Checking in from Cairo

[rakgirl]

yeah my sister and some other friends want to go with me next year. i didn't want to have to go on a tour but i was afraid of what i'd be able to find to do and how well i'd be able to negotiate prices. you seemed so prepared. i guess i'll just have to do my research and go for it. i never even thought about doing all that you had- the aquarium, the zoo, etc. i'll start planning for next summer now.

[jessedan]

I've spent the last hour or so reading your journal, and I was disappointed when it ended. I enjoyed it immensely. The non bellydance tidbits are especially fun to read because they give a sense of what daily life is like in Cairo. Please continue!

Regards
Priscilla

[banatsusan]

Diana Tarkan is an excellent teacher, I think Raqia could also put you in touch with her...she's very good at improving your overall technique! Also second wigglewhiz's recommendation of Randa. I wasn't a fan when I went over but I am now after seeing her perform and taking class from her!!!

[leylalanty]

Thanks for posting your journal! It takes me back to Cairo and studying with Raqia! Wish I could be there now too, but I have to wait until June. As others have said, it's good to have your experiences traveling without a group so that others can see what may happen if they go on their own too. I think you've pointed out well that your experiences on the street when you're alone are somewhat different from those when your partner is with you. Women reading your posts should remember that and be prepared to handle being alone on the street just the way your are handling it. Bravo! I'm happy to hear too that the desk clerk in the hotel gave you excellent advice.

[eshe]

Thanks so much for all the comments and compliments! I had a bit of a hard time researching other dancer's experiences before I came and most of the emails I got from Cairo teachers just said "Call me when you get here." A lot of other people I knew who were planning trips seemed to be looking for and not finding info either so I hope this helps someone.

So here goes for the next bit..

[eshe]

9/13

So we are officially into our 2nd week here and Ramadan has started. I went to Mme. Hassan's this morning and was 10 minutes into my practice when I cut the padding on my big toe. I don’t know how it happened but it was pretty painful when a lot of the moves are on releve. When she came in to check on me I showed her my foot and she took me to the bathroom to wash it and gave me some socks to wear for the rest of the practice.

I still have a lot of “hardness” to work on. She often tells me that I’m too soft. So I worked on that for most of the lesson and she taught me another 30 seconds of the choreography. So after 6 lessons, I’m around 3 minutes into the 6 minute song. Hopefully that means I can finish it next week sometime and perfect it before we fly out. We’ve been here 8 of our 26 days now, so 18 left.

I think I’ll take a day off to go the Pyramids and a day to go to Alexandria maybe some time next week and the week after. I feel bad because I think my partner is a little bored. I’m so tired after rehearsing for 2-3 hours and we’re on vacation so I usually just feel like napping after the lesson. Plus, I don’t think my body has fully adjusted to the time difference. I don’t know why but for me 5-8 hours is always more difficult to adjust to than 10-12.

[eshe]

One thing I haven’t written about is feeling discouraged. Some days, after training for 2-3 hours, I just don’t have the discipline to do it again in our room. I know I should because my technique is not perfect, but I feel sick of the music and moves at times. Nights when I don’t rehearse I always fall in love with the music in the morning again. I could rehearse to other music but I have a hard time going back to the original for the timing. The CD player in her studio is also broken. The only buttons that work are play, stop and track forward so I have to do the whole choreo to get to the new 30 seconds. Some moves I feel like I’m learning for the first time because the Egyptian way is so different from what I’m used to. Other moves I am learning for the first time and if I needed a reminder that belly dance is not a hobby in Egypt I got it. I’m not trying to be a whiner. I’m just saying there is a lot of “I told you once, don’t move that leg” or “Why did you decide to plie there?” or “That doesn’t look like a circle to me.” It’s thickening my skin though and making me work harder in the end. That said getting a “yalla” or a “beautiful” after working on the choreo for a week from Mme. Hassan is pretty awesome.

We had a nap in the afternoon and then the air conditioner blew a fuse (the 2nd in 2 days). So we had to get the front desk guys to fix it. I really think they must love us. Things just keep falling apart in our room. We had hot water all day though, so that was good.

[eshe]

My partner decided that while I practiced he’d try and find the puppet theatre. He said he’d be back around 8, so I figured he would probably return around 8:30 and I decided 9 would be worry-time. He came back just after 9 much to my relief. He’d found the puppet theatre, but didn’t want to go in because the performance had started 15 minutes earlier, so he walked around Islamic Cairo and was coming back to the hotel when an older (than him) man stopped him. The man explained he was 57 and had studied English and wanted to know if my partner would talk with him. After trying to lose the guy for a few minutes my partner realized it wasn’t going to happen and sat down and had a drink with the guy. Actually he had 3 drinks. The man kept ordering them because “you can only get them in Egypt.” He really liked the mint-flavoured tea. I think he didn’t love the hibiscus drink and I can’t remember what else he had. He finally told the man his wife was going to be very worried if he didn’t get back soon.


9/14
(Thanks everybody for reading the first entries, by the way. I’m glad this is useful to someone other than me and I’m not boring everyone! Much love.)

Last week I had to leave the hotel around 9:35 to flag down a cab by 9:40 to reach the Cairo Sheraton for 9:55, to walk to Mme. Raqia’s for 10. Before Ramadan, I had to wait 30 seconds or more to wait for a good time to cross the street (glad we had all that practice in Vietnam last Christmas. A passerby told my partner to cross the street Egyptian-style you must just walk out and pray). Since Ramadan has started I sometimes wait 30 seconds before a single car drives down the street. And a 10-15 minute drive now takes about 3-4 minutes tops.

[eshe]

I haven’t been to any other teachers. For me, she’s tops. I’m learning a lot from her and I’m getting a better feel for her version of Egyptian style every day. Everyday she picks something personal of mine to work on and the longer I study under her the more she sees. Had I taken just 1 lesson with her, I don’t think I would’ve walked away with much at all. Today was spins, which I’m horrible at. After she gave me a few pointers about how she’d like to see them done I promptly sent myself flying into her dinning room chairs-three times (she wasn’t watching and those are the times that I remember, I’m sure it happened more than that). I also have to work on my Egyptian pelvis tucks. Because it’s Ramadan I had been sneaking into my bag to steal sips of water between rehearsing. I wasn’t sure how strict Mme. Raqia is, but she brought me some water while I was dancing, so I guess I got my answer. She did the 15-25 minute check-in until about 11:45 and then said she was going out and would return very quickly because she was taking a taxi. She asked if I would wait for her and I said yes because I thought she said half an hour. I trained until 1:45 and then decided to head back to the hotel because I thought I was probably missed by then. I left her a note saying that I would be back tomorrow morning at 10.

My partner is my biggest promoter and press agent so when I got back to the hotel I was very happy to hear that my hometown paper is going to run a story on me being in Egypt and returning to Canada to do a show.

I was not happy to hear that he had a very painful stomachache. So we decided to stay in today and he slept on and off the whole day. Around 9 he went out to grab us some take out because he didn’t want me walking around alone at night and then we read a bit and watched a few more TV episodes.

[eshe]

9/15

I got up and packed for Mme. Raqia’s around 8. My partner holds most of our money so in the morning, he hunts through his wallet looking for small bills (which are hard to get) for the taxi. It’s a total reversal from Japan where drivers prefer (at least in Totsuka a suburb of Yokohama) nationals to foreigners. We are always picked out of the pack by drivers here. I usually give 5LE to get from Talaat Harb (where my hotel is) to the Cairo Sheraton and the same for the return. I also bring a change of clothes (the air conditioner is usually turned on but sometimes it’s not). I was bringing baby wipes to clean my feet from the Cairo dirt before class, but I ran out. I bring a book to read if she’s busy before class. I bring a snack to eat on the sly in case I’m there for more than 3 hours. I bring a watch so I have an idea of the time (only 1 of the studios has a clock). I try to remember water, but sometimes I forget and she usually offers me some anyways. I wear sunglasses or a hat when I’m out alone usually (which is just in the mornings or afternoons-I don’t go out alone at night). Once the traffic was really bad and it was quicker to walk to my hotel than to wait in a taxi, so I was glad I had a hat then too.

All last week, only 1 of her 2 stereos would work. On the one that did work, you could only press the play, stop and track forward buttons. Yesterday, the track forward button stopped working and I had to hit the shuffle button until it came upon my track. It was like being in Vegas! But I think the lesson after mine might’ve been cancelled because Mme. Raqia couldn’t get the CD player working. So now I also bring my ipod so we can crank that up and listen to it, if I can’t get the CD player working.

My partner had said he wanted to check out some of the markets in the area. We visited Sharia al-Muski and walked around another small market. I was expecting to be attacked and was pleasantly surprised when I wasn’t. The cutest thing one of the vendors said was “Speak English? I love you.”

[eshe]

9/16

Traffic was busy today for the first time in a few days, I'm not sure if everyone is "over" Ramadan or if it was just a fluke. Either way it took a little longer to get to Mme. Raqia’s today. I always try to look like I know where I'm going when I'm out alone (and I usually do). I put on my "bar face" when I'm out-expression neutral, eyes down but still able to take things in. And I never react to anything anyone says to me.

We finished a minute and forty-five seconds today. It’s the most I’ve done in a day ever (we usually only do 30 seconds-because I'm such a slow learner). We just have the finale to work on now (there’s about a minute left in the song). I’m pretty happy with myself. I would bake myself cookies if I could! She said everything is beautiful, but I need to work on my hands with the new parts. I thought Egyptian belly dance featured really plain hand work, but she does a lot with her hands.

She left at around 11:45 and I left a bit after that to go to the grocery store near her place. I made a plan with my partner that he could go out wandering in the morning and we’d meet in the evening. He left me a note in the room saying he was heading to Old Cairo to check it out some more.

I’m going to hop on the net and post these last few entries and then answer the rest of my interview questions for the paper.

--------------------------

[rakkasah_barbara]

I'm enjoying your Cairo 'diary', thanks for sharing and keep it up!

B

[leylalanty]

I'm enjoying them too even though I've been there 15 times and have studied with Raqia on a continuing basis too. I love the advice from the Egyptian man to cross the street like an Egyptian "walk out and pray"... I agree that if you were taking a lesson here and a lesson there with different teachers that you would come away with less. Raqia is the best, IMNSHO. I found that after getting a really good basis in Raqia's technique, style, etc., I can now get far more out of the other Egyptian teachers than I could have without that basis. Keep up the good work and be very proud of yourself!!

[Lauren_]

I'm so proud of you for working so hard. I feel like a slug. You've inspired me, I've been lazy the last couple of weeks but I'm going to start really practicing again. I'm embarassed to call myself a dancer next to you.

[tigerb]

Eshe, I am GLUED to this thread. Can't wait for the next installment!

(Hey, I have a question. What are you wearing to to your classes? Does the "t shirt and yoga pants" uniform cut it in Egypt?)

[Lauren_]

Originally Posted by tigerb

Eshe, I am GLUED to this thread. Can't wait for the next installment!

(Hey, I have a question. What are you wearing to to your classes? Does the "t shirt and yoga pants" uniform cut it in Egypt?)

Nope. Well, the T-shirt is OK, but you have to tuck it into super-shiny lycra spandex leggings in neon colors.

(anyone have the Raqia photos to back this up?)

[bintbeled]

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Nope. Well, the T-shirt is OK, but you have to tuck it into super-shiny lycra spandex leggings in neon colors.

(anyone have the Raqia photos to back this up?)

[eshe]

We hopped across the street for dinner to the Talaat Harb Complex. We went down to the food court to Solo Pizza and Pasta for dinner. It was 4 pounds (about $0.75US) for a big plate of pasta-a pretty good deal.

9/17

I finished the choreography at Mme. Raqia’s today!!! I am so proud of myself!! I still have lots of polishing to do, but I thought it would be another 4 lessons or so before I finished it.

My partner met me after class on the steps of her apartment and we flagged a taxi to go 5 minutes away to Manial Palace Museum. We were a minute away when the driver took a wrong turn-and kept going-even though I told him we were going in the wrong direction. He drove away from the site and then in circles for the next 30 minutes before pulling over and asking for directions-even though we had a map and knew where we wanted to go. 2 cops and 1 pedestrian plus my partner and the taxi driver were huddled around the map before they could understand what we wanted. We finally got dropped off near the street (45 minutes after we’d started out). My partner gave the guy 10LE and the guy freaked and started asking for 20LE. If he’d done it right the first time, it would have been a 5LE or less drive. 10LE was generous in my opinion, so we just kept walking.

We finally got to the museum to find it was closed. Lonely Planet said the walk to the Um Kathoum Museum and the Nileometer were only 15 minutes, so we started walking. I’m sure we were going slower because of the heat, but it took over 30 minutes to get there. My partner though was really reluctant to get into another cab.

When we finally go to the museum-it too was closed but the Nileometer was open. It was made to measure the depth of the Nile to predict the harvest. It was made in 861 and though there isn’t a lot to see (it’s all one big chamber that has a coloumn that is 16 cubits long) it was only 10LE for admittance and pretty interesting. There’s no English information or pamphlets to make it more interesting to tourists but that’s actually what a lot of places are like. There are also no signs saying “Nileometer this way” or “Nileometer 2km” And even when you get to the place you are going, if it’s run by the government the staff will ignore you. The lady who was selling tickets was sitting on a lawn chair in the gardens outside the Nileometer. She totally ignored us until we unsteadily stepped her way and were 2 feet from her.

[eshe]

I really recommend Lonely Planet (although their maps sometimes leave something to be desired) for info on what to see and what you are seeing.

Then we walked over to Coptic Cairo. It was very peaceful there. A nice change of pace from downtown. Our first stop was the Covenant of St George. Inside you can wear the chain that was used to punish St George. It’s supposed to be healing and miracles happen to the people who touch it. There’s some beautiful tile and woodwork in here.

Next was Church of St Sergius where the holy family hid after fleeing to Egypt. You can only see the staircase leading down to the cave and a tiny bit of the inside (they have mass down there once a year and the rest of the year you can just see a picture they took of the cave). I’m not religious at all but it was really powerful, even for me. A lovely little church to see.

The guards and shopkeepers are pretty helpful. A lot of them often ask where we are from. When we say “Canada” they say “Canada Dry!!” And repeat it every time they see us.

Next up was the Church of St. Barbara. She was beaten to death by her father for trying to convert him to Christianity. It’s just another small pretty church. Next to the church is the Greek Orthodox cemetery. More beautiful artistry here-and stray cats.

People are obviously pretty devoted who live and work there. My partner explored a lot of Coptic Cairo yesterday and he told me that when he was walking over to check out the synagogue, a guard said “What are you doing, there’s nothing over there but a synagogue!” My partner also said there was a man handing out scarves for all the tourbus women to wear who’d shown up in tubetops. He said and I agree “Would you wear a tubetop to a church or graveyard in your own country?”

Then we viewed the Roman Towers built in 98 AD. Usually these are first but we came through a back way to get there.

Lastly we saw the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As. It was the first mosque built in Egypt. Again, pretty incredible when you think about it. I’ve read that the inside is spectacular, but we didn’t feel like getting pushed around by attendants, so we just looked from the outside.

Everything we went to today had an hour or more until closing, but when it got to the hour mark everyone who was working there started pushing people through and out. None of the churches had entrance fees but we did make donations to the poor.

[eshe]

We crossed our fingers and hopped in a cab and went to TGI Fridays. It’s on a boat! A boat! The service here was the best we’d had in Cairo but the food was pretty bland and overcooked. The view from inside was much better than the view from on the patio. You can see a big stretch of the Nile from inside and it’s very pretty. We were there from before sunset until after sunset and it was an awesome view. Our waiter also gave us some hibiscus juice on the house.

After that we came back to the hotel. Most of the staff here are super friendly and helpful. Our favourite guy had an innocent (I think) thing going with a Japanese girl who was staying here for a month to study Arabic. We met her 2 days before she had to leave and spoke a little Japanese with her. The other morning we said “how are you?” to him and he said “A little bad, because she left today.” He invited us to watch the inter-Egypt soccer game in the lobby with him at 9:30.

[eshe]

To dance class I change into a tank top or tshirt and yoga pants. Although the woman after me today was wearing just a sports bra and lycra shorts...