Packet of freshly ground Arabic coffee w/ cardamom (cost = USD 75 cents)
New wallet (USD 50 cents)
Chinese (or possibly Korean) post-it notes, 2 small packages and 1 larger package (US $1)
Loose Sage (miramiyya, in Arabic), for making sage tea (USD 30 cents)
Loose Verbana (meleesa, in Arabic), also for tea (USD 30 cents)
Hijabs (headscarves), 5 small, 4 big (US $3.50)
1 notebook (USD 50 cents)
Other highlights from today’s outing to the souq:
Riding in a tuk tuk! (cost = US $1)
I first learned of tuk tuks from a Thai co-worker of mine at summer camp. They’re basically motorized tricycles with seats in the back for passengers. In parts of Egypt, as in parts of South Asia, they’re used as taxis, especially (in Cairo anyway) going to and from less developed areas and villages. In India they are called auto-rickshaws. I saw them last night at the souq and really wanted to ride one, so today, we did. Look at the video (coming soon) and photos for more!
Pomegranate juice (USD 30 cents/glass)
It’s pomegranate season, meaning pomegranates are plentiful and fresh pomegranate juice is at its best! Pomegranate juice is my favorite of the many fresh-squeezed juices available in Cairo, and now is the best time to get it! And even though the sight of two white girls sitting inside the juice shop was bound to elicit odd stares, we ate in.
Koshery al-Ikhwan (USD 30 cents a bowl)
It’s almost a cliché to write about koshery on an Egypt blog… Koshery is a quintessential Egyptian dish consisting of pasta, rice, lentils and chick peas, topped with fried onions and tomato sauce, all served in one bowl. It’s a quick, hearty meal that I actually like quite a bit. We found a koshery place in our neighborhood serving it and stopped for some on the way home from the souq. This particular restaurant definitely had a Muslim feel, as two of the servers had long beards (here, long beards are often a sign of being a conservative Muslim), verses of the Qur'an were up on all the walls (see picture depicting most of surat al-Ikhlass, a verse of the Qur'an that was on the wall), and Qur'anic recitations were playing on the stereo. We decided to jokingly call the shop Koshery al-Ikhwan, or, Koshery of the Brothers,
referring to the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan), an Islamist group that has become quite 
politically active in Egypt in recent years. The Brotherhood has a long and storied history in modern Egypt (one that includes several attempts to violently overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic republic), and I’m not going to get into it all here, but lately they’ve been gaining legitimate (ie, nonviolent) political power as a morally upstanding, socially conscious alternative to the corrupt mess that is the current Egyptian political regime. While officially banned from participating in elections, the Brotherhood fields a slew of independent candidates that run under the slogan, “Islam is the solution.” And when the Brotherhood is not busy furthering their political agenda, they might be serving us koshery…
As I’ve written before, every day is an adventure at the souq. And, an American with any amount of money can do a lot with US $20. Keep in mind however, that for the majority of Egyptians, the prices of things at the souq are by no means a steal, but rather reflect the reality of how little money most Egyptians earn and live on. While Michelle and I are students and are not wealthy by US standards, in Cairo, we can afford to split our time between the souq’s winding alleyways and the upscale, Westernized cafes and restaurants (the likes of Hardees, which is far more popular in Egypt than in the US, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee, and now the Canadian chain Second Cup!) in areas of Cairo just a 10-minute cab ride from the souq. At these cafes, a latte would cost around US $2.50 and up.
But the pomegranate juice is better at the souq.
And you can’t get to Pizza Hut on a tuk tuk.
