We've always known that we wanted to get her name designed in Arabic calligraphy and sewn as a hanging at the Tentmaker's Market, but it's taken us a while to get ourselves in gear to sort it. At first I think we were worried about the journey and walk to get into the backstreets of Islamic Cairo where we needed to go, and more recently we have been rather busy so it's only now that she is six months old that we have made it down there. Finding the time to go down has definitly been a factor, but also on our mind is not wanting to be hassled, nor taking her on a trip to somewhere without places for feeding or changing! Today though we did make it down and we had a brilliant time and are so glad that we have finally done it.
We did cheat slightly by getting a car there and back, but we figure that taking Leila on the Metro is an adventure in itself (and probably one that can wait until the heat of the summer has subsided). However, we still had a good 10-15 minute walk from the main road to where we needed to go. Leila was very happy in the hip-carry sling, dodging between tuk-tuks and cars, waiting behind donkey carts, and walking past the smells, noises and colours of the street. The road begins with shops selling gardening/small farm supplies but then gradually moves through metalwork and woodwork until it reaches Bab Zuweila and the Tentmaker's Market opposite.
A few weeks ago we ran out of the coffee we drink, and so got a replacement from the supermaket. However, it's nowhere near as good as the locally roasted and ground stuff so we had already decided that we would stop off at a coffee roastery we know while we were nearby. We've been there before, and their coffee is lovely. It may be because it's the first ground coffee we had when we got our AeroPress and started making 'real' coffee at the weekends, but the flavour is wonderful. We arrived while they were roasting some beans, and Leila seemed to enjoy watching the man empty the finished beans into a large vat that stirred them around to cool. He, in return, enjoyed making faces and noises at Leila, and he was lucky enough to get a couple of nice smiles out of her. While this was going on, another man was grinding the freshly roasted beans to the exact size we wanted (his standard grind is more for Turkish coffee so doesn't work in a press). When we got the packets from him - 500g for 20LE - they were still hot from the roasting. Wonderful.
It wasn't far to then get the the Tentmaker's Market itself, a wonderful covered market dating back the best part of a millenium. What struck us on this visit was the lack of hassle. Our assumption is that it's quite off the beaten track, and as tourism has taken such a hit following the revolution people just don't go there any more. In these circumstances you'd probably expect to receive more hassle than normal, like in Luxor, but here we think the traders - because they are primarily artisans and tourists are just one of their customers - have accepted (or come to terms with) the change in business a bit quicker.
We knew where we wanted to go, which may have had some bearing on our 'acceptance' (if you can call it that), but even with Leila we were left alone. As we walked along looking into the different shops we realised we couldn't remember exactly which shop we needed. We knew the man's name is Ashraf, as he's created not only our 10th Anniversary hanging but also the one we got for Fabia and Sam's wedding. However, reaching the end of the main street we saw a man in a shop stitching a design, while three other men sat on chairs having a chat with him. "Welcome back!" said the man who was stitching. This is often a sneaky technique used to get you to go into a shop you've never been in before, but in this case we stopped and looked at the man. He wasn't Ashraf, but we were sure we recognised him. "You want Ashraf?" he said. Hah! So it was the right place. Even though it had been the best part of a year since we'd last been there, we were still recognised. Amazing...and maybe a bit weird!
The three other men disappeared, and about a minute later a smiley older guy in a shirt, suit trousers, and sandals appeared. He had a massive smile and lovely teeth. This was Ashraf.
"Welcome back! Welcome back my friends!" he beamed. "And - oh! - mabruck! Congratulation! What is his name?"
Without having her ears pierced, Leila is often assumed to be a boy (even when wearing a dress) but Ashraf quickly switched the gender once we told him her name. "Leila, very beautiful," he said. He began sucking his lips in a kiss and tilting his head upwards, which Leila absolutely loved. He was rewarded with a huge smile.
"You want a drink?" We both asked for a karkadei. He summoned a boy with a tray apparently out of thin air, and ordered the drinks.
We explained that we wanted him to make her a hanging, just as he had done before for us, and he was really happy. "It will be beautiful. Beautiful for beautiful baby. You will have beautiful work Leila my friend. A flower?" he asked.
We explaiend that we wanted it in a teardrop. He may have been a bit confused, but didn't argue, but we knew we wanted this design. The logo for El Nada hospital where she was born features a teardrop, and we wanted to use this in her hanging.
"And what colour you want, Leila?"
Leila stared blankly at him. I suggested green, not for any reason other than we both like green, so he went to get a hanging predominantly green, with bits of red. We liked the combination and agreed to go for it.
Our drinks arrived and Ashraf set to work. He got an old plank of wood to lean on, a scrap of paper, and a biro that didn't work very well. As we drank our karkadei and looked at the other embroideries in his shop, Ashraf designed a calligraphic design of Leila's name in the shape of a teardrop. The look of concentration on his face was only broken by his occasional air kisses to Leila.
We agreed the design, and finished our drinks. Ashraf was keen to get some photos of us all on his mobile phone, and we took the opportunity to get some pictures for ourselves. Walking away when we had finished and paid in advance for the hanging, we had a real bounce in our step. It's experiences like this that make us feel very lucky to live here.
We did cheat slightly by getting a car there and back, but we figure that taking Leila on the Metro is an adventure in itself (and probably one that can wait until the heat of the summer has subsided). However, we still had a good 10-15 minute walk from the main road to where we needed to go. Leila was very happy in the hip-carry sling, dodging between tuk-tuks and cars, waiting behind donkey carts, and walking past the smells, noises and colours of the street. The road begins with shops selling gardening/small farm supplies but then gradually moves through metalwork and woodwork until it reaches Bab Zuweila and the Tentmaker's Market opposite.
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| Emptying the freshly roasted beans. |
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| "Where's that man who made me smile?" |
It wasn't far to then get the the Tentmaker's Market itself, a wonderful covered market dating back the best part of a millenium. What struck us on this visit was the lack of hassle. Our assumption is that it's quite off the beaten track, and as tourism has taken such a hit following the revolution people just don't go there any more. In these circumstances you'd probably expect to receive more hassle than normal, like in Luxor, but here we think the traders - because they are primarily artisans and tourists are just one of their customers - have accepted (or come to terms with) the change in business a bit quicker.
We knew where we wanted to go, which may have had some bearing on our 'acceptance' (if you can call it that), but even with Leila we were left alone. As we walked along looking into the different shops we realised we couldn't remember exactly which shop we needed. We knew the man's name is Ashraf, as he's created not only our 10th Anniversary hanging but also the one we got for Fabia and Sam's wedding. However, reaching the end of the main street we saw a man in a shop stitching a design, while three other men sat on chairs having a chat with him. "Welcome back!" said the man who was stitching. This is often a sneaky technique used to get you to go into a shop you've never been in before, but in this case we stopped and looked at the man. He wasn't Ashraf, but we were sure we recognised him. "You want Ashraf?" he said. Hah! So it was the right place. Even though it had been the best part of a year since we'd last been there, we were still recognised. Amazing...and maybe a bit weird!
The three other men disappeared, and about a minute later a smiley older guy in a shirt, suit trousers, and sandals appeared. He had a massive smile and lovely teeth. This was Ashraf.
"Welcome back! Welcome back my friends!" he beamed. "And - oh! - mabruck! Congratulation! What is his name?"
Without having her ears pierced, Leila is often assumed to be a boy (even when wearing a dress) but Ashraf quickly switched the gender once we told him her name. "Leila, very beautiful," he said. He began sucking his lips in a kiss and tilting his head upwards, which Leila absolutely loved. He was rewarded with a huge smile.
"You want a drink?" We both asked for a karkadei. He summoned a boy with a tray apparently out of thin air, and ordered the drinks.
We explained that we wanted him to make her a hanging, just as he had done before for us, and he was really happy. "It will be beautiful. Beautiful for beautiful baby. You will have beautiful work Leila my friend. A flower?" he asked.
We explaiend that we wanted it in a teardrop. He may have been a bit confused, but didn't argue, but we knew we wanted this design. The logo for El Nada hospital where she was born features a teardrop, and we wanted to use this in her hanging.
"And what colour you want, Leila?"
Leila stared blankly at him. I suggested green, not for any reason other than we both like green, so he went to get a hanging predominantly green, with bits of red. We liked the combination and agreed to go for it.
Our drinks arrived and Ashraf set to work. He got an old plank of wood to lean on, a scrap of paper, and a biro that didn't work very well. As we drank our karkadei and looked at the other embroideries in his shop, Ashraf designed a calligraphic design of Leila's name in the shape of a teardrop. The look of concentration on his face was only broken by his occasional air kisses to Leila.
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| Leila watches as Ashraf sketches her calligraphic design... |
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| ...in between blowing air-kisses to make her smile. |
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