![\"wedding](\"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/art48\/graphics48\/nicole\/romanticcouple.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCairo Weddings<\/h2>\nby Nicole<\/a>
\nposted December 9, 2009<\/span><\/h3>\nI hate to burst the collective bubble of mystique that surrounds Cairo, but in actuality, living here for a long period of time ends up feeling like huge swaths of boredom interspersed with flashes of amazing moments–like standing inside a thousand-year-old mosque or sailing the Nile by night. These are moments that lend a baseline sense of wonder and charm.\u00a0 Every now and again I do think, \u201cWow, I\u2019m actually in Cairo!\u201d but things have become a little less surreal as I move into my fifth month living here.\u00a0 Personally, my summer was a great chance to unwind and spend quality time here, but by the time September was on the horizon, I was all alone waiting for my roommates to arrive and school to start\u2014in short, I was, shockingly, actually bored!<\/p>\n
Luckily my boring, grumpy sojourn was interrupted by an Egyptian friend’s invitation to an engagement party!\u00a0 His best friend, Hussein<\/span>, was in town from Dubai to get engaged, so Ramy <\/span>was going of course, and was sweet enough to drag me along to experience my first real Egyptian party.\u00a0 I nervously obliged and threw on the one dress I brought to Cairo with a shawl over the top to cover my shoulders, along with a pair of Dior knockoff shoes that were a gift and won me many compliments over the evening.\u00a0 Running late, I grabbed the first taxi I could hail as the doormen and local police guffawed. I managed to forget that if the all the taxi windows are down and the driver is driving as fast as possible (like they always do) that my long hair would \tbe destroyed<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Luckily, I’m not much into styling my hair (except for a good blow-dry to get it pin straight) so I finger-combed frantically from the moment when I picked up my friend until we stepped into Hussein’s car to go pick up his fianc\u00e9e, Dahlia<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe bride-to-be looked fabulous when we picked her up from the salon, dressed in a bright red dress rimmed with sequins with matching red 4-inch heels (a gift from Hussein–that guy has excellent taste!) that made me drool fervently.\u00a0 I loved how they had designed her hijab most of all, actually.\u00a0 It was constructed from layers of gold and red tulle with glitter sealed inside, wrapped and pinned into a flower-like shape in the back.\u00a0 Truly a sight to be seen and a feat of styling!<\/p>\n
As we approached the bride\u2019s house, the \u201cwedding honk\u201d began happening.\u00a0Yes, there is a special way of honking in Cairo which is only slightly different from the post-soccer-match-victory honk that basically translates to \u201cHey everybody these people are getting engaged\/married, let\u2019s party!\u201d\u00a0 I used to hear it every Thursday night when I lived in Zamalek (across the street from the Nile and thus, the site of many weddings )!<\/p>\n
Family and friends came out to welcome the small caravan of cars accompanying us, and after parking, a massive flurry of cheek kissing, handshaking, firework lighting, and hustling inside commenced.\u00a0 At this point, I got the picture of what Ramy had meant by saying, \u201cOh it will just be a small party.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently, in American terms, a small party would be microscopic here, because easily 75 people passed in and out of the chair-crammed salon and sitting room of the bride\u2019s home over the course of the evening.\u00a0 We danced for hours to all the latest hits, including me: the lone American.\u00a0Incidentally I\u2019ll never forget the look on one old man\u2019s face when I conversationally told him I was American in Arabic, expecting the usual look of surprise, interest, and welcome and receiving instead a completely horrorstricken look as if\u00a0 he\u2019d seen a ghost!\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I guess I wasn\u2019t in international Cairo waters any more with the other khawagat<\/em> (foreigners)! <\/p>\n![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/art48\/graphics48\/nicole\/nicoledancewdate.jpg\")
Dancing socially at a wedding or party in Cairo is always an interesting psychological puzzle for me as a Bellydancer.\u00a0 Yes, everyone is doing Bellydance moves (including the guys, who are excellent) but as a foreigner, you never want to ham it up too much because people are staring at you anyway trying to figure you out. Heaven forbid they should find out you\u2019re a professional dancer!\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Frankly, the Egyptian girls can get away with being a bit raunchier, and I do try to be more modest with my movements so as not to look like a saucy little American number straight off the plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guys are the big hams at the parties, because they don\u2019t get to dance much otherwise, so they just let all pretense go!\u00a0 For me, using my Arabic works wonders, and a little bit of good Bellydance technique goes a long way toward being accepted.\u00a0 People get excited about foreigners being able to dance Egyptian style, but it\u2019s better not to go overboard and bust out the diva attitude, especially on someone else\u2019s special day!\u00a0 Most of the time, Egyptian people will be more than welcoming and hospitable anyway without you trying to put on a show for them.<\/p>\n
At about 1a.m., after the eating of cake, the showing of the gold jewelry as a gift to the bride, and lots of dancing, Dahlia and Hussein made a break for it along with Ramy and me (as well as assorted other hangers-on).\u00a0 We headed back to my home area of Maadi and plopped down into chairs at one of the fancy caf\u00e9s on a main road to have dinner and chat.\u00a0 By the way, of course the
\ncafes are open and serving food at 1a.m., that\u2019s how things operate in Cairo!\u00a0 The problem was that my Arabic was\/is still less than fluent and the only people who spoke English were Ramy and Hussein, who were more involved in catching up than speaking to me or translating.\u00a0 Dahlia and I were making the cross-cultural, \u201cthese boys need to stop ignoring us and talking about work,\u201d faces at each other, but were unable to communicate because of the language barrier which was a shame.\u00a0 On the plus side, after being dropped off at home around 3 a.m. and sleeping the day away, I redoubled my efforts for Arabic class out of sheer frustration.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to a couple months later, and I have now been dragged to other random parties including two weddings in the last two weeks alone.\u00a0 Ramy is a pretty steady lead for invitations, since he has a kind and lovely tendency to invite his American friends along. However, he seems to forget that when he does, my first instinct is to freak out about finding a new dress.\u00a0 Dress shopping can be a complete nightmare here, but I\u2019ve discovered the secret of going with an Egyptian girlfiend!\u00a0 It is so much more fun. You can cover so much more ground and learn some stuff!\u00a0 For example, those claustrophobic looking storefronts on Talat Harb Street (downtown) are worth checking out because chances are they have a 3-story shop complete with air-conditioning and pretty, wearable dresses behind them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I\u2019m not brave enough normally to deal with downtown crowds or to go dress hunting in insane hidden shops, but with a smart Egyptian girl by your side, I think one can accomplish anything!<\/p>\n
\nposted December 9, 2009<\/span><\/h3>\n
I hate to burst the collective bubble of mystique that surrounds Cairo, but in actuality, living here for a long period of time ends up feeling like huge swaths of boredom interspersed with flashes of amazing moments–like standing inside a thousand-year-old mosque or sailing the Nile by night. These are moments that lend a baseline sense of wonder and charm.\u00a0 Every now and again I do think, \u201cWow, I\u2019m actually in Cairo!\u201d but things have become a little less surreal as I move into my fifth month living here.\u00a0 Personally, my summer was a great chance to unwind and spend quality time here, but by the time September was on the horizon, I was all alone waiting for my roommates to arrive and school to start\u2014in short, I was, shockingly, actually bored!<\/p>\n
Luckily my boring, grumpy sojourn was interrupted by an Egyptian friend’s invitation to an engagement party!\u00a0 His best friend, Hussein<\/span>, was in town from Dubai to get engaged, so Ramy <\/span>was going of course, and was sweet enough to drag me along to experience my first real Egyptian party.\u00a0 I nervously obliged and threw on the one dress I brought to Cairo with a shawl over the top to cover my shoulders, along with a pair of Dior knockoff shoes that were a gift and won me many compliments over the evening.\u00a0 Running late, I grabbed the first taxi I could hail as the doormen and local police guffawed. I managed to forget that if the all the taxi windows are down and the driver is driving as fast as possible (like they always do) that my long hair would \tbe destroyed<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Luckily, I’m not much into styling my hair (except for a good blow-dry to get it pin straight) so I finger-combed frantically from the moment when I picked up my friend until we stepped into Hussein’s car to go pick up his fianc\u00e9e, Dahlia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The bride-to-be looked fabulous when we picked her up from the salon, dressed in a bright red dress rimmed with sequins with matching red 4-inch heels (a gift from Hussein–that guy has excellent taste!) that made me drool fervently.\u00a0 I loved how they had designed her hijab most of all, actually.\u00a0 It was constructed from layers of gold and red tulle with glitter sealed inside, wrapped and pinned into a flower-like shape in the back.\u00a0 Truly a sight to be seen and a feat of styling!<\/p>\n As we approached the bride\u2019s house, the \u201cwedding honk\u201d began happening.\u00a0Yes, there is a special way of honking in Cairo which is only slightly different from the post-soccer-match-victory honk that basically translates to \u201cHey everybody these people are getting engaged\/married, let\u2019s party!\u201d\u00a0 I used to hear it every Thursday night when I lived in Zamalek (across the street from the Nile and thus, the site of many weddings )!<\/p>\n Family and friends came out to welcome the small caravan of cars accompanying us, and after parking, a massive flurry of cheek kissing, handshaking, firework lighting, and hustling inside commenced.\u00a0 At this point, I got the picture of what Ramy had meant by saying, \u201cOh it will just be a small party.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently, in American terms, a small party would be microscopic here, because easily 75 people passed in and out of the chair-crammed salon and sitting room of the bride\u2019s home over the course of the evening.\u00a0 We danced for hours to all the latest hits, including me: the lone American.\u00a0Incidentally I\u2019ll never forget the look on one old man\u2019s face when I conversationally told him I was American in Arabic, expecting the usual look of surprise, interest, and welcome and receiving instead a completely horrorstricken look as if\u00a0 he\u2019d seen a ghost!\u00a0 <\/p>\n I guess I wasn\u2019t in international Cairo waters any more with the other khawagat<\/em> (foreigners)! <\/p>\n Frankly, the Egyptian girls can get away with being a bit raunchier, and I do try to be more modest with my movements so as not to look like a saucy little American number straight off the plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n The guys are the big hams at the parties, because they don\u2019t get to dance much otherwise, so they just let all pretense go!\u00a0 For me, using my Arabic works wonders, and a little bit of good Bellydance technique goes a long way toward being accepted.\u00a0 People get excited about foreigners being able to dance Egyptian style, but it\u2019s better not to go overboard and bust out the diva attitude, especially on someone else\u2019s special day!\u00a0 Most of the time, Egyptian people will be more than welcoming and hospitable anyway without you trying to put on a show for them.<\/p>\n At about 1a.m., after the eating of cake, the showing of the gold jewelry as a gift to the bride, and lots of dancing, Dahlia and Hussein made a break for it along with Ramy and me (as well as assorted other hangers-on).\u00a0 We headed back to my home area of Maadi and plopped down into chairs at one of the fancy caf\u00e9s on a main road to have dinner and chat.\u00a0 By the way, of course the Fast forward to a couple months later, and I have now been dragged to other random parties including two weddings in the last two weeks alone.\u00a0 Ramy is a pretty steady lead for invitations, since he has a kind and lovely tendency to invite his American friends along. However, he seems to forget that when he does, my first instinct is to freak out about finding a new dress.\u00a0 Dress shopping can be a complete nightmare here, but I\u2019ve discovered the secret of going with an Egyptian girlfiend!\u00a0 It is so much more fun. You can cover so much more ground and learn some stuff!\u00a0 For example, those claustrophobic looking storefronts on Talat Harb Street (downtown) are worth checking out because chances are they have a 3-story shop complete with air-conditioning and pretty, wearable dresses behind them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n I\u2019m not brave enough normally to deal with downtown crowds or to go dress hunting in insane hidden shops, but with a smart Egyptian girl by your side, I think one can accomplish anything!<\/p>\nDancing socially at a wedding or party in Cairo is always an interesting psychological puzzle for me as a Bellydancer.\u00a0 Yes, everyone is doing Bellydance moves (including the guys, who are excellent) but as a foreigner, you never want to ham it up too much because people are staring at you anyway trying to figure you out. Heaven forbid they should find out you\u2019re a professional dancer!\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\ncafes are open and serving food at 1a.m., that\u2019s how things operate in Cairo!\u00a0 The problem was that my Arabic was\/is still less than fluent and the only people who spoke English were Ramy and Hussein, who were more involved in catching up than speaking to me or translating.\u00a0 Dahlia and I were making the cross-cultural, \u201cthese boys need to stop ignoring us and talking about work,\u201d faces at each other, but were unable to communicate because of the language barrier which was a shame.\u00a0 On the plus side, after being dropped off at home around 3 a.m. and sleeping the day away, I redoubled my efforts for Arabic class out of sheer frustration.<\/p>\n