More Local Tidbits

Back home in Canada, fall evenings are usually fresh and crisp and are a great time to go out for a walk to enjoy nature. Evenings in Cairo (at least where I live) are not so pretty and, well… breathable. The reason for this is not only that the air cools down and causes the pollution to fall to ground level (sure, that’s nasty, but that’s not the only cause), but also because of farmers who burn their rice fields. It is actually illegal to burn rice fields in and around Cairo, which is why the farmers wait until it is dark to do it. Then the wind carries the smoke over to our lovely little neighborhood where we get lung cancer and die. All for the sake of rice. So I say to you, boycott rice or I’ll pay the price! Keep rice far away and I’ll live another day! But wait! Burning rice fields aren’t the only cause for the heavy air in our neighborhood. Nighttime is when the streets come alive and everyone goes out to eat and be merry (not just during Ramadan). Eating usually requires the use of charcoal to cook the food. Now when I say charcoal, I don’t mean those nice little briquettes we have in North America that smell of lollipops and honey when they burn (or so it seems when you compare it to the stuff Egyptians use). No no, this is Egyptian charcoal, which means more heat and way more stench. I’m almost beginning to like it, though. When I went over to St. Mark’s Cathedral the air was so ‘fresh’ and normal and boring. When I got back to my neighborhood it was nice and charcoaly. Sometimes familiarity is good, no matter how gross it is. I think that one of the reasons Cairo is so polluted is because most of the vehicles burn oil… or who knows what! When a minibus passes me (rather than hits me), it leaves behind it a trail of black opaque smoke. Think of Mary Poppins when they’re going on their little roof escapade. The smoke coming from those chimneys is thick and black, just like the crud spewing from the minibus exhaust pipes. Once I tried walking up it like Mary Poppins did, but apparently the smoke here isn’t quite as supportive. Enough about pollution, though! It’s really not that bad during the day… unless you want to see farther than 500m ;)

Another thing I keep meaning to mention, but always forget about, is what happens five times a day here. One of the five pillars of faith for the dominant religion is to pray five times a day. Because of this, every mosque (there are tons of them) is equipped with loudspeakers that play a call to prayer at five specific times each day (the time changes with the sun, I believe). These calls to prayer are sung by a male and broadcasted throughout all parts of the city. At night, if you are surrounded by mosques (or are high up in a building), these calls to prayer can often take on an almost ghostly character. This is because all of the calls to prayer do not start at the exact same time, or they do not sing the exact same words, and thus an eerie echoing of Arabic singing whirls through the windy night air and mixes into what resembles a wailing sound. So with this I say to you, Happy Thanksgiving! It’s weird living in a country and being around people who don’t even realize it’s Thanksgiving in Canada. The only reason I know is because somebody told me in an email! Craziness, I tell ya! Pure Craziness.