Tieing up Loose Ends

Booked the Trains, called the dr. to make appt. for innoculations,/malaria pills, registered with the State Department,  hired Cairo tour guide... lost the Luxor guide (because he was a "teacher," not a tour guide?)

School is winding up and there are a million things to do to close up a classroom, not the least of which is inventory, goal updates and leveling an entire library.  (Sigh.)

African Cultural Center
I have told some of you that I am lucky enough to have met a Nigerian woman who is opening up an African Cultural Center for kids in East Dundee.   Well, she's coming out to my house Friday to peruse my African materials.  I'm going to help her develop the school's curriculum, and get to teach a few classes. She is a spunky little ex-engineer who is very passionate about this "CAKE" (Culture of Africa for Kids School" (or something like that), and has rented out the wing of an old school. Went out there last weekend and saw the dance studio, the art studio and the drama center.  Quite nice.  School is out Thursday, so this endeavor coincides quite well with the ending of another.  This is Lande: 

 

 

Meanwhile, Gasser tells me I might have to borrow his sister's "abaya" if I'm going to go into a mosque during Ramadan:

 

He still has to ask permission to see if I can enter a mosque on Ramadan. (He says the people of Elephantine Island are "open-minded" about foreigners wearing abayas- but I know it will at least produce a smile from me!)

 



My Cat Hop Ching is very ill. I have to take her in to euthanize her tomorrow.  She has lost feeling in her lower left quarter and gone blind in one eye.  She can't walk or stand. 
Hop Ching has slept with me under my covers for 18 years.   She is little and gray and loved me unconditionally. My saddness has no words.

June 6, 2013

 

I'm starting in Cairo, then traveling south to Giza, Luxor, then Aswan (Nubia).

Okay, so no one told me it was going to be RAMADAN for the entire time I'd be in Egypt, until last night!  What are the implications?  Is this a good thing or bad thing?  One guy I'm renting from said everybody would just be lazy/laying around in the mornings.  Now THIS is not a good thing for someone who wants to visit tombs and ride camels.

But I, on the other hand, wonder if there will be different calls to prayers (which happen regularly 5x/day over the town's loud speakers), or other ways of celebrating, in which I may be able to partake. The calls to prayers, incidentally, I first heard in a back-packers hostel in Dar eSalam, Tanzania.  Magical and haunting the imam's voice woke me, and I clammered across my bed to stick my head out the 5th floor window as far as it would go.  No matter where Muslims are, when the imam calls them to prayer, they drop, face Mecca and pray.  It is a spectacular thing to witness.  I have seen joggers on the beach prostrate themselves mid-stride at daybreak. 

Thrift Store "Must Haves" for Entering Muslim Territory
The scarf I bought today is dark blues and grays.  It will serve me well for wrapping my head, shoulders and neck when entering temples.  I also bought a sort of turtle neck lavender top to wear when I tour the city in Cairo.  Oh, lastly I picked up a pair of shoes which cover my toe nail polish, thinking that might, also be a "come hither" message.

Part of me wants to wear the long gogo (grandma's) robe I bought in Ethiopia one day when I was cold. 

Headdress or Not?
Thank goodness, I don't have to wear a scarf, covering my hair everywhere I go. (I mean, my hair is such a big part of me, and my face isn't that great all on its own! lol)   One source explained that I should dress much more (literally) conservatively in big cities, while, once I start traveling to smaller cities known to inhabit thousands of tourists, I can wear shorts and a smaller top.

To Buy an Ipad or a Tablet?
Since wireless is everywhere, I thought I'd sit on my patio at night and blog while gazing over the Nile.  And, hoping to Skype with my family (!?), I decided I needed to carry an electronic device. Finding that the Android tablet I needed to do these things would cost me $200, I decided to splurge and spend an extra hundred to go the Mercedes route:  Ipad.  Now it's all up to Craigs List. Whoops!  I got lucky:  Meeting a guy with a Ipad mini (8") tomorrow at at Starbucks in St. Charles.  Wish me luck. 

Getting Lucky
Featuring a Saturday night belly dancer and snake charmer (ho hum; I saw that in India), the Hotel Nefertiti in Luxor now has one more reservation.  this is the exact middle of my trip.  After sleeping in a hostel in Cairo

then a sleeper car on a train, to Luxor.....

...I figured I deserved a break.  The Hotel Nefertiti looks charming, although it's going to cost a whopping $27/night!  (The hostels I'd been looking at were as low as $2/night.)
Here is the Hotel Nefertiti:

 

 

 

 

This night club is on the rooftop of the Nefertiti. It looks out over the Nile and onto the sand dunes.

It has raving reviews!