Tuesday, August 14, 2012

cairo


ahhh, cairo. my home away from home. whenever i get off my plane in cairo, i look forward to that notorious cairo smell. i take in a deep breath of heat, pollution, car exhaust, and maybe a little bit of urine. yes, i'm back.

i hadn't flown egyptair in nearly 7 years, so i was amazed at how much it has improved and stepped up its game. since we were all breaking our fast an hour into the flight, they had done a great job of getting us all served our meals in time. the funny thing was that just 3 hours after they announced the iftar, they announced the imsaq, or, the beginning of the fast in cairo time. so everyone was scrambling to get in some water and food before the fast. i really wanted to be fasting on my first day so that i could enjoy the breakfast with my family. in ramadan, you don't have to fast if you're traveling or experiencing any hardships, but really, it's not that hard, i wanted to do it.

they say that ramadan is the best in cairo. the streets are decorated with streamers and the fanous, or laterns, everywhere. the tradition behind the fanous is that parents would give their children little lanterns to carry with them while they went out to play with their friends at night, and that just continues here. there are neighborhoods set up with rows of tables where families provide food for the poor, and if you're caught in iftar-hour traffic, you will more than likely be handed a date by pedestrians or fellow drivers who pass them to you. once the sun sets and people start eating, cairo comes alive, and traffic is just a melange of four letter words. less face it, since a huge part of egyptian culture is eating, not eating is like oppression for these people!

when i arrived at my grandmother's house, i found her making babaghanoush, the way she taught me. one of my cousins came over and we all broke fast together- which we will continue to do for the rest of the week until Eid comes this weekend.

the tradition for Eid is that you must must must go shopping and get a new outfit (or many). this tradition comes directly from the Prophet Muhammad himself, who always purchased a new outfit for Eid, so we gladly embrace it. that's why in Ramadan, you'll see plenty of Muslim families at the mall looking for their Eid outfits. it seems like we'll be doing a lot of that here this week, it's all anyone's been talking about- my cousins have been doing it for the last 2 weeks already! and then for Eid, we'll be heading up to their villa on the mediterranean coast, which i don't exactly need words to describe how excited i am for that!

so all in all, i am so happy to be here, i am so excited for the many family break fasts and outfits to come this week, and well, i just love cairo.

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