The Giza Club

"Hey Amina - Just wanted to let you know that Ruthie and I have arrived safely in Egypt, after many many hours on the airplane and airports! Tonight we are headed on the train for Aswan, but today we are just acclimating ourselves to Egypt and exploring a bit of Cairo. It is so exciting to be here! Earlier today when we were at a travel agency getting our train tickets for tonight, they were playing Abdel Halim on the radio, and it was nice to recognize it :)

Anyway, hope all is well with you, how was Jacques' show last night? Say hi to the girls and guys for us, and we'll keep you posted on our travels.

Harmony & Ruthie"

"The trip here was hell. 3 different planes and about 9 hours in airports. but we made it and everything is fine. we got a hotel no problem. walked around some but it was pretty late 1:30 am. there were lots of people out.

today we went to a travel agency to buy a ticket to Aswan. the woman was very nice and charged us only 230 egyptian pounds (about 50 US) for a plane ticket. so we got our stuff and came back and the man told us very very sorry but there's been a mistake. we charged you for egyptian price, not foreigners price. we argued a lot but he said we would not be able to get on the plane with an egyptian ticket and american passport. the difference was almost 600 lb.

we checked in our book and he was right. so we bought tickets for the overnight train instead - about the same price.

we've just been walking around. everything is closed because today is Friday, their weekend. we are wearing our headscarves which throws everyone off because by the time they realize we're foreign we have already passed. there are actually a lot of women in western clothes here.

so tomorrow we're in aswan and the next day a caravan (only 3 hours each way) to abu simble - the famous temple of Ramses II. that's it.

Love you all, Ruthie"

"sorry for all the mass emails but time here is $$. but write me back because it makes me happy.

We have been in Aswan (southern Egypt) for the past couple of days. it is VERY hot here. we have a nice place with a little swimming pool on the roof of the hotel overlooking the nile. It is much more relaxed here than Cairo. a lot more christians and nubians.

The smells are awesome - and terrible - and the food is good. The best part is after dark when you can sit in a restaurant beside the nile and drink turkish coffee. our sleeping is all screwed up. we sleep only a couple of hours at night - because its the best part of the day - and a couple in the afternoon.

Today we went to Abu Simble. 2 temples there, Ramses II and his wife Nefertiri. I cannot describe it, it really is as awesome as they say. We also went to the Temple of Isis at Philae which is on an island. Both are over 3000 yrs old and look like they will last again at least that long.

We are getting used to the men and are being less conservative but wearing a tank top and skirt is like saying harrass me I'm an American slut. they really are harmless though. If they are too annoying and following us I turn around, look them dead in the eyes and say Emshi! (go away) and they slink off like kicked dogs. If you go into an establishment they are very very nice and no one will bother you.

Tomorrow we are going to Luxor.

Love you all - Ruthie"

"hello everyone,

yes mama i know it was a while but we're fine. We were in Luxor for 3 days and had a fabulous time. We made some friends (the owner of our hotel) and saw ALL the sights - temples, valley of the kings and queens, etc. The tomb of Nefertari alone was worth the trip to Egypt.

The life here really begins at night. only tourists go out during the day so we stay up all night, go to the sites very early before the tourists and then sleep all afternoon.

We are in Cairo now and it is so different. for one thing it seems cloudy all the time but it's really just smog, apparently second only to Mexico City. yuk.

We registered for the dance festival today. Harmony has points at the hilton through her job so we're staying in a 5 star hotel, fruit, flowers and all. I'm really excited to be dancing with so many awesome teachers but the classes are not cheap so I'm staying in a 5 star hotel but eating only fuul for the rest of the week. just kidding but it really looks like the only thing people do in Cairo is go shopping so I will have to be careful. We will be here until next Thurs.

hope you are all well.

Love Ruthie"

"Hey girls, we started the festival * and I am sooo tired. Yesterday we took Aida Nour and today saidi and I took Randa Kamel, a new up and coming egyptian dancer in the cairo scene. She was incredible. I have never sweated so much. I will try to remember some things to show you.we just tried to go see the sufi dancing but found out when we got there thay they are not in cairo at the moment. too bad. other than that we haven't done that much, just laid by the pool and watched tv. tough life huh? we did go to the egyptian museum and will go see the pyramids tomorrow.

oh yes, at the opening gala we saw Dina - she's every bit as good as they say but I think she's been going to the gym a little too often, and Sohair Zaki and Nagua Fouad were both there. Also a woman named Dendish and Randa and Soraya danced. I took pictures but we were kind of far away. Leyla is also here as you may know but I haven't seen anyone else. There aren't very many americans here but a lot of japanese and french.

By the way Amina if I haven't told you before you are an awesome teacher. Most of the other students don't know a lot of the moves being taught. I was surprised. Thank you Zulya for the info.

Love to all,

Ruthie"

"hi familia and friends - well we're back in cairo and have started the dance festival. i've had two classes so far, one with aida nour and one in the saidi style (aida actually taught a saidi choreography too).

this style of dancing is from the said region, or upper (southern) egypt where we just were (aswan, luxor). the music is very cool, and easily identified by the instrument that sounds like buzzing mosquitos. you may not find it as appealing as i do! of course i forget the name of the instrument, but amina tells me it is a cousin of the bagpipe, the mechanics are very similar.

the opening show was fabulous!! there were some glitches with serving the food, etc, that were annoying but the dancing made up for it. the main dancers started around midnight, and continued until around 4am. there were four of them: dendish, soraya, dina, and randa.

I had never heard of or seen dendish or soraya. dina is the current sweetheart of the dance scene with a very unique style, and randa pretty much rocks too. ruthie took her workshop today and said she didn't teach a choreography like the other classes we took, but taught technique for 3 straight hours with no breaks.

dendish was a great opening, and for her final number she did a piece where she imitated all the great dancers. i don't know what her singer was saying, but he had a nice little rhyme that he would say before each turn, and he would insert the name of the dancer she was going to imitate, and then she would do it. it was clear who she was supposed to be and it was so great! the last one was herself and she moved back into her own style, and it was so clear how accomplished she was. she pretty much shimmied the whole 45 minutes she was out there, and you have to be strong to make that your whole show and keep it interesting.

almost as good as the dancing is the music. most of the dancers i mentioned above had 15-25 piece bands (including 1-3 singers). it sounds like a lot, but really doesn't look like that much onstage.

now, there are "summer parties" every night where the amatuers can dance. we'll probably check out tonights when we get back to the hotel. they go from around 8:30 or so until late. the closing gala will be similar to the opening i guess, and rumor has it that hakim will be singing. that would be especially cool. he is the one i went to see in berkeley in february with my friend kim, and he is very popular now.

on a historical note, we went to the egyptian museum this morning before our classes but declined to see the mummy room. seeing the tombs and all the finery is quite adequate, we didn't also need to see the preserved organs of the pharoahs as well. we saw one sculpture whose painting looked so fresh it could have been done yesterday, yet it was 4600 years old! some of the stuff in there, especially from the tomb of tutankhamon was incredible. the level of detail in the designs and etchings is so awesome, whether it is in gold, stone, wood, granite, etc. it is hard to comprehend it today's world of instant gratification.

we have plans to go see the pyramids later in the week and the islamic section of cairo and the khan al khalili (bazaar) as well. we do need to do some shopping, althougth to be honest i'm a little intimidated to wander through there with the throngs of people, etc.

we also will try to make it to the oum khalthoum (a very very very famous and amazing singer) museum and i'd like to see old (coptic) cairo as well, that is where one of the oldest synagogues is, where the cairo genizrah was found. there is another synagogue as well, but it is only open on sat. and i missed my chance today, but i'll try to cruise by later this week (it is near the hotel we are moving to after tonight - our last night at the hilton). the anti-israel, anti-jewish feeling here is not really felt on the street, but is clearly seen in the english newspapers, and i'm assuming in the arabic news as well. it is pretty sickening to both of us, and it is really depressing as well.

i experienced my first incident of physical harassment yesterday, when i was smacked on the toochis by a small boy who was probably no more than 4 or 5 years old and barely came to my waist. i was so shocked that i just kept walking insteading of giving him a piece of my mind. i'm sure someone told him to do it (either this time or in the past) and it is upsetting that this is what small boys are learning. at least the grown males have kept it to verbal harassment only. that is pretty easy to ignore most of the time.

i think that is all for now. i'll try to write more later on in the week. we have class tomorrow from 10-3:30 and then we move and monday we will go see the pyramids and then have class with sohair zaki. we are here until thursday night when we fly back to tel aviv (around 11pm).

i don't recommend this hotel to anyone, because although it is nice inside, to get anywhere from there on foot, you have to cross 3-5 streets (not even real streets, but islands in between a massive maze of lanes) of 4 lanes of cairo traffic. cars, traffic and pedestrians are a subject all to themselves. cars go careening all around, not paying attention to stoplights or crosswalks, or lanes even, so the 4 lanes mentioned above could be 5 or 6 if the cars fit. pedestrians walk in the street near the curb and cars swerve around them and to cross, you just start walking across. you judget how fast the cars are coming and you weave between them, and the cars judge your speed and swerve around them. ruthies motto, which is really accurate is "hesitate and die" once you step off the curb, you had better keep moving until you get to the other side.

in any event, we are a bit tired of that hassle, just to go anywhere and it will be nice to stay at a hotel that doesn't have that limitation. when i asked the concierge this afternoon if there was any other way to get downtown without crossing the street he said: if you have the money, take a taxi; if you don't have the money, i'll give it to you. needless to say, we'll splurge the 5-10 LE for the taxi.

ok - hope you are all doing well. write when you have a chance, it is so nice to get mail. Amina, feel free to post some, or all of this, on the giza - wwt web (edited would probably be good since i'm just rambling here. ruthie and i will give a full report when we return). despite the craziness, we're having a fabulous time :)

love you all,

harmony"

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