Cairo Street Market & Christmas Opera

Text coming soon. We will write while on the plane to Beijing tonight. We should arrive on the Tuesday. We are looking forward to a visit with the Fadling Family. We plan on celebrating Christmas with them.

Today we went to the markets with Nihad. We perused the market bargaining with the store owners. They were not happy that Nihad, an Arabic speaker was with us. She gave us more purchasing power. We developed a system where Mariella picked out what she was interested and Nihad would bargain in Arabic and I would say yes our no and tell how much I was willing to pay. We found that walking out of the store after bartering would usually result in the owner giving into the price that we were willing to purchase the item. A crazy lady spit on Nihad's back while we looked in one shop. I thought spitting on someones back was some sort of Egyptian greeting. Nihad and the store owner quickly corrected my inaccurate inference. After the market Nihad treated us to lunch at a park overlooking a significant area of Cairo. We concluded the evening with a Christmas Orchestra/Opera. It was a pleasant evening that sparked the warmth and excitement of the Christmas season. Our time with Nihad, her fiance and family was too short. They overwhelmed us with their warm hospitality and kindness. We were honored to enjoy a family dinner with them prior to departing for Beijing. Thank you Nihad for a wonderful experience while in Cairo.