Sweet dreams are made of this...

Last weekend has been quite nice: on Friday, Marie-Eve, Mario and I went to a hotel for a bit of sunbathing around a pool. Oh yes, you might wonder why the hell we went to a hotel for this... Well, just because in Cairo, there’s no such thing as a local swimming pool. You either have to join a gym - which I’ll probably end up doing once I get my first salary; I actually saw one near my flat with a rooftop swimming pool, how cool is that?! - or you just have  to go to a hotel and pay a fee if you want to bathe around and get a tan... So that’s what we did! It was so lovely and sunny, I felt I was on holidays... Oh wait a minute, I still am! Sorry, I couldn’t help it... Then in the evening, we joined other teachers – Donna, Isabelle, JB, Marie, Marie-Christine, Priti and Samira (who we all suspect to shag JB...) - at an Egyptian restaurant for a delicious meal. I had some falafels, some hummus, some babaghanoug, some tahina and as a dessert I took some Om Ali... I just can’t get enough of their food, it’s so yummy! I almost climaxed while eating!

On Saturday, Isabelle introduced me to her taxi driver – oh yes, this is something quite common here, as you’ve got to get a taxi to go anywhere, you end up being very friendly with taxi drivers and some people, like Isabelle, even get a regular one! How bourgeois!  Anyway, I understood straight away why she chose this particular one as her regular cabbie: what a cutie! Ok, Isabelle admits herself that Hassan – that’s his name - looks 18 and that it’s really wrong to fancy him, but hey we’re only human, right? Anyway, no need to say that I asked for his number straight away and intend to make him my regular cabbie as well, oh yes! We had a little chat while driving around and guess what? Hassan is such a sweet guy! His parents are divorced and his father fucked off to Saudi Arabia, so he’s working as a taxi driver to support his mother and his two sisters, aww... By then, Isabelle and I were just melting and thinking of ways to make him earn more money... You know what I’m talking about!

In the evening, Danielle called me because she wanted to go downtown and have a look at Cairo by night. I agreed because it sounded like a great idea, and off we went on the metro... I don’t really know how to tell Danielle because she’s very nice, but man, she needs to get some proper clothes! All the men were looking at us in the streets, and I’m not so sure about the comments they were making out loud... I was so embarrassed! I mean, yes, it’s really hot even at night, and yes, you can be feminine even in Egypt, but please leave the short skirt and the strappy top at home! It’s full of frustrated testosterone fuelled men out there! And the worst was that she was surprised and kept saying: “I don’t understand! In my guide book they say foreign women are safe if they’re with a guy...!?” Yes, but not if they look like w***es! Ok, sorry, I shouldn’t say this but it seems like common sense really! Anyway, we ended up getting lost, as the city centre is a real maze if you don’t have a map, which we didn’t... I know, it was stupid of us! It then all became surreal when, trying to find our way back to the metro, we bumped into some sheep and two children riding a donkey! Yes, in the city centre, at around midnight! So weird! You really learn not to be shocked by anything in this country...

On Sunday, I went to the barber’s to get a haircut. What an experience! First, I turned up and the barber was shaving...?! So he asked me to wait for him to finish, which I did, although I thought he could have done it before coming to work... Isn’t it what everyone does?! There I was for half an hour looking at a barber shaving – what a weird experience, imagine he had been a proctologist! Ok, let’s not go there... Anyway, he then took care of me, and whereas in London I used to ask for a trim and it would take ten minutes max, I did ask for a trim and it took at least forty minutes... First he insisted on changing clippers for every single side of my head, 4 on top, 3 on the sides, 2 near the ears, 1 at the back... I thought I’d look like Annie Lennox, Eurythmics’ era! Then, once trimmed, he decided to rearrange everything with a pair of scissors... And suddenly, unexpectedly, he grabbed my nostrils, opened them up and started to go wild with his scissors!?!?!? I was so taken aback, looking like a pig, and scared he’d cut something wrong in there! I left the barber’s feeling a bit confused but happy to have been a bit pampered in a weird kind of way... Maybe next time, I’ll ask him where I can get a waxing... at my own risk!

Comments

[Misbe]

Mais c'est quand exactement, la reprise pour toi alors???

Plus sérieusement, je suis impressionnée par la quantité d'aventures qui t'arrivent au Caire... même un rendez-vous chez le barbier semble relever de l'exploit LOL. Tu devrais te convertir en conteur pour enfants, tu ferais un malheur!
Sinon, ta copine Danielle, en dépit de son nom, elle ne serait pas anglaise par hasard? Cela expliquerait bien des choses!

[Picky Miss]

you go girl. just don't ask for a brazilian!