Yesterday I drove back to Cairo for a friend’s wedding. Unfortunately for her, yesterday was the day Egypt was going to be facing off Italy in a football match all of Egypt was going to watch (WE WON!!!!) It started at 9:30pm and ended at 11pm so she knew that everyone would watch the match and then come to the wedding, therefore missing the zaffa.*
So, smart bride that she is, she hired a ballroom adjacent to the one she had her wedding in, and installed a TV in it just so the guests could watch the football match! Only in Egypt would you find over 100 men dressed in suits and a couple of dozen women in gowns and elaborate hairdos watching a football match at a wedding. It was hilarious! The cherry on top was the tant** sitting behind me going “ostor ya rab! Ya hadary! Ostor ya rab***” Look how hilarious:
Still can’t believe we won though. Soooo happy. Even when Hisham Abbas (a singer) arrived instead of going “Mabrouk lel 3arees wel 3arousa” (congrats to the bride and groom) went “Mabrouk lel masreyeen!” (mabrouk to the Egyptians!) I, of course, was more focused on the bread and butter and visiting the chocolate fountain rather than singing along, but all in all it was a pretty fun wedding.
I left pretty early-ish so I could head straight back to the north coast, but there was no way I was going to sit in a car for three and a half hours in a lung-crushing corset, high heels, and a dress. So I made my driver stop at the Burger King right before the bawaba (the gate leading to the highway) and got out to change with every guy in the nearby vicinity eyeing me. You’d think they’d never see a woman in an evening gown before, ughhh.
Walking out of the bathroom carrying my dress and scarf in my arms I dropped my scarf and didn’t notice. And chivalry is indeed dead because none of the guys (no girls at 2am) in the entire restaurant bothered to even let me know I’d dropped it! I only found out when I got to the car then went back to retrieve it. Sigh.
I stopped on the way to buy lots and lots of mangoes, and I’m sitting right now staring at the afas (crate) willing them to ripen. Didn’t fall asleep because I was worried I’d snore and the driver would hear me, but thankfully it didn’t take too long to get here. And now I’m back, it’s bright and early, and I can hear the birds chirping.
The chirping is pretty annoying though. And then I get annoyed at myself for getting annoyed at cute birds.
* This is basically the procession of the bride and groom into the ballroom by a troupe of men singing and playing drums and tambourine. Very traditional.
* Aunt. What we call any old woman out of respect.
** May God be merciful! Oh, Hadary! (the goalkeeper)
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