HI all,
I was sent this email from a friend of a friend for me to see how this teacher felt about being in Egypt for the first time and for only 2 months.
I think you will enjoy it and see some of the magic I experienced.
I won't attach the photos she spoke about. Just her words.
Enjoy
Love
Eve
PASTE:……………………………………………………………..
On the way home tonight from the store, I realized how much is becoming routine that would be different to me just 2 months ago!
There are many places I must go to get food. So I have to take a taxi or walk to about 4 places. So for something to do, I go to these places on a routine basis through out the week.
I usually cook on Saturday afternoon and evening.'..which is like Sunday night preparation at home….. I make enough in plastic containers for lunch…. and do laundry for the week….
Usually there is a party of some sort for any reason on Thursday night… it is like Friday night at home, and sometimes something on Friday night.. with saturday night (being like a Sunday night) There is a place called The Ace club… basically a drinking place for Xpats… Often there are things going on there or just for something to do and not have to be at someone's apartment.
I noticed tonight as I was walking home about what was happening around me….
During Ramadan, the muslims are not to eat or drink (smoke) during daylight hours. They start around age 10… and must do it by age 12.
That means the women have to get up around 1-2am and start preparing food so the family will eat around 2-4am…. they must not eat after sun rise. Often my students (if they are not up all night) then they are up and awake at 3am .. no wonder they are sleepy by 11am..
I don''t know how many nights i have been woken by THAT man with the tin drum going up and down the street banging and yelling at 1 am,, to wake the women! Grrrrrrrrrr!
Then I can hear the pots and pans banging in next apartment…. in the middle of the night!
All day long they do not eat or drink.. so i have to be careful not to bring out food or water..even though the Dr has told me that i am not drinking enough. (Next year Ramadan occurs earlier in the year and no one is looking forward to that ,, because it it is hotter and they have no way to rehydrate themselves….when they sweat. My kids are getting ill,,, and sometimes it is used as an excuse to eat,,,, if they are ill, they can eat.
The hours and dates are determined by saudi arabia…. maybe that is some of the reasons why they hate the saudis
Each day the time changes by 2 minutes as to the exact minute when there is A Call to Prayer by the Mosques. However there is a frenzy before the Call comes to signal to everyone to EATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!
The Call is sounded around 5pm.. however, everyone must get home… so there is an exodus from work about 2 pm so they can prepare to eat,,,, stores start closing from 2-4pm…. traffic is crazy,, starving, thirtsy people rush home even crazier than normal..get out of the way they are coming through,,,, stand aside when you hear a car coming down the tiny street,,, MOVE!
Just within minutes before the CALL goes out,, trays of food magically appear… from somewhere… and if you are nearby,regardless of who you are,,, you are physically pulled in to BREAKFAST,,, to Break the fast…. The meal is called Iftar…
You dishonour them if you do not eat with them…so chow down!
I was at school the other night working late (took a taxi home) and the security came and found me and I had to eat with them. They had orange juice, salad of vegetables, meat (who knows what it wwas… i will say it had to be beef?) boiled potates in a redish sauce and spiced rice. I have no idea where the food came from but they said ä friend brought it to them". That is all that I could understand from them.
As i said, 90% of the stores are closed and then they are opened at 7pm… SO don't expect for anything to be opened!
After 7pm people start appearing and flooding the streets and car horns start filling the air! Then as the night goes on people continue all night long… in fact you may get a phone call any time of night. The pharmasist phoned at 11:25pm…. the cleaners brought my clothes at 12:10am!
They don't sleep at nigh so you can be sure there are fewer cars in the mornings,,, i have pix of the Medan where it looks normal and not bizzar. You see many people sleeping during teh day because being awake very early in the morning or no food or drink.
The CALLS are mournful wails of religious messages that you don't understand. It happens five times a day that lasts for about 10 minutes and never seem to end on Fridays,,,,, On Fridays there is nothing open around here… it is prayer time until 2pm… then when it is ramadan,,, nothing really opens until 7pm!
There are mosques within seeing distances of each other so can you imagine the sound coming from those huge 4 speakers from the top of those towers? More are being built every day. You should see teh new one being built right beside Lola.
During Ramadan there are lights and lanterns. The strings of lights are actual coloured light bulbs… and the mosque at lolas has a huge double string of lights that are attached to an apartment about 700 meters away,,, the night is lit up all around that area…
I will try to get a picture of a mosque but there is always someone watching at the mosques and you just don't take a pix…
I will attach some pix…. they will be of where I stand to meet the bus each morning,,,and where I live,, when i look at them i do not see the dirt and looks pretty good…. look for the guards across the street…. you can barely see them… But notice the black and white pipe thingy in the street and the yellow seat,,, that is where th epolice sleep on their guns… that is suppose to regulate traffic…. ,,, and you really can't see the permanent lean of the bus,,, you can see it is the morning becasue of the few people and cars on the street! The place with the yellow shutters is my apartment.. notice the car in the driveway,,, and the orange cat on top,,, it meows in Arabic! and is one of the thousands you see in the neighbourhood…but it is tamest.
Notice the little taxi,, it looks good too and not that many dents,, but zoooooom in!
ENJOY!
Thanks for the post. Interesting first-hand account of a different culture.
HI Giles,It’s nice to hear from you and thanks for reading :)Eve
fascinating. i suppose there are all kinds of benifits from following mohammed.the strickness and inconvenience implied for the unorthodox raise all kinds of questions.for example there is a mosque tower within view of our backyard, the orchid orchard, and i have never once heard a prayer come from there.the question here is… i suppose there is an ordinance prohibiting religious noises.also, emmanuel kant always tickled my fancy because he had a strick routine which he followed everyday which would kill me to even try for a week.i am on the other end of this spectrum in the sense that i eat when i’m hungry, sleep when i’m tired and do whatever i choose.i will continue to be interested in why religions compel people to do certain things.thank you for thinking of passing this report on to us.
HI Artman :)Yes there is a zoning regulation about the callings and now in Cairo they are implementing them there too since there are so many Mosques and they do the calling within minutes of eachother and it sounds insane when so many are doing it NOT at the same times.It’s a wonderful feeling to know when you pray there are millions all over the world doing it with you.. I loved that feeling.Thank you for reading and appreciating.LoveEve
Hey Eve, that was great. I would love to see the pictures. Hearing about different cultures opens my eyes ~and I am sure many others~ to know that we are not the only ones in the world. I feel as if you have to be ultra-open minded to *understand* different cultures and *accept* them. Just wonderful reading. I am not sure I understand fully Ramadan, but I know you have to be well disciplined to follow the rules of the ‘Holiday’ or ‘religious Holiday’ whatever it is considered. Thanks for sharing this with us. Sarah
HI Sweet Sarah,Thank you for reading and trying to understand.I feel any religious holiday takes patience and caring. Christmas is really NOT about buying gifts and having parties, it’s about celebrating the birth of a Phophet Jesus. It’s people who change things and the traditions and also RETAIL STOREs want to captialize from it all.Hope you are doing well.Thanks for reading.LoveEve
I once heard the prayer calls from one of the mosques and it sounded very soothing at the time and unusual. I do not know what it would be like to hear ten of them going off within minutes of each other – that would just be too discordant!It feels like ages since I have seen a mosque. Cape Town has a very big Muslim community and mosques could be found in almost every suburb – but it is very different here in Johannesburg.Thanks for sharing a very eye-opening letter :)JCL.
HI JCL,Where I use to live in 2002-2004 in Cairo there was a man who use to do the callings in this one Mosque.His voice was so pure sounding and clear it was like an Angel singing.. I would be woken to his voice first thing every morning and it was a pleasure however, when they changed the person to do that calling, it was like I woke up to a nightmare :)To hear so many at one time it sounded like insanity.Where my flat is now the callings are in a distant not right in my ears 🙂 Thank you for reading and sharing LoveEve
HI JCL,Where I use to live in 2002-2004 in Cairo there was a man who use to do the callings in this one Mosque.His voice was so pure sounding and clear it was like an Angel singing.. I would be woken to his voice first thing every morning and it was a pleasure however, when they changed the person to do that calling, it was like I woke up to a nightmare :)To hear so many at one time it sounded like insanity.Where my flat is now the callings are in a distant not right in my ears 🙂 Thank you for reading and sharing LoveEve