Dress like an Egyptian

This is an e-mail Mady received from Susan Hering (her mom) on April 1 in anticipation of coming to visit Egypt:

"So I've been working on the clothing issue...when you're waiting for the items to show up in used clothing stores, you have to be patient and often... and I've already found one perfect pair of lightweight, loose [pants] that come nearly to my ankles..and yesterday I found the most amazing find: an actual burka! How could I NOT buy it ($11.99, St Vinty's). It is not one of those absolutely hideous blue ones you always see in movies...it is a rather nice sort of pinkish beige in color, and made out of some light material that is kind of slippery. It does NOT have a screen over the eye slit, which in my mind is what makes it wearable. I think it will actually be a good thing to have along. That way, if my regular clothes ever seem too provoking for a middle aged woman, I can just pull the damned burka over my head and no one will be the wiser. It doesn't even take up a lot of packing space, surprisingly...it compacts into a pretty tight little roll. I am getting SOOO excited! Does it still get cool at night there?

xx Mums"

Mady and I then spent some time discuss what Mady should reply to this e-mail ultimately deciding that she would tactfully tell Susan not to bring it because it would just be inappropriate.

This happened to be an excellent April Fool's Day joke played on Mady by the incredibly clever Susan Hering who apparently has been a mastermind of April Fool's Day pranks for years. When Mady received the response we couldn't believe how easily we were fooled.

This did however get me to thinking about the style and dress of Egyptians and people in the Middle East in general. One of the things that I think people, mostly women, stress out about when coming here is the way they should present themselves. Some of the tips I received were to keep my knees and shoulders covered and not to wear anything too tight or revealing which I think are pretty common sense going to a country you have never been to before.

Since I have been here for two months I have see a great number of different fashion options for locals and foreigners and I will begin by saying that things here are more conservative and more liberal than I had imagined. I will start with the conservative (mind you this is all my understanding and may not be 100% accurate).

The women of the local Tarabin Bedouin tribe do wear the jellabiya (pronounced galabeya), a long black robe that sometimes is adorned with sequins that covers their arms and legs leaving only the hands and feet exposed. They also wear the hijab which is the head covering but is also the term for the modest style of Muslim dress in general. When a Bedouin woman is in a place where there is a chance that a Bedouin man could see her then she also wears the niqab that covers her nose and mouth, at this point only leaving her eyes exposed. Young girls do not have to start wearing this style of dress until they become a teenager generally and can shed it all if they are in the presence of only women or their immediate family. Women take pride in the clothes they wear beneath the jellabiya and dress up for occasions like weddings in long ball gowns. Men also wear a white or blue Jellabiya most of the time which is not well portrayed in the picture but you can begin to understand. There are extreme cases like a woman I saw in Amman last weekend who was completely covered and still wore sunglasses at night and had to be lead around by another woman because she couldn't see anything in her attempt to be modest.

Egyptian women do generally wear modest clothing such as long skirts reaching their ankles or loose-fitting pants and generally wear at least short-sleeved shirts if not, long-sleeves. But we do live on a beach and many liberal Egyptians from Cairo and other big cities vacation here and have a more western-style of dress that includes shorts, tank tops and of course, swim suits. There are many foreigners here as well who, staying at a beach, wear typical beach attire that are not all too modest.

It is getting much hotter these days and is beginning to be difficult resist just throwing on some shorts and a tank to hang out outside. Being a teacher here adds to the desire to respect the Egyptian customs and attempt to blend in a little. I generally brought modest clothing but can get away with a little more on the weekend when we are hanging out on the beach though we try to stay further away from the main hut and fellow workers.

And for the record, I have not seen any Egyptian women wearing a burqa.

Under the Desert Stars with Marshoosh

Day One
This past week we had our class trip to the desert. I gotta say at first I was dreading it because it would cut into the weekend and be 24-hour teaching/sitting duty. But in the end it was a really lovely and relaxing trip.

Loading up the van.

Our trip began with a 3-hour drive to a dirt road then another 30 minute ride in the back of a truck to a lodge in the desert near St. Katherine’s called El Karm run by the Bedouin tribe, the Jabaleya (which means something like of the mountains). The hills and land surrounding the lodge were numerous shades of brown with bright greens from the Palm trees, Paradise apple trees and numerous herbs dotting the landscape. Everything from the rooms to the dining area to the fire pit was lovely.

When we arrived Jameel, the owner, served us tea made of Rabl, which is an herb that is great for the respitory system and is a bright lime green color. It was really tasty too which I am sure was in some part due to the giant spoonful of sugar that was scooped in my cup. After we settled into our rooms and eaten our lunch of salata (traditional salad), gibna and pasta with tuna, Jameel took us on a walk to teach us the uses of many of the herbs in the area.

I was amazed by how almost everything we saw was edible and used to cure some ailment. We eventually came across a poppy (and a poppy field later on) as well as a plant that makes you "drunk for 24 hours." We had to make sure none of the kids tried to get their hands on that one. The place where we meandered was actually a caravan trail years prior and it was kind of funny because there were tubes and cables running through the canyon area transporting electricity from the solar panels and water. I imagined that it is what being on a movie set might look like.

The canyon

Seeds that use the wind to spin into the ground to plant themselves

Eating a sour flower

Karim takes smelling the flowers a little far

That evening a British man named Gordon brought his GPS telescope (not earth but sky GPS) and gave us a lesson in Astronomy. We learned so much: The numbers assigned to a star’s brightness, the different colors stars appear to be and why this is so, different constalations including the zodiac and that the north star is the only star in the sky that never appears to move. We also were able to see the rings of Saturn and the craters in the moon with the telescope.

Day Two
Today was our long trek out further in the desert though really the journey was a “U” shape and we ended up about a 45-minute walking distance from the hostel. All but two people rode camels (jamel in Arabic) for the aprox. 3 hour tour. It is currently mating season and our pack was feeling it. We had a group of male camels who were all sniffing each other out and foaming at the mouth. My guide Mohammed and all of the other guides kept saying that my camel, Marshoosh, is crazy. Though I liked Marshoosh very much, I don’t think he liked me. Every time we stopped he kept flipping his tale so that the urine residue would splash onto my back. It was pretty disgusting. Luckily it was never very wet.

Mohammed, my guide asked about my relationship status and told me that he had a girlfriend. Then he proceeded to ask if I wanted him to sleep with me this evening or if I wanted to go back to his place. He told me that Bedouin women only know the word, “no.” I guess I can’t blame the guy for trying.

Me and Mohammed with Marshoosh

We finally arrived at camp and said goodbye to our camels and guides. Our home for the evening was on the side of a rocky hill with old ruins scattered about. The ruins all had tiny little doors. We were informed that they were built this way to keep intruders at a disadvantage if they wanted to invade a home. Ducking down makes your rather vulnerable. Pretty genius. After exploring for only a few minutes, the kids discovered a human skull and eventually a human vertebrae. We played a few games and then set up camp. Camp consisted of setting out some mats and putting our sleeping bags or blankets on top. No tents for us. We are serious campers. For dinner, we had a traditional Bedouin meal of rice, potatoes, and meat that we shared on four large platters. I was taught how to eat by rolling the rice in my fingers to form a ball and put it in my mouth without my fingers touching my mouth. In this way, we can prevent germs from spreading and it is just polite. I was horrible at this and the kids made fun of me but it was a great experience.

They showed me how to wrap my head like a true Bedouin

Day Three
It was rather impossible to sleep in the last day because almost every kid was up with the sun around 6 am. Our guide was already making bread in the ashes by the time I poked my head out of my sleeping bag and all the kids were gathered around the fire. We all had some tea and had our fill of fool, salata, gibna, aesh (bread) and halawa bars. Once we had eaten and cleaned up camp we walked back to the lodge to rest before the group headed to pray and then drive back home.