25 July, 2011

I'm in! Well, almost.

What a perfect day!  How guilty should I feel I wonder for how lovely a time I am having whilst my dear husband toils...

A leisurely morning at home and then a THREE hour coffee visit with two wonderful women.  Of course I had to have the ginger latte - try this everybody!  Then off to the Gezira Sportsclub again to try and get the elusive membership.  A hard time again given to me at the gate to get in, even though I have a membership form and accompanying documents and am waiving it at the guards saying that I need to get in to register for the club...

We full out ran to the membership office at the back of the club to try and get there before the closing time of 2:00 pm (lots of places close early like that over the summer months).  But alas, though everyone is still in the office and working, they will not let me hand in my registration form because it is like 2:07 pm.  One of my new buddies who speaks Arabic pleads, but to no avail.  Come back tomorrow and get there BEFORE 2:00 pm.  Shoot, we ran in the summer heat of Cairo for nuthin.

Well, these ladies I'm with are a lot more bold than I am (though this is something I am trying to work on) and we decide that though I am not technically a member of this elite establishment yet, we should stay (since we're past the guards anyway) and enjoy our afternoon.  So we find a nice shady table beside one of the three pools and order some lemonade and continue with our lengthy chatting Part II.  A couple laps to make it seem like we're there for fitness or something and then some poolside lounging until the sun is no longer over head.

Here none of the rules of dress apply - women in bikinis, shorts, whatever - here it is okay.  Unfortunately, one of my friends had an unwelcome admirer.  After about an hour of openly starring at her, he comes over and proposes marriage.  She politely declines, being otherwise committed and also being put off by his high score on the creep-o-meter.  He never did let up with the starring though.

We head home after this lovely day to meet up with our respective sweethearts and I begin to think that being in Cairo may be a rather delightful thing.

2 comments:

  1. Was it a for-real marriage proposal?!? That's rather bold! How is it there for westerners (or wherever your friend may be from)? When I was in Turkey (not that it's the same at all, of course) I found that my fair skinned, blonde and red-headed travel mates were fawned over and I? Was charged extra for water. Apparently, with my dark skin and hair, I'm not a novelty. Sad but true, lol.

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  2. It does seem like the blondies get a lot more (mostly unwelcome!) attention from the dudes. We have pretty much been attending places with fixed prices so I can't speak to the level of fairness being applied. I understand westerners will likely be charged more in a haggling situation but haven't experienced that yet.

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