2/22
Sunday
I’m up a little after 7 AM, grab a cup of tea and plant myself on the balcony to talk to Fred on Skype. We try taking turns seeing each other on video, but the connection is weak and each time, after a few minutes, our connection breaks. Today it seems to break just talking. Well, I am counting down the days till I don’t have to Skype and can see him in person!
The rest of my morning is spent catching up on my journal, cleaning the bathroom, and doing wash. I can get 2 loads done before the girls are up so I don’t have to compete for the washer or clothes line ; ).
At 1 PM Annieck, Halla, and I head to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the week. There is another Metro grocery store close to us that we decide to check out and compare. There is also a Lebanese style shawirma place near it that Halla tried with her friends last night and she wants to try again. Annieck and I are game for that! During our grocery shopping Annieck gets call and is invited to join some friends horseback riding near the Pyramids, so we pack her and the heavy grocery bags in a cab so she can get back to the flat to change and get to the stables. Halla take the rest of the groceries and walk first to the shawirma stand and then to the flat.
Abu Ameer is the name of the shawirma stand. Outside stand 3 men, 2 in Lebanese trousers slicing chicken and beef shawirma and rolling it into sandwiches in thin Lebanese bread, and a third who takes the rolled sandwiches and grills them slightly on a griddle. Inside is a deli with containers of hummus, babaganou, tabouli, lebna, stuffed grape leaves, falafel, …Yea!!! It is all right around the corner from us—we don’t have to go all the way to the Khan!! And the price is right- 35 EP for 2 chicken shawirma sandwiches, and a container each of tabouli, hummus, and eggplant salad. That is about $6 for enough food for lunch and snack for 2. And it is good, too : )! This place could be habit forming.
After our wonderful late lunch, I settle into my studies with a cup of mint tea. I also call Semiramis Hotel to find out the cost and make reservations for Dina’s show. Lilly is excited to go with me, Nicole is still, but Dee Dee is also thinking about joining us. Since Dina won’t dance till 2 or 3 in the morning, I try to get a nap because I do have school in the morning.
I was asleep for about an hour when I am awakened by the cell phone. It is a message from Dee Dee: “Call me now” So I do. It is from her that I learn of the Khan al-Khalili blast. She was visiting with Aida Noor when she learned of it. Please, she says, don’t go downtown or anyplace there is a crowd. She is much relieved when I decide to reschedule the Dina show for another night. Dee Dee didn’t have many facts, but there was a death and several injuries. She knew someone who knew someone in the government and that was how she knew of the event. She hoped to have more information later. I really appreciated her call and her concern for me.
This is very upsetting news. Annieck, Halla, and I spent the rest of the evening trying to get some facts. Because it has happened so recently, it took a while to find news in English on the Internet of the TV. BBC was the first to have information on the Internet, then the Aljazeera on TV. The three of us also tried to call and email families and friends that we were not near the blast.
All we are ever able to learn is that one young (17 yrs. old) French woman was killed and several Egyptians, several French tourists, a few Germans, and a few Saudi’s were injured in the blast—the total was 17 or 20 depending on where we got our information. There was also conflicting information as to whether the bomb was thrown from the Al Hussein Hotel, thrown from a motor scooter, or placed under a bench. The bomb was “homemade” and there was a second bomb found that didn’t go off. No group had claimed responsibility.
I also call Lilly and Nicole to tell them. They were both just coming out of a Fulbright meeting. Lilly and I decided that it would be best to reschedule the Dina show in the light of the event, especially since we didn’t have a full picture of all that happened and what effect it would have on the city or even if it was an isolated event.
I call Fred. This is not the kind of news you want to deliver to those at home, especially since the facts are still so scarce. But I feel that it would be better to come from me so that he would know I was safe, rather than have him learn of it in the morning and worry. I promise to stay safe. It is comforting that we live in an Egyptian neighborhood and are far from tourist attractions and hotels. It is also comforting that, by the time we go to bed, it appears to be an isolated event.
The one bright side of the night was that I got a call on Skype from my mother-in-law. She is 83 and lives in the Chicago area. She has hocked herself up to
Skype and is all excited to try out this new technology. With her are Rob (my oldest son) and his wife Amanda. What fun to talk and see (via video) each other over so many miles!! I think it was also helpful for them to see me and know I was all right and safe.
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