Well it is Iowa-Iowa State football today and we hope to watch it somehow, either over the Internet or on TV. Game starts at 7:00 pm here. Last week we did listen to the Hawks vs. the Orangemen which didn’t get over until 2:30 am here – took me a couple of days to recover!!
We went for a long walk in some other neighborhoods this afternoon. People are busy getting ready for Ramadan, a month long religious observance beginning around the 24th of September. In our neighborhood, people have been stringing tinsel and lights from apartments on one side to the street to the other. During this month, Muslims will fast during the daylight hours and gather with family and friends in the evening for their meals. It is a time to renew and strengthen family and religious ties. It will be interesting to see how our school students do during this month.
We are always amazed at all the little shops that are on nearly every street. In any given area one might see: seamstresses, ironers, shoe repair, mechanics, wood workers, bakers, 1 or 2 chair barber shops, electronics, jewelers, furniture shops, rug weavers, butcher, eyeglasses, pharmacies, food vendors (fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, chicken, etc), clothing, and numerous little shops with a variety of items (like the old dime stores). The fish and chicken vendors have grills set up and are cooking as well as selling their items fresh. There are a few little shops with live chicken and rabbits ready for the evening meal. If you have a craft or a trade, you can make a living here in Alex in our neighborhood. On Thursday we spoke of the San Stefano Mall that is probably a 15 minute walk from our school – in the US a mall such as this would spell doom for a the little merchants nearby, but not so here. The great percentage of those in the neighborhood will rarely if ever go to the mall. Along the tram line, vendors will set up shop with their vegetables, fruits, etc to catch people who might be coming off the tram to come home and might need food the evening meal. Besides the little shops, there are numerous roving vendors with bicycle carts, push carts, donkey drawn carts and horse drawn carts.
We stopped at the Metro (a western-style grocery store about a 10 minute walk from our school) and picked up a few items. We bought a small jar of Jif Peanut Butter along with some other items (crackers, soda, juice, etc). The peanut butter was by far the most expensive item (nearly $6.00) while a can of soda (Pepsi, 7-Up, etc) was 25 cents. Most grocery type items and cleaners we get here are a fraction of the cost they are in the States. Our total expenses the first month was probably about $200.00.
