Visiting a few markets in Cairo one random afternoon: Mar Girgis, Attaba and Khan Al-Khalili

Today Courtney & I got a babysitter and spent the afternoon enjoying a bit of Egyptian culture with friends. We went to visit Coptic Cairo – Mar Girgis (where I bought two rosaries) – the Attaba market, where we had some indefinable “kind-of-like-koshery-but-not-really” that we bought off a street vendor (yes, I felt very adventurous!), as well as some Om-ahli, browsed the book market, walked through endless market streets with shops by theme; for a while we found ourselves in the curtain rod area, then the shoe area, then somehow we touched base with the party favors area and entered the baby-birth gift area, walked right through the blankets-, gallabeya-, curtains-, and carpets areas, entered the spice area for a while, and then finally ended up in the middle of “the Khan,” where we showed our friends the special upstairs area we like to shop at. Courtney was particularly eager to bargain with vendors, asking for prices and discussing qualities, even without being interested in buying anything in particular. He did end up buying some alabaster and a couple of books, and got pretty good prices. Yes, this is my husband, who when we first met in Belgium an eternity ago, would not even buy train tickets for fear of having to have a short verbal exchange with a train station employee! I’d say his fear of relating to strangers has significantly faded. We had good – great! - fun, but now I’m absolutely exhausted, and we have a field trip tomorrow! I know I should be taking it very easy, but more than ever, I feel like I want to get as many things in as possible before the baby comes. It’s a difficult balance indeed.