WARNING – good story, but scary visual images ahead. Read through to the end…

Finishing up the summary of Dahab, it should be noted that Darren and I were mistaken for Israeli tourists! *laugh* We heard that they were coming back by the thousands to the area, but this was confirmed when we were greeted with an enthusiastic “Shalom!” by a hotel manager! *smile*

Monday was Sham el Nessim. In Egypt, Sham el Nessim is a national holiday, where Christians and Muslims alike enjoy the Spring breeze while eating onions and special fish. Wherever people can find a bit of grass – they set up a picnic and spend the day. This includes the grassy strips between very busy highways!

One of my classmates, Caroline, invited the rest of my teaching class to a Sham el Nessim party that her family was having. This was quite the bash – live music, dancers, and a belly-dancer! I went with 2 friends from class and we ended up getting the royal treatment – practically becoming part of the family!

According to the invitation, we were supposed to bring our own food and we did, but then we were asked to eat what the family was eating – great roasted chicken, fresh bread, watermelon, and stinky/salty raw fish.

Guess what I ate just a little taste of? Correct! I merely sampled the fish. *grin*

*** So here’s the big story for the day! ***

The first entertainment was some traditional dancing with the band playing and that was pretty cool. Then came the belly-dancer. She stayed over by the band for awhile and then started moving around by the crowd. Uh oh!

We were seated in a high-profile area right out front, so eventually she came around to our table.

…and then she pointed at me…and motioned for me to join her out in front of everyone. *blush* At first, I refused…but with the second request…I decided that it was time to become part of the entertainment!

So there I was – out in front of a crowd of about 200 Egyptians, trying to follow what the belly-dancer was doing. She wanted me to dance beside her and mimic what she was doing! Let’s just say that I need some lessons!

The highlight (??) of the dancing were when she had me lift up my shirt to show my belly as I was dancing.

Strange, but I thought of my friend Mark while I was out there. He used to do this trick with his stomach where he could roll it in all sorts of funky ways and that skill would have come in handy!

Yes, there are photographs to be used as evidence and possibly for blackmail purposes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me so I’ll have to wait until my classmates get theirs back. There was also a professional photographer wandering around, so maybe he got some good pictures.

This was quite a day! The location of the party was on a farm and a villa about 30 minutes outside Cairo. Apparently the family hosting does all sorts of business and marketing, so they are definitely “upper class”.

My classmate has a driver who takes her to/from class. Yeah, that kind of set-up. So things were really nice and it’s probably the only time in Egypt I’ll have the chance to see how this minority of the population lives.