Yes, Valentine's Day has made it full circle around the globe--from the Greeks in Alexandria paying homage to Aphrodite some few thousand years ago, to boys selling plastic red roses on Egyptian metro cars today, courtesy of Hallmark and all the rest. Sadly, no one answered my plea to send me some candy conversation hearts--my favorite Valentine tradition of all. According to some ESL prep materials I was searching online, an estimated 2 billion Valentine cards are sent every year...85 percent of them by women. Yup, let's be honest--in a country that struggles to get their young people married by 30, if at all, Valentine's Day in Egypt was mostly an exercise in estrogen and singlehood awareness.
Even my 16 year old host sister--way too young to be married or (in my opinion) engaged, was lamenting her single status: "I want a boy!" she wailed, as we successfully booted some googly-eyed couple from their Nile-side bench and settled in with a pile of candy to down our sorrows with. Now, it's not that Sara lacks male attention, exactly. Her older brother and his wife have actually been conspiring to get her engaged, and have started to bring some young guys around their apartment to meet Sara. This all needs to be strictly supervised, of course, and kept secret from the overprotective Dad (who recently has taken to telling Sara that, nevermind boys, she's becoming a nun. To which Sara responds, "Don't be silly, baba. Here, let me make you some tea.." which he accepts with a reluctant smile)
So a system has been worked out that these young guys are whisked up to her older brother's apartment upstairs, and then Sara 'just happens' to stop by for a sum total of 3 seconds, and she then tells her brother whether she might want to get engaged to him or not. Bam. Speed dating, Egyptian style. Sara seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders, though: "If I engage now with a boy? I will remember," she says, miming big gestures to show an engagement ring and pointing to her head, "and nooo study!" She grins. At sixteen, I don't doubt it-- At an age when most of us were passing notes in the hallways, the idea of actually being engaged to a boy? Math homework wouldn't stand a chance.
But on this loveydovey holiday in Egypt, Sara had become my surrogate Valentine anyway--no boys allowed. Sara is the baby of the family and works hard--studies all day, cooks, cleans, and gets tied up emotionally with all the various family problems. It was high time to get the girl out of her house and actually let her be a kid again! My roommate and I swooped into action. Our day went something like this:
10am: Kirsten and I left our apartment, buying up about a dozen pieces of candy before we went.
11am: picked up Sara, and force-fed her several pieces of candy. Sugar starts the day out right, right?
12pm: A 20 cent, half hour boat ride on the Nile. Sara can't swim and is terrified of water, and has never been on a boat before. Coaxed on and seated snugly between us, she finally relaxed as the Arabic pop music blared and the tiny little motor boat did a little lap in the broad river. Success.
1pm: Lunch at a cafe in the nearby opera house, including 3 glasses of melt-your-face fresh strawberry juice, cheese sandwiches, and chocolate filled croissants. Sara called her older sister, who's stuck home with a baby, to taunt her a little bit. All of us decided to cancel our afternoon obligations; Sara cancelled her evening English lesson, and decided that she'll blame it on us when her mom will undoubtedly get pissed. But today feels once-in-a-lifetime; we don't want to rush. We sat in this outdoor cafe inside the opera house complex for two hours, the sun and breeze reminding me of spring breaks spent in southern California. Egypt has apparently skipped winter this year, and we've been clocking in pretty consistently at 75 degrees and sunny most days. Ahh. Perfect.
2pm: We found a park bench by the Nile, and Kirsten and Sara began to commiserate over their manless status. Being separated by 1500 miles and Sudan from Nod, they gave me honorary status in their cranky Valentine's Day club. More candy eased the pain.
3pm: We bought ice cream bars from our local "a little bit of everything" shop.
4pm: I avoid near collision with a horse cart as we cross a really busy, 6 lane road next to my apartment. Unfortunately, the horse itself wasn't so lucky, and fell onto a car, smashing in the entire hood. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Maybe not the most conventional Valentine's Day, but it did the trick. The evening ended with a table of old American friends and a $10, all-you-can-eat Indian and Chinese food buffet, in which we were obliged to polish off at least two heaping plates a person. Delish.
In other news, Ash Wednesday is coming up in two weeks. I'm hoping to observe Lent this year in the customary way by giving up something for 40 days. Now, as my account of Valentine's day might suggest, my sugar intake has been something truly epic in Egypt. Yesterday was a bit higher than average (I neglected to mention that I actually ate leftover cake for breakfast and lunch, in addition to all of our candy, fruit juice, and ice cream), but let's say I probably average probably 3 cups of processed sugar a day.
Looking at Ash Wednesday on my calendar, I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I decided to squint my eyes and offer up a really quick, "Dear God, what should I give up for Lent? Please don't let it be sugar!" and opened my eyes again before God could say anything. What I think I got in response was something like, "Go check your attitude and come back and ask me again." Sigh. Like those approaching death, I feel I have now entered into the "bargaining" phase--"Ok, God, what if I give up everything but sugar in my tea? I mean, that's reasonable, right? You wouldn't take my tea from me, would you?"
Wish me luck.
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