Really In Egypt now....!

Yesterday was an awesome awesome day. One of my students (Mary who is 19) invited Rachel and I to her house for "Egyptian food" which we were pretty psyched about. We met her on the metro and took a looooong metro ride out to where she lives. On the walk from the metro to her house i had a real urge to blurt out "We're not in Kansas Anymore!". It was totally what I thought Egypt was going to be like before i came all condensed into this 10 block walk (no tourists-yay! At one point we saw a pair of what looked like tourists and Mary commented "Oh look foriegners! They neve come here!". We were walking through this crazy market (outdoor markets are EVERYWHERE in Egypt) that sold incredibly ripe-looking fruit, vegetables, slabs of raw meat, crates of live birds chickens and ducks, and plastic shoes. I was in heaven. We also went to her Church (She's a coptic christian, for anyone reading who's totally lost the copts are a minority here in Egypt but have a hardcore community. Intresting fact- when they are 4 or 5 they get a coptic cross tattooed on their wrist or hand). The Church was fun because it was so gaudy- thre were crazy embellished pictures of saints and jesus all over the walls. It was sort of like a church in LasVegas style. Of coarse I adored it.. When we got to her apartment her mom, dad, nephew, and 2 sisters were there to greet us (another sister came to join us later). They also had a ROOM fulll of dozens (i kid you not) birds flying around, and a dog! I was really excited about the dog part because there are NO dogs in Cairo (Islam religion/culture dictates that you shouldnt keep dogs in the house). And i adore dogs. Everyone was incredibly sweet and welcoming despite the fact that they spoke limited English, plus the sisters had studied German so I got to speak In German with them. The food was insane! We had this macaroni type dish with cream and beef (instead of explaining that I dont eat beef or pork I just ate around), Molokhiyya ( a green soupy thing made from some type of vegetable thats got a glutinous consistency. You eat it with rice, bread, and chicken), Hamam (PIGEON stuffed with rice), pita-like bread (of coarse), chicken, and probably some other stuff that I've forgotten. Rachel and I were trying to figure out how to eat the pigeon with utensils when we realized that everyone was using their hands and finally got a "USE YOUR HANDS!!!" and a round of laughter. Laughter as in Oh-you-siilly-utensil-wielding-girls. After lunch/dinner we went to Mary's sisters house to (surprise surprise!) have tea and eat mangos (ohhhh you cant understand how delicious they are). On the walk there we passed a juice stand (everywhere here!) and Rachel commented "Oh is that a juice stand?" Next thing you know it's JUICE FOR EVERYONE! And we were all sipping sugercane juice. We hung out with the family for a while just talking and relaxing before headng home. On the way back to the Metro Mary and her sister brought us back to their Church. Rachel and I made a few religious-faux-pas (Who knew you had to kiss the priests hand AND the metal cross!?) before getting blessed by the priest (pretttttty cool!!) and heading home.

Tonight were having dinner with some people we met in the catacombs in Alex (Yeah thats how you meet people here...) and this weekend we'll be climbing Mt.Sinai! Pretty psyched for that since you hike it duing the night, sleep on top, and then watch the sunrise from the top. Wooo hoo!

I'll be spending the day in Islamic Cairo ( the name of a section of Cairo, totally bizarre since ALL Of cairo is Islamic) taking pictures and taking in some sights.

Maas Salaama!
Sharon W.