City of Angels and Devils

My Angel
Originally uploaded by hazy jenius.

I had timed my arrival in the Middle east as to avoid Ramadan, but I was lucky to arrive just in time for "Eid," the celebration following the days of fasting. One day I was passing by a mosque courtyard filled with people sitting on the ground. I was confused as to what they were gathering there for. I was both surprised and delighted when a group asked me to come sit with them. No one spoke any English, but they were overjoyed to have such a strange guest in their midst. Suddenly, chanting bellowed from the mosque loudspeakers, and as if by magic, bread, chicken, salads, lentils, vegetables, sweets and endless cups of tea all came out of hiding and made their way to my plate. These people shared everything they had with me. Some gave me looks of scorn, others bewilderment, but when I gave them a smile, more often than not it was generously returned.

Coffins and Cough'ins. Hello Cairo

Chaotic Cairo
Originally uploaded by hazy jenius.

FROGGER.

The pyramids might be one of the last remaining wonders of the ancient world, but Cairo's traffic left me bewildered and in awe. Roads packed with careening trucks, tourist-packed busses steered by wild-eyed drivers weaving in and out of "lanes," and thousands of taxis honking madly, just because that seems to be what Cairo taxi drivers do best. By far, Cairo's biggest transportation challenge was crossing this mad mix of vehicles to get to the other side.

Four years in Japan trained me not to even think about crossing the street unless the green light says go, even with no cars in sight. I quickly had to ditch the habits of conformity and throw myself wildly into a potentially deadly game of FROGGER. SPLAT! I found the safest approach was to find a local Egyptian and use him as a human shield. Walk, scurry, duck and skitter in step with him, shoulder to shoulder, until reaching safety (a small side street where perhaps the main vehicular threat would be a renegade donkey cart.) 9 times out of 10, after completing the crossing safely, my human splat-guard would turn to me and say, "See? Now you can walk like an Egyptian. Now how about walking to my papyrus shop?"