Rice and Deities

GeoTagged, [N30.04071, W31.22025]

Today we saw the Cairo Egyptian Museum, founded in the 1890's by a French guy named Marquette. It holds artifacts found in the Great Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings, including King Tut's solid gold coffin and the mummy of Ramses II. We learned that King Ahknatun (sp?), husband of Queen Nefertiti, is always carved with a beer belly, saddle bags, and boobs. Why he got the short end of the monument stick when his wife was considered the most beautiful woman in Egypt and all the other kings got to look buff, no one knows. I think he was a hermaphrodite, or maybe just really ugly.



Later we took a cooking class. In the picture I am roasting an eggplant. We made an awesome rice dish with honey, almonds, and raisins. The meat course was similar to meatloaf, except that it was in small patties then battered and fried. And we had rice pudding that wasn't gross! The food was actually really good and we got recipes if any one wants to try some traditional dishes.
On the way home we took a cab. Seems harmless right? Well within 20 feet the cab stalled out and it was looking like we might have to walk. The cabbie finally manages to start his car, then nearly runs over a cop. On the way he blares loud Egyptian pop. The first thing he says to us is "Are you guys Christians?". We didn't quite know what the correct answer to that was so we pretended not to understand. Instead of dropping it, the guy uses his cell to find a picture of Jesus and starts listing religions. We hemmed and hawed a bit and in the end I think we accidentally agreed to being Orthodox Jews. There's a bad joke in there somewhere about taxi cab confessions, I'll let you use your imagination.
- Anna