I love looking for unique things

One of my rewards for living far from family is poking around in dusty old shops and crazy places like the grand bazaar called the Khan el-Khalili. This famous and enormous "souk" was built in the 1500s although buildings in the area date back to 970 AD. The Khan is filled with hundreds of merchants selling everything: spices, gold jewelry, silver jewelry, beads, rugs, glass ornaments, galabayas and t-shirts, lamps, souvenirs, antique shops, metal workers, clothes, junk shops, fabric, shoes, etc. After four years of visiting the Khan I've found my favorite shopkeepers and usually make a quick visit to see if they have anything new. I bought all kinds of stuff when I first arrived because it was different and interesting. But now it takes something really special to make me part with my money. And boy do I hate negotiating with the shopkeepers. Hate it so much. I'm terrible at it and either pay too much or just get mad and walk away. Here are some of my special finds.

Hands down this is the one of the most unique things in Egypt. I have a friend who is begging to buy it from me. It all started in a little antique shop in Maadi. I looked at it for a year but it was expensive so I kept saying no. I took a friend with me who loves old things and showed it to her. We both were convinced that it was pharonic because the wood is very old.  Owning pharonic things, however, is against the law. The shopkeeper kept insisting that it wasn't pharonic and that if it were he could sell it for a million pounds. When the Egyptian pound devaluated about a year ago the price dropped by half. That's when I bought it, before he raised his price. 

This sarcophagus is made of two sides with a seam. Its  heavy and when you shake it you can hear something rattling around. I think it's bits of plaster but I swear others think its bones. I am not going to open it because I could never get it back together properly and who knows, there might be bones which would be too freaky. I'm better off not knowing!

This is really old wood. I know that from spending many hours inside the Egyptian museum and visiting museums around Europe that have Egyptian collections. It's wood and plaster. I need to study the hieroglyphics on it and see if I can make any sense of it. I was nervous about having this--and not sure about taking it out of the country when I leave--until I found the piece below. 

I got this from one of my favorite shopkeepers in the Khan. He has the oldest stuff and os the one who solved the puzzle for me. My sarcophagus and boat are 200-year old (or so) souvenirs made for tourists in the 1800s and 1900s. And the reason they look so old is because they are made of broken bits of wood leftover in tombs after being raided. It makes me crazy that I have these pieces!! 

These are my opium smokers that were used in opium dens in the late 1800s. There were opium dens in China, Southeast Asia, North America, and France. My friend Maria as a huge collection of these in different shapes and sizes. They used to be easier to find here in Cairo but alas, like a lot of antiques, they are harder to find. I actually bought the beautiful red and yellow one in a lamp store on Memorial Drive in Houston! It didn't have the metal pipe and I didn't know what it was but loved the ceramic. 

These are my beautiful beautiful handmade glass birds and fish from an artist shop that is now closed. Only a few things are made there now. I am crazy for birds and fish and I love this color. It's a reproduction of the beautiful green pharonic glass that you see in museums. The painted glass lamps on the right are mosque lamps. In the old days they hung all around a mosque with candles or oil for illumination. Now they use lightbulbs. 

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   I love love my glass pieces. 

Babies and baby parties in Egypt

Egypt has an estimated population of 98 million people (United Nations) and grows by a million every six months. When I google Egypt population I see estimates of 9-16 million people living in Cairo with an estimate of 19,000 people per square kilometer. It's a busy and crowded place and in the midst of all of this are women having babies. 

Such a little thing!! Can't wait to be a grandma!!

Being pregnant
After your wedding you are expected to GET PREGNANT. That is your job! And have a boy first!! And the mothers and mothers-in-law will ask you constantly how you are feeling and if you need to go to the doctor! They are not shy about that!  When you get pregnant you pay a lump sum for care by a doctor and go regularly for ultrasounds and checkups. I think delivery is extra. And everyone has c-sections. A normal delivery is not an option. I've been told it's because the doctors are too impatient and make more money doing c-sections. Honestly. Most women go home the next day. When a woman is one month from delivery she moves back to her parent's home to rest and be taken care of by her mother and aunts. She then spends another month or more at her parents home after the baby is born to recover. 

The baby party
The Sebou’ (literally the seventh day in Arabic) and is a celebration held exactly seven days after the birth of a child. This is a very important celebration and has existed since the time of the pharaohs. It's a regional custom and is celebrated by both Muslims and Christians. I've been lucky enough to attend a Sebou' and it was such crazy fun. When Egyptians get together for ANY type of celebration it always involves loud shabbi music, dancing, and, to really express their strong emotion, ululating--a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality (wikipedia). They howl and move their tongue back and forth, usually with their hand covering their mouth. It's a crazy sound especially when done in unison. Because the women and men are usually separated I get to be in the fun room with the ladies dancing and laughing and ululating; Dave gets to sit in another room with the men sitting around smoking. 

Here are some photos I got off the internet. They are exactly like the events I've attended.

The babies are always on a little round pillow which is part of an old custom. Here is what they did with the pillow and the baby at the party I was invited to: they held the pillow with the baby held snug in the middle then dropped the pillow maybe 6-8 inches so that the baby would fall down into the pillow. I couldn't believe it. They did this several times. The baby was sound asleep although his little body shook every time he hit the pillow. The pillow in this photo is much thinner than the one for the baby party I attended so maybe they didn't drop the baby. 

Do you see the hands holding a pestle and mortar? It's most likely the grandmother or another elderly relative of the baby who is banging the pestle and mortar and, quite loudly, and telling the baby, also quite loudly, to be obedient to its parents. Sometimes they say funny things like "listen to your mother but not your father." They bang the daylights out of the pestle!! I couldn't believe it. I thought it was going to be a soft "tink tink" It was like the clanging of a church bell!!

Dancing and having fun! Normal Egyptian homes are small with small rooms. Everyone crowds in and even stand on couches and chairs. No one cares! 

Weddings and engagement parties look like this also. 

My little collection of post-party gifts. I love them!!

My collection of mortars and pestles. In the old days women received these as wedding presents for cooking. These are made of brass and are very heavy. Some are made of aluminum. This is not a present for a modern bride!

Having fun with bedouin jewelry!

It's funny how some things catch your attention after years of passing them by while out and about. That's just one of my specialities here in Egypt--being out and about and poking around and looking for interesting things.

Egypt is so old! Most people think of Egypt as the land of the pharaohs but it's so much more than that, including the Greeks, Romans, Turkish Ottomans, Mamluks from eastern Europe, nomadic bedouin tribes from all over northern Egypt, Coptic Christians, and Europeans, all of whom have left their mark on the culture of modern Egypt. And for me the fun part of all that is finding old and new interesting things.

My hugely adventurous friend Penni actually planted the seeds in my bedouin interest with this book she gave me a year ago about Siwa (bottom right). After I bought my first piece of jewelry about two months ago I was happy to find these books specifically about bedouin jewelry. The open book at the top describes jewelry from Yemen. These fascinating books are my references and are filled with great photographs, as you can see. 

Old bedouin jewelry is both similar and distinctive. Made from silver, they incorporate a variety of symbols to protect against the "evil eye." "Silver is associated with goodness, and is prized for its healing properties and as a defense against evil. It's highly reflective surface will surely deflect the first glance of the evil eye." (Siwa, Jewelry, Costume, and Life in an Egyptian Oasis). The evil eye is a fascinating and common belief in this part of the world.


For generations jewelry has been a bedouin woman's most prized possession. When a bedouin couple become engaged part of the contract is how much jewelry the groom will give to the bride. The jewelry belongs only to her. It's her savings account, her retirement, her safety nest in times of need. Even in modern Egypt a bride gets a certain amount of gold from the groom. The marriage contract states the gold content and how many grams are to be given. The jewelry is then displayed at the engagement party that is almost as large as the wedding.

Bahariya

Silver was traditionally the prized metal for jewelry although now bedouin women want gold because it is more fashionable. The silver content in old bedouin jewelry ranges from .600, .800, and .900 silver. The poorest families could only afford "white metal" or "low silver" jewelry that was made of nickel and brass. When we are poking around we always look for the tiny hallmark stamps and get really excited when the artist has stamped his name or icon. One of the most famous artist was a jewelry maker named Gab Gab who made Siwan jewelry. It would be a miracle to find something with his signature.

This bracelet (left) is from Bahariya oasis and the big flowery stamps indicates the name of the artist (though I've forgotten his name). The three tiny stamps tell me that its .800 silver , made in 1943, and silver because of the lotus icon. Before 1940 the silver icon was a cat. I have a few pieces with the cat stamp.

This matching set (shown front and back) was the first pieces of bedouin jewelry to catch my eye. I think it was the sharp pin--what on earth is that for? Earrings?? The man in the shop thought it was for nipples! It was my driver who showed me how they are pinned into clothes and I've demonstrated it here. They are pinned on a dress or on a headband which then hang almost like earrings. They are "Berber"which generally denotes bedouin cultures from Morocco and that area west of Egypt. They are made of white metal with no stamps. Bedouin jewelry is full of symbolism; the red coral beads here are for fertility, fake coins at the bottom for wealth. I paid $65 for these and saw the same set on eBay listed for $450.00.  I was lucky to find these pieces because they are not common in the shops we go to in the Khan and elsewhere.

Okay here are my favorite pieces of bedouin jewelry!! These pieces are known as zar. "Zar is a healing ritual complex practiced in societies around the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. The word zar also refers to any number of djinn spirits who possess humans and afflict them with troubles and ailments." (Zar, Spirit Possession, Music, and Healing Rituals in Egypt). Zar jewelry is worn during zar ceremonies in which the healer tries to rid the person of the bad spirits. They always have bells and noise makers attached to them to drive the spirits away. They also have verses from the Quaran inscribed on them. See the big round disc I am holding? Its very similar to the necklace on the cover page of the book titled The Traditional Jewelry of Egypt.

My favorite Khan shopkeeper has promised to text me when he has new zar pieces. 😊😂

These bracelets are from Nubia, which used to exist between central Sudan and southern Egypt. The stamps on the single bracelet include a cat stamp and tell me that its .800 silver and made in 1937-1938.

The three-piece bracelet is interesting because its made of single bracelets soldered together, each with their own set of stamps. The more you could afford the more bracelets you could have. This bracelet has the the lotus stamp, is .600 silver, and was made in 1944-1945.

Here are brass earrings and a white metal amulet from Yemen. The shape of the amulet was designed to hold verses from the Quaran or pieces of paper with magic symbols. This is just a bit of a large necklace. Bedouin necklaces can be quite large and heavy because they also used beads made of glass, amber, and coral.












These white metal necklaces are from Siwa. The rectangular ring is .800 silver and handmade. The other ring, I learned, is also .800 silver but machine made. The large pendant in the center is called an adrim and is worn by all unmarried girls. This adrim is kind of on the dull side. I've got my eyes out for one that is more representative of the style.



It's so much fun looking for bedouin jewelry. There is a range of shopkeepers who are honest and not-so-honest. Our first question is always "where is this from?. So far we've seen jewelry from Siwa, Sinai, Nubia, Yemen, and Afghanistan. But even within Yemen, Egypt, and elsewhere the jewelry changes from region to region. I am building my collection with jewelry from as many regions/tribes as I can find. Though not a big fan of jewelry from Afghanistan. Too big and clunky. My goal is to have a box full of fun and interesting things to try on, handle, and learn about. 

We are taking care of two adorable persian cats for the summer

I think cattery is the appropriate word for the goings on this summer at the villa. And I say that with pleasure. We are taking care of two adorable persian cats named Pablo and Dali, both named after famous Spanish artists. As I posted before, Dave and I are relatively new cat owners and having persians around has been wonderful because they are so affectionate and entertaining. They are very different from the street cats Clementine and Ruby that we own. I love that Pablo and Dali let me pick them up and hold them. I can hold them like big furry babies and I love it. Their faces are so distinctive, especially Dali. Dave just loves their faces and they way they laze about. He takes photos and videos nearly every night and posts to snapchat for the kids to see because they are just too adorable.

It was so funny the first morning that Clementine and Ruby saw Pablo and Dali in the villa. I wish I had been filming it because my cats were absolutely terrified. They could not comprehend these two big and furry animals--what are these things in my home???--and ran out of the house fast as they could. Ruby did not return for two days!! Clementine slowly got used to them and now comes and goes as she pleases. Ruby is still afraid but that is her nature as she is very skittish. I don't know much about cats but I think this is a common reaction to having new cats in the house. It's been a month now and we've got a nice routine. My maid Lordes loves all the cats and helps me so much with trying to get Ruby in the house to eat.

Dali giving me a massage.

Dali hanging out on one of her favorite spots: behind me on the couch. Dave just loves how they laze about. They feel like soft rag dolls when I pick them up. So furry and soft.



A sleeping Dali.

Pablo just hanging about.

Dali. They are loving and adorable cats. I will miss them when they have to leave.



Pablo relaxing on the floor. When he's stretched out he looks huge. See all that fur? They got groomed the other day because they were developing fur knots. I try to brush them every day but some spots they don't like and that's where the fur knots formed. And thank goodness for my daily maid who vacuums the hairy spots every day.

Just another adorable photo of Dali hanging around.

Pablo having a good stretch. Pablo especially likes to follow me and Lordes around during the day. He likes the company. Dali likes to sit on the upstairs windowsill and sleep all day then join us in the evening.

Updated photos of our villa

I wrote about our villa in 2014 before we moved in and thought I would post photos of what it looks like now. This home is our absolute favorite domicile in our nearly 30 years of marriage. It's 100 years old with 18 foot ceilings, huge windows, great air flow, beautiful garden, and an extraordinary private driveway. It is, however, close to the police station and we have a barricade at the corner that you have to squeeze by. It looks intimidating with the military recruits and their rifles. The barricade was created more than a year ago to keep vehicles with bombs from reaching the police station and exploding. I have to admit that that sort of thing happens in Egypt now. But I'm not concerned. The bombs are small and our walls are 20 inches thick and made of concrete blocks. Really, you get used to things here. Cairo is a huge city, spread out over a wide area, with 17 million people.

We made some upgrades to the villa when we moved in, the most important of which is the brand new kitchen that we designed and the outdoor sidewalks and patio. Our home is a sanctuary for us. We get to forget about all the crazy stuff going on outside our villa walls. We are lucky to have this opportunity to live here and hope to stay a while longer. By the way, I use an iphone to take photos and they are always dark. grr.

Our bowab Ahmed with two military recruits outside our villa. Ahmed decorated for Ramadan and at night it's really pretty with lights all around the fence. This area is usually busy with lots of people hanging around, drinking tea, and visiting with one another. I provide tea, sugar, coffee, chairs, tables, electricity to the kiosk (phone charging!) and cable TV. One of these days I will get a photo of my night bowab, Mohammad. Such a wonderful man and excellent employee.

The view once you step through the gates. I used a panorama setting for this photo to try to capture everything. Our driveway is very unusual for Maadi and having instant access to our kitchen is also a gift. Can you see the large fanoose hanging just above the car? It's beautiful at night.

Our kitchen which looks kind of small in this photo but can hold a lot of people when we have parties. We love our kitchen and I LOVE that big window by my sink with the huge windowsill. I get to put all my favorite little things on the windowsill and enjoy them when I'm cleaning vegetables and slogging in the kitchen. I'm NOT a cook!! Dave does the majority of the cooking because he likes it and he's better than me.

The hallway from the kitchen. That's the front door ahead. There is a lovely breeze when the kitchen and front doors are open, which I open every morning to get fresh air. All the villas have bars on the doors and windows. You get so used to the bars that you don't notice them anymore.

Here's my living room. Can you see the tall windows? Most of the furniture is mine, brought from Houston. I am eclectic. I love a variety of things, especially old things. Old and wooden? Crazy for it. If it's handcarved with bits of old paint on it and not too expensive, it's mine.  I also love almost anything Asian and have a lot of Chinese things. And I've never been to China! I love Indian things also. I l-o-v-e poking around in antiques stores, junk shops, and architectural junk yards and shops.

 

Here's our dining room. One of the reasons we love the villa is the charming doorway carvings. Can you see how thick the doorways are? The walls are 20 inches thick. I've had trouble trying to fill the walls with art. The framed art I brought with us is swallowed up on these big walls.

Just off the dining room is my cubby. I was inspired during a visit to Istanbul. I had the furniture made locally which is a very common thing to do. Not too expensive either.



Villas and apartments have a lot of terraces. Our villa has a large one on the roof and two on the second floor. The terraces usually are connected to a bedroom. I'm certain this was to help with the Cairo heat. This is my terrace on the second floor by my bathroom and laundry room. I love to sit out here when the weather is nice. And I also love the bamboo furniture made here in Egypt. When I first moved here I bought outdoor made of palm fronds but they weathered too quickly, got bugs, and created splinters when they dried out.

Here's a panorama of our back garden. I hope it looks OK. We put in the walkway and patio. I don't know if you can see the furniture on the right side but most people cover their outdoor stuff because of the dust, cats, and bat poop that rains down. David loves his garden and spent a lot of time wrangling with the gardener (I call  him the waterer) to get it to look like this. We have several banana trees that produce small bananas that my Filipino maid said are just like the ones back home. You can also see my covered terrace on the second level.



My husband David LOVES flowers. These pots are his creations.

Some of the wonderful people I know in Maadi

I love my relationships with Egyptians: friends, drivers, employees, shop keepers, leg waxers at Josys salon, apache staff, delivery men, and so many others.

 

This is Lordes my wonderful maid (Filipino, not Egyptian). She's awesome and takes good care of everything. She's like an energizer bunny and is very kind to the outside staff, which is important to me because we have a happy villa community.  She's the only one with a key to the villa and takes over when I'm away. 



A selfie with my driver Mohammad (blue shirt), Ahmed, and Moustafa the gardener's son.
I love the people who help us with our lives in Cairo.



This is my gardener Mohammad in the center. Moustafa his assistant is on the left and Ahmed on the right. Mohammad and his crew comes six days a week in the morning to take care of the garden. The bicycle is his only mode of transportation. Sometimes the cats get into his food that he puts in the blue crate. See the unsure look on their faces (besides Ahmed who's a ham)? They are not used to madams wanting to take their photos or even talking to them. There's a caste system in Egypt but I treat everyone the same. Why shouldn't I say hello to the gardener's assistant?

 

Miriam's Market is my favorite store in Maadi. They carry a lot of items that Americans like and the store is clean with wide aisles. The people are so so friendly and treat you like family. They loved meeting Sydney and Jared when they visited as well as Patricia and Alexandria. Instant family! Pictured here is Kamal (left) the produce manager and one of his assistants.

This is the butcher at Miriam Market. He's right next to the produce section and everytime I walk down the steps to go into the produce section I am greeted with a big smile and recommendations for meat. I buy chicken, turkey legs, and sometimes lamb from him.

Introducing Azza. She is so beautiful to me!! Azza sits in a wheelchair all day and people give her money and food. I give her money when I see her and she's on my list for ramadan bags. There are a lot of people like her in Egypt, men, women, and children.

I love these boys!! They help me when I go to buy flower pots. I love Egyptian children!! They love to make friends with you and ask your name and take photos.



I don't know his name but he helps sell the beautiful outdoor bamboo furniture I have in the garden. Isn't his smile amazing? He was so happy that day because he was soon to leave for his trip to Mecca for his lifetime Hajj.

 

 

Kitties everywhere

There are usually several cats that live in the gardens of villas here in Maadi. I noticed a few when we moved in in March of 2014 but didn't pay too much attention to them because I was distracted with getting the house in order. They generally stay hidden in the bushes or walk the streets looking for food.

David, who grew up in a decidedly non-cat family and has allergies to them, first noticed how charming cats can be at our friend Jane's house. She has beautiful Persians. We came home from dinner at their house soon after moving into the villa and he said "wow Jane's cat was so friendly and sweet. Maybe we could get a cat..." which of course surprised me after 28 years of anti-cat talk. Then, lo and behold, a devoted cat lady sent an email around the expat community asking if anyone would like to adopt a sweet cat who fell, injured his diaphragm, and needed an indoor home. I decided to see the cat and when I sat on the floor Clementine came right up to me and climbed onto me like a dog. I couldn't believe it. A cat that was acting like a dog. Clementine is our indoor/outdoor cat and even though it's officially a male cat, she/he has a female name cause we are used to female animals. And she is so sweet. We added our very balady Ruby within weeks so that Clem wouldn't be lonely. After two months of watching them sit at the doors and windows pining to be outside with the other cats, they became the very lucky indoor/outdoor kitties of the villa.

Clementine and baby Ruby. Clem is very cuddly when it's her idea and Ruby has grown into a very skittish cat and would never perch on my legs again. They love each other very much.

Crookedy and Oscar in the old days. They were our only two back door cats
and we took care of them the best we could. I still miss Crookedy.

The first cat I noticed at our villa was "mama cat" who had four, then three, then two, then just one kitten within a week's time. Then I noticed all the other cats. I started feeding the cats and getting them neutered/spayed with a local vet. There weren't many cats then, maybe 8-10. And there were three people in the area feeding the cats so it was manageable for quite a while. Well now it's only me and we have a horde of kitties at dinner time. We try to feed them every other day but I usually see one of my favorites--"three legged!! where have you been?"--and then feed them.

 

Feeding time. Only 14 cats today--couldn't get Baby into the picture. We have counted as many as 30 cats!!Wth! Three-legged is the kitty in the top right corner, Bandit is the white kitty in the top left corner. Broken leg is there but you can't see her. The one just below Bandit is MEAN to the other cats and I'm trying to decide what to do about that.

It has been a huge surprise to us that we enjoy our garden cats with their distinctive personalities. "Crookedy," so named because she had a funny twitch to her hind legs when she walked, was pure white with beautiful light blue eyes and constant scratches and sores. We loved Crookedy but she died in a horrible manner last autumn. Oscar came to our back door two years ago as a baby--no mama in sight--and is always trying to run into the villa to get a quick bite of cat food. Last June a sweet little brown cat joined the growing crowd. We call her "brown cat". Another favorite is "Three-legged mama" so named because she has only three legs and, because of an eye infection last summer, has only one eye now. She also has an unfortunate spot of black fur around her eyes and looks like a bandito. A face only a mother could love. Other cats that we are fond of include "Baby," "mama cat," "broken leg," and a new teenager we call "bandit" that we were sure was going to die as a kitten. I completely understand now how some people end up with a lot of cats!!

I will admit that the cats are pesky. The majority of them keep their distance but some desperately want a human touch (I always give "baby" a pet) and mill about your feet when you're walking. Which causes problems for everyone, especially the bowab when he's carrying a tray of tea for the policemen!! The cats are also in various stages of health though none of them have rabies. Mostly they suffer from eye infections and a raspy cough. Brown cat doesn't look well these days but Crookedy used to look like she was dying and would recover. It breaks my heart that to survive they have to find food in the garbage or catch the occasional bird or rat. Actually what breaks my heart even more is that there is no animal control except for putting out poisoned meat for the dogs. That's why the city is filled with unwanted cats and dogs.