Lunch at Ahmed & Hoodah's house

Last weekend, Ahmed, one of the flight engineers David works with, invited us to his house for dinner along with some of the other Egyptian engineers from the Maintenance section. Actually it was his mother's place, a large two-story house on the premises of a water treatment plant in a region northwest of Cairo. His father used to manage the plant starting in the 1960s and although the plant is mostly automated now and little staff is needed, his mother is still allowed to live in their original house after his father's death. It's quite a nice place to live with lots of grass and fruit trees.





Hoodah, the wife of Ahmed, and his mother joined us out on the porch while we were waiting for the others to come. She was completely silent during her time out there and Ahmed had told David earlier that his wife spoke no English, so I was surprised when I went back to the kitchen to volunteer my services when she said "I do not speak English well, but I understand you". Wow! Between her English and my very broken Arabic, we did just fine. I was amazed at the difference in Hoodah in the kitchen. She was friendly, outgoing, and laughing with her mother-in-law while out with the men, she either stared at the floor or her husband and didn't say a word. I even helped her make kofta, a mixture of ground beef or lamb with onions, flour, and spices, which is then baked. When David came back to check on me, I said "I'm staying back here....I like the atmosphere better" :)


















They also made molokhaya, a soup made from duck broth, garlic, and the leaves of the molokhaya plant. Here's Ahmed's mom with a full cutting board of molokhaya....in case you're wondering, the guy in the back is washing his feet in the sink after playing soccer. I like the taste of molokhaya but the consistency is too slimy for me.


They also roasted some duck:


This is Ahmed's mom mashing up the garlic for the molokhaya:


One of the other wives, Rhayda, cutting up vegetables for a salad:


I tried to get a photo of the whole spread, but only captured part of it. It was neat to hang out with the women, but exhausting too as communication past simple sentences like "I like soup" was difficult. But it was apparent we all liked each other so that helped....and we did pretty good. David, in the next room, had it easy....most of the men spoke excellent English.


One last photo of the guys before we left:


And one last photo of the shenanigans with the kids:


That night, we finally stayed at the hotel suite which I had won at an auction....a suite with a view of the pyramids in Giza. We got up early to see the sun rise from our balcony. Always amazing for me to think of all the farmers, royalty, priests, merchants, and statesmen from around the world and throughout the centuries who have watched the sun rise on these pyramids.....