Hoppa e ... Hoppa a - Part III

This time, let's start a few days before the match, with our failing attempts to get tickets. We planned to go after el dohr prayer to Ahly club on Monday to buy tickets for this Friday match (Egypt- Congo), but at 11pm, a guy at work said that we have to go there at once coz he just came back and there are only 1st class and 3d class tickets and the laters are already diminishing and so we did. A closed gate and a bunch of ppl standing with frawning faces said it all. There were no longer any 3rd class tickets. We moved to a post office, they said the tickets were all officially withdrawn from all postal offices as soon as they were distributed and if we wanted to get tickets, we had to go to "ete7ad el kora" in Zamalek!!!
Thus, disappointed and frustrated we went back to E, almost giving up to the fact that we are not going to this match khalas. Anyways, the second day was hopefull, that guy from work said he could manage to get us up to 20 tickets, we only needed 16 so that was perfect. By the following day, i had all 16 tickets in hand. Though laters, we were moving them around, trying to exchange the colors - some were green and some were grey, announcing the extra tickets we got for ppl who later said they won't be able to come. In short, i really felt the past week was like sitting in a box office!Btw, we got all tickets from black market, 30 L.E instead of 20L.E ...and just to show how desperate ppl were becoming by Thursaday - one day before the match - the same guy who got me the tickets couldn't find anymore tickets for himslef, so he was offering me 80 L.E - EIGHTY - to get them back!!!

Well! let's move to Friday, unfortunate to say, it was a very bad day for me. First i did smthg. wrong at work and my manager was really upset - i put him a very bad situation because of an email i sent - so, laterz i had to take a permission to leave at 3 pm. I was all in sweat telling him: ok, i now i did a "moseeba" just this morning, but i still have the tickets!! he said: ok, i'm angry, but this is another story, so u may go! Don't you just love professional ppl?!

OK, wut were the arrangements? First, we were supposed all to meet infront of the gate at 3:30 coz they were closing the gates at 4 sharp. From work: Me, 'I', 'M' and my friend 'O' who met us infront of E and some other aqcuaintances of 'I' - E is my work btw. 'M' arranged that her friends - four of them - would meet 'I's husband infront of the gates so that they'd reserve seats for all of us. However, they met, got separated at the gates because women had special entrance, and they couldn't re-meet again coz his Mobile was out of charge! By the time we arrived, I's mobile was out of charge also, so ... great .. now they cannot find each other! It got even worse coz the network was down and i couldn't reach my father nor M's friend, so there was no possible way we could find out where everybody was. It was really an unpleasant atmosphere, and made worse by the enormous number of ppl walking through the gates and the fearsome security guards spread everywhere.Anyways, we managed to get inside - the gates at least - and now was time to figure out where the others where. Al Hamdullelah i could reach M's friend after several trials and she told me their whereabouts. SO, heading there, still trying to reach my father and I's husband. The strange coincidence is that just as we found the girls and our reserved two rows, my father called me and he was standing just 3 rows below on the adjacent partition. What are the chances of that?!! Those of you who'd been to the stadium should understand what i mean. Anyways, he had suited himself in a nice place and didn't wanna change it, so he said he's stay where he is. 'I' was becoming really anxious for not finding her husband. After more and more trials on the phone, we got him. He showed upstairs and she went to him. He looked very furious. I think she told me laterz that he waited for M's friend for a long time and the security guys where tough and keda keda. Anyways, he went to sit with his friend elsewhere then joined us laters.

Hmm, as soon as everyone was settled, 'I' wanted to get her face painted. Well, honestly i didn't like the idea, but i had borrowed paints from smone at work who left earlier for the match and had painted her face in E. So, I agreed to do it - 3ala madad. I didn't have any brush too coz i forgot it in E, so i had to use my finger tip. As i finished, a girl from the row above asked if i could give her one too, so i started with a red sroke on her cheek with my finger, then the girl beside her - of M's friends - wanted to be painted too ... eventually, i had passed the red stroke on four faces, then repeating the round with another finger tip for the white color and again another round for the black color. By the end of all this, i had the flag painted on my own finger tips :P Anyways, all was fixed in the break as i miraclously convinced 'I' to come wash her face.

Now to the most annoying part: Trying to pray 3asr. First, we had to argue our way out with the national stunts with the helmets and sheilds who were blocking the way in and out of the stadium - i mean the main stadium - then, the ones blocking the way between this area and the gates, which includes the area of the W.Cs and the dirty place we were hoping to get to for the prayer. Even the mosque - which doesn't have a women's area anyways - was locked. And of course the highest islamic authority in the islamic world - which refers to the ranked security officer - wouldn't allow us through, generously giving us the fatwa that we should pray 3asr as qada'a at home! YAAAA SALLLAAAAMMM! 7asbya Allah wane3ma al wakeel! Of course i was getting ready to start yelling and fighting when a man told me to cool down, and showed the security guy some card, and told him to let us through, the security guy said he would let only him and not all of us, so the man told him just take their IDs and let them through. YA SALLLLLAAAAAAMMM! Now he's considering the man's brilliant idea, slamming all his orders against the wall! Ah ya balad %$#%$#! Anyways, that was in our favour hamdullelah. Indeed - w man yattaki ellah yaj3al laho makhrajan! 7asbya Allah wa ne3ma al wakeel!
Anyways, walking with a bunsh of bout 5 girls, Me and I headed to that filthy place behind the toilets. A small planted area with a few national gurads sitting there ... they kindly gave us a piece of rug to pray on, at least we get to do sujoud on a dirty smelly rug instead of the dirty muddy ground ... how nice! Al hamdullelah 10 min. later and before we start praying - only two prayed while the other were making a wall to hide them ... speaking of football and "e3mel 7eeetaaa" - the guards told us we can pray on a pieace of 7asir in sm concrete area, more hidden behind the plants. That was more sitable, but unfortunately not the least more clean! 7asbya Allah wa ne3ma al wakeel! With the thought of the mouse that was peeping its head looking at 'M' while she prayed in the guard's room last match, as she told me, i did the 3asr prayer in the worst conditions i've ever been in. May Allah accept it after all. I hardly remember how many rak3a we did, though we were praying gama3a! 7asbya Allah wa ne3ma al wakeel! - yes, i'll keep saying it over and over!

Anyways, we figured that this way, we probably won't be able to get out for maghreb prayer too. Worried at the thought, i couldn't but get back to the stadium coz there was still half an hour to maghreb anyways.At maghreb, i was willing to give it a try again. the guilt of having to miss my prayer because of football match was a heavy burden i wasn't willing to carry. I'd think that the inhumane conditions and the governments neglicance of providing a proper facility for prayer in a stadium THAT big and built with such costs should be an excuse for me. But then i think, well, a football match isn't worth wasting a single rak3a anyways, and to me, i believe that i bear guilt if i'm putting that at risk when i know for sure that i won't be able to pray. I know some friends of mine had to pray in their places in the stadium, among the cheers and the men. Allah yesame7 elli fee bali. 7asbya Allah wa ne3ma al wakeel!Anyways, this time with 'I' and 'M', headed to the same place. Can't describe how the place looks at night. The darkness added loads of insictophobia to the atmosphere. As soon as we arrived at the designated place, 'I' startled and jumbed back coz she thought there was a snake - turned out to be a pieace of rope. I lead the prayer with the shortest surahs in quraan, trying to squash the minimum three times of "subhanna rabya al a3la" of sujoud in the shortest time i could, moving my face away from the smelly dark 7asir as soon as possible! 7asbya Allah wane3ma al wakeel feehom! By the end of the three rak3a, i was about to get a nervous break down with the accumulating panic of the insectophobia that controlled the three of us, to the extent that we turned our boots upside down and shock them well before wearing them. Me and 'I' had long boots enough to fit for an anakonda not only bugs!
"Wait!" ... that was 'M', she felt smthg. in her shoes after wearing them. i ain't trying to make a suspense story. It DID happen! but i think she was having a phobic illusion anyways.

After reading two articles and all the above, aren't you starting to wonder Why do i always forget to talk about the match itself? hehehe. Well, simply because indeed i hardly concentrate with the match itself. I guess this is the problem with going to the stadium, you miss all the match details, but you gain all the fun and experience of being THERE, just THERE! To me, sounds like a fair trade :)
This match, i really missed three of the four scores. Only saw the one of Hossam Hassan. And of course the last one was missed by most ppl because it was totally unexpected. Lot of ppl had already left even before that.When Congo lost a penalty for Egypt, i wasn't concentrating, suddenly i found everyone standing and cheering. I asked my friend 'O' beside me "what's a penalty? coz i have no knowledge in football!" ... she said "in short, penalty means that it's between him - the player - and the goal now ... i.e, if he doesn't score then he must be a donkey!" ... Wow, nice technical definition! How come my dad - he's a basketball coach btw - always fails to explain this stuff to me! :P

Now to the cheers section. The only new one is: "heela heela w hela hela hooo, montakhabna mafeesh zaiooo" ... i guess this completes the cheering dictionary i'm writing! Sorry guys, cheering section is too short this time, because we were sitting in a real dull partition! we were the only ones cheering with the 2 rows above. The rest of the crowd just remained silent. I should have let 'I' get up and say "yalla ya 'ppl' fee eh?" like she said in Morocco match! PPL?!! "yalla" w "ya PPL"! Subhannallah!
However, the rythmetic claps were really smthg this time. My arms still hurt from clapping that special rythem with the leading tamburine. Don't ask wut it is. Unfortnatly my blog doesn't support audio files :P
And of course not forgetting the WaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaVe. Although they didn't repeat waves as frequent as the last times but this time there was one long wave in FIVE Complete rounds. I called my father dring it ... "ARE YOU IN THE WAAAAVVVEEEEE???" ... "YES" ..."Stand up, i can't se ... HEEEEEEEEEEHHH ... ee you - got washed by the wave in the middle of my words!" ... hehehe .. that was FUN!

Hey! Good News ... no "CURSES" section AT ALL this time alhamdullelah. Strange, but true. I'm starting to get addicted to THIRD CLASS! :)

After the match, we had to repeat the same trip back home on foot. Me, my father and 'O'. At city center, i stood with my father watching the ppl celebrating there like last time. They'd stop any passing car, stand on the top of it dancing and singing. I wonder how many car tops they ruin during these retuals. Celebrations have limits u know. Apparently not to some happy ppl!

To sum it all up. It was a very very very exhausting day to me and i really have a trauma now over losing ppl there and the prayer conditions. I don't think i'll go to the Sengal match next tuesday. I think it'll also be hard to take a leave permission twice in one week. May be if we make it to the finals on Friday inshaa Allah. Me and 'I' already said we'd watch it in E. would be nice for a change :)

Your exhausted, traumatized reporter from Cairo Internationl - inhumane - stadium. don't stay tune. Over and Out!