Cairo draws a crowd…

Every morning the urban equivalent of a cock crowing occurs throughout Cairo. A man in a deep, hollow voice makes his call for Muslims to gather at the Mosque. I stayed in a hotel next to the busiest street in the world with earplugs in and I still heard his song. This booming voice officially occurs five times a day to coincide with the number of times Muslims are supposed to pray. Later the same evening I was sitting in a sheesha restaraunt with about 10 televisions playing Arab pop music, and the voice appeared again. The waiters turned off the sound of the music, but everyone in the restaurant acted like nothing changed. After his voice finished, some sort of gong boomed aside what sounded something like a conkshell. At this call, millions of Muslims turn to Mecca and lower their heads in submission to God. While this is the most ostesible gathering in Cairo, I am quickly finding just about everything that happens here draws a crowd.

I’ll give you some examples.

I’m in the internet cafe and hear a woman letting out a string of shrill screams. It sounded like she was dying or being raped and swarms of men ran in the direction of her voice. Turns out she was caught stealing.

About 1/2 an hour later, (but I can’t really tell b/c I was listening to the Eagles game, and time is irrelevant at that moment) hundreds of teenagers are marching down the street cheering for the local football (soccer) team (which isn’t very good) when I see a young boy in the arms of another being carried off to lay down. I don’t know if he was trampled or just fainted. But all these kids are fanning him with their shirts while another boy runs to bring him water.

A couple days ago I found a shawarma stand that makes a sandwich as good as any cheesesteak I’ve had in Philly (I’m going to hell for that one) but I don’t know how to order it. I’m trying to explain while the guy is yelling words I don’t understand. Then a guy comes up to me to try to help, followed by another guy, and another guy. One guys is flipping through my Arabic dictionary, though I’m not sure he can read and I have no idea and I’m spinning around in whirling dervishes. Turns out, in true Philly fashion, there’s a specific way of ordering, and I failed miserably.

Today was the inauguration of the Egyptian President, who was democratically elected after 20 years in power as it is. Regardless, the traffic, which on most days there are guys running around with trays of coffee and tea to sell to waiting riders, was in a total standstill. The taxi driver missed his turn to my office so we were a decent walk from my work. I get out of the car b/c I can’t wait any more and I see two guys about to fight. There’s about 15 guys there, and growing, trying to break it up. After I walk past the throng, one of the guys in the fight runs over to a cafe and grabs a metal table. I don’t know what happened next, but it looked they stopped him.

The point that I would like to make is not that Cairo is mayhem, which it is, but that one would expect a city of 20 million people to be cold and unfriendly, like say, New York or Paris. In actuality it’s an open city full of charming people (minus the guy with the metal table). And even if they do smile to reveal brown teeth, it’s a kind gesture nonetheless. Although I get lost two blocks from my apartment, I feel a part of a community of people. Of course there’s poverty and beggars, but there’s an invisible support network of people who want to help, even it does mean I might have to give them a couple pounds (which is about 40 cents). I don’t mean to be sarcastic…things are just done here in groups. I have yet to do anything like shop for an apartment, buy food, or whatever, without people helping me. Oh yeah, and everyone calls each other habibi, which is like, "babe," "honey," "dear" or any other term of endearment that annoying couples call each other. It literally means "my love." It’s so…welcoming. Ahlan wa sahlan fi masr! (Welcome to Egypt!)