Salaam alaykum from Cairo! 06/2008

I'm in the crazy capital of the Arab world. Its like NYC on steroids with traffic, honking, extreme poverty/wealth, pollution, nightlife. . . i'm really loving it! I went to a great concert in a park last night by a famous egyptian  rock/fusion band playing plus a fantastic traditional arabic band. Met some of the musicians after the concert and went out. Set up a couple jam sessions for this week. sweet!
I spent a couple days walking around, talking and drinking tea with some shop owners. There is hardly any middle class and the poor are incredibly oppressed by the Mubarek the "president" who essentially has dictatorial power. The only way to work your way up is to lie, cheat . . . play the game. And even though much of the city is secular, muslim values are very important to most egyptians. Even in the poorest neighborhoods there  is very little threat of getting robbed, etc. 

Anyhow, i spent all last week in sinai. staying in a hoosha (bamboo hut) on the beach for $4/night. was hard to leave . . . sat under the same tree for 5 days, like an oasis in my life. Amazing. I was planning on going to the nile (southern egypt) this week but probably won't happen cause I want to be back in Israel by the end of the month.
Well, that's it for now. going to go see some sufi dancing/music!

shalom v'ahava,

Lev