Cairo, Egypt

A few days ago I returned from a 4 day long Egypt excursion. Ali and I took the long route to Cairo which entails catching a bus from Amman to Aqaba then a ferry (at 1 in the morning) from Aqaba to Nuweiba (Sinai Peninsula). We decided to go to Dahab (another Sinai beach town) for a night and then traveled on to Cairo by bus.

I was actually really impressed by Aqaba but maybe that's just because I was able to sit by the ocean. The beach was quite lively late into the night, with shabab and families lounging on the sand. The city was warm and breezy and I appreciated the more modern design of the streets and sidewalks. While sitting on the beach, a little boy came up to me holding a very small infant (probably the cutest baby I've seen in my life). He hands it to me and, confused, I shyly accepted the gift. I look around me to see who's abandoning their small child to a foreigner and spot a group of veiled women sitting several feet away from me. They are smiling at me and nodding as if to say "go ahead, get some practice in, you're bound to have one of your own in no time".

Dahab was a nice vacation area but at the same time had the creepy feel of being solely a tourist spot. The town was small and consisted of shore-side restaurants (all complete with a bedouin-style lounges where we ate a ten accompanied by ten or more cats) and souvenir stands. When we walked outside of the town it was soon apparent that it was only uninhabited desert.

Cairo was great, although I know most would disagree with me who have been there. Most say it's too crowded and too smelly. However, the crowded streets didn't bother me at all (they're no worse than Manhattan) and I thought it smelled ten time better in Cairo than in Amman. Amman never cease to smell like pollution and car exhaust whereas Cairo had beautiful, fragrant trees and flowers that overpowered any other smell. The only complaint I would have about Cairo is the heat in the summer, at one point it was 120 degrees farenheit. But other than that, the Egyptians are more welcoming to foreigners practicing their Arabic and I could tell it would be easier to learn the language there than in Amman.

We met up with my friend Ellie from college and her boyfriend/her boyfriend's brother and toured around with them most of the time, doing the standard touristy things like riding camels around the Great Pyramids and visiting Saqqara. We also traveled a lot in Cairo, visiting Islamic Cairo and various neighborhoods where we would sample whatever restaurants our guide book recommended.

Arab Wedding!

After finally finding the wedding hall (after many mixed up directions), our mixed boy/girl group got separated into two different spaces. The girls went up stairs to where the bride was and the guys got put in another room. After the wedding, it was reported to me that the guys' half of the party was not very fun. They expected dancing and celebration but instead sat around eating cake with the Arab men and repeatedly saying their "mabruuks" to the bride's father. The ladies' half of the party, however, was fairly entertaining. Although it was a lot more conservative than I had expected, us American girls were encouraged, by the sister of the bride, to dance if only because it's not against our religion/customs. The older women dancing were surprisingly pleased to have us there, as were the women with children who sent their toddlers to dance with us.

All of the women in the wedding hall did not at all remove their hijabs, only the bride was "exposed" in her white wedding dress. This is because the husband was often present in the females-only hall so he could tend to his new bride and the others had to maintain their modesty. They also did not dance, only the family members and the bride danced, and of course the token Western girls at the party. After the event, I had one girl come up to me and effusively praise my dancing. I thanked her and told her she should have come and joined us. She just laughed and shook her head "no, I am not allowed to do that!"

Henna Party

Last night I attended my first "henna party" here in Jordan. A henna party is comparable to a bachelorette party. My cousin told me that it would be a time where all of the women would remove their abbayas and hijabs and let loose because men were not allowed at the party. However, upon arrival I realized that this was not altogether true in this henna party's case. Most of the women (who, granted, were mostly older) did not remove any of their coverings the entire two hour event. Some of the younger girls removed their coverings and had short dresses (but with leggings) underneath but most remained modest.

The party was set up somewhat like an arena. There were plastic chairs set up facing a small dance floor and the bride's throne. Yes, she had a throne. The bride was in the most flashy and revealing outfit. She was wearing a big, poofy pink princess prom dress (alliteration!) and had sparkly ringlets, pink flowers in her hair, pink eyeshadow, pink lips, and her entire body covered in translucent powder. Oh, and a fake hummingbird tattoo on her breast. Quite glamorous.

The entire party was just me observing the culture quietly and then the occasional Arab dancing when we were pulled up out of our seats by the older women and forced into the middle of a circle to dance with the bride-to-be.

Tonight is the wedding! Woooo!!