I know what I'm making on Thanksgiving

Where to start!

Today Jayanthi and I went to go fabric shopping in one of the open air markets in Cairo because she had some really nice clothes made this summer and after taking a trip to CityStars, the largest mall in Egypt and soon to be the largest "mall complex" in the Middle East, I knew I had to give up on modern Egyptian fashion ever coming close to fulfilling my needs for a few more long sleeve shirts and a nice skirt. Polyester, fluorescent pink,orange,green and tacky embroidery and designs frighten me. Shopping in the open air markets is much more my style. I remember being in the Khan el-Khalili (the famous one) at the beginning of my trip and realizing that I felt comfortable and not at all overwhelmed, a shocking and pretty cool feeling, considering when you are in the markets you are surrounded by men and women and children of all ages pushing you this way and that, called to come into every store you walk by, trying to evade the puddles of waste and dirt, donkeys pulling carts of their wares, large stoves with cooking sweet potatoes or corn, and the immensity of items for sale towering over you. Every few feet you have options on where to turn, which makes you question your ability to get out, and you meet people selling scarves named Gergis (George) who tell you that they are upset with you when they see you an hour later after you have tried to bargain and didn't reach a deal. : )
Gergis was our first indication that we were in an area full of Copts. It was really neat to walk into several different shops and see huge tapestries of the Virgin Mary or various other icons or crucifixes. It seems to be a much different environment for Christians than in Morocco, where it was risky to acknowledge your religion, whereas the Copts are very open about their religion (at least from my experience). Most of them have small tattoes on their inner wrist or between their thumb and outer part of the wrist. I have to admit that they look really, really cool. On one of our fabric purchases our guy asked us if we were Christians and I was so taken aback that I could say "yes." I'm so used to answering "Are you a Muslim" from Morocco ( I think most Egyptians assume that I'm not). I asked him if there were any special things that Christians say to each other for 'hello' and he and his co-worker said not really, and that they said "Assalamu- alaikum" sometimes, too, after which the man said it to me and put his hand out. This small conversation was pretty monumental for me because it was the first one I've had since I've been in Egypt. That seems extreme, but I have found it much more difficult to have conversation with Egyptians than in Morocco. Socially it is even more restricted for women to speak with men, and women don't really strike up conversation with anyone they don't know. I had thought that Egypt would be more 'liberal' in this way than Morocco, but I haven't found this to be the case, though there are all kinds of niches that are, especially in the heavily foreign areas. As one kind of indicator, I rarely see any women who are not wearing the hijab ( the head scarf) and more traditional clothes (except of course at the University, where most are far more Westernized than I am). As a possible related note, I have to say that the warnings that I would be harrassed by the males much more in Cairo have so far proved unsupported. As long as I avoid looks and can't understand some of the Arabic muttered at me once in a while by guys walking by, I really haven't had anything to worry about. When crossing one of those big traffic circles I had a guy yelling at me "Don't do this to yourself. Please, please, be careful. Oh! Dear, please don't do this," which I had determined would be funny if he only said this while I was dodging cars and did not follow me afterwards. It is still funny.
After we came home from the market I made mashed potatoes with the yam-like root vegetable I got from one of the vegetable guys in our neighborhood. Have I told you how much I LOVE buying my veggies from the vegetable guy, my eggs from the egg guy, and my fruits from the fruit stand. How I wish I could take this and stick it in Athens or wherever else I live.
We've gotten dial-up to work at home now so I'll be able to update more often. I have to go call a friend about church tomorrow (!) and then do some Arabic homework.

A few quick notes:

1) I'll be teaching African refugees English on Tuesday nights from 8:30 -10 pm. This is organized through STAR, Student Action for Refugees, which is going to be awesome. My Introduction to Forced Migration class has been incredible so far- I can't wait to tell you more about it. It is part of why Jayanthi asked me if I was considering applying to the Masters in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies at the AUC and it was one of the first times that I felt there was a viable Masters program out there for me. Not that I expect this to be the only thing in the "What will Helen think about doing" bubble that bothers me fairly often, but it is nice to think there are things out there.
2) I went to the Opera House again last night to see Turkish Whirling Dervishes. I was really excited about it but found the opening Sufi music to be just ok and not nearly as good as other Sufi music I've heard, and Jayanthi and I fell asleep during the performance. I felt really bad, but I guess the week had tired us out more than we thought. Besides, there were only five whirlers wearing white. All the photos I've seen included at least twenty and wearing multiple colors. I guess I am a Whirling Dervish snob.

I know the long ones are not as fun as more frequent and shorter ones, so I'll try to be better about this.

Muah!