Hustle

When I made this blog I figured I'd update every few days, so I feel like I'm letting myself down in terms of recording things with a week in between like this. Still, stuff happens and I keep getting busy, so here's a short update!

Housing

I'm now hustling like hell to find a nice place before the middle of August when my rent is up in Zamalek. This SUCKS. Finding an apartment in Cairo by yourself without at least one committed room mate sucks majorly because of a distinct lack of one bedroom places in the area I want. I think it's probably best to team up with someone and try to find a place together, providing your budgets and desired area are the same. For me, I'm going at it alone, as usual, which has so far had the following results:

-Looked at many mediocre flats in THE perfect neighborhood
-Found the flat of my dreams, begged the bawwabs to hold it for me for a week to get the funds and roomies together, pranced around happily
-Attempted to get roomies
-Everyone balked at the price, or turned me down, and the hold was up yesterday so bye, bye to the perfect place
-I ate a lot of chocolate cake and grumbled about the lack of one-bedroom places in said perfect neighborhood

So now what? I don't know, I'm going to keep looking in the Maadi area, because I have my heart set on living there, but it's really tough without having a person committed to rooming with me. My Egyptian friends say I should just rent a place anyway and deal with the roomies later, but I can't leave my parents out however many hundreds of dollars if things don't come together. I'm just going to keep hustling and see what happens. Keep an eye on the blog because once I find a place I will be more in the mood to write about finding a place in Cairo, because it is an interesting process and I have some pointers to offer at this point. I just am a little too on edge about the topic now to elaborate at length in my blog!

Getting Really, Actually Sick in Egypt

A week and a half ago now I got sick, as in "not-gonna-get-over-this-one-at-home-and-it's-been-a-week" kinda sick. I don't particularly want to go into details, but it was just getting to the point where I was exasperated enough to put on my big, brave girl panties and let my friend take me to a real live Egyptian hospital to see a doctor...which turned out to be fine. So there.

Everyone is afraid of the medical system in Egypt it seems like, but my experience was nothing but pleasant, fairly quick, and cheap. It cost me $20 total to get examined, and get some meds to fix the problem. I can't even get my over-the-counter allergy meds in the US for so cheap! The trick is, and listen up here: go to a private hospital. There, that's all, just go to a private hospital that has a stellar reputation. Yes, there are some around, they're easy to find, and the one I went to in Heliopolis gave me great medical treatment. Hell, it was more quiet and calm than any medical institution I've set foot in back home. The staff were friendly and helpful, especially since I had an Egyptian friend with me to translate (and looked like a clueless, sick, foreign dork) and the doctor spoke English fairly well. Now I'm fine, but still weaning myself back on to a normal diet as mine had to be restricted for 5 days during my course of meds--not fun.

Another note before anyone runs off to any conclusions: it is NOT common to get as sick as I did in Egypt, don't worry. The biggest medical problem travelers have is that many people get some digestive issues here, but you get over them in a matter of days or hours, and it's seriously not that bad. I was not so lucky this time around!

Oh and PS, everyone--it wasn't Egyptian food that made me ill, I can thank McDonald's for that particular honor.

Party in Hurghada!

I'm back from another trip yet again! This time Kara and I headed to the Red Sea again, but on the opposite coast of last time (check out the super-gorgeous-non-ghetto map).

Hurghada was a lot of fun, and definitely a refreshing change in some ways from Cairo. Still on my first night I was going, "what a tourist trap, I miss Cairo!" However, I chilled out and had fun in a resort town that seems like something more out of Hawaii or California than Egypt--except with ridiculous amounts of rather rude Russian tourists.

Hurghada is (theoretically) 5-6 hrs by bus from Cairo, but if you add in Egyptian time and the bus breaking down, it's more like 8. Yeah, you have to factor in the bus breaking down, but just pray that it's only in a minor, fixable way. On the way we got relatively lucky--the bus broke down twice, but we got back on our way fairly quickly. We said "maalesh" and started taking pictures in front of the broken down bus. Back on our way Mina and I cranked up the Lady Gaga on his mp3 player as we sped through the desert night. On the way back we got totally screwed as our bus broke down completely an hour and a half from Cairo and we had to hitch a ride (with all the luggage!) on the next bus from the company to come along!

The days were mostly spent at the beach or the pool, doing beach or pool kind of stuff. I got thrown off a dock too at some point because I refused to take the plunge! At night we got the Egyptian boys in trouble playing a drinking game when it was revealed us American and Aussie girls can hold our liquor like champs in comparison.

We went out clubbing at a place called "Buddha Ramooza" on the second night which completely reminded me of Hawaii or California, down to the thatched grass ceilings, jets of fire for show above the open air dance floor, latest American pop hits, and cabanas straight on the beach. Yes, the American hits included, "Poker Face!" It was great to be able to chill on the beach with a drink and then go straight onto the dance floor! Kara finally got into smoking shisha too, which led to some hilarious pictures which I will only include a few of for both of our dignities sakes.

The next day we woke up at the crack of 7:30am after an ungodly late bed time to catch a breakfast buffet in horrible shape before heading off to an all-day snorkling trip! I groaned to Kara, "I'm so tiiiiired...the last thing I want to do is get on a booooat," but we had paid up 200LE the previous day so I was committed. I staggered along onto first a bus, then the diving center, then the boat, and we warned the boys to leave us be as we were in an incredibly impatient, grumpy mood after the early wake-up call. Kara and I staked out a bench inside out of the sun and she promptly slept while I dozed behind my sunglasses.

We got into it though after a couple hours as the boat headed out to "Paradise" island off the coast of Hurghada. It was a bit crowded, but the staff (whom we called "the pirates of Hurghada") were all friendly and helped us to get into the swing of things. "Paradise" is a pretty island, but all the day cruises go there so it was a slog getting on and off the island via small feluccas chock full of people. The food on the cruise was quite tasty too, which I was nervous about after several days of so-so hotel buffets.

Snorkling was great, and I realized that I haven't snorkled since before I can remember...if I have it was in Hawaii during one of our multiple childhood trips that I only half recall. This was fun though, the boat was in a perfect spot for us to remain close by and near the surface but still observe some beautiful fish and coral. That was good, as I didn't feel exactly adventurous! We swam around near the boat for awhile too, which was when our intrepid captain decided to come dunk me!

Afterwards Kara and I dozed on the front of the boat with a couple from Holland, just enjoying the sun. Let's just say we weren't enjoying things so much when we arrived home exhausted and suburnt! Both of us promptly showered and collapsed into bed for a couple hours before most of us trooped out to the club again to discuss the mating fest or to the cinema. I have to say that after being in Cairo for almost a month, the dance floor scene at Hurghada made me almost nauseous for how sex-drenched everything seemed and how slutty the behavior was--and this is coming from a California girl not exactly famed for prudishness! Cairo has changed me already more than I first thought it seems.

Cultural Homogenization (the boring part of this post)
I have a couple things to say on this topic as it's something my courses at my home college have beat me over the head about. This has been a topic that has very much rung true to me in my studies. I'm feeling frustrated at what I want to call exchanging cultural generalizations. Cairo is a very international town, with plenty of foreigners coming through, so there has so be some sort of language to exchange ideas from different cultures and different lifestyles of living. However, if there is something my Women's Studies education has warned me of it's dealing in generalizations and homogenizing groups of people.

When we assume a group of people all share the same exact thinking and will behave in the same manner we remove them from the freedom of having individual personalities in our minds. Personally, this seems dangerous to me as it becomes an easy way to presuppose things about individuals, and prevent ourselves from getting to know other people/cultures on their own terms. This can even lead to otherizing groups of people and dehumanizing them, which is how prejudices and harassment become condoned. One of things I am trying to do in Cairo is not tell people back home about Egyptian "culture" so much as people I know, or personal things I have seen or experienced. Lila Abu-Lughod, an author I quite enjoy, has written about this topic in the introduction to her book "Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories" where she warns of "the danger of cultures." I highly recommend the book to anyone visiting a foreign country, especially Egypt. It's also simply a fascinating read!

To put it on the most straightforward, street-level terms: I'm tired of speaking for all of America or all of the Western world even. I feel like I have to preface everything with "Well, my experience is..." and end everything with, "but it really depends on the person."

Escape to the Beach

The last week has just been a whirlwind of activity so I apologize for the lack of updates! Meeting new people, going new places, seeing new sights has me completely exhausted by the time I sit down to write at night. So much has been going on! Tannoura shows, Nile cruises, countless cafes, impromptu walking tours...I'll just post a few highlights for now and we'll fill in the gaps later. More photos will be coming too!

Ahlan w Sahlan
I have to apologize again to the dancers that are reading my blog on two counts: I haven't posted to Gilded Serpent about Nile Group yet, and I only went to Ahlan w Sahlan for one show. Bad belly dancer!

However, I got beyond lucky with the show I went to, because no less a person showed up wanting to perform than DINA!!! My favorite non-retired dancer! I couldn't believe my luck when I heard she had arrived with her (more than 20 piece) band because I had expected to come watch the teachers and see some good dancing, but not Dina!

Of course there was no videotaping or cameras allowed, so sadly I got no documentation of the show, but trust me, Dina knocked my socks off completely. I've seen youtube videos of her, sure, and pictures, but this was completely amazing. She was just so glowing and beautiful! Her smile illuminated the room and her attitude was completely spot on, not superior or haughty or even too porny (yes, even though it was Dina!) but just welcoming and gracious. Dina also got on the mic to say welcome to everyone and how happy she was to be here even though she had just returned from traveling because she, "loves belly dance!!"

Not only that, but when the band started up with the beginning of the mawwal to "Taht Isshebak" I was screaming because I couldn't believe my luck! This is one song Dina has made famous and happens to be on of my own favorite Shaabi songs to dance to, which I did at my going-away party in San Francisco! That particular section completely brought down the house, but I also enjoyed her performance later in the show to one of Amina Goodyear's favorites "Woah Woah Woah" as we call it that's about fruit--in a rather suggestive way!

I returned to Zamalek completely star struck and feeling I could die happy...seeing Dina live is one major life goal accomplished!


Ras Sudr
After now being here in Cairo three weeks Kara and I were ready for a bit of a break from the pollution and noise of the city. Don't get me wrong--now that I've adjusted mentally I'm loving it here--but we needed some peace and quiet. So our friends invited us to join them for the weekend at Ras Sudr (literally "Head Breast") on the Red Sea!

We spent our time eating, dancing around in the flat like idiots, cracking jokes, playing cards, swimming, and just lying on the beach. It was so beautiful there, and quiet! The silence and lack of people was shocking after Cairo, and the beach was just perfect. The sand is pale and powdery once you get into the water, and there are copious amounts of umbrellas to shade you from the hot Egyptian sun. The heat is perfectly offset by the slightly cool water, which by the way is completely clear and stays under 4 ft easily half a mile from shore. You can wade and swim forever before you get anywhere remotely deep, which we found quite nice for just messing around and playing volleyball in the water!

We nearly got into a daily routine of waking up around 1pm, eating breakfast (a mishmash of American style junk food and Egyptian foods like Foul), having a bit of a dance party, then spending all afternoon at the beach before coming home to eat BBQ seafood fresh off the boat. We literally bought our dinner one night while swimming next to the fishing boat! Floating suuq!

Egypt vs. Rwanda
Last night, Kara and I went with my friends to see the Egypt vs. Rwanda soccer match in Cairo. My parents seemed surprised when I said, "no no, we're actually going TO the stadium," as usually I've been catching the matches at a local cafe. It's like being at the stadium anyway because everyone cheers and jumps around practically as much!

We managed to cram a record 7 people in my friend's tiny car to do the hour drive (not including the waiting around for various things) to the stadium. I was perched firmly on Kara's lap in the back seat the whole time, which was a bit awkward, but everyone was in high spirits!

Egypt won 3-0 over Rwanda so of course we had to drive through the streets waving our Egyptian flags out the car windows and celebrating! People seemed a bit surprised to see two white chicks cheering and screaming, "Masr!" so we managed to cause one guy to run into the car in front of him for staring. It was just a light tap and everyone just continuted honking and carrying on. We had a great time with our huge group of friends and then went out to a rooftop cafe after for drinks and ice cream!

Tonight Kara and I are departing for the other side of the Red Sea, and a very different style resort town: Hurgada! More to come later!

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.

Internet Outtage!

I am still alive in fact, the internet at my flat is just down! I will be online via the local cafe off and on, so stay tuned for updates, I promise there will be a big one soon!

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!

Doorbells and Dancers

It's been a handful of days now since I hit town, and a big dance festival, Nile Group is starting up, so I'm about due for a blog update!

Here are more views from our flat, just to give an idea of what it's like being here. Egyptians are masters of parallel parking! The major news in the last hour is that my flatmate Kara figured out that the sound (among all the other sounds) that I thought was a loudish bird is actually the doorbell. In this case it was also a rather miffed electrician guy with a bill so I had to use my very limited Arabic to sort out with the bawwabs that the lady we're subletting for had left money for the bill with a friend who was supposed to give it to one of the bawwabs. In the end, it all got sorted. Luckily I know the words for "friend", "money", and "has," but still had to repeat myself several times to get the point across!

Nile Group is a big dance festival that happens here in Cairo a few times a year (I think it's recently increased to four) at the Pyramisa hotel in Dokki. A piece of advice--if going by taxi and the driver doesn't know the Pyramisa, just keep saying Do'ii and then when you get to Midan al Gal'a, which is a giant roundabout look for the biiig Pyramisa sign atop the hotel and then point frantically! I'm not sure of a better way, but that's what we did today. Yesterday when I dropped by to register the taxi driver knew the hotel but dropped me off at the back entrance, so it's all hit and miss really.

The dance festival is fun in that there are people from literally all corners of the world. Chinese dancers are here, as well as girls from Scotland to Brazil. It's an amazingly multi-cultural event, but makes for a bit of a hassle when it comes to registering because the staff speak Arabic with varying levels of English mixed in. Everyone was in pretty good spirits though, since we're here to partake in workshops from the masters of belly dance who are all but legendary no matter where you're from.

Speaking of which, my first workshop was today with Mahmoud Reda, who is extremely venerated and respected in the dance community as one of the fathers of oriental dance and as someone who has presented Egyptian folkloric dances to the international community for the better part of a century. His Reda Troupe is beyond famous and many prominent dancers here are originally Reda-trained. This includes a lovely male dance Kazafy (picture at right)who was kind enough to be demonstrating in the workshop today (along with no less than three other female dancers) for Reda as the man is over 70! Never the less, Reda was definitely still up and about demonstrating the marking for the choreography we learned to the very generically-named song, "Warda" by god knows who. Didn't sound like the singer Warda herself to me! Kazafy and the other dancers were a definite pleasure to watch though, as a ballroom full of over probably 100 foreigners struggled to keep up with the intense series of moves and not bash into eachother. After a 3 hour Reda workshop, let me just say my legs want to go quietly die somewhere dark and cold and I had several other people's sweat on me. It was a lot of fun though, and very enjoyable to get a taste of the Reda style, even though it was oriental and not so folkloric.

Afterwards I stumbled out of the Pyramisa, and walked the requisite block away before catching a taxi to avoid being ripped off. Definitely best to stay away from those drivers waiting right out front of 5-star hotels, as they will charge you AT LEAST twice as much as you should be paying! Do NOT tell the doorman you need a taxi, just walk a block or two away and hail one yourself. Hailing a cab in Cairo is as easy as just standing at the edge of the street and looking interested (or lost)!

Yesterday I also went back out to 6 of October to watch the Egyptian soccer team play Brazil. Everyone was joking that Egypt had no chance and would lose like 3-0, but they actually BARELY lost 4-3. In the last two minutes of the game there was a penalty kick for Brazil, otherwise it probably would have been a tie! What a fun match, and I had a blast watching it in the cafe with all these guys around screaming and yelling and jumping around. Apparently in the city you could hear people cheering for the goals from the street. I think I was one of like two women in the place though, and certainly the only westerner so that was interesting. It was lots of fun though, even though twice the power went out and everyone freaked out because we were missing the game. Here's more pics of 6 October just to give you an idea: