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Published: December 9th 2010
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This has taken a little longer than i wanted to put up since i have had trouble finding a computer that was fast enough that I could upload the pictures without spending an entire day.
A few weeks ago I met a young guy named Rashid over some sheesha at a local ahwa or coffee shop, and now that I was back in Cairo I decided to see what he was up to. An hour later I was on my way to Giza with all of my belongings to meet up with him and his cousin and stay the night with his family. He said that they were having a "fathers day" and that much of his family was over. We met at a coffee shop off the highway and before I knew it I was in the back of an ancient Volvo hurtling through the back alleys of Giza. This area is interesting because it is where urban meets rural; miles of ten to twelve story bombed out looking housing units, insane traffic, huge crowds, un-breathable air contrasted with fields of crops, chickens, donkeys, polluted irrigation canals and the ubiquitous barefoot children kicking soccer balls through mounds of trash.
Quickly my "kidnap radar" as I have come to think of it was going off as I lost any sense of where I was and reminded myself that I was a lone American in an unforgiving city riding with two Arab strangers and that I hadn't told anyone where I was going. The buildings became darker and more foreboding, the alleys more narrow and claustrophobic, and the piles of trash along the road gradually enlarged to the point where you could not see over them. We finally arrived at a single building with fields on three sides and a single lazy donkey meandering down the dirt road. Fortunately the home was well lit and populated with an abundance of women and children as opposed to the heavily bearded men brandishing machete's that I had imagined. It turned out "father's day" was not what I had expected but rather a celebration of the recently deceased (in this case their father) which occurs 40 days after the burial.
I was ushered inside of what turned out to be a very modest yet immaculate and well put together home. The family was receiving a stream of guests all day and I was
treated to a nice meal. I sat there listening to the Arabic banter when one of the men brought me a long traditional robe and said that their uncle was coming and they were curious if I could pass as an Egyptian. Sure enough after he had arrived and they had been talking for a while they asked him if he knew where I was from. When they told him America he squinted at me and asked "Have you understood anything?" "Nope not a single word" I replied. It turned out he had stayed in Connecticut for three months and that his son is an American citizen living in Maryland, though he couldn't remember the name of the town.
After this my journey down the rabbit hole continued as I was invited to go with Rashid and his cousin Aziz to a wedding party. A member of their extended family had been married that day and the young men were going to the celebration in honor of their cousin the groom. Uncomfortable at the idea of being there uninvited I decided to leave on the traditional robe in an attempt to blend in. We arrived a few minutes later
at a dirt parking lot next to a large mosque where they had set up a huge tent completely covered in a wide array of lights. The speakers were blasting deafening Arab music, and on the stage the bride, groom, and a small number of other males and females were dancing wildly. The main area below the stage was segregated by gender with the women on the left and the men on the right with a small wooden barrier between them. The women were dressed in a wide variety of colors and all had on an abundance of makeup. The men, much to my consternation, were all dressed in slacks, collared shirts and ties. I found myself in the ironic position of being both the only westerner and the only person dressed in conservative Egyptian attire.
I ended up staying with Rashid and his family for two nights. The second day we went and visited the mosques at Saqqara and went to Memphis. Mostly we just spent the day cafe crawling from one cafe to the next in an endless stream of chai, sheesha and dominoes. In the evening we went up to the rooftop above a small shop
owned by another one of their cousins where I got to see the light show on the pyramids. My last two days were spent back at Peter's, where my trip had started. I finally made it to the Egyptian Museum and the Citadel.
Unfortunately my trip ended much like it had started, with me sprawled out on Peter's bathroom floor vomiting uncontrollably. There are many things that could have caused this, but I think it was the result of exhaustion and pollution. The only two times I have been really ill here were both following 8-9 hours wandering through Cairo to the point of exhaustion and breathing the toxic cloud which passes for air here. Hopefully the lesson for over-exertion has been learned.
Last thing I want to mention is that I was watching an English language Arab news program where they were discussing how Wikileaks and Julian Assange are probably agents or fronts in some sort of conspiracy by either the CIA or the 'Zionists.' Pretty ridiculous.
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Tom
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Good Writing
Hi Chris, Some good stories. I particulary liked Sinai and the scuba diving. It seems like the people there are very friendly and welcoming and not anti-American as our media would portray them. I look forward to reading about India. Stay safe.