eudaimonia & anagnorisis

Insomnia is a natural state of mind in Cairo. The sunset brings with it a massive breath of cooler air and everyone seems to pour onto the streets to embrace it. Greg and I sat in Midaan Tahrir watching the moon set and the sunrise yesterday morning after spending the wee hours with Amanda, and Aladin’s friends Wael and Ramy in Mohandessin. Standing sleep-deprived but very satisfied on the October 6^th Bridge we were amazed entire families were still out on the street at such an odd hour of the morning. The most interesting moment might have been when the parked car blasting Arabic pop music stopped for the call of dawn call and then continued on with its early morning hijinks after it was finished, like something truly sacred existed in the few minutes of the muzzins call. Other interesting highlights of the week include:

Walking bustling Cairene streets elevates to a new level with an iPod. Most invigorating musical accompaniments thus far include: Busoni’s Presto Sonata and Busta Rhymes’ I Love My Bitch.

Everytime I walk to school I pass this little shop with an awesome black dress, almost too hip to be called an abbiya (traditional Islamic overdress) in the window… Yesterday when I walked by it was gone, so I went in and asked about it… The woman brought the sultry black floor length hooded gown with turquoise beading from the backroom and had me try it on. Needless to say, I’ve invested in my first abbiya.