dude...like a lady

yesterday, the father of one of nadiya’s friends who is staying in egypt for diplomatic purposes (he’s an american diplomat with pakistani origins) invited us to his part of town. he lives in a beautiful suburb called ma’aadi. this Uncle is neighbors with many other diplomats, ambassadors and foreigners on overseas jobs. many of their homes are guarded by cement walls and/or security guards with big rifles at the entrances. there’s a different feel to this area...a lot more greenery, less sand, more westerners, cleaner air, etc. there’s a rule that a building cannot have an occupancy of more than 50% american. that’s in case the building ever gets blown up, only ½ the americans die, not all....how clever.

Uncle took us to another uncle’s house for a dars and lunch. he was also of pakistani origin and married to a turkish woman. i don’t know what he does but he’s one of the big guys as well. there were other important people at this lunch. the 3 of us felt like we were one of the elite. we had to sit up with perfect posture, one leg crossed over the other and hands folded over our laps just like posh ladies. i so wanted to sit with my legs up and back slouched but was afraid of being scorned at. unfortunately, nadiya did something that lowered her status in the eyes of the women and at the same time lowered ours through association. you see, she was experiencing some ‘discomfort’ in what she was wearing and instead of going to the bathroom to fix it (which probably the ladies there would have done), she went behind the chinese screen. mind you, all the women were sitting right there and saw her through the cracks of the screen. when she came back around, they were all staring at her. hahaha! she thought no one saw. actually, it wasn’t like that. everyone was so nice to us and laid back and invited us to their places in the future.

i’m trying to locate a particular place so i can volunteer there before i leave. it’s through islamic relief and the place is called ‘early intervention rehabilitation center’ and it’s located somewhere in the town of helwan in cairo. i can’t find the exact address nor the telephone number of this place. if anyone knows, please inform me. thanks.