khamaseen
The other day was Sham En-Nesseem, an Egyptian spring/easterlike festival (in my eurocentrism I like to think of it as similar to pagan Eastertime) and bam, day after comes the khamaseen.
The khamaseen is a season of dust storms that lasts for 50 days (the name being close to or identical to the Arabic for 50 depending on whether you speak Egyptian or Classical). It is a specifically spring thing. Although it causes annoyance and sometimes destruction, it's one of the remaining true exoticisms of Egypt for me so I am a bit fascinated. I mean, you can NEVER get jaded about Cairo in general, no matter how long I spend here I will still gawp at certain picturesquenesses of the everyday (as I do in London, in fact). But the khamaseen renders me tourist-fascinated.
Right now the wind is blowing up something crazy- I have a heavy metal radiator and a table wedged against my windows and they're still bursting- and the other morning I woke at 7 to see my windows glowing orange. Bright yellow and orange, almost nothing visible. This is the desert come to pay a visit Downtown. We're lucky so far the two storms have been before the city really stirs, and when they happen daytime you just have to stay put. I was once out in a very mild one and it scours your skin, and it is hot. The rest of the time it is fresh, clear spring weather - or a good June day in England - or, a muggy low white warm sky and the sensation of being indoors when you are outdoors.
Because I'm so very touristy-fascinated by it, I'm very clear on the fact whereas nobody else seems to be able to remember, that there was no khamaseen to speak of last year. My theory is, the Arab Spring came instead. :D
The khamaseen is a season of dust storms that lasts for 50 days (the name being close to or identical to the Arabic for 50 depending on whether you speak Egyptian or Classical). It is a specifically spring thing. Although it causes annoyance and sometimes destruction, it's one of the remaining true exoticisms of Egypt for me so I am a bit fascinated. I mean, you can NEVER get jaded about Cairo in general, no matter how long I spend here I will still gawp at certain picturesquenesses of the everyday (as I do in London, in fact). But the khamaseen renders me tourist-fascinated.
Right now the wind is blowing up something crazy- I have a heavy metal radiator and a table wedged against my windows and they're still bursting- and the other morning I woke at 7 to see my windows glowing orange. Bright yellow and orange, almost nothing visible. This is the desert come to pay a visit Downtown. We're lucky so far the two storms have been before the city really stirs, and when they happen daytime you just have to stay put. I was once out in a very mild one and it scours your skin, and it is hot. The rest of the time it is fresh, clear spring weather - or a good June day in England - or, a muggy low white warm sky and the sensation of being indoors when you are outdoors.
Because I'm so very touristy-fascinated by it, I'm very clear on the fact whereas nobody else seems to be able to remember, that there was no khamaseen to speak of last year. My theory is, the Arab Spring came instead. :D