It's Okay, It's Just A Cat

In Aswan, I meet a Greek couple and we see some sights together. We go out together to get dinner and I decide it's finally my chance to try pigeon. I do. It's...pigeon. We are eating our meal when a large group of local Egyptians (mostly woman- all in hijab or niqab) come and sit down. Now, to preface the story, women do not at all have equal rights in Egypt and while men here are very talkative and outspoken and bold, the woman do not speak to anyone who isn't their own, they rarely will even look at you - unless they are blatantly staring. I've talked to or been talked at (a more accurate statement) by many men here in Egypt, but by very very few women. So they sit down and start eating and as they do one of the woman jumps up from the table and screams at the top of her lungs. She is staring under the table in horror. There is commotion and then silence. I am freaking out thinking it is a rat or something, I have no idea. A snake?? A scorpion? I have no idea but her scream was terrifying. Well, my horror must have shown on my face because as I also stared under the table in shock, trying to see what was so scary, one of the woman yelled to me, in perfect English, “IT’S OKAY, IT’S JUST A CAT!!! She is scared of cats!! Everything is fine!” Everyone burst out into laughter. At least twenty people including myself are in hysterics. I even made eye contact and laughed with woman wearing the niques. It. Was. Hysterical. As I type it out I realize that I'll never be able to capture this moment with words. But my god, it was a riot.

It's My Precious Now

     Today, my friend Patrick (whom I met at the hostel in Cairo) arrived in Luxor. We met up to look for somewhere to eat for dinner. We meet and he begins to tell me that when he arrived in Luxor he was hassled in his hotel. Long story short, a man came to him and took him for a ride on his motorbike, brought him to his house for food and to meet his family and brought him to some “museums” and by that I mean some shops. He said it was interesting, but weird because he strongly felt the man had some ulterior motive, and he hoped he didn't run into the guy again.

      Well, lo and behold, as we turn onto the next street we run into this man. He is smoking hookah with his friends. He tells us to sit down. He won't take 'no' for an answer. He gives us coffee. This man has a friend who doesn't say a word but comes to me, kneels at my feet, kisses my hand and then gives me 10 Egyptian Pounds. The man says “don't worry about my friend, he is crazy but harmless.”

     We drink the coffee and try to get out of there. Meanwhile, the crazy friend runs off the buy us snacks, comes back and hands them to us. Then, he changes his mind and opens my snack for me as he kneels at my feet. He kisses the snack and then hands it to me to eat. I do.

      Then, the crazy friend proceeds to take off his huge ring and he puts it on my wedding finger. It's a huge ring made for a man with bulky fingers so naturally it slips right off. So he comes over to me, licks the ring (licks)...(yes, he licked the ring) and slides it back onto my finger. Then he sits down again. I hold the ring on with my other hand. We finally manage to escape and I burst out laughing as I sanitize my hands. What a weird souvenir.