Back in Cairo

I returned to Cairo on December 31, around 10:30 in the morning of New Year's Eve. This time husband Jack is along for the next few months. He was excited about arriving in Cairo and living and working in this busy city. Of course, after such a long trip, we were in no shape to go out. Rather, we slept until about 6:00 in the evening. We did go out for a walk and a bite to eat, but no partying.

We walked down to our local suug--sort of an covered market with a variety of little shops including a butcher, a baker, a green grocer, a small general grocery store for things like canned goods, toilet paper, etc., and a pharmacy, a little plumbing place and a little electrical place. Jack was facinated by the butcher and the bakery.

The local bakery working late into the evening. It is a gas fired oven.

They are baking a sort of pita bread that puffs up upon baking.

Outside the butcher shop at our local suug.

All the butchers posing for Jack as he took the picture.

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Finding your way around in Cairo is problematic for newcomers, especially if you do not speak or read Arabic, as you can see from the signpost. Most Cairenes use landmarks for directions, because so many streets have more than one name and the name changes mid-block at times. So using street names often does not work well. The city is filled with Midans--local round-a-bouts--and many many mosques, notable conspicious buildings, like hospitals, or post offices, parks, stores etc, so finding your way around by landmarks is not as difficult as it sounds. This sign is pointing to a pedestrian way that contained all the shops mentioned in the sign. (I think.)

We find the Arabic writing beautiful to look at and marvel at the folks that are bilingual. They must shift from reading Arabic right to left, to reading English, left to right. Often signs and billboards are in both languages but people make that shift easily, apparently.

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Tonight we went to the movies at City Stars, a huge shopping mall. We were in theater 13. I am not sure how many theaters there are all together. We saw Australia with Arabic subtitles. This was an interesting experience. It took us a minute to figure out that the wall of ticket booths was one booth for each movie. Some lines were much longer than others. You go to the ticket booth for the movie you want to see, pay your money and select a seat. This seat selection business takes a bit of time because you must discuss with your movie going friends where you want to sit, etc. Once that decision is made you buy your ticket and proceed to the correct theater where the usher shows you to your assigned seat. Midway through the movie there is an intermission--a smoking break--only there supposedly is no smoking in the area. Yet many smokers go out and have a quick cigarette while standing around the trash cannister with the no smoking sign above. Everyone goes back in for the rest of the movie. People use their cell phone screens for flashlights--clever. Now that we know you go to the ticket booth for YOUR movie we won't waste time waiting in the wrong line. The signs were all in Arabic, but luckily there was a picture from the movie to clue you as to which line was for which movie.

The City Stars Shopping Mall. This is very new and upscale.