Well the other night when we were supposed to go out and look at mattresses, instead hubby was trying to finish up, with some help, cleaning the floors of the apartment.
It seems that the neighbor upstairs from us had a clog in their kitchen pipe. So they called a plumber, who unclogged the clog, and sent all the junk down into our kitchen pipe, where it overflowed and spread funky dirty nasty water into our kitchen, bathroom, hall and perhaps bedroom (not sure, hubby didn't say).
So, hubby had happened to stop by the apartment on Monday for something and find this mess in the apartment, which had been there for a day or so already. He went upstairs and found out from the neighbor that they had had a problem in their pipes, etc.
Hubby calls a plumber out who then proceeds to unblock the junk in the pipes, but that means that everyone below us also got some junky water overflowing in their pipes, since it appears that in apartment living in Egypt, you are in a direct line, pipewise, with all of your neighbors.
I'm not sure what moron devised this, and maybe it saves a few feet of piping, but it is not helpful at all. It means you can smell other peoples... stuff flowing through the pipes in the bathroom. I mean, I have yet to find an apartment bathroom here that didn't have some kind of smell going on.
I plan to start burning incense or something in ours. I hate bathroom smell.
Anyways, it took hubby and a helper some time to get the floors cleaned. Thank God we don't have carpets down, and thank God we weren't living there at the time.
That would have been an even bigger mess.
Hubby says it shouldn't happen again any time soon since the plumber cleared the pipes out. I hope he's right.
In other apartment news, also regarding cleaning, hubby and his helper have been cleaning the grout in the apartment with some kind of acid stuff. No idea what it is and of course I don't like something like that used in the house but what can I do? I appreciate at least that it's getting cleaned. And that I wasn't there to have to smell it. I just really really really hope that it was washed down VERY GOOD afterwards.
Today is the day that the air conditioners are being delivered and supposedly installed. Also, I believe that the painter will come and start to prepare the walls for painting.
There is a slight issue with a hole in the wall, where we were going to put a wall unit a/c (the kind that stick out of the building), and then hubby decided to put the wall mounted kind instead (that just hang on the wall), so we need to fill up the hole that was left from the last people who were there and had the a/c sticking out of the building.
There are two choices, filling with brick and then board, paint, etc. or just putting a board over and paint, etc.
Of course, in my mind, the brick sounds like a better option, but the guy who told hubby about it made it seem like it was some kind of hassle for painting over.
Well... you're gonna have to paint over the board either way, since there will be a board there.
Quite honestly, I don't have any faith in the workers here after seeing the kinds of things that are done.
I'm not saying there aren't any good workers, but there's so much crap going on too. There is no enforcement of any kind of regulations, and people just pretty much do whatever they want, regardless of if they know what they're doing or not.
There is a distinct lack of knowledge of good ways to do things. And not just with building. I mean with so many things here in Egypt.
Whether it's due just to lack of education or what, I don't know.
And yeah, I'm kind of picking on Egypt a bit.
I'm not saying there aren't any skilled people here, or that there are no knowledgeable people here. Just that I don't see them so often. At all.
lol
I fully appreciate that people make do with what they have, and try their best to live in the best way that they can or know how.
I guess my eyes are just tired of seeing so much stuff that's built or repaired in a half arsed way. No regard for aesthetics at all.
Tired of seeing all the dirt and grime and filth.
Tired of so many people who live in it and don't care.
Well... this has turned into a different post than anticipated.
Anyways, we are supposed to go pick out paint colors tonight.
Not sure when we will be checking out mattresses.
Maybe we will have a night of sleeping in a/c by Saturday or Sunday. If the paint gets done by then. I keep forgetting that we're running on "Egypt time". Everything takes at least twice as long as you would expect, and many times, even longer.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
A fish!
Not much going on here the last couple of days except high heat and higher humidity. It never did cool down last night, and with humidity over 70%, it felt like I was under water.
Generally the humidity goes down when the heat goes up, but I guess August is the worst month in terms of weather here, not that July has been a picnic, and we are coming up on the eighth month rather quickly.
We're supposed to be going out tonight to look at mattresses. And checking out a new furniture store that is opening that is owned by a friend of hubby's brother. Insha'Allah we can find some things tonight.
The a/c should be getting installed sometime this week, but I don't know when. Perhaps Wednesday or so.
Not related to Egypt, but something that excites me, is food/cooking websites. I love reading new recipes and imagining the tastes. It's a virtual feast that doesn't make my hips grow any bigger! lol
My favorite site for a while has been Smitten Kitchen. She has a great sense of humor and there's so many recipes that I want to try from her site. I still haven't finished reading back through all the past entries, and she has a searchable recipe index as well so you can take a glance if you're looking for something in particular.
Well.... as much as I love Smitten Kitchen, I found a site yesterday that has me so excited!! Smitten tends to be a little bit "foody", which is fine, but not entirely accessible while living in Egypt if you know what I mean. Ingredients are not always so easy to find here. But this new site, wow! All the recipes seem fairly simple and they all look delicious and hearty and there's many healthy recipes on there as well. I've been going through the site and copying down the recipes that I want to try and it looks like I won't run out of options for a very long while.
Here's the site - For The Love of Cooking. I'm just really excited about this site and I know several others who like to cook so I thought I would share about the site here.
Off to watch Mall Cop on the computer. For better or worse. lol
Generally the humidity goes down when the heat goes up, but I guess August is the worst month in terms of weather here, not that July has been a picnic, and we are coming up on the eighth month rather quickly.
We're supposed to be going out tonight to look at mattresses. And checking out a new furniture store that is opening that is owned by a friend of hubby's brother. Insha'Allah we can find some things tonight.
The a/c should be getting installed sometime this week, but I don't know when. Perhaps Wednesday or so.
Not related to Egypt, but something that excites me, is food/cooking websites. I love reading new recipes and imagining the tastes. It's a virtual feast that doesn't make my hips grow any bigger! lol
My favorite site for a while has been Smitten Kitchen. She has a great sense of humor and there's so many recipes that I want to try from her site. I still haven't finished reading back through all the past entries, and she has a searchable recipe index as well so you can take a glance if you're looking for something in particular.
Well.... as much as I love Smitten Kitchen, I found a site yesterday that has me so excited!! Smitten tends to be a little bit "foody", which is fine, but not entirely accessible while living in Egypt if you know what I mean. Ingredients are not always so easy to find here. But this new site, wow! All the recipes seem fairly simple and they all look delicious and hearty and there's many healthy recipes on there as well. I've been going through the site and copying down the recipes that I want to try and it looks like I won't run out of options for a very long while.
Here's the site - For The Love of Cooking. I'm just really excited about this site and I know several others who like to cook so I thought I would share about the site here.
Off to watch Mall Cop on the computer. For better or worse. lol
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Apple tart pie streusel squares
Yesterday evening found us out shopping again for the apartment. Not quite the adventure that the other night was, but wore me out all the same.
We went first to look at mattresses. I refuse to make a decision on a mattress without first being able to lay on it, so this is delaying our purchase somewhat, as not every place that sells mattresses has them all there in stock, or enough space in the small shop for them to lay out. Insha'Allah we'll get to the place soon where they are laid out and I can test them. Hubby founds one that he thinks we should get, which is at least a move in the right direction.
Next we went to a furniture store that hubby's barber had just told him about in the morning. When hubby first told me the name I laughed. The name sounded like "tacky", and why would I want to buy my furniture from a place named Tacky? lol
However, it turns out that though it sounds like "tacky", it is spelled "Taki".
Anyways, we went and actually found a few items that we REALLY liked.
The first was kitchen cabinets. I liked the wood color and we could pick the color of marble that we want for the counter tops. My only concern is that I might need a small work table in addition, as there isn't a huge amount of counter space there. There's no way I'm rolling out dough there, ya know what I mean?
I did find out later that it would take 10 days, or 7 in a rush, to get this made for our apartment. *sigh*
We weren't supposed to take pictures in this place, according to my husband, so I had to try to be sly about taking them.
Next we found a couch that we agreed on, which is nothing short of miraculous.
lol
We would change the fabric of course. But it was comfortable and the price was fairly decent.
The only slight issue with this was that I thought we were looking at it for our personal living room, and hubby was thinking about it for the reception room.
And last, at the Taki store, we found this little gem. Perfect for the little area in front of the balcony doors and we both love this piece! Very comfortable and the wood on the arms looks very nice. The only slight issue is the price, as it's imported, and so this will not be one of our first purchases, though insha'Allah we will be able to buy it at some point.
After that we went to a different branch of B*tech then we had been to the other day, which is where we had found the stove and fridge that we wanted.
In this branch, we looked at the washing machines. If we're going to get a front loader, I want to research the machine that we want to get to see how it rates, etc.
We found several within our price range, and I wrote the model numbers down.
In searching for them this morning, I was rather disappointed to find that the Ariston model only came up with pages in Vietnamese, which is not helpful AT ALL!
When looking at the Zanussi models, I had a hard time finding any reviews of the 3 models we looked at in the store.
Honestly this process of furnishing out apartment is unbelievably frustrating. Nothing is simple or easy about it and everything is so spread out in this city and hubby does still have a job to work at so this is just taking forever. In another two days, it will have been 2 weeks since we signed the lease on the apartment, and we are not any closer to moving in. The only purchase we've made is the new front door lock.
My guess is that it will be at least two more weeks until we can move. At least.
No matter how much you want things to get done in a timely manner here, it just doesn't happen.
I'm feeling pretty discouraged about the whole process, but insha'Allah we will be done soon.
In happier news, I made the recipe I was wanting to try that combined the crust from lemon squares and the topping of apple pie.
It turned out soooooooo good!!! Wow, I wanted to eat this for breakfast lunch and dinner. lol
I searched around online to find the right apple mixture and then decided that I better add a type of coffecake/streusel topping on it.
It basically tastes like an apple pie, but way less work than making a pie crust, as the lemon square crust is very simple to make.
It's not anything to eat if you're on a diet, though it does have fresh apples, so that has to count for something.
If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I'll email it to you.
Now off to this afternoon's activities, which will amount to hiding out in the bedroom and watching movies. lol
We went first to look at mattresses. I refuse to make a decision on a mattress without first being able to lay on it, so this is delaying our purchase somewhat, as not every place that sells mattresses has them all there in stock, or enough space in the small shop for them to lay out. Insha'Allah we'll get to the place soon where they are laid out and I can test them. Hubby founds one that he thinks we should get, which is at least a move in the right direction.
Next we went to a furniture store that hubby's barber had just told him about in the morning. When hubby first told me the name I laughed. The name sounded like "tacky", and why would I want to buy my furniture from a place named Tacky? lol
However, it turns out that though it sounds like "tacky", it is spelled "Taki".
Anyways, we went and actually found a few items that we REALLY liked.
The first was kitchen cabinets. I liked the wood color and we could pick the color of marble that we want for the counter tops. My only concern is that I might need a small work table in addition, as there isn't a huge amount of counter space there. There's no way I'm rolling out dough there, ya know what I mean?
I did find out later that it would take 10 days, or 7 in a rush, to get this made for our apartment. *sigh*
We weren't supposed to take pictures in this place, according to my husband, so I had to try to be sly about taking them.
Next we found a couch that we agreed on, which is nothing short of miraculous.
lol
We would change the fabric of course. But it was comfortable and the price was fairly decent.
The only slight issue with this was that I thought we were looking at it for our personal living room, and hubby was thinking about it for the reception room.
And last, at the Taki store, we found this little gem. Perfect for the little area in front of the balcony doors and we both love this piece! Very comfortable and the wood on the arms looks very nice. The only slight issue is the price, as it's imported, and so this will not be one of our first purchases, though insha'Allah we will be able to buy it at some point.
After that we went to a different branch of B*tech then we had been to the other day, which is where we had found the stove and fridge that we wanted.
In this branch, we looked at the washing machines. If we're going to get a front loader, I want to research the machine that we want to get to see how it rates, etc.
We found several within our price range, and I wrote the model numbers down.
In searching for them this morning, I was rather disappointed to find that the Ariston model only came up with pages in Vietnamese, which is not helpful AT ALL!
When looking at the Zanussi models, I had a hard time finding any reviews of the 3 models we looked at in the store.
Honestly this process of furnishing out apartment is unbelievably frustrating. Nothing is simple or easy about it and everything is so spread out in this city and hubby does still have a job to work at so this is just taking forever. In another two days, it will have been 2 weeks since we signed the lease on the apartment, and we are not any closer to moving in. The only purchase we've made is the new front door lock.
My guess is that it will be at least two more weeks until we can move. At least.
No matter how much you want things to get done in a timely manner here, it just doesn't happen.
I'm feeling pretty discouraged about the whole process, but insha'Allah we will be done soon.
In happier news, I made the recipe I was wanting to try that combined the crust from lemon squares and the topping of apple pie.
It turned out soooooooo good!!! Wow, I wanted to eat this for breakfast lunch and dinner. lol
I searched around online to find the right apple mixture and then decided that I better add a type of coffecake/streusel topping on it.
It basically tastes like an apple pie, but way less work than making a pie crust, as the lemon square crust is very simple to make.
It's not anything to eat if you're on a diet, though it does have fresh apples, so that has to count for something.
If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I'll email it to you.
Now off to this afternoon's activities, which will amount to hiding out in the bedroom and watching movies. lol
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Finally, the adventure
Alright, finally, something worth the title of the blog. lol
Hard to know where to start, though the beginning usually seems like a decent place.
I know I won't get everything down here about our little adventure, but I hope I can get a lot of it, and that it becomes your little adventure too.
=)
Yesterday we had planned to go shopping for bathroom and kitchen faucet fixtures. We had planned to go in the morning but ended up waiting and going in the evening instead. Hubby had a slight headache and didn't want to go out in the hot sunlight.
7:15 p.m. rolls around and we are ready and leave the house. We walk just a couple of minutes to get to the main street where we plan to take a taxi to the area we want to go to.
Normally, this isn't much of a problem and we are able to hail an empty taxi within a couple of minutes.
It soon became apparent that this wasn't going to be a normal trip, at least not for me!
It took us half an hour, and we finally ended up taking a mini bus (not a vw micro bus, the mini bus is a bit bigger, like a city bus but shorter) because we never did manage to find a taxi. Several taxis pulled over but they all took off when they heard where we wanted to go. One guy wanted 25 pounds to take us, which was ridiculous since it shouldn't have cost more than 5 or 7 pounds. And there was nothing wrong with the area. Not sure why no one wanted to drive there. And the guy that wanted to overcharge us was only doing it because I was white and foreign. The taxi drivers are big on trying to rip you off if you're a foreigner. Not all of them, I won't say that, but many.
So, we had walked some few blocks down the street and found a mini bus that was going where we wanted to go. Luckily for us, it had just emptied and so we had our choice of seats. Hubby had me get in the bus first and I picked the first two seats on the right side of the bus.
The bus waited til it was just about full before taking off. We were headed to Ramses Square.
Now remember, the micro and mini buses here stop while going down the road to pick up additional passengers, and all of the buses have a boy/man who hangs on at the door and shouts out the destination while the bus is heading down the street.
Our bus kept stopping and letting people on, and I kept thinking that there would be no more room and we wouldn't be able to stop any more.
Well, silly me!
This bus got so packed I couldn't believe it.
The seats were fully taken, and the standing room down the middle of the aisle was packed. Not loosely packed, I'm talking fully packed, no room to budge one more person inside the bus.
I was so shocked and all I could do was laugh every time we had stopped to let one more person on, having thought that the bus was already at capacity.
However, that laughter soon turned toward thoughts of what I was sure at the time were certain death, as the bus went around a clover leaf, leaning in the direction that we were seated on. I was soooo sure this bus was gonna tip over and I'm sure I said an alhamdulillah as we made it safely around!
The buses aren't built for that many people, and I know that it is actually common for them to have accidents as the drivers are a little bit crazy here.
Anyways, after 15 or 20 minutes, we finally made it to our destination, Ramses Square.
We were going to look at the sink fixtures, and there was supposed to be a street nearby that was full of just bathroom stores, selling all sorts of items for the bathroom and also tiles, etc.
The first street we went down, the street hubby thought it was, wasn't.
lol
This street..... it was the total cliche for every little back alley street you can think of in a Middle Eastern country. It was just amazing!
It was faintly lit, most of the light coming from the stores, most of the stores small enough so that you could barely walk in 10 feet and turn around to come back out.
They were packed with all manner of things, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.
There were fabrics, food, tailors, knick knacks, food flavoring manufacturers, junk stores, some stores I had no idea what they did, there was just some guy standing or sitting inside looking quite tired and honestly a bit depressed.
There were kids playing around, riding bikes or walking, sometimes women walking down the street, Arabic pop music coming from some stores and the Quran coming from other stores. There were cafes and older men playing backgammon while sitting on chairs in the street. The street, or rather more like alley, was thin and unevenly paved with many holes, and there were puddles of water from where people had possibly washed off their stoops. There were street vendors selling corn on the cob that they were roasting on a cart, and some vendors selling prickly pears (prickly pears are real big right now on the street carts).
It turns out, after going down this street, that it wasn't the street we were looking for. lol
We needed to be one street over.
So we wended our way over to the next street and found the bathroom/kitchen faucet fixtures. At last!
We looked around quite a few stores and I saw one particular faucet in many of the stores, which had a dolphin for the faucet head. Kinda cute but not for me.
Finally found something that I liked, and we got a matching set for the bathroom sink, bathtub and kitchen sink. Phew, done!
Well, we didn't actually buy it then, but hubby got the business card of the man that was helping us, and he went back to buy the set today.
After all of that, we wanted to go to Attaba, which is another area, to look at the Toshiba store and their washing machines. All 2 of them as it turns out. lol
Well, instead of taking a taxi, we ended up taking another mini bus, though this one wasn't as crowded and it didn't have as far to go. I guess it was about a 5 minute ride there.
After departing the bus, we walked for about 5 minutes to reach the general area that we wanted.
And then, the maze.
I swear there must have been an easier way to get to where we wanted, but I think hubby somehow led us this way on purpose. lol
We must have passed every shoe for sale in the whole city of Cairo!
This area is full of what amounts to one of the biggest flea markets you've ever been to or even imagined! Table after table after table.
One pair of tacky cheap shoe upon another!
Brightly colored, plastic, studded, shiny, metallic junk! Most of it I assume coming from China, and that is not a dig.
It took some time but we wended our way through the myriad of tables and got to one street that we started walking down, when we stopped to look at the window of a store that had doorknobs and handles. I dragged hubby inside and was happier than you can imagine that they had air conditioning, and good a/c at that!
It was still really hot out, probably at least 90 still, even with it being dark at that point.
We ended up actually making our first purchase for the apartment there, huzzah!!
The front door needed a new locking mechanism, and so we got the lock and also a new handle. We will get additional handles for the inside doors, and also light switch plates. All matching of course. Kind of a brushed pewter/silver.
After leaving the store, much cooler than when we entered, we were still heading to the Toshiba store to look at washing machines. On our way, still in the maze of shoes and assorted junk, we came upon one store where it seemed there was some celebration going on. It almost sounded like when there is a wedding with the drums and the singing. When we got closer, I saw that it was just one guy with a drum (the kind you hold in one hand and hit with the other hand - kind of like a covered disc) and then some guys singing and dancing. It sounded nice actually, I liked it.
When I asked hubby what it was about, he told me they were advertising a sale for their store, telling the prices and such.
Oh my God I started laughing.
This cracked me up really good. I just loved it. Advertising!
Where else do you find something like this?
So, on we went and finally left the maze and hit the street where we wanted to be. This street, at the beginning, is packed full of stores selling cell phones and other electronics. It is very well lit compared to that first street we went down, and flashy and bright and loud and full of people!
We got past the cell phone section and finally found our store. It was on the second story, so after a short climb we entered into another air conditioned haven. I purposefully stood right under the a/c, just inside the door, for several minutes to cool down.
Well, we found the "full automatic" washing machine, and it was indeed a top loader, but I wasn't satisfied with it. It seemed very similar to the "half automatic" machine to me. The showroom wasn't all that big, and had a few fridges and a few a/c's I think, and that was it. Well, the bottom floor had tv's, but even that area was small.
After leaving the store, feeling slightly irritated that we went all that way and it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I was finally feeling pretty tired and worn out from all the walking, the heat, the noise, the people, etc.
We headed back towards the area where we started from to be able to take a taxi to get back home.
On the way we ended up passing a bunch of lighting stores, and found a bunch of lights that looked really nice, but as it was late at that point, after 10, we made a point to remember where all the stores were, and that we would go back later to pick out our lamps.
We found one of the newer taxis, which was quite nice, and had a comfortable ride back home.
Cairo tower is lovely at night, it is lit up on the outside with what seem to be LED lights, as when we were on our way past earlier, in the other direction, the lights were chasing up the tower and changing color, very prettily at that.
However when we passed on the way home, it was just one solid color that appeared to be kind of pink/violet. So nice, and I imagined what it might be like to have a view of that out of my living room window every night.
I was so exhausted when we got home. So tired. So sweaty!
For sure, it was an adventure. I know I've missed some things here, though not on purpose. I hope I was able to convey at least a little bit of how the few hours were though.
At one point on our drive to Ramses square, I was on the edge of alternating laughs and tears, but I can't explain why. So many times, my life here seems so unreal, like something I have only ever seen in a movie, that never seemed to exist until I actually got here.
There is a brutal honesty to life here.
On the drive home, I wondered if this city would still be around if God wasn't such a big part of everyone's every day life. I somehow doubt it.
It just doesn't seem possible.
Not with so many people.
And not under the conditions here.
Alhamdulillah.
Hard to know where to start, though the beginning usually seems like a decent place.
I know I won't get everything down here about our little adventure, but I hope I can get a lot of it, and that it becomes your little adventure too.
=)
Yesterday we had planned to go shopping for bathroom and kitchen faucet fixtures. We had planned to go in the morning but ended up waiting and going in the evening instead. Hubby had a slight headache and didn't want to go out in the hot sunlight.
7:15 p.m. rolls around and we are ready and leave the house. We walk just a couple of minutes to get to the main street where we plan to take a taxi to the area we want to go to.
Normally, this isn't much of a problem and we are able to hail an empty taxi within a couple of minutes.
It soon became apparent that this wasn't going to be a normal trip, at least not for me!
It took us half an hour, and we finally ended up taking a mini bus (not a vw micro bus, the mini bus is a bit bigger, like a city bus but shorter) because we never did manage to find a taxi. Several taxis pulled over but they all took off when they heard where we wanted to go. One guy wanted 25 pounds to take us, which was ridiculous since it shouldn't have cost more than 5 or 7 pounds. And there was nothing wrong with the area. Not sure why no one wanted to drive there. And the guy that wanted to overcharge us was only doing it because I was white and foreign. The taxi drivers are big on trying to rip you off if you're a foreigner. Not all of them, I won't say that, but many.
So, we had walked some few blocks down the street and found a mini bus that was going where we wanted to go. Luckily for us, it had just emptied and so we had our choice of seats. Hubby had me get in the bus first and I picked the first two seats on the right side of the bus.
The bus waited til it was just about full before taking off. We were headed to Ramses Square.
Now remember, the micro and mini buses here stop while going down the road to pick up additional passengers, and all of the buses have a boy/man who hangs on at the door and shouts out the destination while the bus is heading down the street.
Our bus kept stopping and letting people on, and I kept thinking that there would be no more room and we wouldn't be able to stop any more.
Well, silly me!
This bus got so packed I couldn't believe it.
The seats were fully taken, and the standing room down the middle of the aisle was packed. Not loosely packed, I'm talking fully packed, no room to budge one more person inside the bus.
I was so shocked and all I could do was laugh every time we had stopped to let one more person on, having thought that the bus was already at capacity.
However, that laughter soon turned toward thoughts of what I was sure at the time were certain death, as the bus went around a clover leaf, leaning in the direction that we were seated on. I was soooo sure this bus was gonna tip over and I'm sure I said an alhamdulillah as we made it safely around!
The buses aren't built for that many people, and I know that it is actually common for them to have accidents as the drivers are a little bit crazy here.
Anyways, after 15 or 20 minutes, we finally made it to our destination, Ramses Square.
We were going to look at the sink fixtures, and there was supposed to be a street nearby that was full of just bathroom stores, selling all sorts of items for the bathroom and also tiles, etc.
The first street we went down, the street hubby thought it was, wasn't.
lol
This street..... it was the total cliche for every little back alley street you can think of in a Middle Eastern country. It was just amazing!
It was faintly lit, most of the light coming from the stores, most of the stores small enough so that you could barely walk in 10 feet and turn around to come back out.
They were packed with all manner of things, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.
There were fabrics, food, tailors, knick knacks, food flavoring manufacturers, junk stores, some stores I had no idea what they did, there was just some guy standing or sitting inside looking quite tired and honestly a bit depressed.
There were kids playing around, riding bikes or walking, sometimes women walking down the street, Arabic pop music coming from some stores and the Quran coming from other stores. There were cafes and older men playing backgammon while sitting on chairs in the street. The street, or rather more like alley, was thin and unevenly paved with many holes, and there were puddles of water from where people had possibly washed off their stoops. There were street vendors selling corn on the cob that they were roasting on a cart, and some vendors selling prickly pears (prickly pears are real big right now on the street carts).
It turns out, after going down this street, that it wasn't the street we were looking for. lol
We needed to be one street over.
So we wended our way over to the next street and found the bathroom/kitchen faucet fixtures. At last!
We looked around quite a few stores and I saw one particular faucet in many of the stores, which had a dolphin for the faucet head. Kinda cute but not for me.
Finally found something that I liked, and we got a matching set for the bathroom sink, bathtub and kitchen sink. Phew, done!
Well, we didn't actually buy it then, but hubby got the business card of the man that was helping us, and he went back to buy the set today.
After all of that, we wanted to go to Attaba, which is another area, to look at the Toshiba store and their washing machines. All 2 of them as it turns out. lol
Well, instead of taking a taxi, we ended up taking another mini bus, though this one wasn't as crowded and it didn't have as far to go. I guess it was about a 5 minute ride there.
After departing the bus, we walked for about 5 minutes to reach the general area that we wanted.
And then, the maze.
I swear there must have been an easier way to get to where we wanted, but I think hubby somehow led us this way on purpose. lol
We must have passed every shoe for sale in the whole city of Cairo!
This area is full of what amounts to one of the biggest flea markets you've ever been to or even imagined! Table after table after table.
One pair of tacky cheap shoe upon another!
Brightly colored, plastic, studded, shiny, metallic junk! Most of it I assume coming from China, and that is not a dig.
It took some time but we wended our way through the myriad of tables and got to one street that we started walking down, when we stopped to look at the window of a store that had doorknobs and handles. I dragged hubby inside and was happier than you can imagine that they had air conditioning, and good a/c at that!
It was still really hot out, probably at least 90 still, even with it being dark at that point.
We ended up actually making our first purchase for the apartment there, huzzah!!
The front door needed a new locking mechanism, and so we got the lock and also a new handle. We will get additional handles for the inside doors, and also light switch plates. All matching of course. Kind of a brushed pewter/silver.
After leaving the store, much cooler than when we entered, we were still heading to the Toshiba store to look at washing machines. On our way, still in the maze of shoes and assorted junk, we came upon one store where it seemed there was some celebration going on. It almost sounded like when there is a wedding with the drums and the singing. When we got closer, I saw that it was just one guy with a drum (the kind you hold in one hand and hit with the other hand - kind of like a covered disc) and then some guys singing and dancing. It sounded nice actually, I liked it.
When I asked hubby what it was about, he told me they were advertising a sale for their store, telling the prices and such.
Oh my God I started laughing.
This cracked me up really good. I just loved it. Advertising!
Where else do you find something like this?
So, on we went and finally left the maze and hit the street where we wanted to be. This street, at the beginning, is packed full of stores selling cell phones and other electronics. It is very well lit compared to that first street we went down, and flashy and bright and loud and full of people!
We got past the cell phone section and finally found our store. It was on the second story, so after a short climb we entered into another air conditioned haven. I purposefully stood right under the a/c, just inside the door, for several minutes to cool down.
Well, we found the "full automatic" washing machine, and it was indeed a top loader, but I wasn't satisfied with it. It seemed very similar to the "half automatic" machine to me. The showroom wasn't all that big, and had a few fridges and a few a/c's I think, and that was it. Well, the bottom floor had tv's, but even that area was small.
After leaving the store, feeling slightly irritated that we went all that way and it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I was finally feeling pretty tired and worn out from all the walking, the heat, the noise, the people, etc.
We headed back towards the area where we started from to be able to take a taxi to get back home.
On the way we ended up passing a bunch of lighting stores, and found a bunch of lights that looked really nice, but as it was late at that point, after 10, we made a point to remember where all the stores were, and that we would go back later to pick out our lamps.
We found one of the newer taxis, which was quite nice, and had a comfortable ride back home.
Cairo tower is lovely at night, it is lit up on the outside with what seem to be LED lights, as when we were on our way past earlier, in the other direction, the lights were chasing up the tower and changing color, very prettily at that.
However when we passed on the way home, it was just one solid color that appeared to be kind of pink/violet. So nice, and I imagined what it might be like to have a view of that out of my living room window every night.
I was so exhausted when we got home. So tired. So sweaty!
For sure, it was an adventure. I know I've missed some things here, though not on purpose. I hope I was able to convey at least a little bit of how the few hours were though.
At one point on our drive to Ramses square, I was on the edge of alternating laughs and tears, but I can't explain why. So many times, my life here seems so unreal, like something I have only ever seen in a movie, that never seemed to exist until I actually got here.
There is a brutal honesty to life here.
On the drive home, I wondered if this city would still be around if God wasn't such a big part of everyone's every day life. I somehow doubt it.
It just doesn't seem possible.
Not with so many people.
And not under the conditions here.
Alhamdulillah.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Are we there yet???
Had a quiet day on Saturday, didn't do much. Ended up watching a movie at home. It was an old 80's film that I like so that was nice.
We will go see Harry Potter on Wednesday insha'Allah. It should be at the theater we like by then.
We went out today shopping for appliances and couches.
It was pretty hot today. About 97 or so. The only saving grace to walking from store to store outside, was that most of the stores had decent air conditioning. The one that didn't have a/c, was the one that we had to climb 4 floors to get to. Ouch. I was pretty close to passing out when we reached the 4th floor, as we had been walking in the street in the sun and I was just hot and sweaty and exhausted.
We found a stove that I like and the price is okay.
It is still smaller than the stove sizes we are used to in the States, but bigger than the teensy ones that so many people have here. We found one that was bigger, one of the really wide ones that look all fancy, but the door wasn't hinged nicely and it didn't open so easily and overall I decided on the smaller oven. Insha'Allah the size will be good enough.
We also found a fridge that is alright and big enough, though the color is not quite white. I would have preferred that the appliance colors match, but I think we'll survive. lol
We looked at cabinets for the kitchen, and found some nice ones in a couple of places, but the prices are a little more than we would like. In addition, you have to buy the counter tops separate than the cabinets. I swear they make it as difficult as possible here to furnish an apartment. :D
So, we are still looking around for the kitchen cabinets.
We did look at some washing machines, but I didn't find exactly what I wanted. It seems that to have a "full automatic" washing machine, I need to get a front loader, and I do not want a front loader. I like top loaders. I don't care if I can't see what my wash is doing, I have better things to do than watch my clothes get clean. lol
Also, the washing machines here, while close to the same size on the outside as the ones in the States, are very TINY inside. Like.... what are they doing with all that space inside the darn washer when the bin is only half the size of the ones in the States? I don't get it. Hubby doesn't understand what my problem with this is. He thinks the size is more than enough.
Well, the only machine that I found that was top loading wasn't full automatic. It was half automatic, but with just one compartment. Usually the half automatic machines have one compartment for the wash part, and another small compartment for the spinning. So, the half automatic that I saw was just one compartment (which is nice as you don't have to take the clothes out sopping wet and put them in the second compartment), but it doesn't wash automatically, like you have to manually change when the water will rinse and when it will spin, etc.
It is bigger than the automatic front loaders though.
I'm really torn. If this half automatic was just a full automatic, it would be perfect! Not sure what I will do, it bears thinking on.
I will try to see if there are other places we can look for washing machines.
Although we looked at some couches, we didn't find anything in our budget that screamed at us. Hubby found a leather sofa that he loved, but it was just a little bit too expensive. Plus it was the brown distressed looking leather/suede that I don't like. lol
He needs a man room to buy all the stuff that he likes that I can't stand. :D
So... we still need to buy anything. lol
As soon as we get the a/c's, we can get those installed and then get the painting done.
We have a guy who will be coming to clean out the bathrooms with some special cleaner for the grout that I'm sure I'd have a cow about if I knew what it was. They better wash it down real well after, and even so, I know I will be hosing it all down when I get there to make sure there is no cleaner left anywhere.
We will have him come and do the cleaning after we pick new handles for the sink and tub since he will install those as well.
I still think it will be a couple of weeks (or more) before we are able to move in, though hubby's initial estimate was two weeks from when we signed the contract. One week has already passed and I know we aren't going to be there in another week, though I wish we were. My wonderful husband has a way of being too optimistic when it comes to timelines, and after having been here for a little bit and hearing stories, I am too pessimistic! lol
Hoping to make a mix of lemon bars and apple pie, using the crust from the bars and the filling from the pie.
Hubby is most excited, after tasting the lemon bars, at me having my own kitchen to bake sweets in all the time. hehehe
I will post how it goes after trying the lemon/apple frankenstein.
We will go see Harry Potter on Wednesday insha'Allah. It should be at the theater we like by then.
We went out today shopping for appliances and couches.
It was pretty hot today. About 97 or so. The only saving grace to walking from store to store outside, was that most of the stores had decent air conditioning. The one that didn't have a/c, was the one that we had to climb 4 floors to get to. Ouch. I was pretty close to passing out when we reached the 4th floor, as we had been walking in the street in the sun and I was just hot and sweaty and exhausted.
We found a stove that I like and the price is okay.
It is still smaller than the stove sizes we are used to in the States, but bigger than the teensy ones that so many people have here. We found one that was bigger, one of the really wide ones that look all fancy, but the door wasn't hinged nicely and it didn't open so easily and overall I decided on the smaller oven. Insha'Allah the size will be good enough.
We also found a fridge that is alright and big enough, though the color is not quite white. I would have preferred that the appliance colors match, but I think we'll survive. lol
We looked at cabinets for the kitchen, and found some nice ones in a couple of places, but the prices are a little more than we would like. In addition, you have to buy the counter tops separate than the cabinets. I swear they make it as difficult as possible here to furnish an apartment. :D
So, we are still looking around for the kitchen cabinets.
We did look at some washing machines, but I didn't find exactly what I wanted. It seems that to have a "full automatic" washing machine, I need to get a front loader, and I do not want a front loader. I like top loaders. I don't care if I can't see what my wash is doing, I have better things to do than watch my clothes get clean. lol
Also, the washing machines here, while close to the same size on the outside as the ones in the States, are very TINY inside. Like.... what are they doing with all that space inside the darn washer when the bin is only half the size of the ones in the States? I don't get it. Hubby doesn't understand what my problem with this is. He thinks the size is more than enough.
Well, the only machine that I found that was top loading wasn't full automatic. It was half automatic, but with just one compartment. Usually the half automatic machines have one compartment for the wash part, and another small compartment for the spinning. So, the half automatic that I saw was just one compartment (which is nice as you don't have to take the clothes out sopping wet and put them in the second compartment), but it doesn't wash automatically, like you have to manually change when the water will rinse and when it will spin, etc.
It is bigger than the automatic front loaders though.
I'm really torn. If this half automatic was just a full automatic, it would be perfect! Not sure what I will do, it bears thinking on.
I will try to see if there are other places we can look for washing machines.
Although we looked at some couches, we didn't find anything in our budget that screamed at us. Hubby found a leather sofa that he loved, but it was just a little bit too expensive. Plus it was the brown distressed looking leather/suede that I don't like. lol
He needs a man room to buy all the stuff that he likes that I can't stand. :D
So... we still need to buy anything. lol
As soon as we get the a/c's, we can get those installed and then get the painting done.
We have a guy who will be coming to clean out the bathrooms with some special cleaner for the grout that I'm sure I'd have a cow about if I knew what it was. They better wash it down real well after, and even so, I know I will be hosing it all down when I get there to make sure there is no cleaner left anywhere.
We will have him come and do the cleaning after we pick new handles for the sink and tub since he will install those as well.
I still think it will be a couple of weeks (or more) before we are able to move in, though hubby's initial estimate was two weeks from when we signed the contract. One week has already passed and I know we aren't going to be there in another week, though I wish we were. My wonderful husband has a way of being too optimistic when it comes to timelines, and after having been here for a little bit and hearing stories, I am too pessimistic! lol
Hoping to make a mix of lemon bars and apple pie, using the crust from the bars and the filling from the pie.
Hubby is most excited, after tasting the lemon bars, at me having my own kitchen to bake sweets in all the time. hehehe
I will post how it goes after trying the lemon/apple frankenstein.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Is it time yet?
So, is 40 too young to have the mid-life crisis? lol
I guess so.
We'll see.
After the excitement of finding an apartment, I've settled back into my daily routine, which is quite dull.
I'm really looking forward to moving, and having more to occupy myself with.
Not sure if we're going to the movie or not tonight. The theater we wanted to go to isn't showing Harry Potter so we might go see a movie tomorrow night instead, since it's close to movie starting time for any other theater.
Er... meaning, the movies all start at the same times in most theaters. 6 is one of those times, and it's 4:30 now and hubby isn't home yet.
Hot and humid today. Gross. A/C, where are you???!!!!
Here's the lemon squares. I'm so glad they were so well received by the family.
Also, they taste even better when chilled on a hot day. :D
My hubby's grandma lives here at the in-laws, and she is mostly blind and so kind of sits and listens to the radio all day.
This morning while I was eating breakfast, I could swear I heard bagpipes playing on her radio, and I got so excited as I love the sound of them.
I was thinking to myself, wow, I wonder how many Egyptians even know what bagpipes sound like? lol
Well, a couple minutes later I heard something that sounded very similar to bagpipes, and then wasn't sure about what I heard before.
Was it bagpipes or not?
Hmmm....
I hope so. There's something so lovely about that sound, and I think everyone should hear them. At least once.
What I wouldn't give to see a bagpiper walking down the street here and making enough noise for everyone to hear. That would be a sight I tell you!
All in all, it's just another day right?
I guess so.
We'll see.
After the excitement of finding an apartment, I've settled back into my daily routine, which is quite dull.
I'm really looking forward to moving, and having more to occupy myself with.
Not sure if we're going to the movie or not tonight. The theater we wanted to go to isn't showing Harry Potter so we might go see a movie tomorrow night instead, since it's close to movie starting time for any other theater.
Er... meaning, the movies all start at the same times in most theaters. 6 is one of those times, and it's 4:30 now and hubby isn't home yet.
Hot and humid today. Gross. A/C, where are you???!!!!
Here's the lemon squares. I'm so glad they were so well received by the family.
Also, they taste even better when chilled on a hot day. :D
My hubby's grandma lives here at the in-laws, and she is mostly blind and so kind of sits and listens to the radio all day.
This morning while I was eating breakfast, I could swear I heard bagpipes playing on her radio, and I got so excited as I love the sound of them.
I was thinking to myself, wow, I wonder how many Egyptians even know what bagpipes sound like? lol
Well, a couple minutes later I heard something that sounded very similar to bagpipes, and then wasn't sure about what I heard before.
Was it bagpipes or not?
Hmmm....
I hope so. There's something so lovely about that sound, and I think everyone should hear them. At least once.
What I wouldn't give to see a bagpiper walking down the street here and making enough noise for everyone to hear. That would be a sight I tell you!
All in all, it's just another day right?
Friday, July 17, 2009
.... and they were good!
I decided last night that I wanted to make lemon squares today, and so I told my sister in law and she told my mother in law. We agreed on 10 a.m. as a good time, before my MIL started on making today's meal.
We were one short an egg so my MIL had sent out to get some eggs delivered before I even got up this morning. They came around 10:45, so as is normal here in Egypt, we did not start on time. lol
My MIL got everything out for me and I mixed things up on the dining room table. My SIL helped me out. She's a good lemon squeezer. :D
I ended up using a 12 1/2 inch round pan instead of a 13 x 9 inch pan, since that's what my MIL had. Round seems to be a common shape here for baking as opposed to rectangular or square. Not sure why.
I was a little worried that with the shape/size difference, I might end up cooking them too long or they wouldn't be quite the same as usual, ending up thinner or thicker.
However, the worries were in vain.
They were out of the oven by 12:40 or so, and cooling in the dining room until after lunch, when we finally tried them.
Quite lemony and very sugary and overall I would say they turned out great.
Tart and sweet.
I can't eat too much of them, I think it's the sugar, it makes me feel a bit tight or something. lol
But hubby managed to have 3 pieces. I don't know why I should be surprised about that. hehe
However I won't complain that he likes my baking.
Not sure if we are going out tonight but I guess not. I had thought we were going to go look at some electronics stuff for the new apartment, but hubby just left for a meeting with his business partner and won't be back til maybe 9:30 or so.
Tomorrow.... possibly Harry Potter and dinner out. We shall see.
*edit - I did take some pictures of the lemon squares before cutting them up. Will try to post a picture tomorrow insha'Allah.
We were one short an egg so my MIL had sent out to get some eggs delivered before I even got up this morning. They came around 10:45, so as is normal here in Egypt, we did not start on time. lol
My MIL got everything out for me and I mixed things up on the dining room table. My SIL helped me out. She's a good lemon squeezer. :D
I ended up using a 12 1/2 inch round pan instead of a 13 x 9 inch pan, since that's what my MIL had. Round seems to be a common shape here for baking as opposed to rectangular or square. Not sure why.
I was a little worried that with the shape/size difference, I might end up cooking them too long or they wouldn't be quite the same as usual, ending up thinner or thicker.
However, the worries were in vain.
They were out of the oven by 12:40 or so, and cooling in the dining room until after lunch, when we finally tried them.
Quite lemony and very sugary and overall I would say they turned out great.
Tart and sweet.
I can't eat too much of them, I think it's the sugar, it makes me feel a bit tight or something. lol
But hubby managed to have 3 pieces. I don't know why I should be surprised about that. hehe
However I won't complain that he likes my baking.
Not sure if we are going out tonight but I guess not. I had thought we were going to go look at some electronics stuff for the new apartment, but hubby just left for a meeting with his business partner and won't be back til maybe 9:30 or so.
Tomorrow.... possibly Harry Potter and dinner out. We shall see.
*edit - I did take some pictures of the lemon squares before cutting them up. Will try to post a picture tomorrow insha'Allah.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Salmon anyone?
Well, although I didn't get the pictures done last night, I made myself do them this morning. lol
I don't know what it is that makes me so lazy here. I'll call it a lack of decent oxygen and leave it at that. :D
Hubby is going over to the apartment today with an electrician to make sure that the place can handle all of our electric needs. And if it can't, then he'll have the guy fix up whatever needs fixing.
We're still discussing different design ideas. I think we need a mansion for all the things we'd like to implement. lol
Our personal living room, which will be in the 2nd bedroom, will have wall to wall carpet put in. I think this is the only room that we'll be doing that in. It frees us up to buy whatever furniture we wish and then match the carpet/walls to the furniture. You'll understand when you see the floors in the place why this would be a challenge without putting down carpet.
I'd like to find some nice tapestries for our bedroom walls, though there is no definite plan in the bedroom yet. We'd like to get a custom built closet insert type of thing, that we can put on the wall. I mean, there's no closet in the room, but we don't really want to buy a huge wardrobe for everything and the closet inserts that you design yourself would be nice. Hubby has a friend who makes them and he will give the guy a call and see what we can do.
The bathroom, in my opinion, really just needs to be razed. lol
However, in the interest of expenses, time and sanity, we will just be replacing some items. The toilet I believe, and not sure about the sink. The tub should be replaced but I'm not sure if that's in our budget just yet. All of the fixtures will definitely be replaced, and we will need to get some good lighting in there.
Whoever lived here previously, and maybe whoever lived there before them, etc, did not seem keen on cleaning the grout in the tiles, and since the whole house is tiled, well... you know... ugh.
Although hubby had someone come in and clean the place the other day, and it looks much better, I am looking forward to scrubbing the grout in both the bathroom and kitchen. It seems that people don't do that here. They just wash the floor with water/disinfectant. I really don't understand it, but oh well.
The kitchen is completely tiled, except for the ceiling. To tell you the truth, it gives me the creeps a little bit. It's like a morgue or a hospital or something. lol
I don't understand the concept of tiling the walls all the way up to the ceiling, particularly when the ceilings are so high. You would need a ladder to clean up there, whereas with paint, you can just use a broom or something and brush any dust/cobwebs.
Anyways, hubby says the kitchen won't be so bad once we get cabinets in but I am reserving the right to disagree. lol
I wish the balcony were a little bit bigger. It's a nice place for the two of us to sit but if we have two chairs out there, there won't really be any room for plants. I thought about hanging plants over the side of the balcony railing, but the people below us and above us hang their laundry out to dry on their railings, and I don't want dirty water dripping from out plants onto someone's clean clothing.
Not sure what we'll do.
The floor looks really nice now that it's been cleaned up. I'm not sure how easy it will be to keep clean. We shall see.
I hope that didn't sound too horrible. Like I'm complaining about everything. The apartment is great, but we just need to fix some things and make it "ready". I do like the space and insha'Allah we'll be comfortable there.
So, after all that blabbing, how about some pictures? :D
I have 11 to post, though I took many more. I just didn't want to overload anyone who has dial-up. As always you can click on the picture if you want a bigger view.
The first two pictures are of the kitchen. They are taken from opposite corners. The piece of tile slab that has been caulked to the kitchen sink will be coming out faster than you can say, "cheap shabby half arsed way to have a counter". lol
The window is nice and should be a good way to air out the kitchen if needed. I don't think it gets too much sun directly down that shaft so it should be cool enough.
second view of kitchen
Next we have the view down the hall while standing in the kitchen entryway.
The first doorway on the right is the bathroom, the second doorway on the right is the bedroom, and the door straight down is the living room. Off to the left is the divided reception area (it's in two areas).
Next we have a view of the bathroom. You're lucky that the light isn't working in there. Seriously. Though I do like the pattern on the floor, it's kind of cute.
On to the bedroom. You can see the tiny balcony at the back, big enough for a couple of people to stand in and not do anything else. lol
Then we have a view from the bedroom door looking at the reception areas. To the left is where the front door is, kind of across from where the balcony is.
Here is a view looking from the corner of the reception back towards the bedroom door. Kind of the opposite view from the picture before. The balcony will be on the left and the front door towards the right.
Here is my sweety pie sitting on the balcony. This was taken from the front door area. The two reception areas are quite large actually, it's a nice space. We have several ideas for what we'll do.
Here is a view from just inside the apartment looking out of the balcony. If you look at the floor, you can see how deep the balcony is.
This was taken at the edge of the balcony just to show a closer view of the neighborhood/street view. This is from 4 stories up.
And last is a picture of our ugly front door. lol
I'm glad this is on the outside and not the inside. However, we are planning to paint it or put a thin veneer on it. I was wondering how it would look to match the door to the inside floor tiles. Background a dark gray with the squares painted a salmon color. But, that might be a bit much. :D We shall see. Something needs to be done with it, no matter what. You can't tell that good, but the squares and frame have these little tan flecks painted in and it's just really ugly.
We are getting prices on a/c's and will hopefully be looking at couches and washing machines and other things soon. We decided that the bed will be 180 cm's by 2 meters. I think that's what it is. I'm not too familiar with that form of measurement. I mention it because you can order the bed size here by the size you want, not just the standard single, double, queen, etc. It's nice I guess, except if you order a size that isn't so normal, how do you get sheets that fit? lol
Next time I'm there I'll try to take some short videos since the longer one we took isn't uploading to youtube right. Plus, it was a pretty large file.
Hubby really thinks we'll be able to move in within a week or two. I am not holding my breath. I will be happy if we manage to get in before Ramadan starts. :D
I don't know what it is that makes me so lazy here. I'll call it a lack of decent oxygen and leave it at that. :D
Hubby is going over to the apartment today with an electrician to make sure that the place can handle all of our electric needs. And if it can't, then he'll have the guy fix up whatever needs fixing.
We're still discussing different design ideas. I think we need a mansion for all the things we'd like to implement. lol
Our personal living room, which will be in the 2nd bedroom, will have wall to wall carpet put in. I think this is the only room that we'll be doing that in. It frees us up to buy whatever furniture we wish and then match the carpet/walls to the furniture. You'll understand when you see the floors in the place why this would be a challenge without putting down carpet.
I'd like to find some nice tapestries for our bedroom walls, though there is no definite plan in the bedroom yet. We'd like to get a custom built closet insert type of thing, that we can put on the wall. I mean, there's no closet in the room, but we don't really want to buy a huge wardrobe for everything and the closet inserts that you design yourself would be nice. Hubby has a friend who makes them and he will give the guy a call and see what we can do.
The bathroom, in my opinion, really just needs to be razed. lol
However, in the interest of expenses, time and sanity, we will just be replacing some items. The toilet I believe, and not sure about the sink. The tub should be replaced but I'm not sure if that's in our budget just yet. All of the fixtures will definitely be replaced, and we will need to get some good lighting in there.
Whoever lived here previously, and maybe whoever lived there before them, etc, did not seem keen on cleaning the grout in the tiles, and since the whole house is tiled, well... you know... ugh.
Although hubby had someone come in and clean the place the other day, and it looks much better, I am looking forward to scrubbing the grout in both the bathroom and kitchen. It seems that people don't do that here. They just wash the floor with water/disinfectant. I really don't understand it, but oh well.
The kitchen is completely tiled, except for the ceiling. To tell you the truth, it gives me the creeps a little bit. It's like a morgue or a hospital or something. lol
I don't understand the concept of tiling the walls all the way up to the ceiling, particularly when the ceilings are so high. You would need a ladder to clean up there, whereas with paint, you can just use a broom or something and brush any dust/cobwebs.
Anyways, hubby says the kitchen won't be so bad once we get cabinets in but I am reserving the right to disagree. lol
I wish the balcony were a little bit bigger. It's a nice place for the two of us to sit but if we have two chairs out there, there won't really be any room for plants. I thought about hanging plants over the side of the balcony railing, but the people below us and above us hang their laundry out to dry on their railings, and I don't want dirty water dripping from out plants onto someone's clean clothing.
Not sure what we'll do.
The floor looks really nice now that it's been cleaned up. I'm not sure how easy it will be to keep clean. We shall see.
I hope that didn't sound too horrible. Like I'm complaining about everything. The apartment is great, but we just need to fix some things and make it "ready". I do like the space and insha'Allah we'll be comfortable there.
So, after all that blabbing, how about some pictures? :D
I have 11 to post, though I took many more. I just didn't want to overload anyone who has dial-up. As always you can click on the picture if you want a bigger view.
The first two pictures are of the kitchen. They are taken from opposite corners. The piece of tile slab that has been caulked to the kitchen sink will be coming out faster than you can say, "cheap shabby half arsed way to have a counter". lol
The window is nice and should be a good way to air out the kitchen if needed. I don't think it gets too much sun directly down that shaft so it should be cool enough.
second view of kitchen
Next we have the view down the hall while standing in the kitchen entryway.
The first doorway on the right is the bathroom, the second doorway on the right is the bedroom, and the door straight down is the living room. Off to the left is the divided reception area (it's in two areas).
Next we have a view of the bathroom. You're lucky that the light isn't working in there. Seriously. Though I do like the pattern on the floor, it's kind of cute.
On to the bedroom. You can see the tiny balcony at the back, big enough for a couple of people to stand in and not do anything else. lol
Then we have a view from the bedroom door looking at the reception areas. To the left is where the front door is, kind of across from where the balcony is.
Here is a view looking from the corner of the reception back towards the bedroom door. Kind of the opposite view from the picture before. The balcony will be on the left and the front door towards the right.
Here is my sweety pie sitting on the balcony. This was taken from the front door area. The two reception areas are quite large actually, it's a nice space. We have several ideas for what we'll do.
Here is a view from just inside the apartment looking out of the balcony. If you look at the floor, you can see how deep the balcony is.
This was taken at the edge of the balcony just to show a closer view of the neighborhood/street view. This is from 4 stories up.
And last is a picture of our ugly front door. lol
I'm glad this is on the outside and not the inside. However, we are planning to paint it or put a thin veneer on it. I was wondering how it would look to match the door to the inside floor tiles. Background a dark gray with the squares painted a salmon color. But, that might be a bit much. :D We shall see. Something needs to be done with it, no matter what. You can't tell that good, but the squares and frame have these little tan flecks painted in and it's just really ugly.
We are getting prices on a/c's and will hopefully be looking at couches and washing machines and other things soon. We decided that the bed will be 180 cm's by 2 meters. I think that's what it is. I'm not too familiar with that form of measurement. I mention it because you can order the bed size here by the size you want, not just the standard single, double, queen, etc. It's nice I guess, except if you order a size that isn't so normal, how do you get sheets that fit? lol
Next time I'm there I'll try to take some short videos since the longer one we took isn't uploading to youtube right. Plus, it was a pretty large file.
Hubby really thinks we'll be able to move in within a week or two. I am not holding my breath. I will be happy if we manage to get in before Ramadan starts. :D
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The lemons have landed
I am now in possession of a small sack full of lemons. Alhamdulillah!
Is this the best week ever or what? First we get an apartment and then I get lemons!!
lol
I'm teasing, but I am still very excited.
Hubby's friend brought them over from Kuwait.
I'm not sure where they were grown at, I don't recognize the name on the little stickers. And they are on the small side, however they look good enough.
I'll be sticking them in the fridge to try to keep them a little longer. Not sure if they're freezable or not.
And since we didn't manage to get any lemon seeds, I'll be trying to grow a tree from one of the seeds of the lemons that I got. Provided I like the flavor okay.
I see lemon bars in the very near future!! Yum!
I tried to upload the videos that I took at the new apartment yesterday but they wouldn't upload, there is some problem with them, although I can view them fine.
So, you are stuck with pictures, which I still haven't gotten ready yet. I'll try to do it today but ... well.... lol.
My MIL made my favorite chicken today. It's got red and orange bell peppers and white onions and maybe just some salt and pepper. But the bell peppers and onion make it so sweet, it's really lovely. I'm going to have to watch her make it sometime so that I can make it myself. And I hope we eat soon since I'm really hungry!
If I get the pictures done today, I'll come back and post them.
Or maybe I'll just get them done today for posting tomorrow.
It's only 91 degrees today, not too bad. Yesterday was even a couple of degrees cooler I think. Almost a cold spell! lol
However my heat rash started acting up the other day when we checked out that first apartment and it was too hot and I had to wear long sleeves.
I hope it will go away soon. It was actually starting to get a bit better.
Though it's acting up on my legs.
I am one itching mama!
Harry Potter out today. Still not sure when we'll see it.
3 days til I turn 40.
Holy smokes!!
Is this the best week ever or what? First we get an apartment and then I get lemons!!
lol
I'm teasing, but I am still very excited.
Hubby's friend brought them over from Kuwait.
I'm not sure where they were grown at, I don't recognize the name on the little stickers. And they are on the small side, however they look good enough.
I'll be sticking them in the fridge to try to keep them a little longer. Not sure if they're freezable or not.
And since we didn't manage to get any lemon seeds, I'll be trying to grow a tree from one of the seeds of the lemons that I got. Provided I like the flavor okay.
I see lemon bars in the very near future!! Yum!
I tried to upload the videos that I took at the new apartment yesterday but they wouldn't upload, there is some problem with them, although I can view them fine.
So, you are stuck with pictures, which I still haven't gotten ready yet. I'll try to do it today but ... well.... lol.
My MIL made my favorite chicken today. It's got red and orange bell peppers and white onions and maybe just some salt and pepper. But the bell peppers and onion make it so sweet, it's really lovely. I'm going to have to watch her make it sometime so that I can make it myself. And I hope we eat soon since I'm really hungry!
If I get the pictures done today, I'll come back and post them.
Or maybe I'll just get them done today for posting tomorrow.
It's only 91 degrees today, not too bad. Yesterday was even a couple of degrees cooler I think. Almost a cold spell! lol
However my heat rash started acting up the other day when we checked out that first apartment and it was too hot and I had to wear long sleeves.
I hope it will go away soon. It was actually starting to get a bit better.
Though it's acting up on my legs.
I am one itching mama!
Harry Potter out today. Still not sure when we'll see it.
3 days til I turn 40.
Holy smokes!!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Cleaning
Going over to the new place shortly. Hubby has been there for a few hours, supervising some guys that are cleaning.
When I get there, we'll have a sit and discuss in more detail the plans.
Bringing the camera with me so I'll be able to take some pictures/video.
Will update here after I'm back tonight insha'Allah.
=)
Oh, temps got down just below 80 during the night last night. I was so happy!! lol
**edit - well I lagged and was lazy tonight and did not get the pictures ready, though they are on my computer. Will attempt to post some tomorrow, and maybe the video, though it's rather longish.
Lots of plans floating through our brains about the new place. Hard to settle down when we have so much on our minds.
When I get there, we'll have a sit and discuss in more detail the plans.
Bringing the camera with me so I'll be able to take some pictures/video.
Will update here after I'm back tonight insha'Allah.
=)
Oh, temps got down just below 80 during the night last night. I was so happy!! lol
**edit - well I lagged and was lazy tonight and did not get the pictures ready, though they are on my computer. Will attempt to post some tomorrow, and maybe the video, though it's rather longish.
Lots of plans floating through our brains about the new place. Hard to settle down when we have so much on our minds.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Paradise found
Well, hip hip hooray, we found an apartment! Alhamdulillah! :D
We got to the place around 1 p.m. and went up to the 4th floor on the elevator (thank goodness for elevators, even if they do have a funky smell, lol).
Almost from the moment of walking into the place, I knew that I liked it and that it was okay. Funny how that works. Everything about the place we saw last night looked and felt wrong to me, even the neighborhood itself. And today was like the exact opposite.
The floors are tile/marble (can't remember which) and are kind of dusky rose and dark gray/black. It almost looks kind of art deco? The kitchen is tiled in white but not pure white, there is some slight pattern on the tiles I think. And nothing but a sink there. And not supported by anything underneath. lol
When you move into an apartment here, you have to bring all your cupboards and cabinets, and also you generally have to bring your own a/c to install.
Quite different than in the States, at least from what I know.
There are two bedrooms, not huge but both adequate in size. We will use one of them for our personal living room, and then the regular living room, which is quite large, will just be for company and a dining room I guess.
The bathroom was rather pink if I remember correctly. The light wasn't working in there so it was hard to see too well. We will be replacing the toilet.
All the floors were the same except for in the kitchen and... not sure about the bathroom.
There is a tiny balcony space off the main bedroom, big enough for one person to stand on, or two small people. lol
There is a bigger balcony but still not big enough to do much with. It will be full of plants when I get time.
And there is plenty of sunlight, which is wonderful. Yet we can also block it out well, so that's good too.
I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy being excited and happy and looking around.
Hubby has left to go put down the first months rent and pick up the key, and we will go back tomorrow morning insha'Allah to take a better look and make some notes about what needs to be done before moving in.
I'll try to take some pictures then.
Don't be shocked though, the floors are a haze of dust and it needs to be cleaned in general.
Still, very exciting, very happy.
Air conditioning at last!!! Woohoo! lol
I'm guessing it will be a couple of weeks until we can actually move in.
We need to buy all appliances (including fridge, stove, washing machine, etc) and get it cleaned an all that.
On the drive there we saw a few different scooters/motorcycles on the road. I don't know if there is a helmet law here, and if there is, I don't think it's enforced. Sometimes I see people wearing helmets and sometimes not. But what's funny is that I see people wearing hard hats, like for construction, as a helmet. It just makes me smile because all I can think when I see them is construction workers, but they are obviously not construction workers.
Today I saw a couple, married I presume, on a motorcycle. The man in front had a longish beard, and the woman was fully covered, including niqab (which covers all the face except for the eyes). She was sitting behind him, side saddle.
It's somehow so incongruous to see this that whenever I see it I giggle a little bit, though very quietly. lol
I'll try to get a picture sometime and post it.
That is all for the day from the land of heat and dust!
We got to the place around 1 p.m. and went up to the 4th floor on the elevator (thank goodness for elevators, even if they do have a funky smell, lol).
Almost from the moment of walking into the place, I knew that I liked it and that it was okay. Funny how that works. Everything about the place we saw last night looked and felt wrong to me, even the neighborhood itself. And today was like the exact opposite.
The floors are tile/marble (can't remember which) and are kind of dusky rose and dark gray/black. It almost looks kind of art deco? The kitchen is tiled in white but not pure white, there is some slight pattern on the tiles I think. And nothing but a sink there. And not supported by anything underneath. lol
When you move into an apartment here, you have to bring all your cupboards and cabinets, and also you generally have to bring your own a/c to install.
Quite different than in the States, at least from what I know.
There are two bedrooms, not huge but both adequate in size. We will use one of them for our personal living room, and then the regular living room, which is quite large, will just be for company and a dining room I guess.
The bathroom was rather pink if I remember correctly. The light wasn't working in there so it was hard to see too well. We will be replacing the toilet.
All the floors were the same except for in the kitchen and... not sure about the bathroom.
There is a tiny balcony space off the main bedroom, big enough for one person to stand on, or two small people. lol
There is a bigger balcony but still not big enough to do much with. It will be full of plants when I get time.
And there is plenty of sunlight, which is wonderful. Yet we can also block it out well, so that's good too.
I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy being excited and happy and looking around.
Hubby has left to go put down the first months rent and pick up the key, and we will go back tomorrow morning insha'Allah to take a better look and make some notes about what needs to be done before moving in.
I'll try to take some pictures then.
Don't be shocked though, the floors are a haze of dust and it needs to be cleaned in general.
Still, very exciting, very happy.
Air conditioning at last!!! Woohoo! lol
I'm guessing it will be a couple of weeks until we can actually move in.
We need to buy all appliances (including fridge, stove, washing machine, etc) and get it cleaned an all that.
On the drive there we saw a few different scooters/motorcycles on the road. I don't know if there is a helmet law here, and if there is, I don't think it's enforced. Sometimes I see people wearing helmets and sometimes not. But what's funny is that I see people wearing hard hats, like for construction, as a helmet. It just makes me smile because all I can think when I see them is construction workers, but they are obviously not construction workers.
Today I saw a couple, married I presume, on a motorcycle. The man in front had a longish beard, and the woman was fully covered, including niqab (which covers all the face except for the eyes). She was sitting behind him, side saddle.
It's somehow so incongruous to see this that whenever I see it I giggle a little bit, though very quietly. lol
I'll try to get a picture sometime and post it.
That is all for the day from the land of heat and dust!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Possibilities
We didn't make it to the movie yesterday evening. Hubby was a little later coming home from looking at apartments, which is totally fine by me! lol
He found a few and we will need to go look at them together so that I can have a look and see which I like. He was thinking maybe today, but I think it will be tomorrow.
In other news, it's hot.
lol
Yeah, I know that's not news.
One week til I turn 40! Woohoo!
Honestly though? 40 sounds old. I mean, I can't pretend any longer that I'm so youthful. Well, I don't know if I was ever pretending. lol
And I'm not saying I'm old.
And please don't tell me age is just a number, I already know that. You're only as old as you feel, etc., etc., etc.
But still.....
40!
And in Egypt no less.
Who would have ever thought.
Not me, that's for sure.
=)
He found a few and we will need to go look at them together so that I can have a look and see which I like. He was thinking maybe today, but I think it will be tomorrow.
In other news, it's hot.
lol
Yeah, I know that's not news.
One week til I turn 40! Woohoo!
Honestly though? 40 sounds old. I mean, I can't pretend any longer that I'm so youthful. Well, I don't know if I was ever pretending. lol
And I'm not saying I'm old.
And please don't tell me age is just a number, I already know that. You're only as old as you feel, etc., etc., etc.
But still.....
40!
And in Egypt no less.
Who would have ever thought.
Not me, that's for sure.
=)
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wednesday (on Friday)
Well, it was 5 kids not 4.
And my father in law let everyone in the house while I was still in my pajamas on the couch.
The guests showed up a couple of hours earlier than they were expected and so I wasn't ready and I was pretty mortified to be caught looking rather unkempt by family members that I had never met before.
I'm not sure why my FIL opened the door for everyone without warning.
I went back into the bedroom and kind of hid out for a while and tried not to be too upset.
When I came back out, minus tears, I was feeling some better but just wish the day could have started in a better way.
I have to say, I've never cared much for other people's children, mainly because I find them to be very ill behaved. I'm not sure why parents don't teach their children any manners. If it's because they're lazy or they don't care or they think it's cute that their children terrorize everyone around them.
I made some small conversation with the young girl, who is 12 I believe. She doesn't know much English and I don't know much Arabic, so we couldn't talk too much, but we are now friends on Facebook.
The rest of the boys, who were all younger except one of them who went to sleep or something in one of the bedrooms, did not speak English, so there was no conversation there, only me watching them and listening to conversations in Arabic.
It is now 2:49 and I guess they have been here for about 3 hours or so. I'm taking a break back in the bedroom with the door closed and actually writing this in a text file to save for tomorrow's (Wednesdays) post.
My SIL should be home sometime around 3, and hubby should be home around 4.
I'm tired and worn out and although my MIL is making a lot of good food in the kitchen, where she has been since very early this morning, I'm not sure how I'm feeling about lunch.
I feel bad for my MIL. It's very hot in the kitchen and she's been busy frying up a storm and the oven is on as well and she got less than 2 hours sleep.
I'd offer to help but she doesn't take help in the kitchen so I don't know what else I can do.
Anyways, I guess I better get back out there soon or it will be seen as rude.
Alright, it's Friday now.
My MIL made so much food there are still a little bit of leftovers. She made the rice stuffed in sausage casings and then fried, the rice with garlic and fried bread, 3 small chickens, breaded and fried thin steaks, some kind of cubed/stewed steak, soup, some kind of rice that is more plain, cow knees in tomato sauce and a noodle casserole that had ground beef/tomato suace in the middle.
My favorite is the garlic rice. I love garlic.
The littlest boy that was here, aged 3, has very strong lungs. I'll leave it at that.
Finished reading the Harry Potter series and am rather sad now that it's done. I read them in just under 3 weeks! And now I'm searching for some other items to read. Just trying to decide. I spent so much time reading in the past few weeks that without something to read now I feel something's missing.
Not sure when we will see the movie. It comes out on Wednesday but I don't think we'll go til Friday. At least, I hope we'll go.
Hubby wants to go see the Transformers movie this evening at 7.
He is supposed to be out looking for apartments at the moment.
He told me before leaving for prayers (at about 1 p.m.) that his cousin and her daughter were coming over at 6 and so lunch would be late today (after they got here).
I can't eat lunch after 6 and then make a movie at 7, so I am not sure what I'll do. I just had some little munchies and so maybe that will just have to last.
Still haven't managed to bake anything. At this point I've rather given up on the idea until we move out. Sometimes it's like trying to move mountains here to get things done.
Trying to chill out and relax at the inlaws but having a hard time. The sooner we move out, the better for my sanity. Nothing wrong with my inlaws of course. We've just been here for 2 months now and that's 2 months longer than I thought we would be and you know even though they are nice people, I married my hubby to live with him, not his whole family. lol
If we are still here at Ramadan, I'm pretty sure I will snap.
I'm looking forward to planting the seeds my mom sent me, whenever me get our place. Of course, that's a bit of a task as we need to get pots and dirt. It could take some time.
But, I'm excited about growing some stuff.
Hubby has a friend coming from Kuwait in a few days and I'm still hopeful he'll be able to get me some seeds for lemon/tangerine type trees. Dwarf trees. Can't be growing a 20 foot tall tree in a pot on a balcony. lol
But, I have seeds for lavender, rosemary, catnip and several kinds of marigold.
Should be a riot of smells.
I'm not sure about the right time to plant stuff here but I guess I'll figure it out.
Haven't taken the camera out at all lately. Mom hasn't made much of any type of new foods, and I don't really get out of the house much.
Even if we go out tonight, it will be dark by the time we get out of the movie, so no pictures.
And my father in law let everyone in the house while I was still in my pajamas on the couch.
The guests showed up a couple of hours earlier than they were expected and so I wasn't ready and I was pretty mortified to be caught looking rather unkempt by family members that I had never met before.
I'm not sure why my FIL opened the door for everyone without warning.
I went back into the bedroom and kind of hid out for a while and tried not to be too upset.
When I came back out, minus tears, I was feeling some better but just wish the day could have started in a better way.
I have to say, I've never cared much for other people's children, mainly because I find them to be very ill behaved. I'm not sure why parents don't teach their children any manners. If it's because they're lazy or they don't care or they think it's cute that their children terrorize everyone around them.
I made some small conversation with the young girl, who is 12 I believe. She doesn't know much English and I don't know much Arabic, so we couldn't talk too much, but we are now friends on Facebook.
The rest of the boys, who were all younger except one of them who went to sleep or something in one of the bedrooms, did not speak English, so there was no conversation there, only me watching them and listening to conversations in Arabic.
It is now 2:49 and I guess they have been here for about 3 hours or so. I'm taking a break back in the bedroom with the door closed and actually writing this in a text file to save for tomorrow's (Wednesdays) post.
My SIL should be home sometime around 3, and hubby should be home around 4.
I'm tired and worn out and although my MIL is making a lot of good food in the kitchen, where she has been since very early this morning, I'm not sure how I'm feeling about lunch.
I feel bad for my MIL. It's very hot in the kitchen and she's been busy frying up a storm and the oven is on as well and she got less than 2 hours sleep.
I'd offer to help but she doesn't take help in the kitchen so I don't know what else I can do.
Anyways, I guess I better get back out there soon or it will be seen as rude.
Alright, it's Friday now.
My MIL made so much food there are still a little bit of leftovers. She made the rice stuffed in sausage casings and then fried, the rice with garlic and fried bread, 3 small chickens, breaded and fried thin steaks, some kind of cubed/stewed steak, soup, some kind of rice that is more plain, cow knees in tomato sauce and a noodle casserole that had ground beef/tomato suace in the middle.
My favorite is the garlic rice. I love garlic.
The littlest boy that was here, aged 3, has very strong lungs. I'll leave it at that.
Finished reading the Harry Potter series and am rather sad now that it's done. I read them in just under 3 weeks! And now I'm searching for some other items to read. Just trying to decide. I spent so much time reading in the past few weeks that without something to read now I feel something's missing.
Not sure when we will see the movie. It comes out on Wednesday but I don't think we'll go til Friday. At least, I hope we'll go.
Hubby wants to go see the Transformers movie this evening at 7.
He is supposed to be out looking for apartments at the moment.
He told me before leaving for prayers (at about 1 p.m.) that his cousin and her daughter were coming over at 6 and so lunch would be late today (after they got here).
I can't eat lunch after 6 and then make a movie at 7, so I am not sure what I'll do. I just had some little munchies and so maybe that will just have to last.
Still haven't managed to bake anything. At this point I've rather given up on the idea until we move out. Sometimes it's like trying to move mountains here to get things done.
Trying to chill out and relax at the inlaws but having a hard time. The sooner we move out, the better for my sanity. Nothing wrong with my inlaws of course. We've just been here for 2 months now and that's 2 months longer than I thought we would be and you know even though they are nice people, I married my hubby to live with him, not his whole family. lol
If we are still here at Ramadan, I'm pretty sure I will snap.
I'm looking forward to planting the seeds my mom sent me, whenever me get our place. Of course, that's a bit of a task as we need to get pots and dirt. It could take some time.
But, I'm excited about growing some stuff.
Hubby has a friend coming from Kuwait in a few days and I'm still hopeful he'll be able to get me some seeds for lemon/tangerine type trees. Dwarf trees. Can't be growing a 20 foot tall tree in a pot on a balcony. lol
But, I have seeds for lavender, rosemary, catnip and several kinds of marigold.
Should be a riot of smells.
I'm not sure about the right time to plant stuff here but I guess I'll figure it out.
Haven't taken the camera out at all lately. Mom hasn't made much of any type of new foods, and I don't really get out of the house much.
Even if we go out tonight, it will be dark by the time we get out of the movie, so no pictures.
I meant to...
I meant to post today but never quite got to it.
It's now 12:01 a.m., so technically it's tomorrow. lol
Anyways, I have a post half written out and I will finish and post it later on, after a night of sleep.
It's now 12:01 a.m., so technically it's tomorrow. lol
Anyways, I have a post half written out and I will finish and post it later on, after a night of sleep.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The visitors
Hubby looked at an apartment last night. The price was good but it is small and needs some work. Hubby said not to worry it is only the first place he saw and he will still look at other places.
But I am encouraged that he has at least gone and looked at a place.
I love talking about decorating with him. lol
We don't always agree on things, which is okay, and I guess there will be some compromise about certain items. Not sure yet but I am guessing so anyways.
I wish we had an unlimited decorating budget. But we shall be fine with what we have.
My father in law's sister and two of her grown kids and one of their husbands and four kids will be visiting today.
The oldest child is 12, a girl, and the rest are younger and boys I think.
I'm uh... just oh so excited.
lol
Well, it will be very crowded and I don't know if they speak any English and I will have to wear hijab in the house because of one of the husbands coming and it will be hot and I will have to sit and listen to conversations in Arabic.
And, I don't think hubby will be home from work til later, so I won't even have an ally. lol
Meh.
Started reading the last Harry Potter book last night. I couldn't decide if I wanted to read it now or wait til after seeing the movie for the last book I read. I've read the book before so it's not new, and won't be spoiling anything to read it, and I kind of want to just finish them at this point and be done with the whole thing. lol
The weather was really humid and disgusting last night. It's only about 88 degrees right now (11:17 a.m.) but the humidity is over 60%. I'm really just not liking the humidity. At all.
Alright, enough whining for one day. lol
But I am encouraged that he has at least gone and looked at a place.
I love talking about decorating with him. lol
We don't always agree on things, which is okay, and I guess there will be some compromise about certain items. Not sure yet but I am guessing so anyways.
I wish we had an unlimited decorating budget. But we shall be fine with what we have.
My father in law's sister and two of her grown kids and one of their husbands and four kids will be visiting today.
The oldest child is 12, a girl, and the rest are younger and boys I think.
I'm uh... just oh so excited.
lol
Well, it will be very crowded and I don't know if they speak any English and I will have to wear hijab in the house because of one of the husbands coming and it will be hot and I will have to sit and listen to conversations in Arabic.
And, I don't think hubby will be home from work til later, so I won't even have an ally. lol
Meh.
Started reading the last Harry Potter book last night. I couldn't decide if I wanted to read it now or wait til after seeing the movie for the last book I read. I've read the book before so it's not new, and won't be spoiling anything to read it, and I kind of want to just finish them at this point and be done with the whole thing. lol
The weather was really humid and disgusting last night. It's only about 88 degrees right now (11:17 a.m.) but the humidity is over 60%. I'm really just not liking the humidity. At all.
Alright, enough whining for one day. lol
Monday, July 6, 2009
The box, the box
More hot weather, what a shock!
The hunt continues for an apartment. I told hubby that I wanted to treat myself (well, us) for my birthday and pay for a nice hotel room with a/c and a huge tub and room service and all that. Mainly I want the a/c. lol
Not sure if we'll do it but it's an idea.
Hubby thinks we may have an apartment by then but I don't think it likely, and even if we managed to procure one by then, getting it furnished and hospitable in that short of time seems even more unlikely.
I don't mind as long as we are looking. I am trying to be patient.
=)
My mom mailed me a box from the States full of items that I asked for that I knew I wouldn't be able to find here.
Some are things I will probably just have to eventually give up, unless making trips back to the States and bringing the things back with me, as it's just too expensive to be shipping a lot of things to Egypt.
But, I was well pleased and looking forward to using what was sent.
And very thankful as well!
Thanks mom for all the trouble you went to!
I can smell what seems to be chicken frying in the kitchen. Not sure why my MIL fries so many things when baking would be healthier and less.... greasy.
But, I guess it's the way she's accustomed to cooking. It's not horrible or anything, I'm just still not used to so much fried food.
When I cooked at home I never added butter or oil to veggies or rice when cooking them. Maybe a little garlic salt and that's it.
I don't know how things will go when we get our own place, as it's not as easy for me to just run down to the store and get any possible ingredient that I need at a moments notice. I am trying to figure out how to plan meals for a week or so at a time, and then be able to make a grocery list so that we can just go once a week or so for the more perishable items, and hopefully only every couple weeks for the less perishable stuff.
We'll see how that goes. I've never had to menu plan like that before.
I'll also be dealing with a new kitchen, and cooking with gas, which is quite different than cooking with electric.
Hmmmmm......
The month of fasting, Ramadan, is coming up quick! It should start some time in later August, around the 22nd or so I think.
I always look forward to it with a mixture of excitement and also trepidation.
lol
It's not an easy thing to do, fasting from before the sun rises until the sun falls below the horizon, and yet there are good things about it and I think this dual feeling that I feel about it, is felt by many others as well.
Insha'Allah I will be able to fast okay this year, with no problems!
Hubby asked what I wanted for my birthday, aside from going to see the Harry Potter movie coming out. Aside from going shopping for new hijabs, I couldn't think of much. Is that weird? I guess I'm just getting to the age when "stuff" is just "stuff" and I mostly have the "stuff" that I want.
Hmmm... now I smell garlic frying in the pan. I must go investigate!
lol
The hunt continues for an apartment. I told hubby that I wanted to treat myself (well, us) for my birthday and pay for a nice hotel room with a/c and a huge tub and room service and all that. Mainly I want the a/c. lol
Not sure if we'll do it but it's an idea.
Hubby thinks we may have an apartment by then but I don't think it likely, and even if we managed to procure one by then, getting it furnished and hospitable in that short of time seems even more unlikely.
I don't mind as long as we are looking. I am trying to be patient.
=)
My mom mailed me a box from the States full of items that I asked for that I knew I wouldn't be able to find here.
Some are things I will probably just have to eventually give up, unless making trips back to the States and bringing the things back with me, as it's just too expensive to be shipping a lot of things to Egypt.
But, I was well pleased and looking forward to using what was sent.
And very thankful as well!
Thanks mom for all the trouble you went to!
I can smell what seems to be chicken frying in the kitchen. Not sure why my MIL fries so many things when baking would be healthier and less.... greasy.
But, I guess it's the way she's accustomed to cooking. It's not horrible or anything, I'm just still not used to so much fried food.
When I cooked at home I never added butter or oil to veggies or rice when cooking them. Maybe a little garlic salt and that's it.
I don't know how things will go when we get our own place, as it's not as easy for me to just run down to the store and get any possible ingredient that I need at a moments notice. I am trying to figure out how to plan meals for a week or so at a time, and then be able to make a grocery list so that we can just go once a week or so for the more perishable items, and hopefully only every couple weeks for the less perishable stuff.
We'll see how that goes. I've never had to menu plan like that before.
I'll also be dealing with a new kitchen, and cooking with gas, which is quite different than cooking with electric.
Hmmmmm......
The month of fasting, Ramadan, is coming up quick! It should start some time in later August, around the 22nd or so I think.
I always look forward to it with a mixture of excitement and also trepidation.
lol
It's not an easy thing to do, fasting from before the sun rises until the sun falls below the horizon, and yet there are good things about it and I think this dual feeling that I feel about it, is felt by many others as well.
Insha'Allah I will be able to fast okay this year, with no problems!
Hubby asked what I wanted for my birthday, aside from going to see the Harry Potter movie coming out. Aside from going shopping for new hijabs, I couldn't think of much. Is that weird? I guess I'm just getting to the age when "stuff" is just "stuff" and I mostly have the "stuff" that I want.
Hmmm... now I smell garlic frying in the pan. I must go investigate!
lol
Saturday, July 4, 2009
2 weeks!
Still not much happening.
We went out yesterday, hoping to go to a movie, but all the theaters we walked to downtown had only Arabic movies, which of course, doesn't work very well for me.
There are other theaters downtown I am sure, but not in the area we were in. Downtown is actually kind of confusing, as it's really large and really spread out and there doesn't seem to be any kind of order to it that I have been able to tell as of yet.
Hubby said it took him quite some time to know it as well as he does.
Anyways, we ended up walking around a bunch and I had to keep reminding hubby that we weren't in a marathon. lol
It was pretty hot out and I couldn't see any reason to be walking fast.
We stopped by a grocery store called Metro. It's a chain and kind of intermediate in size. We were looking for baking soda, which we did not find, but we did buy a bunch of other stuff. :D
They had some fresh baked bread items that were verrrrry yummy!
Little baby croissants right from the oven.
Still reading the Harry Potter books in preparation for the movie coming out in two weeks. I'm on the book now that is the same as the movie that will come out, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
I have taken several opportunities to remind hubby that I want to go see the movie. Just want to make sure he doesn't forget! Which is not likely to happen at this point. I hope. lol
Also starting to learn how to use Microsoft Access. Woo.
I decided to make a database of some stuff and so hubby suggested using Access, so I'm using Microsoft's online tutorials. We'll see how that goes.
Jane, I'm not sure how my MIL manages the cooking in this heat, particularly since she leaves the kitchen window closed since there's no screen and she doesn't want to let flies in. She has an itty bitty fan that sits on top of the fridge and doesn't do much that I can tell. I walked into the kitchen this morning and it was like a sauna!!! But... she's a trooper. Every day she starts off the morning getting things out and together and any prep work needed and then later in the afternoon does the actual cooking.
Londi, there is a cool season here but it's not like we had where I lived in the States. From what I have been told, in the coldest part of the year, it's quite freezing indoors, because of the way the buildings are built, even though it might be nicer and not as cold out of doors.
I think it rarely gets down to freezing, but maybe in the 40's at night, which is still pretty cold. I think daytime temps are in the 50's to 60's. And that's for December through February or so.
However, when I was here on my first trip in 2007, I was still here in the first part of November, and there were days in the 80's and 90's.
Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend.
We went out yesterday, hoping to go to a movie, but all the theaters we walked to downtown had only Arabic movies, which of course, doesn't work very well for me.
There are other theaters downtown I am sure, but not in the area we were in. Downtown is actually kind of confusing, as it's really large and really spread out and there doesn't seem to be any kind of order to it that I have been able to tell as of yet.
Hubby said it took him quite some time to know it as well as he does.
Anyways, we ended up walking around a bunch and I had to keep reminding hubby that we weren't in a marathon. lol
It was pretty hot out and I couldn't see any reason to be walking fast.
We stopped by a grocery store called Metro. It's a chain and kind of intermediate in size. We were looking for baking soda, which we did not find, but we did buy a bunch of other stuff. :D
They had some fresh baked bread items that were verrrrry yummy!
Little baby croissants right from the oven.
Still reading the Harry Potter books in preparation for the movie coming out in two weeks. I'm on the book now that is the same as the movie that will come out, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
I have taken several opportunities to remind hubby that I want to go see the movie. Just want to make sure he doesn't forget! Which is not likely to happen at this point. I hope. lol
Also starting to learn how to use Microsoft Access. Woo.
I decided to make a database of some stuff and so hubby suggested using Access, so I'm using Microsoft's online tutorials. We'll see how that goes.
Jane, I'm not sure how my MIL manages the cooking in this heat, particularly since she leaves the kitchen window closed since there's no screen and she doesn't want to let flies in. She has an itty bitty fan that sits on top of the fridge and doesn't do much that I can tell. I walked into the kitchen this morning and it was like a sauna!!! But... she's a trooper. Every day she starts off the morning getting things out and together and any prep work needed and then later in the afternoon does the actual cooking.
Londi, there is a cool season here but it's not like we had where I lived in the States. From what I have been told, in the coldest part of the year, it's quite freezing indoors, because of the way the buildings are built, even though it might be nicer and not as cold out of doors.
I think it rarely gets down to freezing, but maybe in the 40's at night, which is still pretty cold. I think daytime temps are in the 50's to 60's. And that's for December through February or so.
However, when I was here on my first trip in 2007, I was still here in the first part of November, and there were days in the 80's and 90's.
Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)