Egypt things

Thirteen days and counting...

1. There are these little rat-ferrets that rummage around the garbage. The first time I saw one in the market I freaked out! Now, one runs past me in the street and I'm all like "Amir! Look at the cute little animal! See it running!?" And speaking of animals, walking anywhere around here is kind of like a petting zoo of sorts: you have horse- and donkey-drawn carts, goat herds, stray cats and dogs (and puppies and kittens!), and little weasel-rat-ferrets.

2. We love prickly pears. They are the fruit of a cactus, and a man on a cart will peel it for you and hand you the juicy, seedy fruit inside. And it costs a third of a pound. It's Amir's new favorite thing to eat.



3. Speaking of food, last month we had cooking classes with a Church friend's housekeeper Fatma. And oh my gossssshhhhh, she is amazing. The first time we made koshary, a street food that is everywhere around these parts but tastes so much better homemade. The second lesson we cooked casserole-type dishes, a delicious macaroni with bechamel sauce, a vegetable dish with a crumbled parmesan cheese-butter mixture on top, and an eggplant-tomato mesaka dish. And in all seriousness, perhaps some of the best food I've ever had. Finally, the last week we had a dessert class (we also made mashi, stuffed vegetables). For dessert we made konafa, a shredded-wheat, ridiculously sweet pastry, a creamy pudding called mahalabaya, and homemade baklava. Heaven. Absolute heaven. I LOVE traditional Egyptian food.

4. Egyptian men love to get into these intense "fake" kind of fights with each other over everything. For the final World Cup game, Tim and I were sitting in the clubhouse waiting for it to start when a man walked in creating a huge fuss and yelling at another man sitting on the couch next to us. They were getting so angry and yelling and people started rushing in to break it up, and at one point they started hitting each other a little. They apparently were fighting over the seat, the man who came in had been there before had been sitting there and left for a second and the man sitting next to us stole his seat when he left. For about five minutes they fought, then sat down next to each other and started laughing and joking together like they were best friends. This also happens on the street when someone feels cheated by a street vendor. They will scream at each other in very mean voices, but in reality they are just kidding around. It's weird.

5. Amir successfully sat in a car seat (and fell asleep for the last half of the trip). I was getting worried that he would protest when we got home because he hasn't sat in one all summer. But yesterday I went to my friend Shirlee's house to watch her two adorable children for a few hours, and Amir rode in her son's car seat on the way out there. He loved it and fell asleep for the last twenty minutes and slept soundly until we were at their house.

6. I will actually not miss the incessant parenting advice. I may miss the crowds of Egyptian men, women, and children who continually surround us and kiss Amir over and over again. It's kind of endearing. But the constant: "put a hat on his head"/"he's suffocating in there (the wrap)"/"do not let him play there" is getting very, very old. I will also not miss the arbitrary rules. I was almost kicked out of the club today for refusing to move because I apparently was not allowed to SIT by the swimming pool, even though we weren't swimming.