Hecklers

I have just this second realised that my reduced number of blog entries over the last year directly corresponds to my increased use of facebook. I blurt out my news quickly there in a one line status, rather than using the experience to write a whole wee story about it! hmm- Will try to start putting MORE into the blog although the juicy stuff is usually here anyway. (If you want to join the facebook craze I'm there as 'Lorna of Cairo aka Bellylorna' )

So,I am currently sitting with my feet in a basin of iodine.... yet agian the floor at work has ripped my feet open .. and this seems to work calming down the infection quicker than anything else. It's not an ideal situation, but still better than dancing with shoes. i hate that.

Last night I had a HORRIBLE night at work. Really... i was so close to just walking away and not doing last shows ( although granted just walking off isn't exactly possible when you are on a boat in the middle of the Nile!). Anyway, it started with a young girl there with her family, she was maybe 12 years old. I go round all the tables at work to see if anyone wants a photo, and usually i pick out most of the children for a little special attention- that makes EVERYONE happy, and even the most jealous of wives soften when i fuss over their little darlings. Anyway, this little darling, wasn't. She looked me up and down, made a sneer and using her hand in my face waved me on by... the hand signal when you tell someone 'imshi' i.e. 'go away'! I repeated the hand signal to her, to make sure I had understood what she meant and i gave her a look to kill. But for the life of me couldn't find the right words in arabic to tell her parents to teach their children respect for others and their elders. Especially one who is smiling and sweating all night for their entertainment! You have to blame the parents really.

Then... in the same audience ( and i had six shows yesterday, so it's amazing that the two horrible people were in the same one and unrelated!) a man decided that HE was the star attraction , not me. He got on stage in the middle of my entrance dance and wiggled about. Then throughout my entire show he heckled, non stop, as in barely taking a breath. I wish I could understand what he was saying, actually, maybe its better that I couldn't. Basically he had the entire room in fits of laughter, at my expense. The only reason i know what he was saying wasn't complimentary was the looks on my musicians faces- they all looked like they wanted to kill him. It's like having 6 fathers all seeing it as their job to protect you. Bless them. Anyway- the only comment I fully understood was that my body was from the devil. So I presume that rest of the comments, which were constant, were sexual too, especially since it was the men in the room who were enjoying it most and the women were trying to give me encouraging smiles - and filming my dance. I don't know what i should have done... but I felt horrible after... like I had been abused- i wanted more than anything to take a shower and wash his comments off me. Now I wish i had walked off stage towards him, and told him in English to please respect my show and respect himself then returned to the stage. But I didn't think of that at the time...you never do , do you? ... I felt stuck, and humiliated. So much for my arabic being good, it's obviously rubbish, or he was intentionally pharsing things in a way so i couldn't understand. Somehow i had to regain enough confidence to perform two more shows last night after that. They probably weren't my best shows ever.

Anyway, today is another day and inshallah all my audiences tonight will be fabulous!