them one evening, because they also live in Bahrain (I swear, I have relatives everywhere!). I had such a blast with them. Though I was wearing heels, we played soccer (football) and jumped on their trampoline (I took off my shoes for that part), played hide and go seek and basically had an all around great time. The next morning we were invited for breakfast and this time, I came prepared with smarter shoes…unfortunately, I rolled my ankle within the first 10 minutes. I just don’t get my life sometimes. I should have rolled it in the heels, not flats…Whatever.

Yesterday was the coolest. My uncle took us all driving around Bahrain. We stopped at a beach on the larger Island and I got to see the Persian Gulf in all its glory. You know me and bodies of water, I loved just standing in the wind and breathing the air. After that we went to a wildlife refuge, or zoo of sorts. This was really exciting because I got to see animals I’d never seen before. They had these massive porcupines, and ostrich. The birds were huge…and the fence was not huge. I’m pretty sure they could just hop it if they wanted to. They most definitely could peck out my eye if they so pleased. After the zoo, we drove around saw the Bahrain International Circuit where the Formula One races take place. Apparently it’s a big deal for the area. Unfortunately it wasn’t in season, so the place was closed, but it was quite the sight just to see. We also drove through the less developed desert area that is basically a bunch of campgrounds where families (I mean FAMILIES, in the extended sense of the word) gather for the weekend with their ATV’s, their motorcycles, their fast cars, and drive around and party. There were people everywhere just having a good time with each other.

I’m sad to be leaving. It was great getting to know my cousins. (It’s the first time we’ve met). It felt great to finally see them, and experience their family. My favorite moments were the late night chats around their dinner table. Last night we stayed up ‘til three exchanging pictures and downloading Arabic music to complete my cultural experience. My cousin Hadeel, insists that I use the music as a means of memorizing Arabic. I will take her advice and rock out to Amr Diab and Tamir Husni, for educational purposes of course.

So now, I’m on my way back to Cairo. Back to class. Back to a fairly normal routine. By the way, I absolutely love traveling in the Middle East. No one looks at me like they are scared. Everybody is chill and helpful and they shrug it off if your baggage weighs a little more than it’s supposed to. It’s great. Back in the states I almost had to pay a $50 fee for 1 pound overweight. Sigh…

Anyway, I’d best go focus on my flight schedule, or hmmm…work on that homework I’ve put off for two weeks.

Smile,

Sarrah

Amman, Jordan.

Eid al-Adha 2008

I feel it’s been a while since I wrote last. Internet access was harder to find in Amman, plus I was spending lots of time with the fam. There are also reasons such as my near heart attack. My computer broke. It wouldn’t start up and I thought I was going to be lost forever to the non-digital world. I was beginning to alter my sense of reality in order to cope with my loss when a glimmer of hope appeared. You can’t imagine my joy and thankfulness when my cousin Nur was like, “dude, all I have to do is this” and it started working (after like an hour, but whatever). I realize that many of you kindly suggested that I purchase a new one BEFORE I left the country…but I just want it to last a couple of more months until I get home. It’s kind of a piece of work at the moment. I’ve got a c-clamp holding the screen together because there is a cable that is broken…yeah..ok…I know.

So I was in Amman for a little over a week. It’s been great seeing all my extended family again. The last time I saw many of them was when I came almost 5 years ago. I’ve spent much of the time going from house to house to house visiting great aunts and great uncles. It’s so funny, after the initial greeting almost everyone comments on how much I look like my grandmother (from the nose up). I found some old pictures of her in my grandfather’s house and I guess I can see it.

We celebrated Eid, the second Islamic holiday earlier this week. Actually we’re still celebrating it. Here…people actually get the days off of work and school and it’s an actual celebration. In the states, it kind of sucks because it often coincides with finals and the regular work schedule. I was looking at one of my relatives family pictures, they get one taken every Eid and it got me thinking to when the last time my family had actually been all together (and not in school or work) for Eid… I’m still trying to figure out when that was…probably before I went to college.

Ok, back to Eid in Amman. I spent the night before at my great uncle’s house, and we got up really early to go to the Eid prayer at the closest mosque. (There are a lot of them). After the prayer we went to one of my extended cousin’s houses. She’s got a set of 4 year old triplets and her husband is in Kuwait at the moment so my Aunt and I spent the day going around to the many relative’s houses with them. It was great! We each had a kid that we were in charge of. After the first few stops they got tired out and that’s when it got really entertaining. I think the most entertaining scene happened when one of the boys’ toy ball fell out of the car and rolled down the mountainous street. I, in my heels was running down the street after it. It finally got stuck under a car, and was retrieved, but not without a whole lot of effort and laughter.

The next few days I spent with the triplets as well. I think I learned more Arabic from them than I have in two weeks of class. They must think I’m the slowest adult in the world. I kept asking them to repeat stuff and to point to stuff and when I would talk back in Arabic, they’d give me this “Um, ooookay?” look. Speaking of Arabic, I think I’m progressing. I’m terrible at putting sentences together, but I understand so much. It’s so funny. I never knew how much I could understand. All week I’ve been with relatives and I can sit and listen to a conversation, laugh at sarcasm, understand the details and get jokes. Very different from the last time I was in Jordan. The problem is, as you all know, I like to talk, and input into the conversation and well, I can’t do that yet. It literally feels as if I’m mute. As if I can’t in any way contribute and that’s hard for me. Actually that was the most frustrating thing about being in Jordan.

Besides spending so much lost time with my Aunt Samreen, which was great, I did a lot of shopping, and seeing people, and eating fast food, and enjoying real shawarma (Egypt has nothing on the Jordanian sandwich shops, I don’t care what people say). Shopping is always an intricate experience. My aunt is the world’s best bargainer. No joke. We go into a shop, that has listed prices, pick out stuff and it’s like watching magic. The shopkeeper says one thing, she scoffs, the shopkeeper says another, she looks at me and is like “let’s get outta here.” I’ve learned to go along with whatever, no matter how badly I wanted what we set out to purchase. Inevitably the shopkeeper caves, puts the stuff in a bag. Tells me “mabrook” (congrats) and looks like they’ve been through hell and back as they sit down out of utter exhaustion. Many have told me that my aunt is a keeper, and that I should never go shopping without her. I tend to agree with them. I can’t wait ‘til she visits me in Egypt!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to really see the sights, as it were, in Jordan. We wanted to go to the Dead Sea, but the plans fell through. I hope to perhaps get there again at some point, but winter is probably not the best time to float across a salty body of water. It’s actually “winter” here, unlike Egypt. It’s pretty decently cold, although there is no snow yet. Apparently that comes in January and February. Darn…I’ll miss it.

So, I started this email in Jordan, and now I’m sitting in my cousin’s room in Bahrain. I flew in last night. Traveling alone is always an adventure. There was a point of time that I thought I lost my baggage. Turns out they pointed me to the wrong baggage claim, or I misunderstood them (probably the latter). Thankfully, I found everything and the Bahrain airport baggage people just shook their head at my confusion. I think the most entertaining part of my trip was when the sweater I was wearing got stuck on my suitcase as it was going through the x-ray machine. No joke, I almost did a Mr. Bean and hopped right on the conveyor belt along with the bag. Fortunately I got unattached before it went under the machine, but I just sat there, alone, laughing to myself at my comical experiences with getting stuck in and on things. Sigh… Wish you could have been there to laugh at me.

While waiting in the terminal this blonde lady comes up to me and starts speaking to me in Arabic. I was like, um…I only speak English and she frowned confusedly and then was like, are you Amina? I was like, no, I’m Sarrah. She apparently thought I was someone else, but because I spoke English she was excited to speak to me. She asked me where I was from, etc. When she found out that I was half Palestinian and half American she turned to her husband and was like, “She’s half!, like our kids!” I’m happy I could make her day, just by being born.

Today happens to be National Day for Bahrain, so school’s out, the party is on, and I think I might be able to see some fireworks. I’m really excited about getting to know my cousins. They grew up in Australia, so communicating will be not only doable, but really fun to listen to.

More to come!

-Sarrah

12-16-2008

I was flipping through my pictures of Jordan and I realized I didn’t really write about the things I did do besides visit family. Samreen took me to an engagement party one night which was an experience. I got to thinking about how my family is probably going to have to do weddings. Talk about a cross cultural experience. I can’t even imagine it. I’m thinking we’ll do a Virginia Reel and Dabka mix for the dance party. I’ll have to get working on that I suppose. No, seriously, it was an interesting experience. First off, the party is separated men and women, because in our religion men and women don’t sing and dance in front of each other. So, obviously I was on the girl’s side. Honestly it felt like one of our Girl Scout dance parties. The party started by the couple walking in and going up to the front of the hall where they were basically on display for all to see. Lots of pictures were taken and everybody was smiling from ear to ear. After that, the new couple danced to a couple of songs that were specifically chosen for them, this part reminded me of the “first dance” at a wedding reception. After that the groom left, and it was a free for all. The scarves came off and everyone was bustin’ moves. I don’t know if this is proper to say, but dag yo… those girls could dance. Yeah, that’s all I’ll say about that.

Another experience I had was going to my great Uncle Mohammad AbuLughod’s farm. They have an olive grove out in Salt, which is a city out of Amman. It was so beautiful! We all sat around for the afternoon, drinking tea, enjoying the fireplace, the country air, the Ud music that my great Uncle was playing. His 13 year old grandson took me around the farm so I could take pictures. It was around sunset, so they all turned out a little blurry and are not my best but they kind of capture the surreal atmosphere. Apparently that night was the night that the moon was supposed to be the largest ever from the perspective of the human eye, and so I took pictures. Again, blurry…but I did my best.

Alas, alack…

-Sarrah

About the bugs. So I’ve become a popular visit for the local mosquito population. I suppose that’s what I get for missing all the mosquitoes at my home swamp in Wisconsin this summer, although DC had its fair share, so I guess I don’t know what this is all about. I’ve never actually seen these mosquitoes, I just all of a sudden have a bite on my arm. I kind of look like a chicken pox case at the moment. Thank God, I’ve not experienced the massive cockroaches they have here yet, though I think I saw my first tarantula. Actually Rizwaan spotted it while we were walking down the street and yeah…I stepped back. It was a little smaller than my hand. Sigh. I suppose that helps keep the other bug population down, but seriously…

Other bugs I’ve experienced are the stomach kind. I’ve been queasy for the past few days and it’s getting old… Any suggestions for “queasy” will be much appreciated.

The stomach problems haven’t slowed me down as of yet. Tonight I hopped a cab and met Sahar and Rizwaan (Sahar is my new roomie, and Rizwaan is my friend from Madison, DC and now Cairo) in a very old part of the city called, Sayidah Zaynab. A good number of the family of the Prophet Mohammad are said to have been buried in the area and there are memorials and tombs along the old streets where people visit and pay respects. As I was driving there, I was thinking about all the memorials and monuments I visited this summer in DC and how this was an interesting contrast and comparison. I didn’t really know what to expect, or how I would feel but I surprised myself with how moved I was upon seeing the tombs.

We went kind of late at night and for a few of the tombs the caretaker opened them just for us, which was very special. Three of the memorials we visited were to/of very close female relatives of the Prophet (granddaughters and great granddaughter) who hold very substantial roles in the history of Islam and it was powerful to be standing there. I got goosebumpy and teary eyed. It was really nice to see such respect given to these women.

So it’s almost Eid al-Adha, the second holiday for Muslims. I’m actually going to be in Amman, Jordan with family for the holiday, but I’ve enjoyed seeing the preparations all over the city. Much like for Christmas, colorful electric lights are being strung up everywhere. There are tents set up on dozens of streets where farmers have brought their livestock to “market” per se. Our very own street has its own little farm animal petting zoo (not for long!). The butcher shops are especially decorative and are obviously preparing for the day. I’d love to go into detail about the details of this Eid, but man…I’m not sure my stomach is up for it at the moment. If you are interested, I suggest you look up the significance of the ram in the Quranic/Biblical story of Abraham/Ibrahim and the sacrifice of his son. Yeah, nuff said?

Oh, I wanted to tell you about a few more cab experiences I’ve had. So far, so good. I’m still pretty nervous about traveling without complete control of the language, but you know, I’ll get over that. I’ve been getting around pretty successfully and um, it’s interesting. So I’m not sure if people are worried about light pollution here or what? But sometimes people don’t drive with their lights on at night. No, let me take that back, OFTEN people don’t drive with their lights on at night. They just casually switch them off, like it’s no big thing. I mean I’m trying but…ok…no I don’t think I can understand this one. They aren’t saving a substantial amount of energy by doing this and they ARE risking their lives and the lives of the pedestrians that are constantly in the street. The other day I was in a cab and he switched off his lights and we were going along at a steady pace and all of a sudden he’s like “Ahhhh!” because there was this huuuge crater sized pothole that we nearly landed in that he would have seen a mile ahead had he had his lights on. Perhaps someone can explain this to me?

Though that was a near miss, I’ve actually been in an “accident.” I forgot to write about it though it happened a long time ago. We were driving with one of Sahar’s friends and we were in a traffic jam (common) and she rear ended the dude in front of her. We were all like, “oh, no” and the dude just looked in his rearview mirror, made eye contact with her and put both his hands up in the “what!” position. She put her hand up in the “I’m sorry (ma’lesh) position, and then he put his hand in the “no problem” (mish mooshkillah) position and my jaw was in the “no way did that guy just let us off” position! But he did, he just drove off. No questions asked. There was really no damage at all on either car, but in America…lawyers would have been called.

So yeah. I’m on my way tomorrow (Inshallah) to Amman, Jordan. I’ll be spending a week with the many lovely family members I have there. I met many of them 4 years ago when I went with my dad and Casem for a month and a half. I’m so excited about seeing everyone. I remember as I flew home from that last trip wondering if I’d ever see my cousins again (silly, I know, but a true concern of mine) and now here I am. I’m really looking forward to just being in a family again. I miss mine a lot. (psst! I miss you guys a lot!) After Amman, I’ve got a ticket to Bahrain to visit my uncle and his family. I’m especially excited about going there because, well, it’s new and because this will be my first time meeting my first cousins. They grew up in Australia and well, I haven’t gotten there yet. Now they are in Bahrain, so that’s where I’ll be. I’ll be back in Cairo on the 20^th of December. Just in time to not do any last minute Christmas shopping (I really want egg nog by the way, and a pumpkin spice latte…sigh, I’m such a product of my environment, and I know it!)

Well, that’s all I’ve got. It’s like 3 AM here…Catch you on the flipside!

-Sarrah

Ok guys. I’m at a loss for words. By the end of this post, I’m sure that won’t be my problem, but I’m having a hard time starting to tell you about this weekend. Most likely it has something to do with how little sleep I got in the last 48 hours, but I’ll do my best.

So Thursday at midnight, Mona, Saba, Rabea and I hopped a bus to Dahab which is across the Sinai (the big chunk that hangs off the northeast of Egypt). Dahab is this chillax tourist town that is basically this one long street that goes along the sea (actually the Gulf of Aqaba). It’s absolutely marvelous, full of outdoor restaurants with names like Friends, and Same Same, and Aladdin’s. We spent a good amount of time at Friends because they gave us a good deal for breakfast when we got there. We arrived around 9 in the morning after a bus ride of rocky sleep, where I basically woke up every hour on the hour either because of the bumpy road, or a passport checkpoint, (they have a lot of those).

After a mushroom omelet at Friends (“where you come as strangers and leave as friends”) and more fresh juice, we spent the morning relaxing on the sea, watching Russian tourists squeeze into diving gear and other such amusing sights. (Apparently Dahab is a hot spot for the Russians, as almost all the menus were trilingual in Arabic, Russian and English.)

When we got motivated to move, which was hard because of a combination of lack of sleep and warm sunshine and comfy lounge couches, we found our way to this little shop that rented out snorkel gear. For 10 pounds or 2 dollars we were fitted with snorkel masks and flippers and pointed in the direction of some reef to see.

Ok, so people in snorkel gear look funny. People fully clothed and in snorkel gear look even funnier. So funny in fact, we became a sort of tourist attraction in our own rite. As we were getting ready, this elderly German tourist was sitting at his little table under an umbrella not 6 feet away snapping pictures and chuckling to himself, which was a little uncomfortable. It was as if he didn’t think we could see him. But we could…and we stared back and he just kept snapping pictures until he felt the need to come over and toss some German candy at us as if we really were the zoo animals he was treating us as.

This insensitive action got the notice of other (more polite) German tourists who got really angry at the former German. They verbally duked it out for a little while and though we didn’t understand what was going on, it was obvious that they were apologetic and upset at the old man’s actions. I basically didn’t know what to think. I mean, I thought my role as a zoo attraction was limited to the area of the world where I’m a visual minority. Guess not. I suppose the only thing to do now is chuckle along with the man.

Thankfully, this incident didn’t ruin the snorkeling experience at all. The water was salty, the fish were colorful, the floating was easy, and the whole thing was amazing.

After we got out of the water and dried off a bit in the sun we met some more friends who had come the night before for a meal that might have been lunch or it might have been dinner, I’m not sure because my clock was so off. I had a fresh tomato soup in another outdoor café, (this one went by the name, “Funny Mummy”). It turned out there were a lot of people visiting Dahab from extended friend networks and I was introduced to lots of people from lots of places who all happened to be at the same place at the same time. I met two individuals who are “half-children” like myself. One was half-Egyptian-half-American and the other was just like me! Dad from Palestine, Mom from Wisconsin! No joke. I’m in the process of figuring out if we’re cousins (from either side).

11 PM rolled around and I hopped another bus to Mt. Sinai. If Dahab was the most relaxing place in the world, Mt. Sinai was a great juxtaposition. I spent the next three hours along with hundreds of other people slowly making my way up the mountain in the dark. It was surreal. I’ve never seen the stars I saw on that trek. It seemed as if every time I managed to glance upwards (which wasn’t very often because I was afraid of losing my footing), I saw a shooting star. I think I counted six or seven.

Physically, it was a very taxing trip. I mean, I probably could have managed better if I just went at my own pace, but I was with a bunch of people and I tried to keep up with them the whole time which was hard (still 5 feet tall, ya’ll!). By the time I got up to the top, I’d developed a cough from breathing in so much dust and cold air, but it was so worth it.

Trying to describe the atmosphere of the climb is almost impossible. On the way up there isn’t much noise aside from the wind and some insistent loser’s cell phone ring. Other noises include the grunts and moans of the dozens of camels that slowly make their way past you as they carry less fiscally conservative tourists. Actually the camels are something to talk about. At the bottom of the mountain as we made our way to the path, we were walking through this field of sorts and all of a sudden I flipped on my flashlight only to see that I was surrounded by probably close to 50 camels on all sides. They were just chillin’ with their owners, waiting for someone to break. It was like that classic scene in a movie when the main characters stumble into the bear cave and then someone turns on their light and all around them are bears, except…these were camels…Ok maybe that wasn’t a great example, but I hope you know what I’m getting at.

Back to the climb. So, every so often we’d come across a miniature hut that sold candy and water and tea and coffee. These were a welcome sight to me as it gave me an opportunity to catch up with everyone. In the end it didn’t matter because at the top we almost all got separated, but whatever. I took advantage of these stops to glance down from whence I’d come only to see a very surreal, almost wormlike trail of bobbing lights snaking up the mountain. The trail was lit by individuals and their flashlights, all heading in the same direction.

When I got to the top it was just about sunrise so I found a place to pray fajr (morning prayer) amongst hundreds of people all there for very different reasons. Some were Christians there on pilgrimage, some were just tourists there for an “experience,” many were European, many were Japanese, many were African, many were old, many were alone, many were together. It was kind of how I imagine the hajj to be, except many religions were represented. I was alone amongst hundreds. ( I suppose in the case of hajj it’ll be millions, but whatever.)

Up at the top of the mountain it is very windy and very cold. I “rented” a blanket for 20 pounds (yikes!) and sat to watch the sun rise. I haven’t done that in a while. I think the last time was when I was on a coast and I saw it rise over the Atlantic Ocean. The top of a mountain is a whole new experience for a sunrise. Every crevice and crater is lit at a certain moment. The sun slowly creeps up over the hill. There was a very audible gasp and genuine feeling of awe in the air at the second the sun actually rose. It’s hard to explain the emotions of the surrounding people. Definitely an experience I’m glad to have had despite the three hour climb and bone chilling wind. I left with chapped lips and windburn, not to mention some sore muscles.

We got to the bottom by 9 am and I definitely started feeling the lack of sleep at this point. I’m still surprised at how well I functioned and how I didn’t get sick, what with the no sleep, the cold, the sporadic food intake etc. We were back in Dahab by 11:30 AM for a quick bite to eat and then another 9 hour bus ride to Cairo (in which I didn’t sleep). Thank God for extended weekends! I was able to catch up on Sunday before my Monday morning Arabic class.

So yeah, I feel really really blessed. There’s no other word for it. This adventure continues. There are pictures to accompany this post, but they have yet to be added to my computer. I can’t wait to share them. I hear Wisconsin’s in the midst of a snowstorm. The 70’s continue here. In other news, I have a new roommate. Her name is Sahar and she’s teaching me how to cook Bengali food! So exiting! More to come!

Salams,

Sarrah

Yeah so…it’s different here. I haven’t talked much about the little things that will soon become the norm, but I’ve been trying to find a way to explain things without seeming too much in awe, or even seemingly arrogant or condescending about the whole thing. I feel as if it is easy to slip into arrogance when writing about something that is “different” and I really don’t mean to be at all, if I tend to come off that way.

Little things like the bowab, or doorman that is a part of the living experience. He’s a man whose job it is to basically be the manager of the apartment complex. He helps you if something breaks, he lends you a hand as you carry things up the stairs if you need him to, he ensures the security of the building and knows who goes where when. I’ve recently joined a listserve online that caters mostly to foreigners who are studying here in Cairo. Recently, because of the holiday season, many posts are about people trying to sublet their apartments. Along with descriptions of “free wireless” and “fully furnished” and “washing machine in apartment” are descriptions like, “Really nice bowab, not nosey, doesn’t care if your guests are of opposite gender,” and the like. So this got me thinking, I mean, Cairo of all places is a pretty hopping, modern, cosmopolitan place. Though it is obvious that religion is a very large part of the culture, what with the call to prayer being blasted all throughout the city, five times a day, the traveling prayer inscribed in taxi’s, buses, and even elevators (yikes!), women walking around in scarves and niqab (everything covered even the face, and hands), it is still pretty “open,” if that is the word to use. What I mean by this is that, though the religion doesn’t allow the consumption of alcohol, you know of where to get it and you know people who drink. Though gender interactions are limited in Islam, you see more couples mooning over each other than a Parisian street during Valentines. (I’m so naïve. At first, I was like, dude…these siblings are all really close!)

Anyway…back to the bowab. It seems as if, though the religion is not “forced” upon people by any means, (you see just about as many women without scarves, etc) the culture remains. Bowabs get uneasy if you bring a person of the opposite gender into your house. I’ve heard of groups of girls who’ve gotten kicked out of their apartments because of having guy friends over on a regular basis. However, nobody has a problem with limited amounts of PDA (public displays of affection) on the streets, in the parks, at the movies…just not in private places. Just pondering this, I’m sure it’s old news to some of you, but it’s new to me.

Other observations… Some of Cairo seems so old. Ok…duh. It’s an ancient city, of course it’s old. But I mean, you see cars from decades ago, horse and cart, 50’s style décor, little boys shining shoes on the sidewalk, men in full on Bedouin garb, donkey carts selling bananas, all in one glance. But then you blink…and you see iphones, Mercedes Benz’s, Gucci and Calvin Kline scarves, shoes, shirts, glasses, stiletto heels. In the morning, I wake to sounds of horse’s hooves clopping down the street, and then I hear men yelling out to the people, selling their wears, and then I hear cell phone rings, and honking horns and the hum of a technologically advanced society. It’s like a movie! I’m stuck in some time hybridization simulation.

A note of caution to all my Veggie/Vegan friends…I’m going to be talking about meat. I mean…yeah. Ok so, I was walking to and from school today and I passed this butcher shop. The first time I walked by I noticed how specifically clean their storefront was as compared to the neighboring storefront sidewalks. Today when I walked by, I noticed, that they kind of have to clean up, and often, to keep the cats away. (Cats are rats here!) There were two men struggling with the headless body (for lack of a better word) of a sheep that was skinned except for its tail and the area around its hooves. I’m not sure how much detail I should get into here, but let’s just say it was gutted, or in the process of being so. No biggie, I’ve seen this before (flashback to childhood memories of Eid al-Adha at my house when it was celebrated during the summer). What I haven’t seen before was what I saw when I glanced to my left to the street where a car was parked. Yeah, so this car was full of these skinless sheep. I’m not talking just the trunk, no…I mean the whole car. There were sheep in the front seat, sheep in the back seat, sheep, sheep, sheep, lots and lots of sheep! Lots and lots of skinless, headless sheep!

I’m sorry. I had to share that experience. I’m done. Dear Veggie/Vegan friends, you can continue reading here. I’m sorry if I offended…I just couldn’t keep that experience in.

Yeah. So there, I tried. Some things are…different, not better, not worse, just different.