Last night when I was skyping my husband in Canada, the call to prayer began.
I took my computer to the bedroom window and opened it so he could share in my experience of listening to it.
A beautiful magical sound was emanating from the mosque beside our flat (pictured above). Although I was unable to understand the words, I imagine someday being able to comprehend a few of them.
As I write this at 3:35 PM it has begun again. Now more wake awake, I realize I can not only hear the mosque beside my flat, but also another a short distance away. The sound echoes through out our flat.
I love this reassuring calming sound five times a day that speaks “community” to me. Even if the “community” sounds sometimes begin around 4AM!
four camels and a coffee to go 
The adhan is mystical, magical, hauntingly beautiful – when I heard it the first time here in Egypt in 1999 and even till now, I still get goosebumps on my skin, I love it very much, too! Here’s a helpful youtube video of the fajr (dawn) adhan with subtitles and english:
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Thanks Aisha. We do enjoy hearing it regularly. Makes it feel so communal and brings purpose to life. I don’t think I will ever tire of it. Just love it 🙂 I will check out the video.
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I love Ezan (turkish word for Adhan), and I wont lie, I was bummed when I found out the beach house is far away from the mosques.
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Ahhh I know what you mean. I am growing to find the sounds so relaxing!
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I have vivid memories of snoozing by the hotel pool one afternoon as the call to prayer went up – all around the mosques were calling. It was amazing!
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Oh when you are surrounded by the mosques, that is such a cool sound. Other worldly like.
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What a fantastic experience. If not like the 4am turn, though. 😉
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We are getting used to the 4 am one as now we hear it and just fall back to sleep thank goodness.
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It looks like getting used to babies crying and going back to sleep! Lol Good that you’re not anymore disturbed by that.
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I think I am getting so tired by the end of the day, that I could almost sleep through anything.
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Is jet lag over by now?
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Yes it is Lucile…now the culture shock of how things work or don’t 🙂 is setting in! It is taking some time to adjust to!!
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I can imagine. Some things might be so different…
It’s like having to unlearn to be able to adjust to a totally new reality, isn’t it?
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Lucile… everyday is unbelievable really. Adjusting is coming in stages.. some days I am better at it and other days I want to rebel!!
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Keep cool and write about it!
I was wondering what you hear from the locals about the massive influx of refugees.
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You know Lucile I haven’t heard anything about it at all. May be I am living in an area that is not affected by it too much I think.
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How interesting, whereas so many refugees are there. Have you heard of an Egyptian billionaire who wants to buy an island to receive 200k refugees?
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Oh my goodness Yes!! It is all over CNN. Interesting heh? Wonder if it will happen.
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Let’s wait and see! I doubt!
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Hi Cheryl and Jade
WOW the NILE / PYRAMIDS all in a week !!!!! I’M REAlly enjoying your pictures and stories. It must be such an ‘awe ‘feeling . Travelling on the nile would have been a big highlight of mine for sure ( don’t get me wrong , the pyramids as well lol ) I enjoy the reference to fishermen ‘ fisher people ‘ . the call to prayer must be quite the experience to hear/ nice view from your window. I think I would be pinching myself everyday just to remind myself this is actually home for the next two years. You and Jade are quite an inspiration !!!
uncle gerry
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Thanks Ger so much. We are getting used to our routines and this sightseeing part has been a fun part of it. Now down to the nitty gritty this week… get classroom ready while Jade has a full time babysitting gig while she looks after a teacher’s children. We learned this weekend how to how get our groceries delivered which is huge as it was quite challenging to carry them in the heat, especially the water bottles. Also found a restaurant we like close to our house and took a local taxi for the first time which is challenging is the drivers often don’t speak Eng. and don’t know the roads. So the little things here become the big things as well as still trying to find out how to not use up all my wifi in a few days that I paid for. So used to all our conveniences back home too so need to let some of these things just go. Take care. Hope all is well
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We find the call to prayer can be both nice and annoying depending on how loud it is to where we are sleeping! Also, I have just nominated you for the Liebster Award! Please check out my blog post http://justourpassports.com/2015/08/22/the-liebster-award/ so you can share the love that this award inspires! Thanks for your blog 🙂
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Ah thanks so much for the award. I decided to go “award free” due to the time involved and now my limited wifi connection. I appreciate the nomination however. Yes, I agree it depends on the strength of it… they do seem to vary a lot. 🙂
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You are welcome and we totally understand going “award free”. I debated doing it honestly but decided to go ahead. Enjoy your day in Cairo!
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Thanks! Today is filled with finding the right desks for my classroom and figuring out how I am going to fit everyone into the space. A different kind of day!
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That sounds very different from a typical day of teaching in the US! Good luck!
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Thanks. I am afraid I desperately need it.
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How cool that must be. I would love to go to Egypt some day.
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Yes, it is proving to be interesting on a regular basis so far :).
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