Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. Although I'm the only Canadian here, we all like a reason to celebrate, and some of the students have invited me over for a thanksgiving meal. I'm going to attempt to bring something made with sweet potatoes - we'll see how it turns out.

I think some of my favourite people in Agouza (the neighbourhood in which I live) are the old people. The women, faces lined with wrinkles and dark from years of Egyptian sun, walking slowly down the street, black veils wrapped loosely around their expressionless faces. Expressionless that is until I smile or say something, at which point their laugh lines appear and a smile spreads across their faces. I love the old men too - sitting in their stores or ahuas (coffee shops) or shuffling down the street with a tray of glasses filled with tea as if time is all they have. They've seen the face of Egypt change and change again, and I wonder about the stories they could tell.

The other day I was walking down the street when a couple guys in a delivery truck yelled something unrepeatable in English at me. Immediately following their outburst, their truck got stuck in traffic (on this very narrow street) and as I walked by I could see them scrambling to hide in embarassment so that I couldn't see them. I tried to look offended but I couldn't help laughing a little at their stupidity. There are a lot of younger guys here with way too much time on their hands. Basically, some of them have a few too many hours to sit there and practice such lines (in broken English) as these on any non-Egyptian female who walks by:
-"Beautiful girls, such beautiful girls . . . If only you knew what could happen to such beautiful girls"
-"Excuse me! Excuse me! You dropped something . .. " (pointing to the sidewalk) "Oh! It's my heart!"
-"Oh, spicey girls!"
-"Oh, sweet girls. Sweet and savoury!"
-"Your eyes are like the stars that fell from the sky"
-"What are you looking for? A scarf? A camel? An Egyptian husband?"