"Egyptian halawa... it is ALL in the honey!"

My mum always told me she would teach me how to fish, instead of giving me the fish ready to eat. Japanese wise men also agree as so do I.

I am a do it all kind of "gal". I love to learn new things and I m what many may call a frighteningly independent warrior woman. The simple idea of depending on other people makes me tremble so I learn, learn, learn in order to be able to fish, haunt and do whatever it takes to keep me going depending on my own skills.

That s how I started learning how to play the piano - just a week ago - or how I learnt how to cook, clean, DANCE, write, speak different languages, etc, etc... there is always space for one more subject, one more skill...

That s how I became a "halawa" expert. Halawa is the ancient egyptian method of waxing used by women all over Egypt and the Middle East. I ve had my own "halawa" ladies, always a little but shy of their own trade. Never quite understood why, though...these women go to other women s houses and apply them the "halawa", waxing all their bodies. It s a WOMEN s thing and I can t understand why they would consider it "haram" but they do!

Besides being a natural way of depilation, it is also a massage/purifying kind of ritual who brings two women closer to each other due to a kind of intimacy only arabic women can understand so well. It is like a world apart of the "world" and, while one woman applies the "halawa" to the other woman s skin, a link of sisterhood is born and personal stories are exchanged.

Being an alien and true to my own tradition, I usually fell asleep during these "halawa" sessions until I decided I would learn how to prepare the whole thing and how to apply it to myself.

And I so I did. All I had to do was ask an egyptian friend to teach me and it doesn t take a genius to get the concept. Quite simple, it seemed.

As I learnt the deed and did my first attempt of waxing myself without egyptian assistance, I realized how much this ritual reflects the character and way of loving of egyptian women.

The "halawa" has to be warmed up in order to work but not too much, otherwise it will burn your skin. As it happens with egyptian women...they love nice words, gifts, warm compliments and stories which will make them soft and open to a relationship with a man.

Then you start applying the "hallawa" but you find out there is a balance between softness and thickness that must be kept at all costs and all the time, otherwise the "halawa" doesn t work out and the hair is not removed.

Soft and sensuous but mixed with some hard pieces of cold "halawa" that will result in the perfect consistence for the hair removal. Such thing also happens in the way most egyptian women will relate with their men. Very maternal, permissive, extremely sweet and even submissive BUT with touches of cold, harsh, toughness that would throw an old Army Coronel to the ground.

I admire the way they do this balancing act, both at the "halawa" ritual as in life. I have a hard time being diplomatic and mixing hot with cold. I only know the truth of what I am at each moment and that may be extremely hot or extremely cold. So easy to see how I can easily burn with FIRE and SNOW.

Would my life be easier if I was like most egyptian women and knew how to manipulate and mix these temperatures and textures? I guess so but then I also realize there must be a reason why I was not born egyptian.