Last day in Cairo :( (11.4.07)

Music Store Scarf wholesaler

Street food. Note serving "dish". Cotton for sale

Gates to City near Khan El Khalili

My new burqa (and future husband #12)
Me and my sparklies headed to Post Office!

Khoshary counter

Khoshary at table

Sylvana & Hanan Mahmoud

Mohamed Shahin
Second half of Saidi dance by Mohamed Shahin

www.mohamedshahin.com

Oh my goodness. It is my last day in Cairo and I just realized that my trip is coming to an end just when I felt it was beginning. Though I have been on the road since late September, these two weeks in Cairo were the first time that I was by myself and really able to kick around and see a city in the way that I enjoy - by meeting people and wandering the streets. I haven't really learned about Egypt and Egyptians in the same way that I learned about Morocco on the tour, so I still would like to come back one day and do a tour that will take me up and down the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan. On the other hand, I was able to put down a few roots in Cairo and I think they are going to last longer than my photos from Morocco.

*

I wasn't so good at the "early to rise" thing this morning, and then I had to wait a little bit for Zizo to finish with customers. After finding a few Saidi costumes late last night, I wanted to go out to find a few more in the market and he had some connections. In addition, the one gift that Omid requested and that I couldn't find last night was a "good quality riqq." Zizo took me to Sharia Mohamed Ali where there were music shop after music shop with the most beautiful riqqs, daffs, ouds, tablas, and mizmars crowding every window display. I discovered I have no idea what a good quality riqq is, and the shop owners were certainly not predisposed to tell me that they sell bad quality riqqs. Thus, Omid will just have to be happy with what I brought him. I just hope he can figure out how to play it.

*

After shopping, the rush was on to get everything I have purchased over the past two weeks sorted and packed to try and make it to the Post Office prior to its closing. Here again Zizo was indispensable, greasing the hands of the proper authorities, translating forms, and generally helping me get everything in order. He keeps trying to convince me to go into the import business with him - that we can make big money in the US with bellydance gear. I on the otherhand am not ready to turn my happy hobby into any more of a business stress that it already is.

*

My 31kg box of sparklies successfully packed and on its way to a friends house in the US, it was a mad dash back to the khoshary joint for some quick eats. Khoshary is a famous Egyptian fast food and consists of mixed spaghetti and macaroni noodles, cumin-laced tomato sauce, dried lentils and fried onion pieces. It is ready at your table before you even have a chance to get your money out of your pocket, so it was perfect for the stressful 45 minutes that I had between finally getting the box in the mail and the time that I was supposed to meet Mohammed for my last class with him.

*

In the end, class started very VERY late. Mohamed picked me up 1.5 hours after we originally intended to meet and we went to costume designer/atalier Hanan Mahmoud who had stayed open waiting for me. Of course nothing happens quickly...after trying on a few bedlahs and costumes, we had to sit down with Ms. Hanan and several other clients / family members while they ate take-out food. Then when I asked about skirts it took another 20 minutes to dig the models that I was interested from under piles and piles of plastic bags in a small storage room (there are no wearhouses in Cairo - things are stored whereever and however they will fit!). And then the negotiations began. Ugh. I did not intend to buy anymore costumes, but they were really nice and I had a few students in mind, so there it goes. I guess I am getting into the import business after all. The only problem was that I didn't have any cash on me and ended up having to borrow money from Mohamed. This wouldn't have been such a big deal had I been able to withdraw money from the ATM machines after class, but I ended up having a serious cash flow problem on my last night in Cairo.

*

We had a good last class in which we finished a Saidi cane number and the Mohamed recorded me dancing both of the choreographies that I learned over the past week. The last bit of the evening with Mohamed included a really nice chat about dancing and life in general while driving around from ATM to ATM so that I could try and get more cash out of the machine. I was able to pay Mohamed what I owe him, but I had very stressful negotiations with the costumer with whom I had ordered the troupe costumes and ultimately had to pay an extra 6% to use credit card. There were some issues with the order as well, and I just have all my fingers and toes crossed that they will fit everyone when I get them home.

*

Despite all the craziness of Cairo, there is something that I really enjoyed about it. I think it is that it is a really engaging city. Perhaps people are just engaged with me because I am clearly a foreign woman and that means I have dollars in my pocket to spend and could potentially mean a easy green-card to a REALLY lucky Egyptian man. Despite knowing this, I think any interaction is far preferable to me to the more reserved and sterile environments of Europe and the US. It remminds me of the difference between North and South in the US. In the South, even if we don't say hi on the street when we pass strangers anymore, we will usually give each other a smile at the check-out counter. I am a Southerner by birth and blood, so there is something about friendly Cairo that feels like coming home.