No Mastercard Here

After the weekly soccer match, I went to one of the many hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Alexandria with a couple friends. The restaurant didn't have any bottled water, so I went out to the street to buy bottled water for all of us. None of us can stomach the water here...

Everything seemed pretty normal; the tram rattled by along the track situated on the median of the street, people prayed in the two nearby Mosques on the opposite side of the street, and taxi drivers honked at me. But, I couldn't find any bottled water. There just wasn't any store open. Alexandria is filled with little stores that sell water, snacks, and random goods, but all the stores seemed to have disappeared. This isn't a case of spontaneous combustion, it was just Friday. The store fronts were all closed and locked because just like Sunday in America (especially in Vermont) stores take a break. 

But, I was thirsty.  I figured I'd just ask somebody (what a novel idea!). It turned out that I asked the right guy. After I spoke with him for 5 minutes, he revealed that he actually owns a store one block down the street. He called somebody and told them to open the store. Five minutes later, after listening to a story of the five years he spent in New York City, one of his employees opened the store. I wanted to buy four 1.5 liter bottles (8 pounds total), but he wouldn't let me pay. He refused any money and insisted that the water was a gift. He told me verbatim, "I am a Muslim and this is how we do business. Today, the water is free. You can pay tomorrow."

A buck fifty isn't a big deal, but the gesture was worth more than anything money can buy to both him and me.