A Couple Days of Errands

Shopping Locally

Thursday following the furniture shopping extravaganza, I asked Sadik if he would make a quick stop and take us some place to get fresh produce.  The grocery store that we usually go to doesn't get rid it's older selections to make room for new.  He took us on a side street and stopped at a grouping of some ragged tents.  "Now we're talkin'," John said.

The three of us got out and Sadik led us to the variety of produce booths.  I stepped passed a pile of garbage and followed the path to our first vendor.  I greeted them in Arabic and began looking at their selections.  The tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers looked great so I got a kilo of each.  I found some cilantro and parsley, too.  I loved it because Sadik made sure that we paid local prices.  I've NEVER gotten such great deals before.  

Another guy had some onions so we finished up and made our way back to the taxi.  We asked him the name of the street and John made notes on his phone.  

We needed to make a final stop to pick up drinks and bread for our dinner with friends.  Sadik stopped at one of the vendors right off the Nile.  The vendor greeted me in English, "Hello!  Welcome!"  I bought what I needed and as I turned to return to the car he yelled, "You come back! Welcome!"  Then he gave Sadik a free juice box for bringing me.  Sadik handed me the juice and laughed at the guy who was treating us like tourists.

Using Arabic and hand gestures...

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It's Friday here which means it's the weekend.  People usually sleep in, go to mosque and visit friends.  Yesterday when we were making our furniture selections, the salesman told us that the store was open alatool (all the time).  John took him at his word and arranged for Sadik to come pick us up at 1 pm on Friday.

As we were waiting for him to arrive, John said, "Oh, wait.  Today's Friday.  We will be driving around right as mosque lets out."  Ah, yes.  I realized what he was saying.  Usually if any protests were going to take place, they begin after mosque.

He then invited me to stay home while he went to the store to make the payment.  I agreed.  I took my computer and headed up to the Internet Cafe (AKA friend's flat).  About 45 minutes later, John returned saying that "Alatool" meant every day except Friday afternoon.  A man with a business next door told him that the store would reopen in the evening.  John said that some protestors were taking to the streets when he was out so he and Sadik decided to wait until Saturday to try again.  

It wasn't a total waste though.  Sadik began to tell John about his work history.  Up until four months ago, he had been a professional driver for a government official.  He was laid off and has been trying to make ends meet through taxi work.  He drove John by the building to show him.  John listened to him, thanked him and told him he'd see him again tomorrow.

Every day…a little more life…a little more relationship…a little better prices...

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