Sisters!
Do you remember this great face and the fantastic girl... I commented on her at the very beginning?
She is an elder sister to this little one. The elder sister in Egypt,in the middle and working classes, gets the title "ABLLA"; it is the same title kids call their woman teacher!
The elder sister is important in the family: she plays the role of the mother even when the mother is alive, and when the father dies, she takes responsibility for her younger brothers and sisters.
Elder sisters even as young as this one takes her younger sister with her, holding her hand, protecting, even punishing her… she is responsible for her from such an early age!
Showing posts with label Elly and her people from Alex.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elly and her people from Alex.. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sisters
Thursday, October 11, 2007
El Balakounah!
El Balakounah! It is an Italian word we use – as with many other words in our daily dialect: terso, secondo, robabieka (old junk) premos, prema, and so on…
Sometimes the family convert it into a room, or use it as a storing place, because Egyptians are not used to throwing out old things. It is also a place where you can have fun observing what is happening underneath in the street. or alternatively, you talk with the neighbors, gossiping and plotting or just exchanging information!
Before the widespread ownership of refrigerators, it was very common and elegant also to buy mud pots for water: a “Qullah” to cool the water especially in the summer by putting it in the Balakounah and covering it after putting inside ne’na (mint) or lemon so the water has a refreshing taste!
This chair - did somebody put it there as a secret sign!? Or did somebody clean the floor and forget to put it back?!
Never the less it is typical scene from an Egyptian Balakounah!
time to relax
With a cup tea! In addition, maybe a shisha!
Look at this woman. She is in her house, in her daily house clothes. She has tied around her head - and hair – the mandeel mahalawy, as it is called. It has nothing to do with Islam; my aunts used to do the same and my mother, maybe because of the dust in the house when they were moving around doing their routine cleaning. They also tied it firmly over their heads when they had a headache, sometimes they tied a big copper key with it as it is believed to be a cure for headaches.
They drink tea many times a day with a lot of sugar: morning, noon, after meals, and after noon and night.
Such a cheap relaxation!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Best cats!
We call cats “best!” … the ancient Egyptian 'Cat-God' is called BEST... There was a recent discovery in the Delta of mass graves of mummified cats in a place called “Tell Basta” .. (It is also the name of my grandfather!)
Egyptians do not keep domestic pets, but they treat cats with respect. They believe they have secret powers so they do not harm them!
the boy, the bread, the smile
Because of the shortage of baking places to bake bread, and because of the bad quality of the bread baked enmass, lot of individuals took up making bread at home and selling it. Usually young kids would set up their mobile 'shops' anywhere. It is easy to snatch the 'shop' and run away when the police come raiding.
I wonder – when I see such energy – to hold onto life with dignity, how that energy, or the dignity will survive the hardship of poverty.
The boy is smiling, a sweet one, for the time being!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
faces to backs
Two photos with astonishing meanings: Girls are sitting with their back to what is happening behind them. Boys are looking straight forward, even smiling a bit!
I am not sure why the girls are turning their backs: are they not willing to be identified? Ya, most probably; I think they left their houses claiming to their parents that they were going to study with each other in one of the girl's houses and took the opportunity to escape and have some fresh air on the Corniche.
The boys, just leave without any explanation to their parents and meet, making plans, sitting on the same seaside. Both parties have no money to meet in cafés. Even if the girls had some money, they would not dare to go to café houses.
Old men with tea and cotton
Sitting in front of their shop, the old men show their profession: they make things from cotton: mattresses, cushions and usually for the new bedroom for the newly wed couples.
It is still a great profession, and in demand, in spite of the spread of non-cotton materials, and is cheap.
You can ask the "menajed" (the man who makes the mattresses) to come to your home with his tools and make whatever you want. Hospitality rules demand that the client offer unlimited supply of tea and coffee and of course one meal from the table of the house.
All the neighbors would come, comment, and say Mabrouk
It is a small feast!
Monday, October 8, 2007
The young shoeseller
What age do some people begin working? Who stole from them the joy of a slow and normal growing up?
He is selling some secondhand shoes. Sitting in the middle of nowhere, learning to deal with corrupt the policeman who would leave him and his shoes in peace if he gives him part of his earnings. And the hassling of the clients: Poor and annoyed like him from the way life disappoints them.
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