Hi Little One! I read your blog this morning... about the mosques and their loudspeakers proclaiming their "lullabies" for all the countryside to enjoy. We, too, enjoy those lullabies here in Egypt! Maybe the volume is meant so that we can hear them several countries over, not just several streets over. Ours start at 4:30am and go intermittantly all day until the last one around 8pm, but the times of the broadcasts change with the sun, so they go later in the summer and end earlier in the winter. We don't get music with our call to prayer, they start off with a call of "Alllaaaaaaahhhhhh" (to get his attention) and then some long and beautiful acapella chants in Arabic some of which I'm getting to know and/or recognize, most days... but on Fridays (the Muslim religious day) there is a wild, intense and emotionally loud dude yelling over the loudspeaker. I can't understand one word, but I feel like anyone within listening range (which is quite impressive, haven't YOU heard him, too?) is being scolded for a solid hour for every transgression possible. It doesn't sound like an inspiring surmon, and forget trying to take a nap around noon on a Friday.
Miss Laurie and I are going to do our weekly produce shopping at the souk this morning. The only difference is that it rained yesterday for a short time, but the streets flooded and the souk might be a bit of a swamp to wade through. See the photo of the donkey cart driver standing on the platform while negotiating the flooded streets? We'll see when we get there, eh? :-) Egypt is an adventure, I'll tell you. Here is a photo of my little friend, the herb lady - I've asked her name, but I forgot, I think it starts with a Z sound - I buy fresh dill, cillantro, mint and parsley from her each Wednesday, and she charges me 1 LE and 25 piasters (about $0.25) so I give her 10LE (about $2) which is still a huge bargain for me, but can make a huge difference in her whole day's earnings, and it makes me feel really good. In the other photo I'm next to the MONSTER size cabbage they sell around here - one cabbage can probably feed a family of 30 for a week. The souk is sooooo interesting, especailly now that the vendors know that I am a regular customer and I'll be back week after week. We get very friendly smiles and waves from my herb lady, nods of heads from the more serious vendors, and even kisses on the hand from the egg lady because she is so happy that we have returned. Miss Laurie spotted a smallish watermelon last time and thought it would be a nice change of pace (abundant fruits right now are strawberries, tangerines, bananas and guava) but the fruit merchant told her "don't buy this, it isn't good". We were surprised but thankful that he was helping us with advice like that. It's also kind of funny what each vendor carries at his little area: the egg lady, for instance, also sells rice grains and freshly made cheese. (so, do the chickens produce milk around these parts?! Where does she get the milk?) The sweet potato guy also sells grapefruit (and those are his two items... nothing else) By coincidence, the fruit merchant a few stalls down does NOT carry grapefruit, so you have to know that before passing the first guy. There is one vendor who sells non perishable items and dried stuff, like beans, peas, lentils, etc. as well as dish soap (in little baggies and it looks like honey) or laundry powder by the kilo. I want to show Dad all around the souk, it will be so fun! I don't miss shopping at Carrefour much at all.
I believe this is a pot hole Linda has mentioned before
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