Egyptian Arabic

The morning after Grandma's Friday lunch, Leo tells Madame Nadia and Uncle Mahmoud he is staying till spring: staying as a state, till with a season, the house needs time, my work is here now, God willing.

At the phone company's shop in Korba, Leo buys a SIM card with Karim beside him: please, your passport, here you are, internet, the cheapest, my number, your number, his number, how much, a hundred and fifty pounds.

In the kitchen one evening, Madame Nadia asks Leo about his day and Grandma listens: at what time do you wake up, at seven, early, breakfast with Grandma, from nine to two, when do you come back, then I draw, eleven, like a baby.

Thursday evening on the balcony, Karim asks Leo about his week: what do you do every day, every day I go to the house, Friday is at Grandma's, Saturday at home, and you, at the office, Sunday to Thursday, every Thursday we go out, tonight the cafe.

Uncle Mahmoud shows Leo the family's fabric shop on al-Azhar street: welcome to the shop, it's big, my father's shop, sixty years, Egyptian cotton, white and blue, this red one, silk, very expensive, a curtain for my room, this blue one, a present from me.

A busy morning at the fabric shop: Leo at the counter serves a customer while Uncle Mahmoud works at the back: do you have white cotton, how much is the metre, eighty pounds, I want four metres, three hundred and twenty, of the blue too, how many metres, three metres, two hundred and forty.

The first cold morning of a Cairo winter, on the balcony with Madame Nadia: good morning and its answer, it's cold, it's winter now, Cairo is cold in winter, in Chicago there's snow, here there's no snow, in summer the weather is very hot, I like winter.

At the door, Salma is going out with Leo to the old house: aren't you cold, I'm very cold, take a jacket, a scarf too, I don't have a jacket, take Karim's jacket, and you, no, I'm Egyptian, cold in January only, Egyptian from February.

A day of rain at the building's door: Sayed asks where Leo is going, it's raining, raining a lot, look at the street, a sea, then a taxi, where to, sir, al-Darb al-Ahmar, please, get in, it's cold, like Chicago.

In the living room, the television forecast in Standard Arabic says the lowest is eight degrees, and Karim and Leo talk it over: eight degrees, is eight cold, in Cairo very cold, yesterday it was cold too, yesterday it was twelve, tomorrow it will be eight, after tomorrow it will be warm, God willing.

At the kitchen table Grandma invites Leo to her village in the Delta on Thursday: come with me, with you Grandma, Mahmoud is going with you, is Salma coming with us, take a heavy jacket, the village is cold at night.

In Uncle Mahmoud's car on the agricultural road to the Delta: how long does it take, two hours, an hour and a half without traffic, look at the fields, what's this, clover for the cows, the canal from the Nile, half an hour left.

Grandma's house in the village, the first night, no heater: are you cold, very cold, take this blanket, another blanket, take three, drink this, milk with honey, good night, sleep well my son.

The first morning in Grandma's courtyard, the rooster at five: did you sleep well, I slept well, under three blankets, the rooster woke me, he wakes everyone, did Uncle Mahmoud sleep, like a king, at what time did you wake up, at four every day.

A walk through the fields with Uncle Mahmoud to a farmer, his old friend: welcome, this is Leo from America, what do you grow, clover wheat and oranges, who planted the trees, my father and my uncles planted them, forty years ago, we picked these this morning, we ate oranges in Cairo.

The courtyard and the clay oven: where were you, I was on the roof, why, the sun was nice, come the oven is hot, what's this, pie, were you ever in a village, I was always in the city, were the ducks on the roof, they were, twenty ducks.

Grandma's table in the village, duck, rice, soup and the pie: did you eat, I ate, you didn't eat anything, I ate duck rice and soup, I didn't try the pie, try it now, nobody left hungry, I didn't say no, eat my son.

Uncle Mahmoud's car at night on the road home, fog: so the village, I liked it very much, what did you like, the oven and the ducks, the cold didn't please me, did you like me, I liked you very much Grandma, the fog is heavy, slowly, an hour left.

Leo's room in Heliopolis, a cold brought back from the village, Madame Nadia with a thermometer and Salma at the door: what's wrong, my throat hurts, do you have a temperature, my head hurts too, thirty-eight, stay in bed, make him lemon with honey, right away Mum.

The pharmacy on the corner in Heliopolis: I want something for the throat, does it hurt a lot, I have a cough, syrup three times a day, after eating, these every four hours, and for the temperature, twice a day, how much is everything, ninety pounds, get well soon.

Leo and Salma walk the alleys of the Khan el-Khalili for a present for his mother: for my mother, for your father, for me, for you, a silk scarf, a backgammon board, a lamp, then tea at El Fishawy.

Leo bargains for a brass lamp in the Khan while Salma watches: how much is this lamp, four hundred, too expensive, is this one cheaper, that one is smaller, two hundred and fifty, last price, you're Egyptian now, better than an Egyptian.

Leo and Salma sit down at El Fishawy, the old cafe of the Khan: what are you drinking, mint tea for me, coffee with medium sugar, the gentleman isn't from here, I've been here five months, and he speaks Arabic, just a little, like a week, a glass of water.

On the balcony in March, Leo asks Madame Nadia when winter ends: in March, then spring, nice but with the sandstorms, in summer forty degrees, autumn is nice, the Nile and the breeze, in winter the sun, in winter you're cold.

The day before Mother's Day, at the flower shop in Korba with Karim and Salma: what will you buy, I'll buy flowers, Salma will make a cake, you'll write a card in Arabic, I'll try, a bunch of roses, red or white, we'll take two bunches, one for mum, one for Grandma.

In the kitchen, Leo asks Salma about tomorrow: a group from Chicago at the museum, can I come, come at ten, what will you show them, the statues and the gold, after we'll eat koshary, will you come, I'll come, Karim will work as always.

The night before Sham el-Nessim, Grandma and Salma colour eggs with Leo: what do we do, let's start, let's colour this one red, and this one green, why eggs, eggs are spring, let's eat one now, no, tomorrow by the Nile, let's colour ten more, let's go.

The morning of Sham el-Nessim: today you have to eat salted fish, everyone eats it, with green onions and lettuce, I have to drink a lot of water, you have to smell an onion, why, it's the custom from the pharaohs, then I have to do it, the car's waiting.

The whole family on a blanket at the Qanater gardens: what a beautiful day, last winter was cold, next summer Alexandria, next year Sham el-Nessim here again, last year I was in Chicago, this year you're with us by the Nile, next week work, who wants an egg.

On the blanket at sunset, Karim's news from Mr. Fathi's workshop: the month became a winter, the winter became spring, the workshop needs an architect for a year, a whole year, for the old house and other houses, where will I live, here with us, or a flat in Dokki, a year in Cairo, God willing, welcome a third time.