shopping in principal; an amended definition

in the downstairs foodcourt area of a downtown Cairo mall with Samir and Gamel, doing what they seem to like to do most - staring silently at passing women. Gamel is wearing what is apparently his only outfit.

Samir occassionally lets out a "Helwa" (sweet) or a "Gamoosa" (cow) at the passers by - but aside from that, none of us talk. bored, im getting ready to leave.

the table is at the bottom of an escalator going up and another coming down. its a kind of parade of covered women in bright, cheap, trendy clothing, and guys with sunglasses and lots of hairgel. everyone flaunts - its a fashion show - a wierd, sexually repressed/machismo/latently homosexual one to my foreign eyes. most of the guys are wearing the hilarious rip-off mechandise - the ADADIS or NIKIE type stuff ubiquitous all over the poor world. i note that i keep seeing the same people, and then realize that almost everyone seems to be doing laps of the mall - and noone seems to be carrying any bags.

Gamel and Samir are from the distant suburb of Helwan, way out past the pyramids. this is what they like to do with their time - come downtown and.. stare. when i ask them what draws them all the way from Helwan (40 minutes away)

Samir: "so exciting here, fun, so many people, all the musics, the good beautiful stuffs - this the life."

of course, Samir and Gamel cannot afford "the life". they can barely afford the horrible french fry sandwichs (?!) they are eating (french fries are a halmark of urbane living in the poor world. eating them includes you into the world of malls, globo-culture.. . which is an important thing to people who complain about their donkey shitting outside their window) they definitely cannot afford the flashy merchandise or the cell-phones.

the blaring, horrible egyptian pop music and the smell of fried food test my patience. as i am about to stand up and leave, i notice a woman walking by with bags - a thick, heavily made-up woman with expensive and ridiculous looking loose vinyl pants, a baby blue shirt, and orange tinted sunglasses. suddenly i realize that she is the only one wearing the type of clothing for sale at this mall. everyone else is wearing what Gamel and Samir are - cheap, 3rd-rate ripoff merch. she cuts through the crowd easily - everyone is aware of her presence.

its then that i realize that all the people doing laps are not shopping - and in all likliness, they wont be doing any shopping any time soon. only a few egyptians are actually shopping. the rest are like samir and gamel - poor people from the poor suburbs, attracted to the loud, bright commercial space of the mall like moths. with all this time on their hands from unemployment, they circle the mall, window shopping, argueing over which products that they can't afford are better, brushing up on specs of the new Nokia.

we leave the mall and head towards the Nile. tired of their company, I'm trying to politely shake them, and failing.

samir:"cem, why dont you stay at the Nile Hilton?"
cem:"what? my bank account would be done in 2 days."
samir:"oh.. . it costs $185 a night?! you are American, this no problem for you!"
gamel:"that one Ramses Hilton - it $165 for a double"
samir:"or you can go to Marriott - $280, big rooms."

they then listed the exact prices of all of the major hotels, including amenity specifics like cable TV, hot tub. they knew these all by heart, even though all of them were places that would cost them 6 months pay. places they would never be able to afford.

samir:"you try the ritz - this one has big bed."
cem:"guys: my hotel costs $3.00 a night"
samir:"what - you are American?! why?"
gamel:"are you poor in america? you not live the luxury life?"
cem:"luxury life? im not rich. i do have more than one outfit tho, gamel."

--

sitting on the bridge as samir and gamel argue over the price of the Nile Sheraton, i notice a trio of beautiful girls walking across the street.

c:"hmm.. "
samir:"man these are hoookars."
c:"hookers? really? they dont look like it, they look like college students"
samir:"man, I know, i know women, these ones are hookars, they are the bitches"
c:"na .."
samir:"really."
c:"then they look like really expensive well educated hookers. how much?"
samir:"how much? for the having sex with man? only few do it for money. most do it just for fun."