Chance of precipitation - 0%. Temperatures ranging from 90 degrees to a high of 95 degrees on Saturday. Temperature is finally 89 degrees on the 21st of October - the official Autumn equinox. Humidity is rather high too.
Birthday part for Jennifer on October 16 on the rooftop studios downtown.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
New Paintings and Food Delivery
This morning, yes 11:00 am is still morning for me, I was on a roll and started two new paintings and one new charcoal sketch. One is my friend Amira el Naqueb who writes forAl Ahram. It is just blocked out color and shape wise but I have her expression well defined. Then I started on a little Coptic girl from the church in Moqqatam hills. She is barely four years old, wispy hair big wooden cross on a leather string around her neck. Her big eyes reminded me of how I used to look. I made some adjustments to the little St. Catherine's girl especially her left eye. Somehow the left eyes are too high up. I thibk it's because I am drawing flat when I should have an easel. Acrylics are easy enough to correct though. I like the way they are going on the watercolor paper. Once the 12 are finished of this size, I want to work on the larger size canvases I bought for a group portrait.
I had to stop the paintings because I don't want to get mechanical about them - no paint by numbers - the scourge of the wanna be artist - I want the spark, the expression intact, coming out from within the paint and the sitter's eyes and mouth. Needing a break, I suggested to Dominique that we get out. It is so easy to stay in the air conditioned apartment! It is still humid outside and I heard that Nebraska is having the first snow storms and West Chester is getting chilly. Needed to stock up on mundane stuff like t.p. and desperately in need of bottled water so off we went to Alpha Market.
As our shopping cart ended up with more and more items, I figured, we should see about delivery and that way, I could get two boxes of water - this time the Nesle brand which is way better than Baraka, I also saw Siwa water but Nesle is tried and true. I was down to the last one at home. We each got chocolate - I had bought a variety of bars last week and Dominique liked a certain Hershey's and I am a great fan of Galaxy chocolate bars, so creamy. Just for comparative purposes, I also bought one Cadbury my ultimate favorite. We bought some stuff for stir fry, the tricolored peppers and mushrooms that Dominique will cook - veggies!! I will also eat tomatoes but no lettuce or other hard to clean items.
We made ourway home, hands free except for the two dozen country roses I bought for less than $3. They are pink but there were maybe three red roses mixed in. They even smelled faintly of roses. We got home, thrilled with the air conditioning, and I got the roses trimmed and put into the water pitcher - not the Brita - that water is for making tea and coffee. I'm now drinking some hibiscus tea (I had snitched a bunch of tea bags while in Costa Rica). I also am typing this on my mini Dell laptop. I finally figured out how to connect wirelessly about I bought a cord for direct connection to the modem. I had tried the wireless before on this b ut I guess I am better at pushing the right buttons now. I also had some kind of security on it which asked for a password each time another web site was accessed which was really annoying. Took care of that problem too. So now I sit on my green hard backed loveseat, sipping tea and typing on this lovely lightweight mini.
Well, that's all for niow, two young boys from the market delivered the groceries and I tipped them each 5 LE and they were happy. Me too. I love having lots of water.
I had to stop the paintings because I don't want to get mechanical about them - no paint by numbers - the scourge of the wanna be artist - I want the spark, the expression intact, coming out from within the paint and the sitter's eyes and mouth. Needing a break, I suggested to Dominique that we get out. It is so easy to stay in the air conditioned apartment! It is still humid outside and I heard that Nebraska is having the first snow storms and West Chester is getting chilly. Needed to stock up on mundane stuff like t.p. and desperately in need of bottled water so off we went to Alpha Market.
As our shopping cart ended up with more and more items, I figured, we should see about delivery and that way, I could get two boxes of water - this time the Nesle brand which is way better than Baraka, I also saw Siwa water but Nesle is tried and true. I was down to the last one at home. We each got chocolate - I had bought a variety of bars last week and Dominique liked a certain Hershey's and I am a great fan of Galaxy chocolate bars, so creamy. Just for comparative purposes, I also bought one Cadbury my ultimate favorite. We bought some stuff for stir fry, the tricolored peppers and mushrooms that Dominique will cook - veggies!! I will also eat tomatoes but no lettuce or other hard to clean items.
We made ourway home, hands free except for the two dozen country roses I bought for less than $3. They are pink but there were maybe three red roses mixed in. They even smelled faintly of roses. We got home, thrilled with the air conditioning, and I got the roses trimmed and put into the water pitcher - not the Brita - that water is for making tea and coffee. I'm now drinking some hibiscus tea (I had snitched a bunch of tea bags while in Costa Rica). I also am typing this on my mini Dell laptop. I finally figured out how to connect wirelessly about I bought a cord for direct connection to the modem. I had tried the wireless before on this b ut I guess I am better at pushing the right buttons now. I also had some kind of security on it which asked for a password each time another web site was accessed which was really annoying. Took care of that problem too. So now I sit on my green hard backed loveseat, sipping tea and typing on this lovely lightweight mini.
Well, that's all for niow, two young boys from the market delivered the groceries and I tipped them each 5 LE and they were happy. Me too. I love having lots of water.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
1:00 am
As you can see by the title of this blog, it is past midnight. I just read a note from my sister, Liz and was inspired to post the unfinished next two paintings I worked on today. The preteen boy I met on top of Mount Sinai - he showed me some crystals he had found on some of the other nearby mountains. All kinds of prophets like Elijah climbed upwards in their quest for godliness or something. It's a tough climb as I've stated previously. Walking upwards for hours does make you lightheaded and full of serotonin releasing into the blood stream, the runner's high. Add to that, the three hours of stomach cramps I had, well, getting to the top and being able to rest supine was akin to a religious experience in my mind. Well, OK, that and finding out that there was actually a toilet of a sort modestly closed off with branches.
OK, back to the boy - I just had to have those crystals - kind of a smoky quartz - which I gave him about 40 LE for. I told him that he should find more to sell to tourists. A really sweet kid, reminded of me of my nephew John so open and honest. Well, I decided to have his right hand showing clasping a crystal and I think I have achieved that bright eyed look that he had though this painting needs another day of work. The little girl, too is in progress. She had these pouting cherry red lips, big brown eyes that did not light up - a solemn little girl of around 5 or 6, not exactly trusting me. Bedouin women are cautious, do not often have anything to do with strangers and foreigners. But there is something so exotic and mysterious. Now the Berber women in Morocco seem much more forthright and powerful. I hope this little girl from Saint Catherine's monastery area continues to be feisty with that "I dare you to make me smile, I won't you know" look. I don't quite have that in the portrait yet. Again, another day or so.
As for what women wear in the villages, I would have to say it varies. Most wear scarves or hijab on their heads with no hair showing. In Tunis village, garments were rather drab amongst the potters. Clay colored long gallabiya to match the clay from which they fashioned vessels, plates, tiles. I saw one of the girls later come swimming in the pool of Evelyne and she was breathtakingly beautiful with thick dark brown hair, dark lashes, nubile in a one piece black swimsuit. No wonder they cover up! But other women had on some colors, reds and blues but very plain. Some wore skirts and a long sleeved long tunic. The fashion is functional - show no curves. Preteens and children are different with uncovered hair and limbs allowable.
Among other women, sometimes even face coverings exist - this particular "fashion" comes from Saudi Arabia - where women are swathed in black from head to toe. Some even wear black gloves of all things which I witnessed on the metro women's car. No where in the Quran, I am told by my Muslim girl friends, does it say that women are to be covered up with no hair showing. In Iran, a man walks around with a stick to hit women who have an errant wrist or ankle showing or a wisp of hair. Bedouin women are covered but their clothing, at least the traditional clothing is jubilantly embroidered with shell buttons forming part of the design. Sadly, polyester fabrics have entered - they never should have been allowed to keep living after the disastrous introduction of them in the 70s. Cotton, was and still is, the fabric of choice. I have tried to find out what happened to the linen of the ancient Egyptians without a satisfactory answer as of yet.
As for the feet, ugly half croc type shoes to flap in down the street or shuffle really. Villages are entirely different from the more fashionable Cairo. Even here though, amongst the western tight jeans and form fitting shirts of the girly girls of Cairo, I have snapped many a picture of a black clad woman wearing Nikes next to a motocycle. Incongruity reigns supreme in the city. Brightly coordinated double scarves match the outfit that no self respecting What Not to Wear guru would don. And it's amazing how closely the colors match. I would like to see the factory where they put together the outfits. I wonder what a fashion show would be like here. The farmers though in the villages have no time for fashion. They do wear gold earrings 22K no less and sometimes gold bangles too. I will add to my fashion commentaries as I travel. The next medium length trip will not be until October 26th.
OK, back to the boy - I just had to have those crystals - kind of a smoky quartz - which I gave him about 40 LE for. I told him that he should find more to sell to tourists. A really sweet kid, reminded of me of my nephew John so open and honest. Well, I decided to have his right hand showing clasping a crystal and I think I have achieved that bright eyed look that he had though this painting needs another day of work. The little girl, too is in progress. She had these pouting cherry red lips, big brown eyes that did not light up - a solemn little girl of around 5 or 6, not exactly trusting me. Bedouin women are cautious, do not often have anything to do with strangers and foreigners. But there is something so exotic and mysterious. Now the Berber women in Morocco seem much more forthright and powerful. I hope this little girl from Saint Catherine's monastery area continues to be feisty with that "I dare you to make me smile, I won't you know" look. I don't quite have that in the portrait yet. Again, another day or so.
As for what women wear in the villages, I would have to say it varies. Most wear scarves or hijab on their heads with no hair showing. In Tunis village, garments were rather drab amongst the potters. Clay colored long gallabiya to match the clay from which they fashioned vessels, plates, tiles. I saw one of the girls later come swimming in the pool of Evelyne and she was breathtakingly beautiful with thick dark brown hair, dark lashes, nubile in a one piece black swimsuit. No wonder they cover up! But other women had on some colors, reds and blues but very plain. Some wore skirts and a long sleeved long tunic. The fashion is functional - show no curves. Preteens and children are different with uncovered hair and limbs allowable.
Among other women, sometimes even face coverings exist - this particular "fashion" comes from Saudi Arabia - where women are swathed in black from head to toe. Some even wear black gloves of all things which I witnessed on the metro women's car. No where in the Quran, I am told by my Muslim girl friends, does it say that women are to be covered up with no hair showing. In Iran, a man walks around with a stick to hit women who have an errant wrist or ankle showing or a wisp of hair. Bedouin women are covered but their clothing, at least the traditional clothing is jubilantly embroidered with shell buttons forming part of the design. Sadly, polyester fabrics have entered - they never should have been allowed to keep living after the disastrous introduction of them in the 70s. Cotton, was and still is, the fabric of choice. I have tried to find out what happened to the linen of the ancient Egyptians without a satisfactory answer as of yet.
As for the feet, ugly half croc type shoes to flap in down the street or shuffle really. Villages are entirely different from the more fashionable Cairo. Even here though, amongst the western tight jeans and form fitting shirts of the girly girls of Cairo, I have snapped many a picture of a black clad woman wearing Nikes next to a motocycle. Incongruity reigns supreme in the city. Brightly coordinated double scarves match the outfit that no self respecting What Not to Wear guru would don. And it's amazing how closely the colors match. I would like to see the factory where they put together the outfits. I wonder what a fashion show would be like here. The farmers though in the villages have no time for fashion. They do wear gold earrings 22K no less and sometimes gold bangles too. I will add to my fashion commentaries as I travel. The next medium length trip will not be until October 26th.
Friday, October 9, 2009
A smile from the barista
Since last summer when I was here in Zamalek, I vowed that I would find a way to make the barista at Simond's cafe smile. Today that wish came true. It was the last cappucchino of the day for him - he is on the early shift apparently. It was Dominique's first time there and I really needed a good jolt of caffeine to jumpstart my painting. I paid the 7 LE, took the receipt to him - he asked what I wanted and I assumed correctly that's what he asked. Dominique brought her receipt to him as well. I am calling him Mohamed for now, it is a safe guess for a man's name around here. We parked ourselves at the new marble counter and drank our coffees. When he brought his small bowl of change - 25 piaster bill with a few little coins to the young, veiled female cashier, I jumped up and put a 1 LE note in his hand and I got my big smile and a Merci beaucoup Madame as well. I was as pleased as I could be. Next time, or the time after that, I will ask for a photo. The man is a legend and Simond's is written about in most guidebooks - it has been around for over 100 years. The clientele is generally made up of Egyptian men. There is a big non-smoking sign on the counter which most seem to ignore. Today though, we were blessed with no indoor pollution in the nicely air conditioned cafe. I never thought I would be graced with a smile since last year, he only seemed to favor his old cronies with a hello and to me, Simond's was like an old boys club. Maybe I have changed. I wore a purple tea shirt with the requisite scarf wound about my neck and decollete. I've decided that tipping someone who makes the best cappucchino in Cairo with a 1 LE note is a small favor, well earned. If we did this in America, a 20 cent tip would get us a sneer or a round of expletives. This is what I love about Egypt, days like this.
Perusing the glass cases, we looked at the enormous birthday cakes and other treats and I decided to buy what smelled like a pound cake, a small one the size of Nancy's shoe was 5.5 LE. Something nice to have with our afternoon tea.
On returning home, I cleaned my palette peeling off the dried acrylic paint with ease, and settled in for an afternoon of painting. I am halfway finished with two more portraits - a young teenaged boy (around 13 or 14 years old) from Mount Sinai and a little Bedouin girl from St. Catherine's. I drew in his hand holding a crystal - I paid him a few dollars for a large smoky quartz crystal which he had found in the nearby mountains and wanted to add it to the portrait. I feel that I've captured their expressions well and blocked in the colors. They are a little different from my first two but then I am only in the middle of the painting - I like seeing my progress and have them propped up against the wall in front of me. By the time the beginning of November rolls around, I would love to have a dozen completed. I'll be painting the little girl from Tunis village that I have posted here with more planned.
Dominique just made tea and I cut the tea bread - pound cake with golden Egyptian raisins. Not too sweet with soft raisins, just right for tea time. More later
Perusing the glass cases, we looked at the enormous birthday cakes and other treats and I decided to buy what smelled like a pound cake, a small one the size of Nancy's shoe was 5.5 LE. Something nice to have with our afternoon tea.
On returning home, I cleaned my palette peeling off the dried acrylic paint with ease, and settled in for an afternoon of painting. I am halfway finished with two more portraits - a young teenaged boy (around 13 or 14 years old) from Mount Sinai and a little Bedouin girl from St. Catherine's. I drew in his hand holding a crystal - I paid him a few dollars for a large smoky quartz crystal which he had found in the nearby mountains and wanted to add it to the portrait. I feel that I've captured their expressions well and blocked in the colors. They are a little different from my first two but then I am only in the middle of the painting - I like seeing my progress and have them propped up against the wall in front of me. By the time the beginning of November rolls around, I would love to have a dozen completed. I'll be painting the little girl from Tunis village that I have posted here with more planned.
Dominique just made tea and I cut the tea bread - pound cake with golden Egyptian raisins. Not too sweet with soft raisins, just right for tea time. More later
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Homework
Today I'm catching up on what I call homework - no, not housework - you all know me as the limited domestic goddess! I did get the laundry done. Did I mention before that my washing cycle takes at least 1 1/2 hours for a small load? Drying is quicker.
At any rate, I contacted Ghada who manages a women's sewing coop or workshop for women and girls near Maadi. We will meet Saturday at 11:30 am at the metro station and then go from there. On Friday is an art exhibition called "Bread" at Darb 17 18 with contemporary art by 12 artists. Egypt is the world's greatest consumer of bread and this is nothing new. In Pharaonic times, the farmers and workers existed on rations of bread and beer - not your Wonder bread and Yuengling but greasy thick flat loaves and very soupy almost chewable beer full of vitamins. I still don't understand how one can work after drinking beer. I would fall asleep. But if you slept, you didn't work and if you didn't work, no survival for you or your family. The Egyptian government subsidizes bread and petrol. Gas prices are around 85 cents per liter here. Egypt is the only Middle Eastern country who sells oil to Israel.
I was stressing out about getting my ten line artist biography for the Cairo Opera House exhibition translated into Arabic. Finally, this afternoon, the light bulb went on. I used Google to find an English to Arabic translation site for free and plugged in my bio and voila! - Standard Arabic translation. Then I remembered something that Karl upstairs had told me that I should check the translation as it sometimes turns out pretty funny. Boy, was he right. One of the online sources was nearly unintelligible. Yikes! So went back and forth from Arabic to English and vice versa, simplifying my English words until the final product was not embarrassingly stupid in context. Now why didn't these translation tools exist when I was working on my Master's degree or PhD? Technology can be a very good thing for the smaller problems like this. If you want to see what it looks like here it is:
السيرة الذاتية
الدكتور فرجينيا M. دا كوستا ، وهو بحاثة بمنحة من فولبرايت (2009-2010) وأستاذ مشارك في تاريخ الفن في جامعة وست تشيستر في بنسلفانيا منذ عام 1998. حصل على درجة الماجستير في الفن (1990) في جامعة ولاية كاليفورنيا ، لونغ بيتش في الرسم وتاريخ الفن ، ودكتوراه (1997) في جامعة كاليفورنيا في سانتا باربرا. كما غرامة الفنان ومؤرخ الفن ، أستاذ دا كوستا ينظر إلى المرأة بوصفها الفنانين والعباد.
منهج دراسي جديد للمرأة في الشرق الأوسط : الفن والسينما والأدب التي أنشأتها دا كوستا بعد فولبرايت هايس الحلقة الدراسية الصيفية في مصر (2007). أستاذ دا كوستا قد سافر على نطاق واسع -- تركيا وسوريا والأردن وتونس والمغرب ومصر منذ عام 1992
الأبحاث الحالية على المرأة في مصر والحرف والفنانين الذين يستخدمون الفنون التقليدية في عملها سيؤدي في منشور. هذا سيضيف إلى مناقشات عالمية حول الفنون التقليدية في الشرق الأوسط من قبل النساء. لوحات بورتريه في هذا المعرض : وجوه من مصر تعكس التعبيرات الفريدة والثقافة من الرجال والنساء والأطفال انها اجتمعت هنا.
Of course, you can pick out the years and remember, it reads from right to left. This is modern standard Arabic which is more formal than colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
I want to paint another portrait today so will post when I do. First though, I have some proofing to do for my friend Sally, something pretty easy for me. She is a wonderful artist and deserves her promotion and tenure.
I also caught up on numerous emails --more later.
At any rate, I contacted Ghada who manages a women's sewing coop or workshop for women and girls near Maadi. We will meet Saturday at 11:30 am at the metro station and then go from there. On Friday is an art exhibition called "Bread" at Darb 17 18 with contemporary art by 12 artists. Egypt is the world's greatest consumer of bread and this is nothing new. In Pharaonic times, the farmers and workers existed on rations of bread and beer - not your Wonder bread and Yuengling but greasy thick flat loaves and very soupy almost chewable beer full of vitamins. I still don't understand how one can work after drinking beer. I would fall asleep. But if you slept, you didn't work and if you didn't work, no survival for you or your family. The Egyptian government subsidizes bread and petrol. Gas prices are around 85 cents per liter here. Egypt is the only Middle Eastern country who sells oil to Israel.
I was stressing out about getting my ten line artist biography for the Cairo Opera House exhibition translated into Arabic. Finally, this afternoon, the light bulb went on. I used Google to find an English to Arabic translation site for free and plugged in my bio and voila! - Standard Arabic translation. Then I remembered something that Karl upstairs had told me that I should check the translation as it sometimes turns out pretty funny. Boy, was he right. One of the online sources was nearly unintelligible. Yikes! So went back and forth from Arabic to English and vice versa, simplifying my English words until the final product was not embarrassingly stupid in context. Now why didn't these translation tools exist when I was working on my Master's degree or PhD? Technology can be a very good thing for the smaller problems like this. If you want to see what it looks like here it is:
السيرة الذاتية
الدكتور فرجينيا M. دا كوستا ، وهو بحاثة بمنحة من فولبرايت (2009-2010) وأستاذ مشارك في تاريخ الفن في جامعة وست تشيستر في بنسلفانيا منذ عام 1998. حصل على درجة الماجستير في الفن (1990) في جامعة ولاية كاليفورنيا ، لونغ بيتش في الرسم وتاريخ الفن ، ودكتوراه (1997) في جامعة كاليفورنيا في سانتا باربرا. كما غرامة الفنان ومؤرخ الفن ، أستاذ دا كوستا ينظر إلى المرأة بوصفها الفنانين والعباد.
منهج دراسي جديد للمرأة في الشرق الأوسط : الفن والسينما والأدب التي أنشأتها دا كوستا بعد فولبرايت هايس الحلقة الدراسية الصيفية في مصر (2007). أستاذ دا كوستا قد سافر على نطاق واسع -- تركيا وسوريا والأردن وتونس والمغرب ومصر منذ عام 1992
الأبحاث الحالية على المرأة في مصر والحرف والفنانين الذين يستخدمون الفنون التقليدية في عملها سيؤدي في منشور. هذا سيضيف إلى مناقشات عالمية حول الفنون التقليدية في الشرق الأوسط من قبل النساء. لوحات بورتريه في هذا المعرض : وجوه من مصر تعكس التعبيرات الفريدة والثقافة من الرجال والنساء والأطفال انها اجتمعت هنا.
Of course, you can pick out the years and remember, it reads from right to left. This is modern standard Arabic which is more formal than colloquial Egyptian Arabic.
I want to paint another portrait today so will post when I do. First though, I have some proofing to do for my friend Sally, something pretty easy for me. She is a wonderful artist and deserves her promotion and tenure.
I also caught up on numerous emails --more later.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Back from Fayoum
What a weekend it was going to the Fayoum. First of all, we got a ride with two guy friends of Shayma's. I didn't realize that Islam (yes, that's his name) had just gotten his driver's license. I thought he just got his official driver's license and had driven for a few years before. He didn't even take the exam since he knew a friend of a friend who worked at our version of the DMV or PennDot. He drove a Russian Lada car with a stick shift. I remember when I learned on my Datsun 280 Z back in the day when I bought the car used but had to have the dealer drive it home for me since I had only driven an automatic car. Well, the driving was stop, start, stall and go. When he swerved a few times, I thought, well this is due to crazy other cars cutting him off to the side. But it was an inexperienced driver. They say to beware of drunk drivers at home, this was insance. But we got to Tunis in one piece.
We were dropped at our "Ecolodge" the Zad al Mosafer Guest House and got our double room. We had two beds, a single mattress atop a palm frond built foundation, palm frond open closet and hot pink mosquito nets for each bed. A powerful fan overhead and at least for our first night, a portable air conditioner. The lodge has a pool but I had no suit. Friday night there was a Germanic looking family with three tow headed kids splashing about in the pool. The place is owned by an Egyptian writer who has used local materials of mud brick for the place. At 75 LE for the two of us not including taxes, it seemed a bargain. We ordered much food for dinner and vowed to go easy the next day.
We walked to an artist acquaintance of Shayma's - Mohamed Abla who runs a winter artist program from February 1 to March 15. Artists can choose to work in printmaking, painting or sculpture. Nearby, is another artist's studio, a man we dubbed Morgan Freeman because he looks just like him. His wife, Reem Saad is a professor of Anthropology at AUC. She sent me an article she had written on traditional crafts in Upper Egypt. Her daughter Tamara is four, very cute and smart. We communicated in my broken French as I cannot understand Arabic well and she didn't speak English. That worked well enough for us. Mr. Saad was running a wood puppet workshop for Islam and his friend which is why they were going to Tunis.
There are many villages in the Fayoum. Tunis, Fayoum city (on our way to Fidimin in search of another craft weaving school, we passed with difficulty through its crowded streets, crowded because Monday was market day - more on that later.
We were dropped at our "Ecolodge" the Zad al Mosafer Guest House and got our double room. We had two beds, a single mattress atop a palm frond built foundation, palm frond open closet and hot pink mosquito nets for each bed. A powerful fan overhead and at least for our first night, a portable air conditioner. The lodge has a pool but I had no suit. Friday night there was a Germanic looking family with three tow headed kids splashing about in the pool. The place is owned by an Egyptian writer who has used local materials of mud brick for the place. At 75 LE for the two of us not including taxes, it seemed a bargain. We ordered much food for dinner and vowed to go easy the next day.
We walked to an artist acquaintance of Shayma's - Mohamed Abla who runs a winter artist program from February 1 to March 15. Artists can choose to work in printmaking, painting or sculpture. Nearby, is another artist's studio, a man we dubbed Morgan Freeman because he looks just like him. His wife, Reem Saad is a professor of Anthropology at AUC. She sent me an article she had written on traditional crafts in Upper Egypt. Her daughter Tamara is four, very cute and smart. We communicated in my broken French as I cannot understand Arabic well and she didn't speak English. That worked well enough for us. Mr. Saad was running a wood puppet workshop for Islam and his friend which is why they were going to Tunis.
There are many villages in the Fayoum. Tunis, Fayoum city (on our way to Fidimin in search of another craft weaving school, we passed with difficulty through its crowded streets, crowded because Monday was market day - more on that later.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Cultural Tour
One of my favorite Egyptian foods (though it is also Greek) is the Moussaka - eggplant, tomato sauce and bechamel sauce on top and baked in a clay bowl. The other is the Um ali although I still haven't found my favorite one like I had two years ago. Little Maria (upstairs triplet) and I are going to make it from my Egyptian cookbook. I told her that the one I liked best seemed to be made with corn flakes. She suggested frosted flakes so we will try that and cut out some of the suger added. It also has raisins, pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts and milk. I forget the rest.
Yesterday, we had our lunch at Naguib Mafouz restaurant in the Khan Khalili - the gigantic marketplace full of kitschy souvenirs and also real Egyptian stuff like copper pots, instruments, etc. They had asked before hand whether anyone was vegetarian. When we got our main plate of food, I knew why. Yes, there was grilled lamb, charcoal grilled chicken chunks, those long cigar shaped lamb pieces - it's like hamburger and then oh yeck, tiny little pigeon grilled, spread eagled, very little meat, lots of bones. Now I have seen grilled pigeon at Abu el Sid but they were big pigeons. I played with mine and then put it on a plate. There was rice too. Before that we had the appetizers- baba ghanough, hummus, tzatziki, and wonderful fresh Egyptian flat bread all puffy since they just baked it. I sat at what the triplets dubbed "the table of coolness" it was a cushioned booth and I sat in a cushioned chair just next to them. We laughed and chattered away all through lunch. I gave Nick my cigar meat and told him we would ask for a doggie bag which he actually got!
The walk was long through Coptic Cairo - we visited two Coptic Churches and one Synagoue that is a museum. Our guide was an Egyptian woman with perfect English who had a PhD from Cairo University in ArtHistory. She really gave a wonderful explanation of the history and the architecture. She specializes in Islamic art history . She tied Egyptian art together from Pharaonic influence, to Coptic and then to Islamic. I had walked to the Fulbright office from Zamalek thinking that we were leaving at 9:30 - well, we were leaving at 9:00 and Hend called me to see where I was. Unknown to me, I was SIX blocks away and I ran to find the bus. I guess I am getting in better shape because I only started wheezing at block four. Then off we went.
After lunch, we went to Islamic Cairo to see a variety of mosques. I had been to all of them before but our guide explained how the differences came about. By the end of the day we were pretty tired out. Kathy and Karl needed to go to the bookstore so I volunteered to take the triplets home in a taxi. We got a good taxi driver! I negotiated the price and off we went. Right before traffic was really horrible. Kathy had invited me to have dinner a la Al Omda via our online ordering. I had my orzo soup again and rice pudding for dessert. We laughed, we talked and after a couple hours it was time for me to go downstairs to relax, check email and go to bed.
Found out my diplomatic boxes arrived and so I will pick them up today. I'm really happy about that and now Shayma and I can put some children's workshops together. I need to call the ecolodge in Fayoum today. Dominique will come with us too at least through Sunday. The eco lodge is right on the lake so yes, I will take my DEET in case there are mosquitoes.
I'm trying to get in the best shape so when I get back, people will say wow! I might even get extensions in my hair. Shayma says it is not expensive. Wouldn't that be a hoot! Hend said she would email me the phone number and address of a place downtown where they do pedicures and manicures and waxing - that will be a cultural experience.
Well, I just got an invitation for dinner tonight with Dominique and her friends in Maadi - about 20 minutes away from Zamalek. Brian is the curator at American University in Cairo and was Shayma's employer. I met him at the Art opening at the Townhouse Gallery Tuesday night. The contemporary artist's exhibition was four huge screens showing a rather strange series of scenes - Bedouin children making stone structures in the desert, a Bedouin man with a cow and microphone, tied to a wheel and picking up strange sounds that it made when the cow with a cone shaped object on its back and a plug for the microphone on it to pick up the music. Strange strange. But I liked it. It was at least a 20-30 minute film.
I saw a tiny little black kitten on the way to the Fulbright office. Oh, I wanted to scoop him up and rescue him. There are so many cats in Cairo. It is heartbreaking - I want to see if there are any veternarian schools. They need to sterilize the kitties. Oh well, so I will take off for another walk, but before that, I need my coffee and my yogurt.
Yesterday, we had our lunch at Naguib Mafouz restaurant in the Khan Khalili - the gigantic marketplace full of kitschy souvenirs and also real Egyptian stuff like copper pots, instruments, etc. They had asked before hand whether anyone was vegetarian. When we got our main plate of food, I knew why. Yes, there was grilled lamb, charcoal grilled chicken chunks, those long cigar shaped lamb pieces - it's like hamburger and then oh yeck, tiny little pigeon grilled, spread eagled, very little meat, lots of bones. Now I have seen grilled pigeon at Abu el Sid but they were big pigeons. I played with mine and then put it on a plate. There was rice too. Before that we had the appetizers- baba ghanough, hummus, tzatziki, and wonderful fresh Egyptian flat bread all puffy since they just baked it. I sat at what the triplets dubbed "the table of coolness" it was a cushioned booth and I sat in a cushioned chair just next to them. We laughed and chattered away all through lunch. I gave Nick my cigar meat and told him we would ask for a doggie bag which he actually got!
The walk was long through Coptic Cairo - we visited two Coptic Churches and one Synagoue that is a museum. Our guide was an Egyptian woman with perfect English who had a PhD from Cairo University in ArtHistory. She really gave a wonderful explanation of the history and the architecture. She specializes in Islamic art history . She tied Egyptian art together from Pharaonic influence, to Coptic and then to Islamic. I had walked to the Fulbright office from Zamalek thinking that we were leaving at 9:30 - well, we were leaving at 9:00 and Hend called me to see where I was. Unknown to me, I was SIX blocks away and I ran to find the bus. I guess I am getting in better shape because I only started wheezing at block four. Then off we went.
After lunch, we went to Islamic Cairo to see a variety of mosques. I had been to all of them before but our guide explained how the differences came about. By the end of the day we were pretty tired out. Kathy and Karl needed to go to the bookstore so I volunteered to take the triplets home in a taxi. We got a good taxi driver! I negotiated the price and off we went. Right before traffic was really horrible. Kathy had invited me to have dinner a la Al Omda via our online ordering. I had my orzo soup again and rice pudding for dessert. We laughed, we talked and after a couple hours it was time for me to go downstairs to relax, check email and go to bed.
Found out my diplomatic boxes arrived and so I will pick them up today. I'm really happy about that and now Shayma and I can put some children's workshops together. I need to call the ecolodge in Fayoum today. Dominique will come with us too at least through Sunday. The eco lodge is right on the lake so yes, I will take my DEET in case there are mosquitoes.
I'm trying to get in the best shape so when I get back, people will say wow! I might even get extensions in my hair. Shayma says it is not expensive. Wouldn't that be a hoot! Hend said she would email me the phone number and address of a place downtown where they do pedicures and manicures and waxing - that will be a cultural experience.
Well, I just got an invitation for dinner tonight with Dominique and her friends in Maadi - about 20 minutes away from Zamalek. Brian is the curator at American University in Cairo and was Shayma's employer. I met him at the Art opening at the Townhouse Gallery Tuesday night. The contemporary artist's exhibition was four huge screens showing a rather strange series of scenes - Bedouin children making stone structures in the desert, a Bedouin man with a cow and microphone, tied to a wheel and picking up strange sounds that it made when the cow with a cone shaped object on its back and a plug for the microphone on it to pick up the music. Strange strange. But I liked it. It was at least a 20-30 minute film.
I saw a tiny little black kitten on the way to the Fulbright office. Oh, I wanted to scoop him up and rescue him. There are so many cats in Cairo. It is heartbreaking - I want to see if there are any veternarian schools. They need to sterilize the kitties. Oh well, so I will take off for another walk, but before that, I need my coffee and my yogurt.
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