ليلة الحناء Henna Party, Tamer Hosny, The 4th of July

مرحبا بكم!
Marhaban bikum!
(picture- all dressed up for the Henna Party: Valerie, Nour, Monica, Madeline, Hannah, Jake)

This weekend was a super busy one! On Thursday we had a program wide party to celebrate the fourth of July. We got together and had an American v. Egyptian soccer game كرة القدم "qurat akadam" and there was some food too. I was going to play because we were going to a concert afterward and I didn't think I'd have time to shower, but I was assured that there would be time, so I changed and jumped in. Sadly, the Egyptians beat us 9-3, but I had some good defensive plays!!

After the game, of course, I there wasn't much time. We took a taxi back to the dorm and I showered and changed in record time so we could leave for the concert. We went to see Tamer Hosny, who is like the Justin Timberlake of Egypt. Literally- he even tries to dress like him. We waited a long time for him to come on, apparently there was a fight backstage. Finally, he came out and everyone went nuts! Guys, girls, old, young. It was craziness. I'm not a huge fan of Tamer Hosny, but it was definitely an experience worth seeing!! We didn't stay until the very end of the concert because it was super long and we stopped by a cafe for some food afterwards which was nice.

Friday I went to the University Stadium and went swimming with a couple of girls from my program. Our program reserves us 2 lanes for 2 hours on Friday mornings which is really nice. It's a large, clear outdoor pool. It was nice to get in the water and swim some laps and just relax too.

(picture- arriving at the Henna Party, waiting for dinner)

Friday night a group of us went to a Henna Party, or the party the night before a wedding, for one of the Egyptian girls in the dorm. It was way out in the country side and that is the first time I've seen this other aspect of Egypt. We drove by lots of small villages and farms. We thought that we were a spectacle in the city- well it was even more so out in the country since not a lot of foreigners make the trip out there. People would stare into the bus as we drove by out of curiosity.

We arrived and had an amazing, delicious dinner prepared for us by the bride's family. Then we went up onto the roof of their house and socialized and did some dancing! Dancing is an appropriate celebration activity all the time!! It's amazing to see so many people dancing. In the States, we often tend to be shy about dancing unless maybe at a wedding after we've had a few. Not the case here at all, which I absolutely love about Egypt!

After dancing, we walked down the road to the village pavillion which was lit up and decorated. The entire village was there! The bride came out and sat on stage while people went up and congratulated her and a band played music and called out the names of people who had donated money to the new couple.
(picture- the village at dusk)
Then our group was invited up on stage to dance with the bride. I would have gone, but there was a large group of men who whipped out their cell phones and started filming, and I decided I'd rather not end up on youtube (though I probably already have somewhere anyway). After the dancing, we headed back to the bus to go home.

Two of the American girls in our dorm were invited to spend the night and attend the wedding the next day, but our police escorts refused, citing the fact that they didn't have a male escort to stay with them and they would have to leave an officer behind. The girls were really frustrated because instead of talking to them about it, they sat in a corner while the men "sorted it out." In the end, the girls had to come back with us.
(picture- dinner as one big group. yummy food!)

The Henna Party was truly a great experience. It was so neat to see how much goes into a wedding celebration. Literally the entire village was in attendance!! It was also interesting to get a glimpse of a village in the countryside. Life in the country is much different than life in the city as you can imagine. The living conditions were much more basic. People have much less contact with foreigners. But everyone was really sweet, especially the bride's family and we all had a great time.

Saturday, I went to the "women's market" زهمة الستات zahamat al-sitat: literally- crowd of women- to do some shopping with my language partner. I bought some make up and a new pair of earrings. There are some great deals in the market- everything women are looking for- clothes, accessories, jewelry, make up, etc. The market is very very narrow and crowded, thus the name.

After shopping, I went with a group of students to the beach house of a friend of a friend of the program. Don't ask- you seem to develop very random and crazy connections to things here, but it's very useful. We went to celebrate the Fourth of July! We listened to music and danced and gave one very loud, very bad, rousing rendition of the National Anthem, after which the Egyptians felt the need to sing their national anthem as well. We hung out until pretty late and arrived back in the dorm at 4am, with the dorm women angry as usual and just enough time for about 4 hours of sleep before class.
(picture-night view from the roof of the bride's house as the village sprays gas to chase away mosquitoes)

Sunday, we got up and went to class (ugh!!) then afterwards departed for Cairo to go and watch the soccer match between Egypt and Rowanda as Egypt's first match in the African Cup. This trip to Cairo was much faster than our last one on the bus!! When we arrived, the stadium was already crowded- people where red, white, and black everywhere, waving Egyptian flags and cheering. It reminded me a lot of the student section at UofM football games- only it was the entire stadium.
(picture- dancing!!!!!!!!)

When we arrived, a few girls had to use the bathroom, so we left our seats to go find one. But, nothing is ever simple in Egypt. There wasn't a bathroom in our section so we had to go outside the gate, which is hard to get back in. We walked a section over and there was a bathroom, but it wasn't working, so we would have to walk all the way to the other side of the stadium and they were going to close the gates shortly. We decided to tough it out and just wait. When we went to go back into our gate, there was some trouble. People were pushing and shoving trying to get in and a guard was arguing with a few men. People started to try to rush in and they had to close the gate. After a few minutes, things calmed down and we were able to re-enter.

There were guards and police everywhere at the game!! They were definitely ready for a riot if one were to happen. The Rowanda fans (the few that there were) were completely surrounded by riot police with shields and helmets.
(picture- the pavilion decorated with lots of lights!)

The game was fun to watch! Egypt won 3-0. Everytime Egypt scored, everyone went crazy!! There was hugging and clapping and cheering, and of course- more dancing. I think I will be very sad when I go back to the States and there aren't people dancing at every event!!
(picture- the Bride, Gihad)

Afterwards we drove home, stopped for some dinner along the way, and made it back to the dorm at 4am, once again in time to check in with the angry dorm women and get about 4 hours of sleep before class. Needless to say- I took a long nap this afternoon!!

This weekend we are taking a trip to climb Mount Sinai and to Sharm elsheikh on the Red sea for some swimming and probably some clubbing. I'm super excited and hope to rest up before we leave on Thursday!
(Picture- filming the foreigners dancing)