Crazzy Night

Let me preface this by stating that last night was a crazy ass night. Super super super random. So to start out, it was a Friday, which is the holy day for Muslims, but also means no class, open stores, etc... Like Sunday in America.

Anyways, we hung around the apartment all day, with not much to do. Then, we decided to go out at about 9:00. We took a cab to the Metro, and then the Metro up to Naser Station (one north of Tahrir Square). We had found this cafe that apparently was on a rooftop somewhere. So we have one of our friends who is part russian. And we are about to leave the subway, but the guy next to us has a shirt that has a bunch of russian letters on it, so naturally we strike up a convo. Apparently he's an Egyptian but his girlfriend is from Russia, or is Russian, or something. Well, he's a nice guy, and talks to some street vendors after we exit the subway to get some decent directions. We know the place is in the neighborhood, but we aren't exactly sure which way. One thing you have to understand is that every building has an address, and every street has a name, but that doesn't mean that there are signs. So that makes finding addresses difficult.

This place was called the carlton rooftop, and my first instinct was it was a "carlton hotel", so we walk a while, and sure enough, there is a big building that says "Carlton Hotel". So we walk in, and instantly I'm hit with this huge Deja Vu. Which as it turns out, is quiet justified. The first week we were in cairo, we were wandering this part of town with Alison, and and we were looking for a place to eat. We walked by this cafe, but it happened to be closed, so we kept walking until we found a schwarma place (which was bad because at the time, it was still ramadan, and we totally forgot about the not eating thing but w/e, we were new). But thats on the first floor. So we invite the Egyptian guy to come hang out with us for a while, so we go up to the top floor, and there is a really nice place. Great view of the neighborhood, and its just got a good atmosphere.

We chill for a bit, and then the Egyptian guy says he's going to meet some friends of his, and we should come along. Well... we got to the Rooftop at probably 10... and we left at 11:30... and the metro stops running at one. Anyways, we say, sure, why not? And we all pile into a taxi, and meet up with some of this guys friends at this random sidewalk cafe in the middle of somewhere/nowhere. So there are about 10 of us just chilling. We talk the shit a bit. The russian guy speaks enough English to do a good job translating what we can't pick out. We talk a bit with our Arabic, they try some bad english, its a good job. The big thing is Obama and his Peace Prize. So we just sit around and smoke some sheesha, watch the chess and backgammon and card players. We make fun of lots of things. The best thing is there are these random baskets that just decend from the roofs of these appartments. Like... You're just sitting around, and all of a sudden there is this basket just sitting in front of your face. As it turns out, if you want something, you just put money in a basket, with what you want, and use a rope to drop it over the side, and it'll get put in. Like newspapers, which apparently get delivered at like 1 in the morning.




Finally, its... IDK... maybe one in the morning, the place closes down. Thanks to http://images.starpulse.com for the pic.

We shoot the shit in the street for a while, and they ask us if we want some food. We're like, sure! So we find this Egyptian Fast Food joint, and get three falafal sandwiches for 5 pounds. By now its two in the morning, and the Egyptians haggle a great price for a taxi for us to get back to Maadi. So we get out of the cab back in Maadi, and I manage to realize that my phone has fallen out of my pocket in the cab.

So I sprint after. I can see it driving down the street. I probably sprinted about a half mile behind it, but then it turned a corner and I lost where it went. I couldn't catch the attention of the cab driver. I was so pissed. So we've called it a bunch of times. We might get it back, maybe not.

I'm walking back after chasing this cab, and I'm exhausted. As I'm walking back home, these two security guards and a little shop owner call me over. We get to talking (in arabic) about stuff. We talk about the Obama Peace Prize. I manage to convey that I left my phone in a cab. There was some communication going on. It wasn't great. So finally I gave it up and got home at three, and went to bed.

So random nights meeting random people on subways in cairo = fun.

Peace and love folks.