Off to Egypt!

[*Shira*]

Hi all! I'm leaving tomorrow for Egypt, to meet up with Rocky's group for the Nile cruise. My husband will be holding down the fort at home and making sure our cats don't get too lonely without me!

I don't expect to have Internet access while there, so I'll be off bhuz for a while. See you in a couple of weeks!

[Lauren_]

Bye Shira! Have a great time.

[sumayasaahir]

Yes, keep you pen handy, we love your articles!

[mekyria]

have fun!

[ejaghana]

Enjoy! We want a full analysis when you get back!!!

[laura 2]

Safe and happy travels, habibi!

[*Shira*]

Finished the Nile cruise a couple of days ago. Now in Cairo. Will be here 3 more nights. Haven't done any shopping yet - will start that tomorrow. Woo hoo!

YAY have fun.
Now tell us what goodies did you buy and how hard did you haggle?

[Adishakti]

Have fun, Shira! Bring us back a few stories, and say hello to Rocky for me!

[rakgirl]

I just got back from Rocky's group but we didn't go to the nile cruise. it was so much fun. it was my first time. have fun and have a safe trip back.

[*Shira*]

I'm now staying in the home of a local family for 3 nights. Last night, they took me to a wedding - the niece of my hostess was the bride.

The bad news: no paid dancers, no live music, just a DJ who played the same songs about 4-5 times each over the course of 4 hours. Mostly Egyptian pop, with a wee bit of salsa, a song whose unimaginative lyrics were "You gotta pump it up", and the macarena. The Egyptians do the macarena the same way we do.

The good news: the 16-17-18-19 year old girls were really in a dancing mood, and kept dragging me up to dance with them. I think they found it very entertaining to be dancing with a tall blue-eyed American the age of their mothers and grannies (who were all sitting on the sidelines being proper). I was keeping it pretty low-key at first, and then the looks on their faces were priceless when I threw in a quick little Dina butt wiggle at one point.

At one point, one of the groom's friends got up on a chair, and everybody picked it up and held it at shoulder level while he belly danced on it.

[ChristinaRizkallah]

Shira: I hope you are having a good time in Egypt! When you get back, please give us a full report with photos!!

[Sashy]

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I'm now staying in the home of a local family for 3 nights. Last night, they took me to a wedding - the niece of my hostess was the bride.

The bad news: no paid dancers, no live music, just a DJ who played the same songs about 4-5 times each over the course of 4 hours. Mostly Egyptian pop, with a wee bit of salsa, a song whose unimaginative lyrics were "You gotta pump it up", and the macarena. The Egyptians do the macarena the same way we do.

The good news: the 16-17-18-19 year old girls were really in a dancing mood, and kept dragging me up to dance with them. I think they found it very entertaining to be dancing with a tall blue-eyed American the age of their mothers and grannies (who were all sitting on the sidelines being proper). I was keeping it pretty low-key at first, and then the looks on their faces were priceless when I threw in a quick little Dina butt wiggle at one point.

At one point, one of the groom's friends got up on a chair, and everybody picked it up and held it at shoulder level while he belly danced on it.

That must have been quite an experience,Shira.Hope you could take some pics while at the wedding.

[bintbeled]

Shira, were you staying at the Victoria? I thought that might have been you at breakfast on Monday morning. We were very sleepy -- up early packing, getting ready to head out to the airport.

[laura 2]

Originally Posted by *Shira*

The Egyptians do the macarena the same way we do.

I find this both comforting and frightening at the same time.

[bintbeled]

Even scarier -- some of the dancers in our group taught a bunch of Egyptian teenagers the Electric Slide. I'm expecting to see it in Dina's show soon.