Mawlid al-Nabi

We tried to catch a taxi to take us to Midan Hussein from Midan Opera. No one would agree to take us there, so we walked. It isn’t far.

Ezbekiya Gardens, where Miriam discovers grass

Today is Mawlid al-Nabi so I dragged Andrew out of the house—literally dragged him—to go downtown to see the celebrations. He was a little grumpy about having to give up his Friday afternoon nap and insisted that he wanted to take a taxi downtown since he didn’t feel like battling the metro. There weren’t many taxis to chose from and he got tired of waiting so we ended up taking the metro, anyway, which was fine.

Miriam is four months old

Miriam is four months old today (where has all the time gone, right?) which is crazy. She’s recently begun trying to grow up altogether too quickly for my taste.

Right now she’s working on sitting up by herself (in addition to wriggle-crawling). We’re pretty sure she can do it, although there isn’t any way to know for certain because anytime we try to let her sit up on her own she is joined seconds later by Rachel.

Hailpocalypse 2010

…about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

         Exodus 9:18

It rained this morning. I was the only one up—reading the first chapter of Andrew’s thesis—sitting next to the window, hearing it patter against the pane. It was kind of surreal.

Light bulb scientists

To say that we are anxious to hear back about grad school would be an understatement. Already having been turned down by two schools, we are always at the edge of our seats almost biting our fingernails while we wait for news from the remaining four. It comes up in conversation every night.

Another nightly discussion: back up plans.

In Pictures

This is Miriam’s ooh-I-like-that-face:

Not pictured: my don’t-swing-those-beads-by-the-baby face.

This is Rachel’s yeah-whatevs-mom-nothing’s-going-to-happen face:

That Rachel Girl

“Hey, Mommy! Take a picture of me, too!”

“Okay, smile!”

*focus*

*whir*

*click*

“Ahhhh!”

*flash*

Oh, you’re so funny, Rachel.

Mobile Miriam

More often than not we leave Miriam in one place only to come back a few minutes later and find her in a completely different place. She’s determined to break me of the habit of leaving her on her back on a blanket on the floor—she just won’t stay there and chances are, if I leave her like that I will find her across the room on her tummy.

And what do you think the chances are that I left her on the floor like this:

Al-Sayyeda Zeinab

Next up on our literary tour of Cairo was The Lamp of Umm Hashim (and other stories) by Yahya Haqqi. This story takes place in the area of Cairo called Sayyeda Zeinab, around the Sayyeda Zeinab Mosque. It tells the tale of “Uncle” Ismail, who left his home and family to study medicine in Europe after missing the cut in his exams in Egypt. His family lived impoverished but comfortably and scrimped and saved to support him in his educational endeavors abroad.

Haqqi aptly describes the bustle of Cairene life as viewed from an outsider when Ismail tells of his feelings upon returning to Cairo.

“The sight that met his eyes was uglier than anything he had imagined:

Al-Khayimiyya and al-Hussein Mosque

Before today we had never been to Al-Khayimiyya, the tent-maker’s market, in the Khan. I don’t know why. We’ve been so close, just a short walk from Bab Zwayla (where we’ve been several times), but never bothered to stop by.