Oh Canada!

Each year the Canadian embassy celebrates our national day, which is July 1, with a gathering at the ambassador's residence. This lovely Art Deco apartment overlooks the garden.  

Street Battles

Today was the first day of the Eid, the holiday after Ramadan, and we went for a ride in the villages near us. We went quite early, partly because of the heat and partly because of the children. The kids have been up since early and have breakfasted on kahk, bisquits and petit fours....which are essentially shortbread cookies filled with jam, dates, honey, or nuts. Long before noon, the sugar high is building and kids are out buying Eid toys from small shops. Like pretty much every year, the boys' favourite toy seems to have been various types of plastic pistols. Most of them will be broken before next weekend. Some Chinese factory has made a fortune today.

Ramadan Decorations

In the days before the start of Ramadan, the villages begin decorating with bits of foil glued over a string or stars cut from paper and glued onto a string.  The beginning of festive nights.

Best Holiday Wishes

Tomorrow begins a new year and we wish everyone all the best in the coming year. My post today is a silly photo of the farm staff and visiting friends in Santa hats and the preparations for a couple days of camping and sandboarding in the desert near Fayoum.

Christmas Trees

I was driving in Maadi when I came to a screeching halt in front of this florist shop with a display of real Christmas trees. Most green Christmas trees here are cypress trees as pines don't grow in the Middle East much. I asked the shopkeeper the prices and was told that a 2 metre tree would cost about LE 1500 (around $300) while a smaller 1.5 metre tree would cost LE 750 or about $150. But they don't smell real.

Deck The Walls

Christmas celebrations around the farm are usually very low-key involving visits to friends for dinners, small exchanges of gifts and so on. With my children in the US and my busiest working season being around Christmas, I don't generally bother with decorations. But this year I have some Canadian and British friends spending Christmas with me and they are very much into decorations. Paddi brought a bunch of Santa hats for some of the village kids, which were a big hit, and they've begun decorating the farm with the help of my village neighbours who find the whole exercise a bit odd but quite entertaining.

Decisions, Decisions

Dressed in their holiday finery, children in Shubramant ponder the important question of what toys to buy with the money they've been given by their parents and grandparents for the Feast. For four days, everyone will relax, eat cookies, watch children play and enjoy themselves.

Sufi Dancing

Since I'm still somewhat housebound I'm taking advantage of some marvelous photos that a houseguest, Kelly Anderson of New Zealand, took while visiting for six weeks. This is one that she got one evening when she went to see the sufi dancing at El Taz palace in Hussein. This is a free performance every Wednesday evening in a restored Mameluke palace in the Khan el Khalili area.

The Happy Couple

The groom is one of the young men who work at my farm with my horses. He's in his mid-twenties and his bride is from our nearby village. They were married after years of preparation on June 17. One of my horses was ill, so I couldn't make it to the wedding but Mohamed's cousin borrowed one of my cameras to take pictures of the wedding.

Traditions Can Change

When I moved to Egypt there were displays of toxic looking molded sugar figures on sale for Moulid el Nabi (the Prophet's Birthday). This kids were fascinated with the thought of such unhealthiness...and any that got given to them got trashed as quickly as possible. So this year I was interested to notice that the molded sugar has been replaced by plastic Chinese dolls with net dresses. Not really sure that it's an improvement.

Christmas Decorations in Maadi

Christmas is celebrated in Egypt not once, but twice, once on December 25 and again for the Copts and Eastern Orthodox on January 7, so we have an even longer Christmas season. While out shopping for presents for my annual Egyptian/Canadian/Finnish/Lebanese Christmas gathering with friends on December 24 we spotted a group watching one of the store clerks adjusting a present in a Christmas display.

Helping the Easter Bunny

Do we celebrate Easter in Egypt? Why of course we do. And not just once but three times, as there is nothing that Egyptians like more than a celebration. Sunday was the Western Easter, I'm not sure of the date of the Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Easter, and Shem el Nessim is coming up soon. Shem el Nessim is the pharaonic version complete with boiled eggs, onions and fish. This photo was taken at my multicultural Easter that a group of Finnish/Lebanese/Egyptian/Canadian/British friends celebrate together with foods and customs of all of our countries. A lovely afternoon.

The New Place For The Wedding

Looking for an interesting new venue for a wedding or party? Contact the Supreme Council for Antiquities to rent their tented wonderland on the Giza Plateau!

While visiting Giza this morning I noticed this fascinating structure as we were driving out to the panoramic view area. I asked one of the antiquities police on hand there what the tents were for and was told that they could be rented for weddings and parties.

Just GOTTA make those pyramids work harder.

Jazz Old And New

We just recently finished a jazz festival in Cairo, ten days of free jazz in some of the most interesting venues in the city. I saw the first night at Manial Palace, but getting up at 6 am on a farm isn't conducive to late nights listening to music however fun. This was a Spanish/Cuban group playing with some Nubian percussionists on the first night. The mix was wonderful and rich. But then that is the whole idea, to have music bring people together.

Dancing for Joy

People often ask about the status of women in Egypt..and the question is complicated but there is a short answer. Unlike much of the world, the older a woman gets in Egypt, the more respect she is paid. So while things may be frustrating for young women, it does get better. The faces of these older women dancing at a village wedding show the strength that we see in women in Egypt...and also a joy in living.