10 days of siyaam
Day 1: Had great difficulties with thirst. I habitually keep a glass of water at my desk and had to resist countless urges to get a cuppa from the water cooler all day.
Day 2: Saw a dead body on the road on the way to work from the bus. A sheet covered it with shoes showing.
Day 3: Started breaking fast in the evenings with a glass of Limoncello on the rocks + a duty-free Cohibinho. Have also not assiduously avoided "frivolous entertainment" in the form of banal Cairo satellite TV offerings.
Day 4: Most days I had the feeling of hunger in my belly but twas hardly intolerable. Requiring more discipline was abstaining from any and all lascivious thought and activity. It is hardly surprising that few weddings take place during Ramadan, save for the very end.
Day 5: Weekend was very hard with food, water, ciggiess daring me at home while idle. At work, I'm distracted and don't have these within sight. Had thought to sleep in late but Tamer said that'd be cheating – turning night to day and vice versa. I agreed. He said to try living as normal…but I did decline invitation to go to the White Desert to maintain a relatively less physically demanding environment.
Day 6: Was grateful for Adel’s iftar invitation if only to get out of the flat and have something to occupy my mind. Helped make "Atoif" - a sinfully sweet fried samosa filled with coconut powder, sugar, crushed nuts and raisins; and flash-cooled in a refrigerated syrup.
Day 7: Today had the worst headache that carried on past iftar. Jumped onto rapidly moving bus on way home after several passed completely empty without stopping. This one was “bumber to bumber” with an empty bus in front and once on, I realized we were giving it a good ol’ fashioned push along. Everything was fine till we hit the uphill entrance to 26 of July bridge, at which point we stalled and cars overtook us on all sides. Many efforts to overcome the gravity-assisted inertia of the dead weight bus with our own feeble diesel. Took at least 5 mins, with passengers muttering in btwn their Quran recitations.
Day 8: The bus today opted not to take the usual exit off the bridge into Zamalek. I had to alight off the moving bus on the bridge & an awkward step nearly planted me flat on my face in the middle of traffic.
Day 9: The metro to work today was probably the most crowded I’d experienced yet in Cairo. While standing scrunched against a pole, two men started talking loudly, but not unlike normal boisterous Egyptians. Then the jostling began and when it got to a noticeable point, I turned to look and missed a feeble swing thrown by the flabby sweaty man screaming, “You’re a dog” to his flailing adversary. Others got drawn in holding each man back as the train jerked us all along. I tried to simultaneously hold an arm out as part of the barricade between the two men and stay clear of wild punches and lunges. I mean, these two guys were right next to me! Fortunately, the calmer man got off at the next stop and with the typical mass exodus at Saad Zaghloul, the extra breathing room gave everyone just the relief they needed.
Day 10: My last day coincided with an office-sponsored iftar at the Sheraton Heliopolis. An outstanding buffet that saw the 5-star crowd swarm the serving tables at 5:30pm, resulting in a feeding frenzy reminiscent of opening bell at a Barney’s storewide sale. Competition & queue maneuvering amongst the suited men and bejeweled ladies caused the first ample trays of food to disappear before I was able to get two sambouseks on my plate. Satisfaction though wasn’t far away & the sinful selection of heavy sweets was the coup de grace. The evening was capped by pleasant waves of shisha conviviality and tonight I shall be blissfully unaware of the discomfiting parched mouth typical of my previous nights' pre-sleep breath.
Day 2: Saw a dead body on the road on the way to work from the bus. A sheet covered it with shoes showing.
Day 3: Started breaking fast in the evenings with a glass of Limoncello on the rocks + a duty-free Cohibinho. Have also not assiduously avoided "frivolous entertainment" in the form of banal Cairo satellite TV offerings.
Day 4: Most days I had the feeling of hunger in my belly but twas hardly intolerable. Requiring more discipline was abstaining from any and all lascivious thought and activity. It is hardly surprising that few weddings take place during Ramadan, save for the very end.
Day 5: Weekend was very hard with food, water, ciggiess daring me at home while idle. At work, I'm distracted and don't have these within sight. Had thought to sleep in late but Tamer said that'd be cheating – turning night to day and vice versa. I agreed. He said to try living as normal…but I did decline invitation to go to the White Desert to maintain a relatively less physically demanding environment.
Day 6: Was grateful for Adel’s iftar invitation if only to get out of the flat and have something to occupy my mind. Helped make "Atoif" - a sinfully sweet fried samosa filled with coconut powder, sugar, crushed nuts and raisins; and flash-cooled in a refrigerated syrup.
Day 7: Today had the worst headache that carried on past iftar. Jumped onto rapidly moving bus on way home after several passed completely empty without stopping. This one was “bumber to bumber” with an empty bus in front and once on, I realized we were giving it a good ol’ fashioned push along. Everything was fine till we hit the uphill entrance to 26 of July bridge, at which point we stalled and cars overtook us on all sides. Many efforts to overcome the gravity-assisted inertia of the dead weight bus with our own feeble diesel. Took at least 5 mins, with passengers muttering in btwn their Quran recitations.
Day 8: The bus today opted not to take the usual exit off the bridge into Zamalek. I had to alight off the moving bus on the bridge & an awkward step nearly planted me flat on my face in the middle of traffic.
Day 9: The metro to work today was probably the most crowded I’d experienced yet in Cairo. While standing scrunched against a pole, two men started talking loudly, but not unlike normal boisterous Egyptians. Then the jostling began and when it got to a noticeable point, I turned to look and missed a feeble swing thrown by the flabby sweaty man screaming, “You’re a dog” to his flailing adversary. Others got drawn in holding each man back as the train jerked us all along. I tried to simultaneously hold an arm out as part of the barricade between the two men and stay clear of wild punches and lunges. I mean, these two guys were right next to me! Fortunately, the calmer man got off at the next stop and with the typical mass exodus at Saad Zaghloul, the extra breathing room gave everyone just the relief they needed.
Day 10: My last day coincided with an office-sponsored iftar at the Sheraton Heliopolis. An outstanding buffet that saw the 5-star crowd swarm the serving tables at 5:30pm, resulting in a feeding frenzy reminiscent of opening bell at a Barney’s storewide sale. Competition & queue maneuvering amongst the suited men and bejeweled ladies caused the first ample trays of food to disappear before I was able to get two sambouseks on my plate. Satisfaction though wasn’t far away & the sinful selection of heavy sweets was the coup de grace. The evening was capped by pleasant waves of shisha conviviality and tonight I shall be blissfully unaware of the discomfiting parched mouth typical of my previous nights' pre-sleep breath.
posted by jngah @ 12:34 AM
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