Cairo Chronicle, Volume 2, Issue 9, June 17, 2001
Cairo Chronicle, Volume 2, Issue 9, June 17, 2001
Our final days in Cairo have been hectic, relaxing, exciting, and tempestuous. Never, ever, ever have they been boring or subdued. In Cairo, I doubt that is even possible. Boredom in any form simply does not exist here!
A good friend and co-worker of ours, Sue Khalifa, took us out one Friday morning to Faiyum -- a city located a good 100 km southwest of Cairo. Her driver, Mohamed, was delightfully swift, safe, and sure. We traveled through desert areas that both of us thought looked strikingly like the expanse from Abilene, Texas to Lubbock, Texas. Flat, dusty and flat. Other parts of the trip reminded us of parts of Arizona and New Mexico -- sand to either side of the road for as long as you can see. The major difference (in all likelihood) is that the Lubbock-Abilene spread probably has more greenery. We opted not to have an armed escort (a bother and pain-in-the-neck, according to Sue), and traveled on with few other problems.
We arrived at the Auberge du Lac, a former hunting lodge (now a 3-star hotel) used by King Farouk and his family, just in time for lunch. As one might guess from its title, the Auberge is located next to a salt lake, whose feeder is a branch of the Nile. All three of us found the dining room pleasantly decorated and quiet. Lovely conversation about life, solitude and friendship ensued. We ordered our meal (Todd and Sue ordered the sea bass, and Barbara ordered a spiced-up chicken dish), and had hoped to continue with our pleasant, quiet conversation, when a multitude (there is no other word to describe it) of Egyptians sauntered in. Sue and Barbara both looked at their watches and then realized the reason for the boisterous intrusion: It was the After-Mosque crowd! Yes, noon prayers had apparently ended, and so these fine Muslim Egyptians were coming to enjoy their lunch in fine fashion. They had apparently preordered their meals as they had them delivered almost immediately upon their arrival. Subsequently, the decibel level increased at that point, with all three of us having to strain to hear each others' words. And the table was not any larger than, say, a booth at your local Luby's Cafeteria! Our food did arrive in good time, and was delicious. Their oriental rice -- a unique mixture of rice, vermicelli, raisins and chicken liver bits, was also delicious. After dinner, Sue went to sit in a large comfy chair in the parlor of the hotel, while Todd and Barbara found a couple of seats outside near the saltwater lake. The breeze coming off the lake was refreshing, and something about the saltiness of the air, the waves lapping against the rocks reminded Todd of sitting near the Boardwalk at Ocean City, Maryland.
Having been encouraged by Sue to see the city of Faiyum itself, we chose to leave the very comfortable surroundings at the hotel. On our way out, we were serenaded in loud, brash, typical Egyptian style by a trio of musicians. The shawm player was accompanied by a drum and tambourine. For those unfamiliar with the shawm, it looks like an oboe, and sounds like a very harsh clarinet-oboe-party-noisemaker combination. It does have its merits, however, when it comes to melody. Todd really likes this instrument, so he asked Barbara for 5 LE (about $1.25) to tip them. Barbara didn't have change (not a surprise here), and wasn't about to give them the smallest she had -- a 50 LE note!
Three musicians outside the former Royal Hunting Lodge. They stopped playing once they realized we weren't going to tip them!
Then, it was off to the town of Faiyum proper. Sue got Mohamed to drive us to the center of town to the most famous and largest water wheels in Egypt. We stopped by the touristy four water wheels, though a group of seven is located north of town.
The famous water wheels of Faiyum
After looking at the wheels, and admiring the town -- quite clean by Cairo standards -- we drove around the block to a small street-side vendor of baskets. Todd bought a water-bottle basket (getting change from the 50 LE). Then off to another street side vendor less than half-a-block away. Todd decided to get out and look, as they seemed to have more interesting wares here. His interest piqued, he couldn't figure out what some of the items were for, and then decided that the prices the vendors were quoting were more than he wanted to spend. Prices then started falling rapidly, and Todd graciously declined their persistent offers. In the meantime, a police officer approached our car asking us why we didn't have an escort, and encouraged us to leave for safety reasons. Todd, by this time, had hopped back in the car. The vendors, even then, were trying to sell him things at ridiculously low rates. Todd chuckled to himself, again declining their offers. Mohamed then safely took us out of town, and back to Maadi.
Todd is accosted while perusing a ceramic mug.
Our end-of-the-year Staff Party was on June 1st. This party is usually a time for reminiscing, rejoicing, complaining and saying farewell. It was held in the American Club in Maadi (an American servicemen's club) again, so there were American goodies and drinks to be had. One of the first year teachers rhapsodized about the Mountain Dew - can't get that here.
Barbara enjoying the refreshing air and drinks at the staff party at the American Club in Maadi. Our Arabic language instructor from last school year, Amr, is seen to the back of Barbara in the red-and-white striped shirt.
And of course, as always, the usual entertainment. Many teachers get up and sing about the foibles and perils of life in Cairo, as well as singing farewell songs. Barbara sang a song about friendship, then we managed 2 madrigals with goodbye themes, but the piece de resistance was our parody of the Knack's "My Sherona" - entitled "Ma Salaama" (goodbye in Arabic). Barbara played the keyboard, and Todd and Matt Koehler sang. As the song progressed, we surreptitiously removed one button from our shirts at a time. By the end, the boys were swinging their shirts in the air...
Oooh Workin' here at AIS, AIS
When they gonna give me some time to planna'
Oooh they have to schedu-ul, they schedu-ul
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings, that I cannot standa
Chorus:
But now I'm gonna stop, give it up for another job
I'm always getting up, 5 o'clock, lookin' like a slob
Maa aah ahh ahh ahh Whoo!
Ma Ma Ma Ma Salaama
Ma Ma Ma Ma Salaama
Getting so much closer now, closer now
Close enough to see the coast of Japanna
Egypt is a mystery, I can't believe
The people walkin' round in them long pajamas
chorus
Packing all the Souvenirs, that I got here
Wonder if there's room for my 'spensive cam'ra
Sending it with Egypt Air -- to who knows where --
Hopin' it don't end up in Alabama
chorus
Workin' on a Saturday, not gettin' paid
No more getting memos from the Big Banana
Gettin' warmer every day, and I must say
I'm lookin' forward to the snow and no more sanda
chorus
Ma Salaama!
"Ma Salaama!"
And for all you Canadians, there was a hastily thrown together rebuttal to last year's "Blame Canada" song. It was sung to the American national anthem, mostly with the theme that there are almost more Canadians at AIS than Americans, so why not change the flag at school to have Maple Leaves instead of stars?
The last weeks of school are certainly not boring, from a teacher's standpoint. There is just never a dull moment. Compound the hectic, stress-riddled scene with a bus full of teachers on the Ring Road around Cairo, and you're bound to have some excitement.
1st Movement: Allegro Vivace
Our first inkling that the last two weeks would be even more exciting started when our driver was pulled over for speeding. Now, whether he was truly at fault makes little difference -- you don't argue with a policeman. And you don't argue over the whopping 200 LE fine! Now $50 for a ticket doesn't seem like much, perhaps. But when that amount is about one-half of your monthly salary, that's not pocket-change. So as we sit there in the bus waiting for our bus driver to figure out why he was pulled over, we expats begin to wonder whether we're being targeted by the police just because we're expats. It's been known to happen.
2nd Movement: Allegro Con Uh-Oh
About a week and a half later, our driver is cruising down the Ring Road as usual. Both of us sat in the front of the bus on a regular basis, because of Barbara's motion sickness. As our bus approached one of the turns on the Ring Road, we hear a loud popping sound. Then we feel the bus veer left, and we know we're in trouble. Our driver, with steady hands, brought the bus to the right side of the road, across the equivalent of two lanes of traffic (four lanes by Cairo standards)! Todd starts to smell rubber. The bus is still moving, but being slowed by the driver. He brought the bus to a halt, jumped out of his driver's side door to inspect the damage, and shook his head. It is as we suspected: a blown tire! The next thing we know, our driver is getting out the jack and the tire changing gear -- while we're still in the bus! Some of us opted to get out of the bus and flag down another of our school buses so that we would make it to school on time. Others of us took the time to sit and chat, exorcising some of the demons attaching themselves to the last weeks of school. It turns out that our first attempt at rescue was none other than the driver for some of our students! His van was loaded with five or six KG, 1st and 2nd graders, leaving room for about five of us teachers. So, off we went to school. The others on our bus were picked up by another school bus that followed the same Ring Road path from Maadi that we did.
3rd Movement: Largo in B-Flat
The flat tire was enough to jangle nerves, but didn't dampen our spirits any. We went along with the bus for another week or so, when not far out of Maadi we feel the bus thumping and bumping along on the right side this time. Yup! Another flat tire. More of us hop off the bus this time, not necessarily wishing to stay on the bus while the driver (once again) jacks it up with us inside. Not far behind us is a student bus from AIS, whose driver pulls over. Our rescuers are here, we think in unison. Some ten of us get off the teacher bus and parade ourselves onto the student bus. But lo and behold...the other bus driver is doing diagnostics on our teacher bus! It was a sight to see two school bus drivers, who by all rights ought to be taking folks to school, diagnosing the problems on the right side of the road as tempus fugits. A third bus arrives at the scene. Those of us with clear coffee-enhanced minds take our stuff off the student bus and promptly direct ourselves to the third bus. It's the OTHER teacher bus, now, and there is barely enough room for anyone to sit with all the junk and bags and sundries we teachers bring with us every day. Luckily, even the most ornery of us get on the bus, find a place and zoom off to school, leaving the two bus drivers still figuring out the logistics of changing a tire. Arrival time? 8:05 am -- our students come to class at 8:10!
Okay, everyone, last time we talk about another program of Barbara's at AIS! On June 11th, the third-sixth graders performed "A World of Music." The green area was decorated with flags from all over the world, colored by diligent third graders. The entire space was covered in Bedouin tenting this time, to protect from the heat. It made it a lot cooler, but was rather dark, which couldn't be helped. Better than boiling our parents alive! But even then, a parent asked if we could bring in fans! No pleasing some people... The auditorium should finally be finished in the fall, but alas, we won't be here to enjoy it.
The green area becomes a makeshift auditorium, hopefully for one last time!
Barbara's favorite song in the show, "There is Music," featured five students and a teacher, Ms. Taylor, on drums. The high school band director was nice enough to let us practice in his room, as well as move the equipment for our practice and show.
Myra, percussionist extraordinaire, helps out the fifth graders in "There is Music."
We leave in just a few hours, to arrive home on the afternoon of the 18th. We packed our rooms, closed our accounts at the bank, tied up loose ends, had shippers come to ship our stuff to Japan, and cleaned the apartment. Nigel went to the vet three times for shots and examinations (he doesn't know he's getting back in that carrier again, but he suspects...he hides every time we even bump it or pick it up to move it). We intend to light some sparklers on the balcony to celebrate the end of our stay.
As a last note, things we will NEVER forget about our time in Cairo: hassles with the taxi drivers as well as the directions for right (yimeen), left (shimal) and straight ahead (ala tool) in Arabic, the smell of shisha smoke, the call to prayer waking you up at four in the morning, Ramadan, Coptic Christmas eve, the Arabic commercials for Farm Frites and Pampers, riding a camel, the sheer size of the pyramids, karaoke, the mountains of trash, terrible pollution, and the sweet little kids we taught (although some of them were little stinkers!)
A final Ma Salaama...next stop, Sendai, Japan!
Todd and Barbara Thomas