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After that we were pretty tired so we just walked home. Along the way a man walked over and told us what street we were on (we cut out our Lonely Planet map and were using that). Later he came over and asked us if we wanted to come by his perfume shop. We politely declined.
9/7
I was really afraid to call all the famous dancers here and book lessons. Really afraid. And then my partner said “Why did we come to Cairo? We took a month off. We could be on a beach. We came here for you, so you could study.” So he went to the front desk to ask if there was a local pay phone we could use (since we hadn’t seen any near our hotel) and they said we could use their cell phone for local calls (2LE/minute). We had to bring back the phone to the front desk between calls so they could see the minute counter.
First up was Keti Sharif. I was really upset she had a workshop on the day we got here, that I missed (because we arrived so late at night). But I knew she was hosting Aida Nour on Sunday for a 3 hour workshop. When I wrote her, as I wrote everyone I got the standard “Call me when you’re in Cairo.” I really like to have things planned out, so I was a bit nervous about this approach. I wanted to book in for the workshop straight away but I couldn’t get through.
Next up, Madame Raqia Hassan. She was actually first on my list but I called KS first because I’d read it would be about a week before I got in with Madame Hassan and I think I also wanted a warm-up call to (as Lonely Planet calls her) “the most famous belly dance teacher in Cairo.” I called, it rang, I asked for her---it was her!! And she said I could come today. I wasn’t sure if I could find her studio in time and was a bit nervous about making plans for that day and she also offered class on the 8th, so that’s what I took. She gave me directions and then I hung up. I wasn’t prepared to get a class with her so soon, so I stopped booking lessons with other teachers until I met with her (because I’d also read that she’d give me the low-down on the Cairo dance scene).
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