I never imagined...

Ramadan would bring such adventures, especially the first day--but it did!

First thing that happened, I was working in the house and I heard some yelling and shouting coming from out back. As my mother was sitting on the balcony, I hurried to see what the commotion was.

I should preface this by saying we rent an apartment in a very expensive area of Cairo. We could never afford--or think to buy here, but we decided to rent for another year until we really find a place we like. The building next door has some empty apartments in it, in fact the inside is probably still under a bit of construction. In the apartment directly beside us, lives what I am assuming to be a bowab (a doorman or guard, always from either the country or Saiyeed) and his wife and a baby. I am quite sure they dont own the place, but are just staying there while the place is being finished. They are responsible for the safety and upkeep of the whole building. The husband seems quite a bit older than the wife.

This being the first day of Ramadan--with everyone fasting--sometimes tempers are short. But this was way over the top. Apparently they got into a fight and I think he must have hit her. And they were quite loud about it. A few neighbors in the building in back of us, hearing the argument and I guess feeling bad for the wife, starting to scream to the man from their windows. I guess they had just finished yelling at him because by the time I got to the balcony, my Mom said the neighbors had gone back inside, but they had been really upset. I did hear someone threaten to call the police, but not sure who it was.

Anyway, next thing I hear is the woman sobbing horribly. Sobbing and groaning. Egyptian women get very very dramatic when they cry--not that this one didnt have a right of course--she did, but she sounded like she was dying. Sobbing and talking to herself and cusing the man to God. Then I heard glass being thrown from the window--seems the husband was disposing of some kind of glass that got broken during the argument--and the sleeve of his galabya (long gown) was bloody. It really shook my Mom up. I guess I have gotten used to this kind of stuff. I saw a lot more spousal abuse in the USA than I have seen here, but I did feel bad that their child had to witness this crap. But in any case, I guess at my age, not much gets me very worked up anymore...except what happened next! Stay tuned for more...