El Maadi Bits acquired I got gas! And my wallet screamed! I have just enough for a nose hole and a warm bevvy with Sunrise/Sunshine/Batata Grandpa jeweler called and I said I had work I will visit when I have monies On the bright side things are very cheap at the shady souk (market) And I have a working car key I feel slightly better about driving and parking If I can get used to driving to Heliopolis then I can go to Maadi (which is double the distance) Maadi used to be one of my favorite places in the city Trees Strange 50s themed American diner Korean restaurant with soju license Chinese restaurant with a chopstick washer on a table in the middle of everything Secondhand bookstore where you can sit and make yourself tea Foreign teachers loudly complaining about work, thinking nobody understands them, while all the Egyptians eavesdrop Trees I said trees The trees are important in a desert I was talking to Maru about the agoraphobia and how I miss Maadi And he reminded me of the cult leader date So Everyone has terrible luck with dating apps but I really knew how to pick em Once upon a time, socialite Lala was a blogger in Cairo when blogs were a thing I met my lovely friend Mou that way There was a famous yoga blog run by this Egyptian Kuwaiti guy in Sinai who was very flexyflexy strong While perusing Tinder prospects, I recognized the photo of the flexyflexy strong yoga dude, now in Cairo We were a match We met at my favorite cafe in Maadi He looked like a chic hippy and the conversation was heavy on the woowoo but that was to be expected He was cute We walked to his place His "place" was basically a hole under a building It was a nice hole, he had a bookshelf (which had 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' which I loved) and he put up a painting In danger/socialite Lala has trouble recognizing and extricating herself from threatening situations We smoked something He put a jewel on my belly button There was chanting A pleasant foot rub and very fast sex Then he said he had prophesized my visit And brought out a drawing of someone who looked nothing like me He also said I should join his WhatsApp group (all female) At which point I said, is it really 6pm?! I was suddenly very sober and made excuses-- I completely forgot I have to not be here right now Thanks for the... Have a lovely evening Bye byyyye And I threw my purse and climbed out of the hole And called Maru Who cried laughing "And you miss Maadi? And you wonder why you're agoraphobic?!" Shut up with your accurate memories and reasonable conclusions Maru Anyway This is Sarah 4.0 I will have full city access I will have a palm up and say "I am uncomfortable with this literal hole in the ground environment." "I don't smoke." "Just a beer please as I am driving home later." "My home is located directly above my father and brother and their guns." (we don't have guns) I'm glad I went out I feel a bit more confident Bougie Gen Z Cairo isn't like my bougie Cairo They intervene when they see sexual harassment They have bare midriffs and shoulders And face piercings and shaved heads They love Japan and Korea There are new rules to learn |