Yesterday was cool. I picked up my Egyptian national ID card with surprisingly little trouble. Other than that I look like a 7-year old after drinking caffeine for the first time, the picture's not bad. I went to cut my hair but then chickened out on the cutting part and just got it straightened and then headed to Basma and Abir's. We walked around Zamalek. It was fun. We talked a lot about basketball shorts.
I'm not at all sure why but I stayed up yesterday until 6:45 this morning, a few minutes after my mom woke up. Sleeping in is really not something people do in my house so my waking up at 11:00, the latest I've gotten up in years, sort of messed up the rhythm of the house. Needless to say I was tired. About 10 minutes after I woke up my uncle Amr, his wife Samaha nd my cousin Jena came over followed shortly by my mom's cousin Tant Hanan. I didn't really sit with them; I fed Koko instead. When Tant Hanan left we went over to my other grandparents' house in Masr el Gadida to say hi and pick up my dad. The first thing that my grandma said to me was 'enty zedty hna fe masr msh kda?' (you've gained weight here in Egypt, haven't you?') Things like that don't normally bother me; I can't even count how many times I've been told I'm fat while I've been here. This time I was kind of irked though. I haven't gained weight in Egypt; I've actually worked really hard to lose a lot of it. I didn't know what to say so I just kinda looked at my mom to save me but she didn't hear so she asked my grandma to repeat. This time my grandma said, "I'm just saying Ayah's gained weight here hasn't she? You and Ahmed (my dad) have lost weight, but she..." I don't know why but hearing it again really hurt me. My mom noticed my downcast face and covered for me but my grandma still made a big deal of how she'd made me sad and stuff. Immediately afterward she served us lunch as she always does when we visit her and, as always, she insisted vehemently that we eat portions of food better suited for a hyena than a human. Normally, I give in and try to agree to eat some of the things she offers me but this time I felt no obligation to do so. I ate a spoonful of the spinach and two fries and refused to eat anything else. I told her I wasn't hungry since I'd eaten breakfast late, which was actually true. I mean, if she's going to call me fat she can't expect me to stuff my face.
My mom's aunt tant Moshira and cousins Ranya, Dina and Ahmed were supposed to come over with their children at around 6 so we rushed home, arriving at around 7. They weren't there and didn't come until around 8:30. I was supposed to meet Basma and Abir at their house to go to this concert/stand-up event thing at the cultural wheel at 9:00 but, since I had to say hi to my family before leaving I called them to tell them to meet me at the culture wheel instead. Noha answered and told me they weren't there and when I called back at 9 nobody answered so I figured they'd forgotten/decided not to go. As it turns out, Noha lied. They were home but she's just mad at them/me for not letting her come with us yesterday when we went out. Thanks for that, Noha. It was alright though. I had a good time with my family; the ones who came are my favorite branch of it. It was crazy to see how much my cousins (second cousins?) have grown. We had a little circus going on in our house for a while. Kimo had a blast showing all the little kids (all 9 of them) his toys.
My family is going to Alex tomorrow and, as of yet, I still haven't decided if I'll go too. If I stay, my uncle and his wife will stay with me...I don't want to go but I'm not sure yet...oo decisions. :P
Sorry this was kind of whiny...not the best of days.
Posted by ayah at 2:42 PM
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