First and foremost, a grand apology for not posting. Upon arrival to AUC, study abroad students were informed that during our "acculturalation" process, we would encounter a frustrating dip in our emotions. Luckily I have yet to encounter a dip of any sort, but this week has definitely been the least pleasant among a month of outstanding ones.
For example, this week provided me with the most cultural awkward day I've yet had in Cairo....
Everything started out normal: I rolled out of bed, went to the neighborhood falafel place to pick up lunch for sasha and I, passed by one of the dozen corner kiosks for sweets and a phonecard, and then bravely ventured into the neighborhood grocery store for a big box of water. Please note that Greg, who had been living with us for the past week or so had previously be charged with this responsibility and sash and I would normally have just trekked to Zamalek to shop in the confort of an uber-westernized English-speaking environment. Greg had prepared me for the experience, explaining that a little grocery boy would carry the box to our apartment and two pounds would suffice as payment. So, indeed Hussein, a 14 year old Egyptian boy, and I waded down the narrow streets of our neighborhood until sharia' abdel hamid said where every twenty seconds I assured him I could take the box from here…I am American. My attempts were thwarted and we wound up in the elevator where everything went down hill. The typical "Are you married?" dance elevated into total mess… eventually leading to a thwarted kiss, a shouting match of broken Arabic, and sasha and I pushing with all our weight against our door.
We were not going to be typical Americans in this situation. We were going to be Egyptian women. And in case you don't know, Egyptian woman have an astute faculty for bitchiness. Our goal was to march down to the market, clad in our most modest clothing, and explain to the manager what had happen and insist that the boy be reprimanded. Unfortunately we don't speak Arabic. So, Moodi, like always, came to our rescue and preceded to march down to the market to perform the aforementioned shaming of the local grocery boy. I think everyone within in a three 10 foot radius peeked into the grocery shop to watch the ordeal unroll. Envision: A circle of gossip-hungry Egyptian men and women encircling Moodi, shadowed by me and sasha feigning looks of seriousness and the shop keeper, shadowed by a teenage fuckwit feigning innocence, characterized by sweeping arm gestures and sharp sounding Arabic phrases.
At the end of the day, Sasha and I had shamed the neighborhood grocery boy, and received a dirty, bug-infested gift of pots and pans from our endearing yet odd bowab. I'm still not sure how the pots came into the situation…
Nevertheless, laterns are popping up on every storefront and the conversation seems to buzz with one word: Ramadan. The last month of the Islamic year is begining... very, very cool. I"m just writing from the library before heading out to Hurgada for the a weekend to get my SCUBA certification. More updates soon.
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