New Years Eve,Egyptian Style?

It is a very human habit to have expectations. Sometimes they are born from a previous experience or similar encounter to what we anticipate we may be about to have again, & sometimes they are born of imagination & hope...of what MIGHT be about to happen. Sometimes those expectations lead to severe DISAPPOINTMENT! If we had gone into a situation with no anticipation, hope or inkling of an idea as to what may be about to happen...we may not experience that huge slump of the mighty let down! This was what I experienced on New Years Eve! It had been billed as an Egyptian New Years Eve party...what it was, was the roof top of a hotel decked out in tinsel, Christmas tree & a Happy new Year sign made of cotton wool. Tables & chairs set out in lines, & a buffet set up around the perimeter. The only Egyptians present were the waiters...until the entertainment came on! It was a special show just for the tourists in town. GROAN. To be fair...they tried their best. It just would have been more interesting/enjoyable if it had a more authentic, feel to it, rather than 'perform for the paying guests'! We had two different music groups before we left. The first band had a Roland synth, drums & a vocalist. They were extremely loud & quite frankly...my ear went numb from the volume!!! But boy...could they belt the drums, the rythmn was amazing! The second band was one with rather high pitched string instruments, which became somewhat repetitive & grating after a while. I have it on good authority that they were also flat!! During their performance we experienced the Egyptian version of a whirling dervish! The dervish was dressed in three layers of skirt, each with different colored patch worked patterns on them. With these three skirts & his constant whirling, he could make all sorts of shape & colour combinations...he was a human spinning top! Less mysticism & more entertainment! Another form of entertainment was the belly dancer. Now I was looking forward to this, because skilled belly dancing is amazing to watch...but no, this was more about titillating the audience...and she was certainly well endowed with both bosom & belly. To my mind she was so fat that we couldn't actually see the fabulous muscle control of the movements. During her stint she had thrust her bosom just a bit too forcefully into one young man's face & her straps snapped, so she made a hasty exit! That caused a titter. I must admit I was shocked too, that in a society where most of the women are severely COVERED up in public, that she could justify exposing herself so dramatically in this dance. Belly dancing is supposed to be enchanting & spin some magic...well, it was lost to me! I must admit though that later...in the bathroom with the door shut...I did try practicing a few moves!!!!!!!!!!