Day 328 - A Special Day

My cousin is getting married today. Or rather is married at this point. And my other cousin is turning 2 years old. A very special day. And I am in Cairo :)

I am a person who can sleep on just about any surface under the condition that I have a wonderful pillow. The pillows at Bella Luna are not so wonderful, which meant for a restless 6 hours of sleep for me. Hard pillows are really uncomfortable. My goodness.

After an Egyptian breakfast, a hard-boiled egg, foul and falafel I made my way out on to the streets to do a little shopping. Mostly for other people and not myself. I purchased things for myself yesterday but not today. My morning was going so well, walking around, enjoying the weather. Then I decided I should go take some money out of the ATM. This is when I discovered I had left my debit card behind in Juba. Fail. And to make the situation better, I cannot remember my Mastercard password for the life of me, which means that is also useless to me. Panic ensued. I was not a happy individual. I was running through my mind every option I could think of how to get money…some of these options ridiculous. In my panic I left behind one of my bags which I had just purchase, at the shop where I bought a bottle of water. Thank goodness I realized that I had forgotten it and when I returned to the shop the owner had it behind his counter! Relief! So I make a hasty phone call to BMO. Tell them I am in Africa so not to take their time on the phone with me. The man I was talking to was great and set up my card for a re-set. All I had to do was find the right machine that would take my card. I did find such a machine and even did a little song and dance in the ATM booth when my money came out of the ATM. I did not ruin my trip after all! That was a stressful morning, but oh so very typical for me to do.

I made it back to Khan el Khalili to get my ring repaired, randomly got stopped along the way by a person who swore he knew me. Like from back in 2009 when I was living in Cairo. Weird thing was I totally recognized him and felt like we had had a previous conversation exactly like the one we had. Dejavu I guess. 

After the market I hopped in a taxi to go to the gigantic City Stars Mall, with what turned out to be a great driver. Spoke great English and even gave me a tea to drink on the way. I tried really hard to refuse it because me, with a small cup of boiling hot tea, in a car, driving down the roads of Cairo did not shout, good idea! However I was forced to accept it and I successfully drank the whole cup without spilling a drop. I forgot how massive the mall was. I was apprehensive about going in but I needed some things so I braved it. I could barely shop. It was so not enjoyable. I got the bare necessities, a black tank top and jeans, then ate a delicious meal of Seared Salmon with walnut, pomegranate, yogurt sauce and couscous. It was lovely. After about 20 minutes of being lost in the mall, I found my way to Marble Slab and treated myself to some ice cream. My goodness it was a wonderful treat. I ate it on my way back to the hotel because I had to get out of the mall before I lost it. So many people and things and noises. I couldn’t handle it anymore. The drive back was very enjoyable. The breeze from the open window was so nice.

Yet another day in the adventure that my life is. It wouldn’t be a trip with me if I did not somehow forget a very important item in my packing, however I have so far always got myself out of the unfortunate situations I get myself into. 

Indulgences....