Seoudi Market

Picture is of Aswan; not one I took. Nevine at the Fubright Commission recommended the Seoudi Market, so I went to the one in Dokki. It was very busy–housewares and cleaning supplies on upper level; staples, cheese, and frozen food on ground level; and fruit on the lower level. Saw all types of apparel from Egyptian to westerner leaving in black pants suit with high heels. A clerk helped me hail a taxi and load my various parcels. Got home fine, minus one small bag of bananas–but they're easy to find all over. Have been keeping bananas in the refrigerator; the skins turn brown but they don't ripen as fast. That was a tip from an aunt years ago who had majored in Home Economics.

Am beginning to get a bit more acclimated, or the culture shock level may be receding from 10 to 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. Will meet with a journalist of Iranian descent, Borzou Daragahi, who works for the Financial Times tomorrow, if all goes according to plan.He went to high school with a political science colleague of mine at COD; his wife is French; and they vacation in France. Some people have the good life! He reports from all over the Middle East but lives with his family in Zamalek. His most recent article was published August 25: "Patrols Protect Egyptian Women." It's about sexual harassment in Egypt and what's being done to address it.

I'm sure I do stand out with blond hair but I have seen many women wearing slacks. Some women wear the long gown with headscarf but others dress quite stylishly (with colors, belts, but always long-sleeved). No one has been rude to me. Once when changing money at the bank in a hotel, a Salafi (comparable to an evangelical Christian but rather scary) was serving as the cashier. You can tell the Salafis by their untrimmed beards. It was Friday; and he had the Koran open on his desk, which he was reading. He stopped to help me efficiently and courteously but then didn't look at me a second longer than he had to.

I've started to make contact with women's organizations; however, am currently learning to decipher Egyptian phone numbers. If someone calls me on my mobile; then I have their number in my contact list. I've established some others as accurate. Yet ones posted online may include country codes or be outdated. So that's the current project. The academic year begins here mid-September, therefore I'm looking for contacts outside academia and the school system until that time. Mainly wrote all of this to fill in among the pictures. Adieu now, if you're still with me.