I awoke at 4AM to the mournful sound of the "call to prayer". Laying there I was left to wonder if what I was hearing was a human voice or some wind instrument. Kristal later informed me that it was a human voice and that she has heard them sneeze, cough and even drop the microphone. There are four mosques within earshot of their apartment. Each beginning the call to prayer at the first light of day. There are mosques spaced on the desert road and along the Nile such that they will always be able to hear "the call". Today, Friday is their Holy Day with extra broadcasts. Streets may be closed due to people on mats praying if there is overflow from the mosque. There are normally 7 "calls to prayer" each day. We went down to the street with idea that we would get a picture of the mats in the street but stepping out we were met with a funeral tent right across the street. When someone dies they try to have the funeral by dusk of that day. A tent is erected in the street outside the persons home with someone singing or chanting over a loud speaker most of the day. Since it was Friday their Holy Day that person was extra blessed. Their goal is to die during Ramadan their most Holy time.
Walk like an Egyptian
Toady we took a couple of walks around the city and became pedestrians ourselves. Six million people live in Alexandria next to the Nile. Actually almost all of Egypt lives next to the Nile, they have to, it's their only source of water. This creates a lot of congestion and creates quite an experience being a pedestrian. The streets are very narrow and yet they park on both sides of the street with cars and pedestrians moving about. There really aren't street signs so if what was a one way street suddenly becomes a two way street a negotiation of who has to back up takes place. But this is done without the heated tempers that we would expect. Added to the situation is the occasional trashcan sitting in the street to be dogged with possibly a cat or two eating out of it. I even saw a cafe who had put table and chairs in the street for additional seating. Today Kristal and I had a role reversal because I had to take Kristal's had to cross the street. It was also very disturbing that I got cat calls and she normally doesn't. My blond hair is quite the oddity and gets a lot of stares and comments.
After lunch be went to an Armenian festival. One of the teachers Kristal and Seth work with is Armenian and invited them to go. We took the school van with the school's driver. We were sitting in the court yard with the Armenians when a woman came up to Jim and started talking in English. She said that she has relatives that live in Texas. Jim said we have a son who lives in Texas to which she replied Hou son? Jim thought she asked "who's son" so he repeated "my son". She repeated "Hou son", this went on until Jim realized that she was asking if our son lived in Houston. Tourist! The fashion of the Armenian woman is what you could expect in any church basement in the states. It was interesting to see what is behind the walls. Who knew that poinsettias could grow to such heights. There are many walled complexes in Alexandria.
I was surprised by how humid Alexandria is. It gets the breeze right off the Mediterranean and is about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than Cairo. Alexandria gets even more crowded in the summer with people from Cairo trying to escape the heat. Alexandria is also very dusty. Many cars parked are covered to keep the dust off. If they aren't covered many have their windshield wipers raised so that the dust doesn't accumulate on the wiper blades. Egyptians like very ornate furniture and fixtures. Which to me if I had to dust them I won't chose anything that couldn't be easily dusted but the reality is that if you can afford the ornate item you can also afford the maid to dust it. There don't seem to be many bugs. Seth and Kristal have a long sheer curtain that hangs at the door blowing in the wind, very romantic. The sheer is to keep out the bats.
A city of six million creates a lot of strange noises. You quickly accept the "call to prayer" seven times a day. One of the first noises we were bewildered by was the onion man. The men with carts travel the streets with mega phones announcing what they have to sell off of their carts. Sound really travels, I think because all the surfaces are hard. The noises reverberate off of the buildings and you can't actually see where the noise is coming from because there are tall buildings and walls all around. We can also hear the train on what sounds like very rusty tracks. Occasionally you'll hear a rooster crowing from a balcony. Then there is the constant honking. I understand why Seth and Kristal said that the noise was one of the first things they had to get used to.
On our walk we walked by rows of small shops. It reminds me of the self storage facilities with the roll up doors. We saw vegetables, tires, granite, woodworking, ironing, chicken coops, hanging beef, candy and water pipes.
We walked over to the 5 star Four Seasons hotel for dinner. It was quite opulent right on the Mediterranean. After dinner we walked around the mall that's on the hotel's lower level. Walking at night is different because instead of honking they flash their headlights. There is so much ambient light that they don't run with their headlights on. We noticed that the one pedestrian that the taxi drivers actually brake for are the alley cats. I have concluded that their lack of traffic rules is a form of population control. But seriously, I worry about what happens to a person who is injured because Egypt is definitely not handicap accessible.
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