hermit ShashSha is crawling out of her shell slowly but surely... i'm not sure why i'm so hesitant going out by myself... maybe i'm still living a bit of trauma... i don't know... i'd like to think i don't have fear instilled in me, but sometimes the voices in my head tell me it's a big and dangerous world out there and i better just stay indoors... naww... just kidding...
i think it's more cus i don't want to be seen just wandering aimlessly around without a certain destination when i'm alone. i want to make it seem to bystanders that i know exactly where i'm going and i might look different from all you people, but i'm no naive tourist that you can try to rip off...
yea ok i'm rambling a bit...
so what have i been doing the past few days?
well friday, went to the al azhar center across the way for jummah. obviously didn't understand much of the kutbah other than shiaa this and shiaa that and sahaba this and sahaba that. wonder why they have to talk as if we're all going on some protest rally afterwards?
also wish the women's section wasn't a completely different room without a view of the sheikh... just a sharply loud audio speaker. wish i could design the ideal masjid... it would probably look somewhat similar to MCA's masjid in santa clara, california (united states)... isn't it the right for the women to be able to see the sheikh or the imam or whoever's giving the kutbah too? persionally, i don't like the actual physical barriers but i know other's don't agree with me so i think what MCA has is quite appropriate. i've heard of some masjids where the women's section is on a level above the main masjid... i'd assume it's sort of like how some churches has the choir at the back of the church on a level above the congregation? so that design would be pretty neat too, with perhaps one of those tinted glass floor to ceiling window/walls?
apart from going to the service, i was also sort of hoping to meet some sisters there too, but i don't think that will be happening as most of the women were either a lot older than me or a lot younger... oh well
would it be totally off the wall to wonder if there are any masjids here who give kutbahs in english? yea probably huh... again... i just have to learn the language...
so after the friday service, manaoomti and i went to bahary to have some delicious fish at abou asharaf... had some calamari, moza, a snapper type fish, prawns, seafood soup, seafood rice, and all the other salads and hummus and stuff that comes with the meal. very filling and satisfying :) manaoomti always overstuffs himself when we go there. so cute. we walked for a little and then had some ice cream (which is really more like a fusion of gelato and sorbet) at azza
on saturday i went to san stefano mall and met up with one of my students from last time i was here in egypt. we had lunch in the food court and cought up with each other. then walked around the mall for a while before heading out and walking on the corniche. before heading home i went to the fathalla market and bought a few food items. i'm excited to the thought of going scarf shopping with her some day soon :)
[happy birthday!]
sunday i stayed home all day. manaoomti came in the evening and i got to try feseekh (putrified, salted grey mullet) which is a traditional way of eating fish for the egyptian national holiday, sham el neseem... the actual holiday was last monday (falls on the monday after easter sunday)... it smelled quite bad. the flavor: super salty... they just eat it with green onion and bread. i couldn't eat so much of it cus it was super salty... maybe i could eat more if there was some rice or something other than just bread and onion... so that's what egyptians have been eating for about 4500 years... a fish preserved from then and the one we ate yesterday would probably taste quite similar... haha just kidding :P
next on the egyptian dishes to try: molokheya
today i actually ventured out into my neighborhood to do some much-needed food shopping. i walked down to this one shop where manaoomti and i have gone a couple times before together... got most of what i was looking for. the main challenge was trying to get some butter... not as smooth as imagined... first i said 'butter' like an american so the man thought i was saying 'burger' and he said 'yes we have burger' and i said 'no, not burger... butter (this time trying to enunciate as clearly as i could)... it's from a cow' and he said 'oh you want cheese?' and i said 'no, butter'... he asked 'milk?' and i said 'no, it's not cheese or milk, but it's from a cow' i felt like i was playing that one game where you have to describe the word but not use the word... so then i went on saying 'mmm it's yellow, it looks like cheese, you can fry with it...' another store keeper came along to try and figure out what it was asking me again if i wanted cheese... in the end i just took out my phone and dialed manaoomti... 'hey, what's butter in arabic?.... zebda?.... ok' and voila... zebda is what he brought out from behind the counter, cut off about half a kilo and i had butter :)
after that shop, i stopped by the produce shop and got some bananas, melon, oranges, onions and then went to the bakery and got some delicious rolls... then proud of myself for having accomplished the food shopping adventure, i headed back home...
in other news, my great friend, Stinky, totally got me hooked on this hilarious youtube vlogger, natalie tran (communitychannel) so i've been spending a lot of my not-so-awesome bandwidth on watching her videos... first time i'm actually following a vlogger and those of you in the know, probably already know about her... but yea she's been making me laugh about every day with her videos. i think i also enjoy them cus she's actually got editing/cinematography skills too :)
so thank you Stinky for that!
i have a mini-mission: to find a local, convenient place to buy chicken
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