Ill humdallah, Ramadan is coming to a close. During the last few days of Ramadan, they have a feast, called Eid el-Fitr, which is basically a bog party for three days where everyone gorges themselves on food and all the stores are closed. Kind of like Thanksgiving for three days. Pretty sweet deal if your Muslim or Egyptian. As you might have guessed, I am neither, so what it is for me is a big pain in the ass. Yesterday I went to meet my friends downtown to go site seeing at some really cool mosques, and on my way I was followed by a string of little boys. I don't really know where these 8-12 year-old boys kept themselves for the last month, but the past couple of days they have been out in droves, and to drive me crazy. Although it was nice, I assume because it was a holiday, people where telling the boys to leave me alone and wonder of wonders apologizing to me about these hellians at my heels who I was constantly yelling at in Arabic to leave me a lone. I find that you get a lot more back when you verbally express your displeasure and annoyance in Arabic. Oh and did I mention the gift of choice for these little hellians during these festive days? Guess, you'll never guess. Fake guns. That's right my friends. American, blonde haired blue eyed female is walking down the street while little Egyptian boys point guns at me and set off firecrackers, a little unsettling? Glad you asked! The answer is, yes. But it turned out to be a lovely lovely day with some of my ultimate Frisbee team, we went and saw two breathtaking mosques and went out to dinner at this incredible Egyptian restaurant in the Khan, so all in all it was a fantastic day... Oh and everyone came back to my place afterward for a movie, we watched Legally Blonde, classic flick. Although a funny aside, I offered beverages to everyone and I happen to have cocoa, a rare delicacy to people with a western palate, so I offered that up, and HAshim said yes, but he thought that I had said Coke, but was so polite he drank half of it before his wife, and my friend Annie, told me that he thought I had said coke. A little embarrassing to me, but what can you do? IT was nice to have everyone over to my place for once, and quite an international bunch we were, Mackmood from Pakistan, Medo from Egypt, Hashim from Sudan and Annie from California, and of course myself, all brought together through our Ultimate Frisbee games friday afternoon. :o)
Here's another cultural observation I've made about the end of Ramadan. It appears to me that regardless of the temperature, after Ramadan is over is when you start dressing to pretend that it is cold outside. While on my way to downtown yesterday I saw everyone dressed in their long jackets and sweaters with fur lining on the collar and cuffs, and I'm thinking to myself... PS.. It's 85 degrees outside. They don't seem to be fazed a bit. Now I had the insight to try to fit into this dillusional and irrational way of dressing in the morning and way wearing a scarf and cardigan yesterday, so I was kind of offended when some random man told me I looked like a tourist. I just wanted to turn to him and be like, "yes yes yes, I know, I have blonde hair, I will always have blonde hair, and will always look like a tourist" in . That'd be sweet. But I try not to let my frustrations get the best of me, mostly because once you show any sign of acknowledgment people follow you forever. Not my favorite game in the world. So happy Eid everybody! Hope your Ramadan was as eventful as mine, full of fasting people cramming on the metro, massive feasts with friends and partying in the streets! I still think if I can just get these Egyptian women to move fast enough they would make a clear and unobstructed path for me all the way to the metro. brickhouses my friends.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Monday, November 8, 2004
Weddings around the world!
Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to be invited to a Sudanese wedding with my friends Annie and Hashim, it was different than I expected, though I didn't know what to expect out of a Catholic Sudanese wedding, I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be in English, but so it was! and pleasantly so, I was able to understand most of the really really really really long service. Weddings here are hilarious I think because everything is so over the top, brides really do look beautiful, but for Egyptians and Sudanese, it is in that sort of "I"m covered with yards of tool and sparkles!" which, hey if that's your thing, go for it. They are also very preoccupied with the video of the wedding, so there is this obnoxious camera man filming everything, the audience, huge lights. I think that's kind of hilarious. So the wedding started at about 7pm, and it was great because the groom was really good friends with not only Annie and Hashim, but a couple friends of mine from work, Sam and John Rabanah, and one of my teachers for the teen program, Hadaf, his daughter was in the wedding, so amidst about 200 Sudanese people I felt rather comfortable and familiar with everyone.
After the wedding ceremony, was the cake ceremony, which was crazy, their cake had 5 tiers and almost tipped over when they were cutting into it, after everyone was stuffed with cake and candy and pop, we headed out to the song beat from, either the bride or groom's tribe, that the women were singing. So there I was dancing with a brightly dressed large Sudanese woman to some of the most gorgeous voices that keep the beat in their word, they are amazing... all the way out of the building. I blended right in. Annie, who is also from the states and married to Hashim, who is Sudanese, was telling me what a big deal it is to have westerners at your weddings, that it is kind of social kudos to the bride and groom, so even though I didn't know them very well, we were kind of the guests of honor.
I was lucky again to be invited to a smaller reception to be held at the groom's flat, Annie and Hashim said I could spend the night at their place afterward because the metro would be closed by the time the party was done. so I was thinking that it would end at like 2 or something....... sooooo after picking up a few things from my flat and traveling with the gang out to Maadi, we hung around Annie and Hashim's flat until midnight or so, and then got a cab to go to the party. We all sat around the edge of the room and they served huge plates of food to the 50 or so people there at about 1am, and then there was dancing!! now, I like a good dance party as much, if not more, than the next girl, but I was not prepared for African slow dancing. I have to admit, it was a little difficult for me, I think partly because I've never danced to African music before (and their slow dancing is REALLY SLOW, but to a faster beat, and you move your hips not your feet really I need to practice,) I didn't know a lot of the people there, or most of the people with whom I danced, and no matter how fast the music is everyone wanted to "couple dance" I think it is because in their culture, weddings are really the only place that men and women get to mingle, which brings me to my last awkward factor... all of a sudden, after two months of avoiding contact with males as the cultural norm and expectation, here I was dancing with one large Sudanese man after another, Some about 6', most closer to 7' tall. It was hilarious, because I would ask them where they were from, and I think they must not have known that I work with Sudanese everyday, and have learned quite a bit about Sudan, because they would always say, "Sudan" and keep in mind, that my friend Annie and I, were the only two people there NOT from Sudan, so I just wanted to be like, "noooooo really??" but sarcasm doesn't translate well across language barriers. So I just danced away. Sam told me today that the party ended at sunrise, but we left about 430am to go to bed. Let me tell you, if someone ever casually invites you to go to a Sudanese wedding... go my friends, it's a rockin good time.
After the wedding ceremony, was the cake ceremony, which was crazy, their cake had 5 tiers and almost tipped over when they were cutting into it, after everyone was stuffed with cake and candy and pop, we headed out to the song beat from, either the bride or groom's tribe, that the women were singing. So there I was dancing with a brightly dressed large Sudanese woman to some of the most gorgeous voices that keep the beat in their word, they are amazing... all the way out of the building. I blended right in. Annie, who is also from the states and married to Hashim, who is Sudanese, was telling me what a big deal it is to have westerners at your weddings, that it is kind of social kudos to the bride and groom, so even though I didn't know them very well, we were kind of the guests of honor.
I was lucky again to be invited to a smaller reception to be held at the groom's flat, Annie and Hashim said I could spend the night at their place afterward because the metro would be closed by the time the party was done. so I was thinking that it would end at like 2 or something....... sooooo after picking up a few things from my flat and traveling with the gang out to Maadi, we hung around Annie and Hashim's flat until midnight or so, and then got a cab to go to the party. We all sat around the edge of the room and they served huge plates of food to the 50 or so people there at about 1am, and then there was dancing!! now, I like a good dance party as much, if not more, than the next girl, but I was not prepared for African slow dancing. I have to admit, it was a little difficult for me, I think partly because I've never danced to African music before (and their slow dancing is REALLY SLOW, but to a faster beat, and you move your hips not your feet really I need to practice,) I didn't know a lot of the people there, or most of the people with whom I danced, and no matter how fast the music is everyone wanted to "couple dance" I think it is because in their culture, weddings are really the only place that men and women get to mingle, which brings me to my last awkward factor... all of a sudden, after two months of avoiding contact with males as the cultural norm and expectation, here I was dancing with one large Sudanese man after another, Some about 6', most closer to 7' tall. It was hilarious, because I would ask them where they were from, and I think they must not have known that I work with Sudanese everyday, and have learned quite a bit about Sudan, because they would always say, "Sudan" and keep in mind, that my friend Annie and I, were the only two people there NOT from Sudan, so I just wanted to be like, "noooooo really??" but sarcasm doesn't translate well across language barriers. So I just danced away. Sam told me today that the party ended at sunrise, but we left about 430am to go to bed. Let me tell you, if someone ever casually invites you to go to a Sudanese wedding... go my friends, it's a rockin good time.
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
the commute
So everyday I walk to work about 15 or 20 minutes through the gauntlet of morning and afternoon traffic and a sea of veiled school girls asking me what time it is and if I am married, which is always a treat.... Then I arrive at the metro and walk all the way to the front of the platform so I can ride in the women's cars, the first one or two cars of each train. I try to think positive thoughts while riding in the metro crammed so that my feet almost don't touch the ground, riding amidst the massive bodies covered in hot pink and electric blue polyester. A game I like to play with myself is called: "it could be worse" Today I thought to myself, "it could be worse, I could be on the men's car and have them feeling me up" or "It could be worse, instead of hot polyester pressed up against me these brick house women could be wearing bikinis, and their sweaty skin dripping everywhere. That would be not as fun. Or the lights could go off while we are stuck in a tunnel, also not as fun" And because these things don't happen, I am happy. :o)
Mostly I enjoy my commute, something new happens everyday, yesterday I saw my first "bitch fight" between two Egyptian middle-aged women. I heard lot of screaming and turned around just in time to see a white leather purse strap being flung angrily onto the tram tracks. What a sweet lady. It's funny because usually when Egyptians fight it is a lot of yelling and not really any physical contact, a big show essentially, so these women must really have been upset, at what I will never know, happy Ramadan. Although I have to say, people in Egypt, as anywhere are both good and bad. Sometimes I on the metro a nice gal will help me stumble through a conversation in Arabic, sometimes groups of teenage girls sit and talk about me in the Arabic they don't know I understand until I tell them as I step off the train. That always gets a good laugh.
The metro will always have a warm place in my heart is because the other day when I was going to church, as I was sitting on the cement benches waiting for the train and ignoring the cat calls (psss psss psss HELLO HELLO) of the boys across the tracks, I thought to myself for the first time: I live here, this is normal and comfortable. So I am adjusting well.
Mostly I enjoy my commute, something new happens everyday, yesterday I saw my first "bitch fight" between two Egyptian middle-aged women. I heard lot of screaming and turned around just in time to see a white leather purse strap being flung angrily onto the tram tracks. What a sweet lady. It's funny because usually when Egyptians fight it is a lot of yelling and not really any physical contact, a big show essentially, so these women must really have been upset, at what I will never know, happy Ramadan. Although I have to say, people in Egypt, as anywhere are both good and bad. Sometimes I on the metro a nice gal will help me stumble through a conversation in Arabic, sometimes groups of teenage girls sit and talk about me in the Arabic they don't know I understand until I tell them as I step off the train. That always gets a good laugh.
The metro will always have a warm place in my heart is because the other day when I was going to church, as I was sitting on the cement benches waiting for the train and ignoring the cat calls (psss psss psss HELLO HELLO) of the boys across the tracks, I thought to myself for the first time: I live here, this is normal and comfortable. So I am adjusting well.
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