The Bible Belt...Not So Much...

Southern Manitoba is often referred to as the Bible Belt...more churches per capita than other parts of the county.  Growing up in that type of an environment, I definitely took church for granted.  Now, we are surrounded by Mosques on almost every street.  It is like a complete 180 degree turn.  We have a church that we are really starting to like, but it is quite far from us and we have to plan our trip to church 24 hours in advance to arrange transportation and other plans.  It is a far cry from the 2 minute drive to our church in Winnipeg.

With all the mosques everywhere and people regularly filing into them for prayer at the appointed times, you really start to think about life for the people that regularly attend the mosques.  Call to prayer echos throughout the city several times a day...students at the school are not allowed to observe the call to prayer, but it is a part of their day too.  It is a very different life for them. 

Of course there are varying levels of observance with the Muslim people as there are with the Christian people.  Some women are completely covered from head to toe in public and others do not even where a hijab.  Most are somewhere in between...and I strive to be modest as much as possible.

Then I get asked about my faith and what it means to me.  I had the most fascinating conversation with an Asian lady that is married to a Muslim man who has converted to Islam after growing up as a Christian.  Most interesting I can assure you.  She believes that the God of Islam and the God of Christianity are the same and that no matter what faith you follow we all end up in the same place.  I wanted to ask her what the purpose of converting was then, but did not want to step on any toes.  I realize that even in the Christian scriptures it states that, `2 nations will come from Abraham`.  One from Ismail, and the other from Isaac, but that does not mean that they are the same!  It was an interesting conversation, one that I hope to follow up in the future.  But, she was very determined to make sure that I understood that the Islamic Koran follows very closely to the Bible.  I have not spent much time with the Koran so I could neither agree nor disagree.  It shows that I need to brush up on  my Koran so that I can keep up with these people that know so much about both books!

Today we stepped into a mosque for the very first time.  We decided to be tourists.  We have been wanting to explore this ancient city that we live in, but with the rigors of teaching everyday we do not get out very frequently.  Today is a national holiday  here in Egypt, the 6th of October.  There were people everywhere waving flags proudly displaying their affection for this revolutionized country.  We drove through Tahrir Square where the protests take place weekly and were in awe of the space that surrounded us.  It was dark so it was hard to see the breadth of the whole square, but I remember watching the news and seeing the protests on television and it was a far cry from what I had seen on tv.  These people were happy and celebrating.  We will see what happens as the elections grow closer over the next month or so.

But, the beginning of our day was far more interesting.  We called the company we like to arrange a day for the family.  We booked the driver for the day and got our favorite driver, Crazy Adam.  He is not crazy at all, rather the most proficient driver we have had since we arrived.  The benefit of having crazy Adam with us is that he loves the kids.  He entertains them, he brings them candies and likes to push Dimples in his stroller.  He took first took us to a very touristy area called Hussein Mosque.  Naturally there was a mosque in the center with a bazaar around the mosque.  Hussein was the son of Mohamed and he was buried in the center of the mosque.  So, we ventured inside.  Women enter a different door than men.  I always wondered what went on in a mosque and part of me wanted to join along because most of the women were sleeping!  Hubby had a similar report from the men's side of the mosque.  When I entered the mosque they gave me a burka to put on.  I was not sure how I felt about wearing some random burka, but I wanted to continue into the mosque so I obliged them, put the burka on and removed my footwear.  I walked through the main prayer area, an empty room with carpet on the floor and entered into the burial chamber of Hussein.  I do not know what I expected to feel, but I felt nothing.  Since I do not follow Islam, being in the revered burial chamber of the son of Mohamed had no significance to me.  Architecturally it was nice, but we did not stay long, the burka was making me uncomfortable.


As I returned the burka and reclaimed my shoes I was hassled for money to go towards the mosque, I did not have any and they seemed reluctant to give me my shoes back.  But they eventually realized I was telling the truth and let me go, shoes on my feet.  I met up with Hubby and we ventured around the bazaar.  Having been in different countries before, I am used to the hassle that tourists get and how they try and rip them off.  Egypt is no different in that department.  One man tried to sell us something we would never need for 150 LE, which is about $16 CDN.  Hubby insisted that we did not need the item, but the man persisted...in a matter of minutes he bartered down to 20 LE which is about $2.50 CDN...perhaps if we really were tourists, or if we did not live in Egypt, we may have taken him up on his generous bartering, but we still passed.  We complimented him for his persistence and he carried on try and scam some other tourist. 

There were people everywhere trying to sell things and we would make up some random excuse which for us was a rather comical way to deal with the insistent badgering we got as we walked up and down the cramped walkways.  The best was when they tried to sell us some trinket.  When we told them that we lived in Egypt they quickly walked away, tail between their legs knowing that we would never want the cheap little camel or pyramid they were trying to sell.  The weirdest thing we saw was that almost every shop sold scales of some kind and they were all on display.  We are not sure why they all sold scales, but there must be some reason.  I cannot imagine there being a huge market for scales that would weigh and price out produce.

We ended our day at a beautiful park.  It would easily rival any of the best parks in Canada and the USA.  The playground is one of the biggest I have ever seen and the kids had a blast running around.  It was fun to do something that was just for them.  The funniest thing at the park was that the kids were fascinated by Dimples. They all wanted to take him down the slide.  He would ride down the slide with one kid, then the next kid would take him down and the next and the next.  He had a blast and the kids were all sad when we moved on from the playground. 

We saw a different side of Cairo today as we had never ventured in that direction before.  There is still so much to see.  We drove past Old Cairo which really does not look like much now, but there was a magnificent fortress surrounding a mosque and castle that we are going to visit next time we head out.  Should be an interesting trip, and I will be sure to bring my own hijab or burka next time around.

The kids do not sit in carseats here.  Probably the most difficult thing to get used to, especially since the seat belts do not fit them properly.

Some of the scales that were for sale.  These ones are more old school than others that were being sold.

This is the guy that went for 150 LE to 20 LE in minutes.  Note that princess is learning how to get rid of pesky sales people.

Princess and Dimples in front of the Hussein Mosque.

Me and my burka.  I do not think I look that bad, but Hubby had a good chuckle about this.

Dimples, Crazy Adam and the line up of kids waiting to him down the slide.

Hubby and I with Cairo in the background.  Our classic picture.