Shopping in Cairo

The other day Shezena and I went out to run some errands on a sunny Egyptian afternoon. While we were out it was time to pray Magrib. We were by the mall so we followed our fellow belivers to the masjid in the mall. I know, too cool!!!                                                                                             

       

The next day all of us except Dad, who was at his Quran class, went to the souks. It is an outdoor market place. The souks are in an alleyway between buildings. It is like a maze. There are always a lot of people there. The Egyptians go to the souks to get anything and everything. Anything from shampoo to jewelry to clothes to the freshest chicken you will ever get because it is still walking around. If you look at the wrong time you might see exactly how you get a halal chicken firsthand, blood and all. We went to get two chickens and the boy took two chickens out of the cages to halal them. As we are walking home holding the bag with chicken the body heat can be felt next to you. A couple of hours later those two chickens were on our dinner plates with some rice and fried bananas (we could not find plantains). Those chickens have never seen the inside of a refrigerator. In the souks there are a lot of places to pray but most of them are for men only. When we were at the souks it was time to pray Magrib. We had to ask a lady to show us a place where sisters could pray. Instead of just telling us she walked with us back the way she came past a few men's masjids to get to one that had a ladies' prayer area. Once again, it is so neat seeing other women who wear hijab. In the souks there are several stores that sell scarves and jilbabs. Back in Florida the closest place to shop for jilbabs was two hours away, now it is just a ten minute walk. I know, we are blessed!