Valentines and Wedding Babes

The approach of Valentine’s Day here is first apparent when you walk down the street and every card and gift shop has over-sized red bears perched on the sidewalk, often accompanied by all sizes of smaller ones. Valentine balloon sellers pop up in street medians, and flower sellers are busy wrapping up bouquets of reddish orange and white gladiolas, red-tinged chrysanthemums, and red roses.

Since David had made breakfast and was spending time on a requested repair job, I decided to visit the flower seller down the street. For the usual 15 pound bouquet of three stems of gladiolus and a white chrysanthemum, he was now asking 25 pounds. I was surprised, but when I handed him two 20s, he grandly said, oh, 20 is enough!  This often happens to us it seems. If we don’t quite have enough change at the grocers, they say, “oh just take it”!  This “more or less” way of doing business is amusing to us. I hope we don’t get too used to it by the time we go back to the U.S. where this kind of grace is rare.

Another sight that always amuses us is what we call “the wedding babes” that line the streets around a wedding reception hall. Each huge bear-like balloon apparently represents the good wishes of some friend or family for the couple about to be married. The more the balloons, the more money has been spent on good wishes. We've been told that this custom only exists in Port Said, and not in Cairo. They do take up a good bit of space around a building.  Some of our students think it’s a big waste of money, and apparently is a practice that has been strongly discouraged by the local Coptic bishop who says you might as well open your hand and offer money to the wind! 

Another sure sign of an approaching wedding is when the ladders come out and strings of tiny blue lights hang from wires stretched across the street. Then when we hear loud ululations erupting, we know the bride and groom are about to make an appearance. Since our windows look out over the entrance to the cathedral, we have witnessed quite a few wedding procedures. It seems there are weddings in the cathedral at least twice a week, and in other city venues nearby, almost every night. After the nuptials, shots and fire-crackers explode into the night. This is no quiet affair, generally speaking! Weddings seem to be one of the main businesses in the town.

Wind, Rain, and Words

The wind  comes
whooshing and swishing
whipping and piping
stirring every grain of sand on the ground
and sending all aloft to sail where they will
-through every door and window, opened or closed.

They slide like thieves
through the tiniest cracks and crevices
to coat the wooden benches of the empty cathedral
cancelling weddings and covering hallways with a slippery film.

Outside our window
the evergreen sways and bends in the gale,
providing no shelter or peace to any passing bird.
The distant view is obscured,
Shops are shuttered, and students cancel classes
as we all wait for the promised rain
after the plague of dust has passed.
......

The rain comes hurtling into streets, settling the dust,
and on the beach, breakers overtake the Korniche,
where no one rides or strolls arm-in-arm.

The rain passes, leaving chill winds behind.
I expect more cancellations,
but lo, my classroom comes alive
with the smiles and stories of students
brave enough to cross town,
to ferry across the canal to find their
warmth in the company of words.

Eye of the Beholder

The first thing that came to my mind when we saw the sculpture above in a nearby park was the beginning of Miriam’s song in Exodus 15:1

“I will sing to the Lord,

For He is highly exalted.

Both horse and driver

He has hurled into the sea.”

With fishes around the wheels, and what looked like a rusted chariot from the bottom of the sea, we thought it was a reminder of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptian army under Pharaoh, or a reminder that political power is finite and can end, like this chariot, sunken and powerless. But why would they have such a sculpture here?

                Upon closer examination, however, we found that the whole sculpture was made of sea creatures and only looked like a horse and buggy.  As you can note, the horse is a sea-horse. What looks like harnesses, are actually tentacles from an octopus driver whose head has fallen to the ground under the “chariot.” The buggy’s roof is formed from a sting-ray, and the wheels look like star-fish internally. It is an altogether intriguing sculpture, and most likely represents the Mediterranean not far away.

  I like to think of this image as a transformation of Pharaoh’s chariots. The carts that were meant to deliver death were somehow co-opted by God’s creatures in the sea and transformed by their artistry into something new.