Last weekend was Eid Al-Fitr, which was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, Adrienne had a 40-page chapter to write and i wasn’t feeling motivated enough to go out much, so we were in the apartment most of the day. We did finally go out on the last evening of the Eid. We walked from Garden City to Zamalek along the Corniche and over the Qasr Al-Nil bridge. It was packed, as you might imagine. Packed with guys in their glittery, long-sleeved black hooded t-shirts and women in their sheer veils, struggling with the blisters that were developing on their heels from the new shoes. We ate at a Thai restaurant with one of Adrienne’s colleagues. On the way back, we took a cab, which was probably a mistake, or at least the route we took was a mistake. The Corniche was completely jammed. It would have been faster to walk. We were full and tired, though, and it made for more relaxing people watching. We were amused by all the cars that had pulled up onto the sidewalk of the corniche to park. The drivers put up the hoods feigning mechanical problems as if anyone would be fooled. That was our big Eid excitement.
October 18, 2007
Initial observations on the hijab and niqab
Most of the following may be totally off-base, and like much of what i commit to publication on this blog at this early stage, it will probably embarrass me at some point in the future, once i’ve gotten more of a clue. But here goes anyway. (more…)
The Corniche—the Reno of Cairo
In general, things in Cairo are pretty flashy. I’ve described the cabs elsewhere, but clothes are similar, at least wherever Egyptians are conspicuously out on the town. The Corniche, the road that flanks the Nile, and some of the bridges crossing it, is packed most evenings with hip beglittered young people, men and women both. (more…)
