It was good to be back in a country where the call to prayer was a part of my day. It felt like a homecoming of sorts ... although the excessive quiet of my Belgian life had made me forget just how noisy a big city could be.
I fell into a coma-like sleep that first Cairo night but my travelling companion had no such luck, and no mp3 player. Apparently the market below us went on until 3 or 4 in the morning, writes this laughing woman.
Life was lived in a surreal style there.
I learned that I will probably travel to Israel and Palestine, with a return to Cairo in January, and it seems that I will be needed for 3 months in Berlin at the end of 2009 ... do you see how it is?
The siren that police use to alert other drivers of their presence seems to be a novelty item at the market below. Stunningly noisy ... all through the night. Always pack your mp3 player when staying in a hotel like mine in downtown Cairo.
I made a recording ... and on playback, I hear the call to prayer, quite loudly, as if windows are open but really the mosque was very close.
Then I hear this tired woman say at the end of the call to prayer recording, ‘5.10am Cairo’ as she laughs quietly.
I went back to sleep.
Hearing it still makes me laugh.