Ramadan Kareem!

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, a month-long holiday where Muslims fast from sunup to sundown. The fast is broken at sundown with a meal called iftaar. Last night I had my first iftaar - the highlight of which was the sweets. I had kamar adeen, which is a drink made from apricots, very thick, absolutely delicious! I also had kunaafa, yum! People tend to go out after iftaar, so the streets around me were loud and busy last night. The streets are also decorated beautifully - with shiny streamers and lights. I've decided to try out fasting for a little bit - although I'm still drinking water because I think I would have some serious problems otherwise. As my host father explained it, the purpose of fasting is to empathize with the poor and those who feel hunger all of the time. So I figured I'd give it a try, really try to immerse myself in the culture. I've gotta say though, I'm pretty hungry right now, and I'm sitting in a cafe where they have wireless...so we'll see how long this lasts.

One other amusing point to share...

Rugby exists in Egypt!…well, sort of. Wissam, the roommate of one of my classmates, told me a few days ago that he knew of a club where there was rugby. So I went with Lauren and met Wissam and Norman at this naadee (kind of like a gym plus sports club, with playing fields and a swimming pool - hard to explain, truly a Middle Eastern thing), where there was a rugby practice going on! It was actually pretty hilarious…thanks to language differences, they at first thought I was going to play with them, but I was wearing street clothes and flip flops, so I said I didn't think that would be a good idea. So we just decided to watch. When we first got there, they were running fitness drills…and it seems some Egyptians don’t understand the notion of hustle. Their coach was an Australian named Mark – he was hilarious, this huge, beefy man who apparently doesn’t speak Arabic, and was booming out instructions in his great accent, even though most of the players didn’t understand him. Oh, and he was wearing nice short little shorts, and a tight tank top…which would be odd in the U.S., but is absolutely absurd in Egypt. So that was great. After a while, they moved on to touch sevens. Some of them were pretty good, but overall, they definitely didn’t look all that great. But hey, I found rugby in Egypt, it doesn’t have to be great rugby. At the end of the practice, the captain came over and introduced himself to us, and told me and Lauren that they were trying to start a girl’s side, and that they just needed seven people. Meaning they have none right now. So me and Lauren make 2 (if I can convince Lauren to play…), and apparently there’s some German girl who wants to play. Only four more…haha. Oh Egypt. Anyway, I was told I should go practice with the men on Wednesday, but I don’t know how I feel about that. It would be great to get some rugby playing in, but I really don’t know a. if I could play with the men, and b. (and more importantly) if it would be culturally acceptable for me to play with the men…I think not, even though Wissam’s friend on the team told me I could. We’ll see, maybe we could actually get a girl’s team together. Apparently there’s one in Cairo, but not Alex. The one thing my grandmother told me not to do in Egypt: start women’s rugby…haha.