Touring Nazlet Samaan

Asalamu Alaykom,

It was a hard day yesterday

(Morsi trial, no morning bus pick-up AND no notice that there would be no pick-up, 21 LE taxi ride, ornery kids who wanted the day off, substitution duty for the teachers too scared to come in, finding out that my kid went to detention for non-stop laughing, missing the afternoon bus, demanding that we be on that bus, stressing at not knowing where the impromptu route was going to drop us off, being in a tuk-tuk and not knowing exactly where I was and not being able to tell my husband that information on the phone and getting yelled at.)


I had to have a better day today.

I grabbed the camera and headed out with my husband to buy tumaya.  We were going on a short walking tour of Nazlet Samaan to help me remember why the hell I love Egypt and want to live here.

Door frame painted in the Egyptian flag colors with bloody hand prints from Eid.

Wall with pictures indicating that the family inside went on Hajj.

Picture indicating that the family inside loves Sisi...

A LOT!

Sleepy cat

Loved the curlicues; hated the stench of the garbage.  You can't see it but I still smell it.  

I love doors in Egypt.

I also love cauliflower.  We bought a small one for 4 LE.  The seller started at 10 LE.

This fancy home was used as a location in the 60's for a popular TV drama about a family who digs up their floor in order to find ancient treasure.

Yes, that is a peacock on the roof.  I want one too.

Same fancy house.  Love it.

This is on the back roads to the Pyramids.

As far as you can go towards the Pyramids from Nazlet Samaan.

Last house in the village.

Love all the curves.

It was morning and there were more cats than people out and about.

Did I mention that I love the doors?

Doors tell us of possibilities; suggest of thresholds we could cross into new worlds.

I adore this verdigris.

There are no tourists, so I was the only one noticing this papyrus of Surah Yassin.

These are papyrus plants growing outside the shop.  I love the blue and gold together in the background.

Islamic tiling designs and pro-military.  This is Egypt!  My hub said that this poster was supporting the military and the police.  I told him that it looked like they were fighting each other.  He couldn't see that.  Can you?

The government subsidized bakery and Sisi.  Lots of Sisi.  There were levels above of more Sisi but I didn't take those pictures.  A man walked over to us and started telling me who Sisi was and then started his military-in-Egypt spiel.  It made me nervous.  Basically, a fight can break out in Egypt at any time.  I'm not joking.

Here's the close-up I took right before we walked away.  I asked my hub if he was scared from the man talking to us and he said he wasn't.

Here's the tumaya shop.  Yes, that's my hub's hand holding our ticket.

Who wouldn't like seeing this as a possible breakfast?  I have loved falafel/tumaya since college.

Then all hell broke loose.  We're going through a cooking gas canister shortage here, so when this massive truck drove through the neighborhood, people stopped and stared.  It wasn't just the one truck.  

There was a smaller truck.  Here's that driver answering a woman's questions.  There was also a parade of vehicles following behind since they wanted to be first in line.  Everyone around us pulled out their mobiles and began calling.  About three minutes later, an elderly man on a bike sped by with a used canister.  His son worked the other tumaya shop and yelled at him to hurry.  We all  laughed.

As we began our walk home, I saw two women in galabiyas carrying empty canisters on their heads.  I wanted to take their picture but I didn't. Imagine how strong and determined they were to run out of their homes and down the road in order to help their families.  God bless them.

Goats and meat

Morsi meets Warhol.  I love this picture.  It actually sings of the presidency of Morsi from shiny and new to broken and shabby.  The inhabitants are either very brave or very forgetful.  I was a little scared to take the picture. 

Another cool door, right?

Colors!  I I love how decorative this cart was.  The most green you will see is on these carts carrying animal feed.

Turnips.

Sadly, turnips aren't the only purple in our village.  This apartment building is hideously kinky.

Carving up a camel.  It's got a strange juxtaposition to it, doesn't it?

Life is beautiful, strange, colorful, exciting, scary, and surprising.  Egypt has always felt more alive than any other country I've been.  It isn't always "nice" and that's when I'm not happy.  I am, however, still able to find the good outweighing the bad.  

May it always be so.