This afternoon we decided to visit Road 9 in Maadi to try to find a linen shop we'd been told about. We knew was that it was "over the bridge from Road 9" but, having no real idea of where we were looking, we just decided to wander around to try to find it. We never did actually find it, but we did have the video camera with us so shot some footage of the streets where we were walking.
It was a very different "type" of place to where we live - more hectic, and generally more "front line" than the wealthy area around the Grand Mall. If we were confident about our health we would certainly have bought some food for later but instead just took in the sights , sounds and smells for a quarter of an hour.
The streets were full of shoppers and hawkers; kids were playing football in dusty courtyards; lots of people spoke to us but, having yet to pick up much of the language, all we could really say was "hello" and "Ramadan Kareem" (rough translation: Happy Ramadan; more accurate translation: May Allah make your Ramadan period generous). Greetings and faith here are almost inseparable. Even the basic formal greeting for "hello" (is salaam 'alaykum) has a literal translation of "Peace be upon you". Anyway I'm sure that in time we'll get a real chance to learn and practice Arabic.
Something else we noticed when we were walking around were the amount of people seeking the charitable form of baksheesh. It's something we've discussed previously on the blog but as we haven't been out much, today was our first chance to really be able to "share the wealth". I bought my first handy pack of tissues (a common exchange used by the poor to elicit baksheesh in return) from a young girl for, and gave 50 piastres to a woman with two kids sitting on the steps by the railway line. Both were enormously grateful - "please mister, thank you please!" - and I must say I felt really good for it. However, how long my long-hoarded bundle of small change will last with my new-found enjoyment of charitable giving is quite another matter!
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Here's the video...
1 comment:
It's OK you two, I got the number of the mazda van that ran over your feet.
Closing shot of the narrow casbah alley is nearly spooky.... the headline reads "Teacher couple last seen heading up alley 666.."
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