Writing and Being Touristy

The title should tell you what I've been up to lately, actually.  School is keeping me fairly busy, as is my social life and work.  Hallah and I have new costume designs we've been casually photographing to get up online and hopefully sell, so I will be posting those pictures up when I get home from AUC this evening or perhaps tomorrow, as well as pictures from the gorgeous Citadel which I finally got around to seeing in the day time!  Unfortunantely it was a very hot day as we're having a small hot snap and the tempuratures are getting up to 80+ during the day.

In the mean time I wanted to share some excerpts from an article I'm working on for Gilded Serpent right now.  I wanted to share with the belly dance community what life is like just living and hanging out here, experiencing Egypt at the human level rather than at a grand tourist scheme of things, so I decided to talk about what I at night over the course of a week.  Here are some excerpts from the unedited piece so far:

I often get asked what life is like in Cairo by everyone from friends to family to strangers who have stumbled across my blog. In a way the blog readers are the luckiest because they can read through various accounts of what I've been up to just on a day to day basis. The beauty of Cairo is often in the every day things, the small things that we wouldn't consider so worthwhile but in fact make up the real substance of what it's like to live here. I don't go to museums or monuments or see famous belly dancers every day, but I am here in Cairo every day and that is special in and of itself.
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Arabic class lends itself to group homeworking activities with our Egyptian friends included, so we dove into putting together the Khan al Khalili movie assignment as soon as Jon arrived. Our British friend Dave dropped by after work and we made the executive desicion to hit up an excellent Chinese restaurant around the corner from my house. I love that place to death, because it looks like a tiny, sketchy, hole-in-the-wall place that you would walk right by but in fact has some of the best Chinese food I've ever had. Plus, with the serious lack of truly good Chinese food in Cairo, it has become a hotspot for my group of friends so one of us is usually there every other night. In fact, shortly after we arrived my good friend who is German/Egyptian (she speaks English, Arabic, and German fluently--I am so jealous) showed up with a couple people in tow and we managed to take over the entire four-table restaurant.

I have lots of great memories of fooling around at that place, mostly because a lot of Egyptians have only experienced Chinese food through the lens of Egyptian chefs before. I remember a Chinese-themed buffet got to experience in Hurghada that was just horrible--the spring roll wrappers were basically made from puff-pastry! Finding a good, inexpensive, Chinese restaurant in Cairo around the corner from my house was like finding the Holy Grail. After a lot of dragging their feet I have gotten most of my Egyptian friends to go there, and now they all love it. They agree pretty much unanimously on hating the tea, which I admit is far too weak and subtle by Egyptian standards, but adore the food. To the extent that we are having a very hard time teaching them to learn how to use chopsticks because they give up in the face of hunger and delicious Kung Pao Chicken. I can't blame them though.

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Wednesday:
I don't get back from the American University in Cairo where I go to school until 9pm on Wednesdays, due to a late seminar and the somewhat sporadic bus schedule. However, I was determined to meet up with my language partner and do some exchange and just hang out, so I grabbed a very fast dinner at home and then ran out the door to grab a taxi to the Metro, Cairo's subway/train system. It's about a 5LE (90 cents) cab ride to the Metro, then you can ride anywhere along the Metro for 1LE (18 cents). The Metro is great as it's fairly clean and runs fast so you never end up stuck in Cairo traffic--the only downside is that it can get pretty crowded at rush hour.

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The 'ahwa is such a staple of my life here that it's important to me to talk about what these street cafes are, but unfortunantely it's uncomfortable to get good photos as to label oneself as a tourist or foreigner in an 'ahwa is sort of asking for trouble. Your typical street cafe is compromised of plastic lawn chairs crammed in close together at the edge of the road proper, around parked cars and various other obstacles, with tiny spindly tables rising up in between to prop up games of chess or backgammon and glasses of tea. Shishas are ubiquitous, and clouds of smoke waft up to the palm trees above heads bent in conversation, with laughter punctuating the general dull roar of the crowd. The floor is the street, dirty and trash-strewn with bottle caps that have been flattened by cars and feet into a mosiac of American branding in Arabic, and the walls are of whatever buildings are nearby, painted with various pictures, including ones depicting the kaaba to honor those going on Hajj to Mecca. Wild dogs run around out in the street, fighting only half-seriously over scraps, and street cats of all colors slink underfoot in search of food. The air smells of fruity tobacco and cigarettes, and that special dirty-sandy-polluted-but-pleasant smell of Cairo that feels like home. It's not exotic, it just IS.

We met up with a friend of Mohamed Ali's, a Chinese boy named Josh who is staying with an Egyptian family as part of an International study program. He was there with two Egyptian guys, soft-spoken tall and skinny types one of whom speaks English enthusiastically and is eager to chat with a new foreigner, and the other of whom was a bit more shy and reserved. They were both fluent in English though, yet again reminding me that my Arabic is still embarassingly underdeveloped. Mohamed greeted everyone like old friends, before laughingly admitting that he had just met the 3 guys in this cafe a few days once before. We chatted quite a bit about Egypt as Josh has only been in town for a few weeks, which is as good as being almost brand-new here, so he still has lots to talk about and remark on and that brings out in me some of the same. At some point Mohamed Ali and I headed around the corner to buy some grilled kofta off a small stall restaurant where the man grabbed the skewer straight off the coals, removed the steaming meat into some flatbread, wrapped it in paper and forked the huge sandwich over, dripping and delicious. I indulged in some Ruz Bilaban (rice pudding) too, my possibly my favorite Egyptian dessert.

Sherif, the enthusiastic guy, revealed that he lived in Indonesia for three years, and is fluent in Indonesian, so then we started in on an extensive 3-way comparison of Egypt, the US, and Indonesia just as my friends Alex and Ibrahim arrived. Alex is Malaysian but lives in America so he and Sherif immediately started in on a language comparison and began to chit-chat in various combinations of languages. Mohamed Ali and I gave up at that point and began to drill my Arabic vocabulary for class on Thursday; finally getting down to business around 11pm. He's also learning Spanish from a Mexican family living in Cairo so the group began to have a Tower of Babel moment when the various languages are shooting around--it didn't help that at some point Sherif and Alex switched to German, which Alex can only swear in rather than anything useful.

As the night wore on people stopped complaining about being tired in a joking way and started talking earnest about going home, so we all set down the shisha hoses, grabbed our bags and snagged one of the guys running around with trays of tea to pay and get out. Trudging down the back streets downtown at midnight conversation was no less animated, but showing the strain of the day. Alex and I joke that we're always tired in Cairo because once you get out for the evening you can't stop until the night is done or you can't move--even if you do have class the next day!

Wedding Bells

This post is brought to you courtesy of "GOAL!" cafe down the street from me. Thank god for their free wireless, because this marks day 3 or 4 that we have had no internet at home. We have started the process of hassling the bawwabs at home, which my friend Mina says may work out in the end providing we continue to get on their case for a few more days. Insha'allah.

My Nile Group review I have decided will just be the official one I give to Gilded Serpent! No need to write two different versions of the same thing it seems like, so I will post a link when it's up...I'm still writing it of course.

What have I been up to since the last update...

The "regular" exploits
Hanging out in the cafe is a norm for us these days. Usually I can be seen at this cafe about once (or twice!) a day or every other day by now, sipping my Lipton tea with a ton of sugar and enjoying the air conditioning. It's a nice little place, with shisha pipes and cute waiters all around who now greet us with smiles and handslaps. It's about half-and-half English and Arabic spoken here as we are near to the Zamalek AUC dorms and many foreign students come here to hang out. Directly behind me right now there are two Egyptian guys speaking heavily accented English with a girl who sounds Australian for example, and there's some platinum blond hair glinting off to the left. Arabic music videos, much to my enjoyment, are played constantly on the big TV when there isn't a soccer game on! I was amused to just hear a pop version of one of my favorite Fayrouz songs, "Zourouni."

When we're joined by my various Egyptian friends (mostly students and their buddies) we usually engage in some backgammon, which results in hilarious bets as they love to up the risk factor a bit, especially since I'm new to the game! My friend Islam just lost the other night to my flatmate Kara, so he has to take us on a dinner cruise tonight with a GOOD belly dancer. We're quite excited--when he lost the whole cafe was staring at us for screaming and carrying on!

On the fly a couple nights ago at the cafe we decided to hop in the car and speed over to the Corniche--the street that fronts The Nile on the downtown side--to catch a felucca and sail the river at 1am! Pictures are forthcoming, but let me tell you that it involved some clambering over cobblestones and then outright rocks by the waters edge in 4" heels on my part! I could only have done with with the gracious help of Islam's friend accompanying us who ensured my impractical footwear didn't lead to my doom. That's what you get when you do things on a whim!

AUC
Completely failed regarding going there this week because my friend called me at 8:30 AM (beyond early for Egyptians) and asked if I still wanted to come as he was going to leave 6 October shortly. Needless to say I barely answered the phone with a modicum of grace, having been out until 3am (typical for Egyptians) the night before, and therefore attempted to politely decline as opposed to demanding if he was completely insane.

Will retry an AUC visit on Monday, stay tuned.

Wedding!
Abdu, our gracious friend who picked Kara and I up from the airport two weeks ago (!) now had extended an invite to us for a friend's wedding last week, but I had no idea what a grand affair it would be! We drove out to Heliopolis (near the airport) last night in absolutely crushing rush hour traffic, which was not so fun, as was waiting around for a couple hours because Abdu sometimes forgets that 8:30 in Egyptian time is bound to be more like 10:30, but once things got going it was a total blast!

The zeffa is a traditional part of the wedding party, where drummers and dancers usually put on a special show for guests and to escort the couple into the reception hall. You can see some pictures of zeffa performers here, courtesy of Amina Goodyear and the Aswan dancers. This zeffa was lovely and incorportaed a tannoura, as well as drummers, and saiidi dancers. Once we were IN the hall, a popular singer ("from TV!" as Abdu said) Amina took the stage with a horde of about 20 male backup/go-go dancers to lead us all in some loud, crazy music, dancing, and general revelry. As foreigners we were the center of attention, and Amina pulled Kara up in front of everyone, having her give a mini-interview over the mic! Then we both were pushed into the center of the group to make fools of ourselves with saiidi stick dancing...pictures and videos of which I'm sure will be circulating around soon enough! "Silly foreign girls being idiots with sticks," or something like that. We had a complete blast, dancing and carrying on until the huge buffet!

What we were most struck and touched by was how hospitable and welcoming everyone at the wedding was, even in the face of our obvious stand-outishness. On the contrary, because we stood out as foreigners (and because we hadn't brought any fancy clothes to wear) we were even more welcomed and encouraged to participate. The bride was so friendly to us, even having us stand in the big group photos, that how could we not enjoy ourselves? We had a fun evening, and returned home in a great appreciation both for Abdu inviting us and for being treated so well.

Well, if you're still following so far, it is time for me to return to my flat and prepare for the dinner cruise! I'm sure I will have something to say about it, but it will probably have to wait a few days if my internet at the flat still isn't up.

Non-Nile Group Update

I can't update everyone on Nile Group just yet, because I feel it warrants it's own post, and I've been up to too much stuff! However, Nile Group is finishing up tonight, so I plan to get a review and breakdown up in the next few days. I've now been in Cairo over a week, and probably haven't done/seen as much as possible, but I'm here for a year and trying not to strain myself!

There have been some fun times over the last couple days, and many moments of exasperation either in workshops or because of the HEAT. Cairo has been hovering in the upper 90 degrees (farenheight) which is enough to keep everyone (well ok, maybe just me) perpetually sweaty and smelly. I'm trying to keep the amount of showering down, but we still have been jumping in and out at least twice a day as we just get dirty and nasty, especially dancing three hours plus a day.

One amazing place I have visited, and do intend to go back to is the infamous shop of Mahmoud Ghaffar, Al-Wikalah in the Khan Al Khalili. Here's a few teaser shots, but I think it deserves a post all to itself, as does the Khan, so stay tuned in the future as I will absolutely go back and attempt to give directions to Mahmoud's and some impressions of The Khan. Khan Al Khalili, for those who are completely lost with this post, is the most gigantic, crazy, famous suuq or market/bazaar in Cairo. Anyone who has been can give you a hint of the definite impression it leaves...but I will be writing more on that topic later!



The real treat I got to experience was due to my good friend Leyla Lanty taking me out to a local cafe in the Khan the other night. I will not disclose where this place is, because it is very near and dear to her heart, and now mine, and it would be a very different place if foreigners showed up in droves. If you ask me, I can probably take you, but I don't want the information online.

On that note, let me tell you about the evening! I met up with Leyla and several of her friends at the Pyramisa where Nile Group is taking place and we all piled into her friend Ahmed's car as well as a taxi and headed off with much joking and fanfare. We arrived at the Khan maybe 10pm give or take, and headed to the "Egyptian Pancake" shop to grab a bite and some juice before the cafe. We ate something like a combination between flatbread and a quesidilla, sort of like naan with cheese, green peppers, and tomatos baked in the center. It was tasty, but greasy and we ended up feeding the leftovers to the cats running around everywhere underfoot in the Khan. A certain group of ginger triplets were lurking around our table in particular, throwing pathetic looks.

After that it was on to the cafe, where the band was just starting up. Tonight we had a keyboardist, three or four percussionists (switching off between deff, doumbek, sagat, and smoking), and a violinist playing with a cigarette firmly grasped between the fingers of his bowing hand. We took our seats amid the regulars who have their own particular special spots, and spotted the very fabulous and famous Aida Nour sitting in front next to the band in a bright red headscarf. Star dancer sighting! It was like a sauna in the place even with multiple fans battling the heat and flies, so I had to step out into the street a couple times, but once she started to sing with the band I was glued to my chair. I didn't even know she sang, but it was lovely and she did quite well!

Aida Nour finished singing, and then it was time to start pulling up foreigners from our little group to dance! I think just between Leyla's friends we managed to represent Spain, Italy, and a couple part of the US. Actually, since Egypt had just won over Italy in soccer the day before they got the Italian lady up first, even before Aida Nour sang! She had a fun time dancing and did a good job, very sociable but restrained enough for the setting. Once Aida Nour had finished and another singer took the floor, it was then apparently MY turn to dance! I went a bit pale I think when the owner and Ahmed both motioned for me to get up, get up! Me? Dance in a cafe in front of Egyptians AND Aida Nour? Well...okay. The first time I danced shyly and sweetly since I wasn't sure what the rule was for doing the more risque moves we all often use, and since of course I'm American and don't want to create a worse impression. I think they really liked it actually, as I got pulled up to dance by the owner no less than three times over the course of the evening...and Aida Nour smiled at me which definitely nearly made me faint! By the third time I was dancing there was some sort of Shaabi style song happening and the singer was incorporating the words, "Amreeka, Amreeka," which I was expecting (the little-white-chick effect) but then in the middle of the song, what did I hear? "Obama, Obama!" Apparently they're big on him here after his speech at AUC awhile back!

Over the course of the evening several others got up to dance a bit, including one of Aida Nours proteges who showed up who was quite good. Other than that there were a couple of really Shaabi city girls who were not professional dancers, but just having fun. They were totally out there and a little vulger, but lots of fun to watch! One lady next to us was a bit more demure, but was using her large silver purse as a prop--a new "folkloric" style in the making for us in the US? Near the end Leyla Lanty danced a bit to great fanfare and enthusiasm, since they know her at this cafe and she is quite popular!

Tipping for this show went on throughout the evening, with the tip collector interrupting the singer in the middle of or between songs to announce who had given a gift and encourage more tipping. Our friend Ahmed handled the tipping, doling out small amounts throughout the evening and then gesturing to the tip collecter (who was also a singer) to recognize all of us nice white ladies sitting in the back as we sipped our tea and sweated, which he either did by name or country, "Italia, Leyla, Amreeka..." it went on and on all night during the music. By the time we decided to head home it was about 3am, and I was totally out of it, but happy that my first dance experience in Cairo was well-recieved! Indeed as we walked to the car, another car drove by us with cafe patrons who waved at me and went, "Amreeka, Amreeka!" You can bet I will be visiting that cafe again in the future! Leyla tells me that when Morocco of New York visited she said, "this place is REAL," which I couldn't agree more with.

Still, Cairo is up and down, and Saturday night was not nearly as fun as Friday. However, that is to be spoken of in the coming post which will be a review of Nile Group!