I have never taken a 10 hour flight before. This flight which went straight to Cairo took 12 hours. I had a huge head ache the whole time. There were a lot of crying babies which made it difficult for anyone to sleep. During the course of the flight three movies were shown. Two American movies and one Arabic movie. The flight was exhausting. Finally we arrive, and everyone is anxious to leave the plane, who could blame them 12 hours is a long time to be sitting down.
Getting luggage was a mess. We had to wait a very long time. Luckily Diana's friends picked us up at the air port. Atef and Magda, they are a married couple which taught a workshop in New York. They are wonderful people and have been very kind to us. They are both dancers and have a lot to offer to the belly dance community. They will also be teaching a class at the Festival here. I took this workshop already in New York and it was great! Atef drove us around and helped us find an apartment. After Atef picks us up, he brings us to Magda's mother's house. She is so sweet, offering us Mango juice and a place to stay for the night. We are so exhausted that we excepted.
The room is small with two beds, and a fan on the wall. We kept our luggage in another room, and they go out of there way to put a curtain in place of a door that is not there. They explain to us that it is very safe here since men are not allowed in the building. My first experience using the bathroom is no toilet paper! Surprise! Well I kind of knew that, but to see it live is very interesting. Magda's mother pulls out the toilet paper and leaves rolls in the bathroom for us. We end up calling her Mama since we don't remember her name and feel to embarrassed to ask. Mama did not speak a word of English, Only Atef speaks English. I have gotten really good at playing sherades. We seemed to manage well me and Mama. Diana speaks Arabic very well and even writes it, but she is not always around. So the sherade game becomes very entertaining for me and Mama.
When it was time to shower, I noticed that there is no bath tub. Diana and I are baffled, we see a shower head in the bathroom but no bath tub. So ofcourse we need to know how to take a shower. Mama explains that we take a shower in the bathroom just as is. The entire bathroom is the shower, toilet seat, sink and all! Diana and I just give each other a look of shock, and surprise. O.K. where does the water go? There is a drain, and surprise surprise it does not really work that great. The entire bathroom gets flooded with suds and water. It does not however seep out of the door. Hmmmmm interesting, maybe the bathroom floor is on a slant? We can't figure it out and search constantly for the drain, just out of curiosity. I finally find the drain behind the toilet and I am very amused at how this works. When we visited two more people they did not have bath tubs either, but there is a shower head and you know what that means. Their bathroom is the tub. Plumbing here by the way is very bad. It was quite an experience taking a shower using the entire bathroom every thing gets wet and flooded.
I am happy to announce that my apartment has a bath tub. Wow I was shocked.
The second day in Cairo and I am still exhausted, struggling to wake up. It took me three days to become adjusted here. Diana and myself decide to go on an adventure. While we stayed with Mama she lives in Muhandiseen and we need to go to Cairo to exchange our money. Diana asks me if I want to take the metro and then the subway. One train is out doors and the other one is underground. We would need to take both in order to get to Cairo. I agreed since I want to experience what there Metro looks like. Well we seem to be the only ones on the Metro and the subway that are not Egyptian. Everyone stared at us all of the time. Their subway is actually cleaner than New York. You would not believe it. They have a television at the stations so you can watch t.v. while waiting for a train. I was very impressed. I was also impressed when we did not get lost. But wait, we do get lost coming back. We get our ticket to take the train, and when we are ready to exit something funny and embarrassing happens to us. As we are ready to exit all eyes are on us. We did not realize we needed to put the tickets in a little slot in order to exit using the turn style. So at the same exact time we try to go through and both of our bodies jerk back really hard. The men working there had to come and help us figure it out. We really looked like tourists now. All we could do is laugh, it was really a seen out of a comedy. I could feel the pain in my stomach from the blow it took.
We found out that the first two cars or the subway are only for women, so we decide onn the way back to take them. It was so uncomfortable with all the men staring at us. Even though the other cars had woman as well. Big mistake! The first two cars are not air conditioned! It is so hot. I then find out that the only cars air conditioned are all of the other ones. Mean while these women are covered head to toe! On the way back when we get ready to go on the Metro, I mention to Diana that everyone is not getting on this Metro and it is the last stop. Then I mentioned well that would be funny if there is more than one train on this line, because we have no idea which train we took on our way coming. Anyway we were on the wrong train and got really lost. Every one is very nice here. We got of on the stop that we thought was ours and just walked around asking everyone werer we live, holding a piece of paper in Arabic with our address on it. Finally we found Atef, someone called him for us and he met us. We went to mamma's house and rested.
Finally the day arrives to register for all of these amazing workshop's. I find out that there are 52 teachers and about 900 students. Wow that is a lot to take in. Morocco is here with Terik and they brought 40 people with them mostly dancers. I have already bumped into 10 belly dancers that I know, some I know well. The festival is held at the Mena house and standing right out side you can see two huge pyramids, wow what a site!
The amount of classes to choose from is so overwhelming. By the time I am done and go to register I am in shock at how much it came out to. I had to pay extra for the Gala and the closing show. Two shows. At the Gala we had to wear evening gowns and there would be famous Egyptian dancers. They are some of the most popular stars who are offering workshops. Like Dina, Nagwa Foad, Sorraya, Suhaila Salimpur and daughter, Mona Said, Rhonda Kamel, and, Asmahan, just to name a few. The show went on till 3:30am and I had my first class at 10:00am- 1:00 the next day and another class from 4:00-7:00 the same day so I was wiped out having to take two classes with hardly any sleep.
I forgot to mention that with the registration fee opening and closing gala plus classes in which you need to take a certain amount. You can't just take one or two. There is a required amount. Any way it came out to $790. OUCH! Can someone say bankrupt? Money seems to go rather quickly here. I would like to send my warmest regards to my students who are so supportive. I would also like to thank those students who gave me money for my trip, as you can see it was well needed. I wanted to cry when I saw money in an envelope! So you have all touched my heart in a very special way. I have taken 9 workshops already and I was only really happy with 4. Although I learned a lot, but it is like gambling when you pick a teacher and you are not sure if she knows how to teach. I took a sword work shopby Alaa Yousef, let me just say that it was soooo bad that I walked out, and so did some other girls. It was really bad.
Suhaila gave a great work shop however her technique is so different, difficult, and unique. The technique she uses would take lots of practice and a very long time to master. I do not disagree with her technique, however if you are dancing for a long time it would be hard to master. Now if you started off with her I think you would be fine. I don't have time to start over, I have already invested too many years. Amir Taleb gave the best workshop I had ever taken. He drilled and did combinations across the floor. His choreography was great! And he is a wonderful teacher with enthusiasm and high energy, just the way I like it! I was very impressed by him. I am told that he comes to New York once and a while and I highly suggest you to look for his website and plan on taking a work shop with him. I know I will!
Sorraya was great mixing Brazilian dance with belly dance. She is an exquisite dancer and also a great teacher. Amir so far has really taken my breath away. I will be taking a class with Rhanda Kamel tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. Her performance at the gala was fantastic. Every thing is late here in Cairo. I heard that Rhanda Kamel gives a great workshop. I will let you know.
Rhanda Kamel was amazing, I learned so much in her class. She is very graceful and had a lot to offer. She really drilled us hard. Her style was very Egyptian.
Asmahan was incredible! I loved her, her class was difficult and she did not really break stuff down so you really had to keep up.
So far my favorite teachers in order are #1. Amir Taleb #2. Asmahan #3. Rhanda Kamel #4.Souhaila 5. Raqia Hassan 6. Sorraya, 7.Essam Monur
All of these teachers were great! So I really enjoyed and learned from 7 workshops.
I still have three more classes to take and I am so exhausted. I signed up for 13 workshops
3 hours a class twice a day. So that is 6 hours a day of just Egyptian drilling! Those of you who know me, I am sure you now that I am enjoying this experience to the fullest and taking everything in with love and dedication.
There is a competition at the Mena house every singe night, with bellydancers going on one after the other. Using live music or a CD. This starts at about 9:oopm for maybe two hours or more. When the competition is over you would think it is time to home and sleep, especially if you have a class in the morning right? Wrong! After the competion is over, who ever does not want to compete performs on the stage for another two- three hours. This is a never ending show. I have fallen asleep between classes in the hotel on little sofas. I have never in my life seen so many belly dancers, and vendors, I still can't believe there are 900 bellydancers here.
Oh my god the costumes are amazing. I am buying myself maybe three costumes, but I don't think I can bring any back. My money is going really fast, and my credit card in which I have $1000. Has been declined. I found out why, well the credit card company thinks someone in Egypt is trying to use my card. So it is cancelled and there really isn't anything I can do. I will try to bring back hip scarves and caftans, because they are really cheap. I am going to get some connections so that if my students want a costume they can get it for the price that is here in Cairo. I have already made some great connections. I have a CD with pictures of the costumes and you would not believe the prices. so girls get ready. I feel so bad I really had hoped to bring back a lot of stuff. But between registration, my apartment, purchasing three costumes for myself.
I do have to be careful since I am here for one month. I still have not even gone sight seeing. I have only been concentrating on taking classes. I will definitely be bringing back lots of DVD's and CD's that is one thing you can count on! I will try to post something regularly.
Gotta go the competition has already started and I am sitting in the computer room
The grand prize for the winner is a gold crown that is very expensive and unique,and no I am not competing! I don't believe in competitions, because no one is better than any one else. Every dancer is beautiful and unique in her own way. And to tell her she lost this competition because she is not good, and to tell the winner that she is better than every one else is not the way it should be. I will however watch it and enjoy it
I am not a prude. To each its own.