Yeray The Magician

To get from this:

To this:

You need Yeray the Magician:

To do this:

The price:

A hug!

Beats any barber’s place in town (although this was in the Canary Islands, not Paris, but I’m sure you can find similar service near you).

Traveling While Traveling

As you might already know, I’m in the Canary Islands for a long weekend. And even though it hasn’t been that long since I have settled down in Paris, I already feel like I have left home to travel elsewhere. Such an act allows you to look at things from a different point of view.

For example, I was at a cafe this afternoon with a group of friends where I ordered a coke. When we got the bill, I came to realize one of the fundamental differences between Paris and other “European” cities: I paid 1.50 Euros for something that would’ve cost at least 4 Euros anywhere in the French capital. That’s crazy.

Surely we don’t expect Paris’s prices to be close to those of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, but perhaps we should recognize that it is disproportionately expensive. And with the fall of the Sterling, Paris may well be the most expensive city on the planet.

When you live in a place where you don’t have to even look at the prices, you’re experience will inevitably be significantly different than if you spend half an hour at the local ED (grocery store) to make sure you spend the 20 Euros wisely. For better or for worse, it’s a different experience.

Perhaps living in Paris with loads of money wouldn’t be a lot of fun. There’s something about being broke that gives you the sensation that you’re having an authentic experience. When you know that you’ve worked hard to earn a Nutella and banana crepe, the taste is to die for. But how long can anyone endure such a lifestyle?

Life in the Canary Islands is extremely different. And it’s good to be appreciating the low cost of living, the quality of homemade food, and the freedom from being tied by a tight budget. I wonder how my fellow Arab immigrants from the 18th arrondissment are surviving the rough conditions of Paris?

Thinking Of The People Back Home

As I was getting ready to go to bed, I checked my Facebook wall and saw that my buddy Hazem Mohamed Ahmed had written me a HILARIOUS note about my earlier post with the award I handed to Bip Bip Pizza!

Basically, he was making the sound argument that, besides the fact that I am ruining the business of many tour guides in Paris with my blog entries, I made the shameful act of giving credit to a “pizzeria just around the corner” and never mentioned any of the champions we boast back home in the City Victorious. Most notably, “Ma7roos”, in Garden City, will always be remembered as the best fool in town, and by far the best atmosphere you can experience.

Unfortunately in Egypt we don’t really use maps, so to get to ma7roos, just get in a taxi, ask him to take you to Garden City, pay him half what he asks you for, and ask random people in the street for Ma7roos – you’ll never get lost. Make sure you try two different fool dishes, and don’t waste your time with the siders, you’re there for the fool, and you mean business. If you go WAY overboard, you might end of paying LE 20 (less than 3 Euros), so saving up shouldn’t be on your list of things to do before you head to the headquarters of fool.

On a more serious note, small things such as a comment by a good friend make you look at the situation from a different perspective. No matter how many people I meet here, and how interesting they may seem, nothing will EVER compare to spending late nights with friends in the streets of Cairo. So while I may seem to be flirting with Paris, I am absolutely clear on where my heart lies.

Same7ny ya Zuma! hahaha. Leek 3andi crebbaya lamma tegeely insha2allah.

P.S. Credit to Reem Abulleil for introducing me to Ma7roos, and insisting on taking me there when I had been convinced for ages that competitor El Baghl was the king of the fool domain in all of Egypt