After breakfast, we piled into the vans and headed off to Muquttam and Establ Anter for follow-ups on the service projects that we've been working on. We went to the knitting center first, and finally got to see the place in full swing. They were expecting us, but the other two times we went, the women weren't really working at full capacity. This time, they were all working except for the manager who was going through the website with Sai. It was interesting to see how the pieces of fabric come together to form such beautiful pieces. Fadwa, the woman we printed the pictures for, wasn't anywhere around in the shop, so we started to wonder if she wasn't there or if she was just out at the moment. The manager kept telling us that she was there, but we could see that she wasn't, so we took advantage of our Arabic lessons and asked one of the women and asked "Fadwa fein?" and then got a translation of what she said. Apparently Fadwa had to leave the shop for a little bit on an errand but was coming back, so we waited for her to give her the pictures. The manager was giving Sai a little bit of trouble with the website, asking for copies so that he could check everything over and maybe make some changes, but since the website isn't published yet, there really isn't a way to do that, so they're going to work it out with the NGOs, who the manager said don't come around very often. Weird. Fadwa came back after about 20 minutes, and she loved the pictures. All she could say was "gamilla awii!", but we understand that, so it made us happy to make her happy with something so simple and easy.
Once everything there was settled, we got back in the vans and headed up to the glass-blowing place. This was an experience. We've been to Establ Anter already, one other time, to see the glass-blowing shop, but it seemed like it took so much more to get up there with the vans this time. Honestly, I felt very uncomfortable driving through this destitute, poverty-stricken town in the vans. It almost seemed like we were parading through, and I think it's obnoxious. We were those obnoxious Americans and perpetuated the image that a lot of people around the world have about Americans. If it meant only taking one van up there with just the people who worked on the site, I would have gladly stayed at the hotel, but there were three vans. I didn't even want to get out of the van because I was truly embarrassed at the display. Especially since our drivers felt the need to honk at people and almost hit a man with a cart full of watermelons. That didn't do anything to help the community. On top of that, when we did get there, we weren't allowed to get out of the vans right away, for what ridiculous reason god only knows, so we had to sit there while the men in the shop waited for us. After like, 15 minutes, a few more people showed up in Abduh's car, and we were finally allowed to go in. We showed the brothers the website, and then everyone started picking out things that they wanted to buy, myself included. The brothers were the only ones who didn't have a comment/complaint on the site or its content. They were amazingly grateful, and genuinely happy with our efforts. I got two perfume bottles - one I'm definitely giving to Anna. One is in the design of a tree with two red birds perched on the branches, and the other one is just a small one with gold designs. Once we were all finished up, got back in the vans and headed out of Establ Anter.
Our last stop was the carpet place. On the drive there, we got to talking about our respective majors and Drew dissed music majors, and Sean whipped out some AP Theory knowledge which thoroughly impressed me, and I talked about my future in a cardboard box and it was all good. I didn't realize how far the village was from the carpet place, though. I felt no desire to go back in there, so April, Bridget and I hopped into one van and took a little catnap while everyone else went in. I don't know how long they were in there, but we woke up to the door opening, and Syonara commenting on how hungry she was, and we were off, back to Zamalek. We got back around 3pm, and April and I took a walk over to the ATM around the corner and then a pitstop in Metro where I bought the WEAKEST hair gel ever. It was the only one that wasn't like glue, but I might as well put nothing in my hair for the amount of curl definition I get. Frustrating. We came back, relaxed, showered and got ready to go out [again] for the night. April decided to watch The Prince of Egypt at Longchamps with Grace, and I opted for going out with Omar, Bridget, Sonja and Diana to watch the Cairo/Congo soccer game.
We left around 7:15pm, and ended up at Malibu - or Maaaaleeeeeeeebooooooo, as Omar would say - in Ma'adi with Ziko and Lyna. We just hung out until the game started around 8pm, and talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company for a few hours. Omar left and came back, mysteriously, a few times. I think he had to drive his brother somewhere and then pick him up. The game was pretty sick. Congo scored first, but Egypt came back and scored two goals before the end to win it. It was a rush when Egypt scored and the whole place would explode in applause and cheers. Sometime around the half of the game, Omar got up and climbed out a window near our table that led to an outdoor porch/yard area where there seemed to be some open space. A few minutes later, Ziko followed him. I didn't pay much attention, so I didn't realize what was going on until someone standing up outside caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. They had gone outside to pray. As much as I wanted to watch - just out of curiosity, really - I felt like it was intrusive, so I didn't. I just stole a glance out the window every once in a while. I did see Ziko stand up, at one point, and get stuck in the tree next to him. They came back in after a few minutes, and no one took notice that they had left or came back. When the game ended, we were all hungry, so we ended up at McDonald's around the corner from Flamenco at around 12:30am. Instead of eating and then leaving to go to bed, as was originally planned, we ate, hung out for a good hour or so, and ended up standing outside Flamenco for another half an hour. None of us were really ready to go to bed yet, so Omar just said "let's go", and we split into his and Ziko's cars to go wherever. We headed back to drop off Lyna and Shadio, and were going to go to the 6th of October Bridge, but for some reason, that didn't happen, so we ended up at the Kasr el Nil Bridge, and when Omar tried to park so we could get out, one of the tourism police officers told him we couldn't stay there, so that was one more plan out the window. We noticed an area just below the bridge and further up the river a little bit where there were benches and a nice view, so that was our next destination. Omar tried to find a parking spot there, and that was an adventure in itself. There must've been about 150 cars in a 50-yd² area. It was absolutely insane. That was strike two. Finally, we ended up at the oldest tree in Cairo. It was down this dark little road, which, after a while, splits around a massive tree trunk. I've never seen a tree as big. I don't know what type of tree it is, but it has these long branches that hang down almost to the ground, so even though it was dark already, when we were standing under the branches, it was twice as dark. I couldn't tell how wide it was, since there were other trees around it, and it was kind of short. We only stayed for a few minutes so nothing would seem suspicious and then the guys took us home. Not gonna lie, I love driving with Omar. As fast as he drives sometimes, I trust his judgment and, oddly enough, don't feel nervous at all in his car. Driving fast is something I don't usually do myself, so driving fast with him is my way of living vicariously through it.
We got back to Flamenco around 2-ish am, and split into our respective rooms to finally crash into bed. I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to have endless energy at night. Even as late as we stay out, I can always stay out later. I like it :)
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