Today I have discovered, apparently years too late, the lahme (meat) song. My iPod battery died while I was tanning by the pool, so I took my brother’s. And when on shuffle, I came across this:
I’m still laughing fit too burst.
I love being here. It brings back soooo many memories:
- Stopping at Masters rest stop on our way there and praying dad would stop. Buying Amr Diab tapes from the kiosk and random books from the store.
- Listening to the most random music on our way there–“3ala awel el taree2 elzera3y, wana mesafer….”
- Coming to the villa the first day and being bitten to death by mosquitoes. Usually trying to chase out butterflies from the room.
- Having nothing in the compound we were in except a kiosk and place to rent bicycles. A trip to the kiosk with 8 kids on a buggy with the ghafeer driving was the height of fun.
- Thinking the banana tree in the gardens was magic. I knew fruit came from trees but I still thought it was amazing. Getting shouted at every day by my grandma for picking the mango when it was still green.
- Having a clay oven in the house where they would make bread. I loved to play with the dough.
- Eating freska (Egyptian croissant) on the beach.
- Going to Seagull! The strangest looking restaurant ever filled with weird statues and decor–kind of like TGI Fridays decor gone insane. Eating ‘asaleya (a sweet made out of molasses). Riding the camel. Jumping on the trampoline. Posing next to the weird statues. Making fun of the flamingos. Listening to the guys playing oud who have been there for ever.
- Before Marina became this crazy posh bubble world, Marina 2 was the shiz. We’d go eat KFC, buy illegal movies, and carwez (cruise).
- Having breakfast at 3pm and going to sleep after dawn.
- Getting stung by jellyfish and still coming back for more. Going to the beach in a huge family expedition, dragging chairs and umbrellas and sandwiches and a stereo. Begging dad to let us ride in the launch with our uncle. And then jumping in the pool the minute we get back to “wash” the sand.
- Swimming so much in the pool we got ear infections and burnt to a crisp (We don’t believe in sunscreen).
- Balba‘ in Alexandria or Andrea (kebab and kofta restaurants).
- Going to the mini-funfair in Mara’ya.
- Eating mangoes in tank tops and shorts or else shamaring (rolling up sleeves) hardcore. Getting mango juice somehow all over our arms and clothes.
- Getting pushed in the pool “accidentally” with our pyjamas on.
- Going to Zahran supermarket. Watching movies in the open air cinema, where we’d sit on tables and order pizza.
- Lying in a hammock and fighting over which constellation we were looking at.
Thank you for this post. It brings back a lot of memories, lovely moments, unforgettable people, beautiful meals, abundant laughter, and endless days and nights.
I thought freska was the mini-sesame or peanut candy sandwich thing w the thin thin wafer cover the guy carries up and down the hot beach in a glass box? Croissant, ehhh?
Oh ya, and mstika ice cream goes on my list too.
And the sand is like the tiniest seashells suction -cupped to your body forever. If I look carefully, it might still be attached here and there.
that’s exactly what freska is…I was just too lazy to explain, so I just wrote that it’s our version of a croissant–Egyibitian pastry
why does this song remind you of all that stuff? my friends and i constantly sick it whenever we’re about to have a lot of meat. there’s also one about taboula which i don’t even like but check it out.
Oh it didn’t. I just said I love being in sahel, since it reminds me of better times.
ok, FRESKA IS NOT EGYPTIAN CROISSANT!! no, no, no. Trust me, I’ve tried researching it before. There is no equivalent translation. what do you call flat, very thin, crispy sheets of biscuit(?), with honey in between the layers. yummy! I miss Freska, and Egypt.
And your antagonism towards sunscreen reminded me of this old song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5NAPZp2w-o