Khan el khalili

We made it back to Cairo on a 2 hour train ride. Let me tell you... those train rides are totally GHETTO. We even rode 2nd class. Aline says there wasn't much difference betweeen first and second class. It was super gross. The seats had brown markings as well as the walls and there was just a disatisfying smell everywhere. Uber gross.

When we got to Cairo we met up with Aline's friend Mohammed who had a car. It was great that he had a car and he spoke really good english so I felt like I could ask him why Cairo traffic was SO BAD. He said he couldn't drive within the lines even if he wanted too. Seriously I think there is no explanation to it. I think it's based solely on intuition. You just feel traffic and you just know what to do. There is no rhyme or reason how you know if you pull in front of a bus it isan't going to hit you. I saw a shirt today at the market that said, "I SURVIVED CAIRO TRAFFIC". I hate to admit it but I kind of wanted to buy it because I feel like surviving the traffic in Cairo has been a great tirumph in my life. heh.

The name of the market we went to was Khan el khalili. There were shops everywhere! Every shop was specialized. They all threw out their english phrases as we walked by. "Hi how are you? Right this way! You want a scarf? Special price for you!" You know all the phrases you would need to know if you ran a shop in a market aim specifically for tourists. My favorite phrase of the evening was, "I dont know what you want but I have exactly what you're looking for!" Another humoring one was, "How can I take your money?" At which point Aline just looked at them and said, "You can't."

We saw a lot of souvenirs and we were pretty lucky to be with Aline's friend Mohammed. If someone was ripping us off he would start talking to them in Arabic and would start shaking his head and tell us in English the prices were too expensive.

He helped us buy a fanoos! It's an egyptian lantern children are famous for using during Ramadaan. Im not sure what the significance is but it's just another symbol of Ramadaan in Egypt. I taught about celebrations similar to Christmas that happen around the world to my 2nd grade class. I had them make paper lanterns that were like, "fanooses", but I never really knew what they looked like. When we came here I decided that I wanted one to show my class but I wasn't sure what it looked like. Mohammed was more than a hand and helped me find a real one for a great price. You'll see a photo of the Fanoos. It's nothing too fancy but I was excited about it! :)

We also found a section of the market for spices. Spices were so cheap. Usually at the store, in the US, for a little thing of yellow curry I think it's 7 dollars or so. We bought 3x as much as you would get in the little spice bottles for $1.50. It was so awesome.

We're going back to Saudi tomorrow. I'm excited to go back.