Like a Zombie Movie

As we walked into Ana Al-Misri this afternoon, we were met with a strange scene... emptiness and silence. This is drastically different from the norm, which involves lots of screaming, jumping, biting children grabbing me by the hand and leading me to who knows where. The lack of people made us all a little apprehensive, and we each secretly started thinking that we had walked into a horror film. Within a few seconds, we heard a sound which only added to our fear - a steady drum beat coming from somewhere in the compound. We nervously headed towards it, and soon we heard clapping and that "Ie Ie Ie" sound that Arab women make. While walking up the stairs, I heard one of us say that it was probably dangerous to enter whatever was going on upstairs and kept walking, though I agreed. It turned out to be a birthday party - ostensibly a harmless event, but when it involves masses of insane children packed in a small room with balloons, it can become a pretty risky situation. I was greeted by my six-year-old friend Islam, who grabbed my hand and dragged me into the room. Ten seconds later I was greeted by my other six-year-old friend Imam (the one I'm secretly planning on taking home), who leaped from the table he had been dancing on like a spider monkey and clung to my back. Shortly thereafter, a circle formed and in the middle were two pint-sized dancers (boys of about nine or ten), who engaged in some dance-fighting, which was both adorable and hilarious. From then on the day was a typical one at Ana Al-Misri, including many fights to be broken up, many tears following the popping of all the balloons in sight, and me getting smacked and whacked by many children using whatever weapons they could find (although Islam valiantly defended me multiple times throughout the afternoon). I know I give that place a lot of flack, considering children try to wound me and each other on a daily basis, but honestly I will miss all of them very much, and I'm starting to become concerned over how to tell these six-year-olds in broken 'Amaia that I might never see them again (especially since they ask when I'm coming back every day).

Later in the night, a group of us headed out to Egypt's best and only American-style diner in Maadi. I thought that my nostalgia for Cairo had started to kick in, and that I would want to eat nothing but ful and tamaya for the next two weeks, but when I heard that there was a place nearby that served burgers and pancakes, I couldn't help but go and stuff my face. The place had actually been written up as having the country's/continent's/world's best burger (the story changes depending on who you talk to in Egypt, and I'm not sure of the truth since I haven't seen the article myself), and it was absolutely delicious. If only they had had some of the cherry pie advertised on the menu... I had to make due with cheesecake. Guess I'll have to wait to fill my pie craving when I'm home on the 30th.