I'm at the slowest internet cafe in the world and have no idea what my last blog said and I don't have time to go back and read it. But I do remember it was a draft and I released it without reading it at all. In any case, Anwar and I left Dahab two days ago (Tuesday) on the 12:30 bus--so much for traveling at night like I'd originally thought. It was the usual horrific 8.5 hour bus ride. It was actually nice being back in Cairo. The main reason for this, though, is because I know that I'll be leaving her soon and so I think I see the city in a different light. The pollution and madness of life there is no longer bothersome and annoying; but instead it's exotic and thrilling.
We got to Anwar's sister's house around 9pm and then ran out for some dinner. When we arrived back we were told that his older brother was arriving soon from Sohag. Anwar hasn't seen him in a few years, so it was exciting news. Sohag is in Upper Egypt and is the largest Christian city in Egypt. While Anwar was born there, he was raised in Cairo. Long story short, his father had an accident when Anwar was young and went blind. So the family moved to Cairo where he could receive medical care. But because his brother was old enough to be on his own and was also the sole provider for the family, he stayed behind in Sohag. There, he is a cotton farmer. It's so strange to see the siblings all together as the resemblance is hard to see. He was dressed in the traditional galabeya and head-turban thing. Also being the oldest and having to learn to farm, he was not allowed to go to school. So you have Nadi who is illiterate and then their sister Nadia who is a lawyer. It's a crazy dichotomy I guess.
The reason Nadi had come from Sohag was because their grandmother had been sick in hospital and had just returned home. So we all made the trek to the far west of Cairo to visit her. I got to see my first true family apartment building. What happens is that with each son when he gets married, they add a floor onto the building for him and his new family. So you have a 5 story building that houses several generations of family. Grandma was on the top floor and was the cutest thing I've ever seen. She was barely 4'9" tall and had the old-style Christian tattoo. Way back when in Upper Egypt, the cross was tattooed right on the middle of their chin under the lip. Thus, she bore this marking of her identity. She gave me a gift of Egyptian coins that are no longer in circulation. But it's a cool souvenir to have I think.
When we returned back to the sister's house, Anwar's niece came running up to me and excitedly exclaimed there'd been an explosion in the bathroom. I was confused and was wondering why she was pulling on my arm to go to the bathroom and see. To my surprise there were 15 pigeons roaming around! The word for bathroom and pigeons is the same, with only the vowel sound being different on the 'a' (hamam vs. hamem). To the untrained ear it sounds exactly the same. But I guess since the word is almost the same, it makes sense that the pigeons would be in the bathroom! Nadi had brought them with him from Sohag for the family. In case you didn't know, Egypt is famous for it's pigeons as this is a very traditional dish. These are not the nasty pigeons we have in America, they look more like pheasant, I think. So they were chilling in the bathroom, which is a huge multi-purpose type room anyhow.
Anwar asked if I needed to take a shower and the truth was that I really did as the city was sweltering and the dirt from the air is visible on the skin. But I didn't understand how I could shower with the pigeons in there. They all looked at me like "duh" and I accepted that I was about to have a very new cultural experience. Now how many of you have showered with pigeons? Well, that would imply that you'd WANT to, right? Honestly, once I got past the idea of them seeing me naked, I was then worried that they might get crazy from the soapy water and peck me to death. So I showered with both eyes fixed on the birds. At one point, I think one pigeon did go crazy as he was splashing around in the soapy water and threw up the battle cry. I feared an attack, but instead he started pecking at the other birds. Anyways, it was an experience I'll never forget, that's for sure.
Other than that, we just chilled at Nadia's house and chatted. I absolutely love talking to his 5 year old niece, Christina. I have no idea what she says, but I just nod and use my limited Arabic and we have a great time together. Nadia had taken it upon herself to do all of my laundry and I felt really bad. So I insisted on at least washing one of my shirts. I'll admit that I haven't quite mastered the are of hand washing, but I do a decent enough job. Christina watched from the door as I washed my shirt. She stood there and coached me through it with the necessary hand motions. It makes since that the children know how to do everything as they are with their mother's 24/7 until they go off to school. She knows how to do everything really well.
So we left Cairo this morning (Thursday) and I've actually been in Alexandria all day but this cafe is so horrible that I don't have the patience to write on my Alexandria experiences right now. They also have an old version of Windows and I can't download pix, so those will come hopefully in a few days. It's been a love/hate relationship thus far with traveling in Egypt. I have to say it's one of the more difficult countries to travel within. It seems that everything is made 10x more complicated than is really necessary. I now am understanding and appreciating more and more the utilization of organized tours for places like Egypt. True, you miss on some of the more indigenous cultural experiences, but the ease and comfort are a plus. Anyways, enough on that. I've got an early bus tomorrow morning out to Siwa where there is rumored to be an internet cafe--hopefully it's better than this one.
Until next time.
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