The market

Went today, this morning, and met with my friend and her boyfriend.
Hubby dropped me at their hotel and went to a meeting downtown, and then me and my friend/bf went down to the khan al khalili, which is the big outdoor shopping market.

We had a nice time walking around and chatting. Saw so many adorable kittens. Just the tiniest little eensy weensy cute things!! I totally wanted one so much.
But as we all know, kittens grow up and although cats are cute, they aren't as cute as kittens. lol

Here is a picture of my friend and her bf.



Hubby met back up with us after his meeting, and we sat at a cafe there at the market and had some lunch and chatted for a bit before we took them back to the hotel so that they could head out on the next leg of their adventure.

This is a boy who was walking by while we were at the cafe. It's common that they carry these big pallets of bread on their heads. If you look, under the pallet there is a cap type of thing that they place on their head. I guess it helps for balance, but it doesn't look like it would help much. It's not tight or strapped on or anything.




Not much else going on. I hope we will go this week to buy some things for the kitchen, however we also need to go back downtown to the mogamma building and take care of my visa before we get a fine. Apparently there is a 15 day grace period, but I think we're fast approaching that deadline.

Fresh doughnuts!

Well, I am feeling quite a bit better, alhamdulillah. Still dragging a bit (or a lot) and a little stuffy, but able to be up and stuff.

Turns out that my friend who is in town came down with what sounds like the same thing I had/have, but I haven't seen her yet so no one can blame it on me! :D

They were supposed to leave tonight to go down to Luxor, but she has been in bed today so they will call us tomorrow and hopefully we can meet before they leave, whenever that is.



My MIL made doughnuts last night. She hasn't made them since I've been here, so it was a nice surprise. They were fried but they weren't overly fried you know? The inside was still very cakey with no oil or heaviness. Very nice. And coated simply with sugar. Oh, and she put the holes back on top of the doughnuts, so they look like they have little hats. Cute. I'll see if there's any left to get a picture.



Here's a picture of the snickerdoodles that I made. I was quite disappointed with the look of them, as in they were flat, but the taste was great.
They usually come out light, fluffy, chewy and airy, and these were light, but flat and more towards the crispy side. I think because they were room temp (and it was hot that day) before going into the oven, that is what made them flat, but not sure. Usually I fridge all my cookie dough before baking, so they go into the oven fairly cool.




Seems hubby is coming down with a cold now, but something different than what I had. His is starting with a cough.
I hope this means we'll be done with getting sick for a while...

Wednesday

It always gets worse before it gets better. That's the expression anyways.

Felt much worse this morning when I woke, but feeling a little better this evening.

I had a fever last night and I was sure my eyeballs were going to burn up in my head. lol

And as much as I ate yesterday (maybe even more than normal), today I barely had any appetite. Though enough of an appetite to eat the cinnamon roll from the bakery after lunch late this afternoon. :D


I have a friend from the States who will be in town starting tomorrow morning. Her and her boyfriend are flying in from their latest vacation spot of Thailand. Before Thailand was Cambodia (do people really go there for vacation??) and before that they had been living in New Zealand for a year.

She has never been to Egypt before, and they couldn't find a guide book before now, so they are hoping to find one at the airport in Thailand. Presumably they are landing in Egypt with no place to stay and no solid plans. And I can't exactly offer them accommodation since we aren't in our own place yet.

We shall see what happens.
I'm still too sick to be going out and about anyways.

Also found someone to maybe go walking with, will update with that when I have further news.

Things have been going pretty well it seems. Alhamdulillah.

Sniffle sniffle sneeze

Well, it appears that I was wrong about two things.

One of them is that we didn't go out Friday night with friends, it was Saturday night.

The other thing is that it wasn't some 24 hour bug I caught, it was a cold.

I've been sniffling and sneezing my way through the morning. Hopefully I won't use up a whole box of tissues. lol

I think my MIL is making me some chicken noodle soup with some fresh zucchini in it. Now if only my dad was here to deliver one of his grilled cheese sandwhiches!!

I'm sure they sell American cheese here though they don't buy it here at my in-laws, the sliced cheese they have is... well, I dunno, it's white and just tastes like... cheese. lol

And they don't appear to have decent bread here, at least not at most of the stores. It reminds me of Wonderbread or something such. It's not horrible, it just isn't great. They have it in a whole wheat flavor but I didn't find it really improved much.

Hopefully I won't get hubby sick. You know how men are when they get sick. lol
Like the whole world is going to end! :D

So, more watching movies in bed today instead of going out shopping for things for the apartment.
It's not all that bad. :)

6 months and Eid Mubarak!

Well, the month of fasting, Ramadan, is finally over! Phew!

When greeting fellow Muslims after the last day of fasting, one of the things you can say is, "Eid mubarak!", which means something along the lines of "Happy Celebration", or "Blessed Celebration".

We are actually on the second day of Eid, though we have not done much. I think it is customary to go visit people during Eid and to bring sweets or little presents for kids.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well, I must have come down with some 24 hour things and we were home all day. Today I slept (well, last night) for about 9+ hours, finally getting up around 1:30 p.m.

Technically we went out but it was on Friday night, and I guess Eid starts with Saturday, so I'm not sure how to call that one. It was in celebration of Eid, just early I guess.

We met up again with hubby's friend and friend's wife, and went to a mall called Dandy Mall. It's fairly large and has a Carrefour in it, which is one of the large grocery stores here in Cairo. Dandy Mall is located outside greater Cairo. You head out like you're going to Sheik Zaid, but turn onto the Alexandria Desert Road. It's kind of just out in the middle of nothing. There's no housing or anything out there that I'm aware of, some occasional store or cafe is all.

Hubby and his friend sat at a cafe and talked and had coffee or whatever, and the wife and I went to Carrefour (where I found Gala apples, yipppeeeeee!!!!), and then walked around the mall a little bit.

When the men found us, my back was starting to get sore from all the walking (two and a half hours or so) and not having sat down, and it was close to midnight I guess, so we decided to call it a night.

Nice to see them again and insha'Allah we will meet up again soon. Hubby's friend is more than happy to sit at home with my hubby while us women go off shopping. lol
Sounds good to me.

In other news, I have been here for 6 months as of the 19th!

I can hardly believe it has been that long. I don't know where the time went, though I guess most of it was sat on my butt doing a whole lot of nothing. lol

Some of the rose is fading from the rose tinted glasses, but I guess it's to be expected. I still like it here, there's just some things that I haven't gotten used to, which I think I mentioned before. Well, the main one being how dirty it is here everywhere.

I don't know how long we will live here. I'm alright with it for now, but I have a hankering to explore other countries as well, something new for both hubby and I.
For some reason I have Paris stuck in my head, but it's not the greatest/easiest place for Muslims to live, and I don't think hubby is particularly excited about even visiting Paris, much less living there.

Not sure when my desire to visit Paris started. It was always a place that I NEVER wanted to go to. Something changed I guess.

Still hoping to get to the States for a visit this winter. Need to bug hubby about details.

Hoping to move in a few days. We all know how that goes!!
lol

Hopefully the next time I post it will be from our new place.

Hey, a girl can dream can't she? :D

Where did that come from?

Well, it was unexpectedly hot today. I read it was supposed to be 96, which is a few degrees hotter than it has been lately, but instead it was closer to 100.
Yuck.
Supposed to be 92 tomorrow, which would be much nicer, but I'm never sure how close the forecasts are to what the reality will be.

Iftar, our fast breaking meal, will be in about 25 minutes or so. And then tomorrow is the last day of fasting.
At this point, I'm quite happy for it, as the longer this goes, the less energy I have, and I don't think I would have made it much longer.

Saturday evening we're going to go out insha'Allah and visit the friends we saw last week.
The men will sit at a cafe and us women (yeah, all two of us, lol) will go out shopping. Not sure if I will buy, but hubby wants me to see if I can at least find some things that I like, as he wants to send me on a little mini shopping spree soon.
Which I'm totally fine with. The clothes I have are not really suited for the hot weather here. Of course, we're heading into the end of summer. lol

I'm hoping to make snickerdoodles later tonight to bring with us on Saturday. Hubby wants lemon squares, which I'm pretty sure he must be dreaming about night and day the way he loves them so much, but cookies will be a lot easier to transfer. Plus, I've made lemon squares twice, and my MIL made them once, and I haven't had any snickerdoodles in quite some time.
I heard you can replace some of the flour with cocoa powder and make chocolate ones, but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe next time. I just can't figure out if you still roll them in the sugar cinnamon mixture before baking. I know the flavors of cinnamon and chocolate go together but hmmm.... maybe I will have to do some with and some without and see.

We might go out tonight a little while after eating and shop around a bit. I'm not sure if it's a good idea since it's the weekend here and just before a holiday and everyone will be out in force buying things for the Eid celebration.
But, we shall see.
We had planned to go to the area Zamalek, which is actually an island in the Nile. I've shown some pictures before, it was back when we went the movies and beforehand had gotten something to eat from a mall. Sitting inside the food area of the mall, you could look out across the Nile to the area of Zamalek. So nice looking.

Cinnamon Coffe Cake and an Oven

Today is my brother in law's birthday.
My husband told me the other night that because my hubby's birthday is just a couple of weeks past his brother's, that their mom usually waited and just had one celebration when it was my hubby's birthday.
I kind of laughed but felt sad for his little brother, never getting his own celebration.
So I told hubby that I would bake him something for his birthday.

This morning, I got up and went out to talk with hubby, who was talking to his mom, and he brought up the subject of me baking something today.
When he told his mom about it, she said that I could just wait for my hubby's birthday in two weeks.
lol

I was adamant that there was to be no waiting! :D
Poor guy.

Anyways, I found a recipe that I have not tried but that sounded good. Aunt Carrie's Cinnamon Coffee Cake. No idea who Aunt Carrie is or if her coffee cake is any good, but I sure hope it is.

The cake was made and baked, though how baked I'm not sure.
My MIL doesn't have a temp gauge in her oven and insists that she knows where to turn the knob for how hot I want it, instead of me using the oven thermometer that my mom sent me.
Consequently, the cake baked for closer to an hour, instead of the 25 minutes listed in the instructions, and I'm worried about how it will taste.
We shall see.

In other news, hubby went out and bought our oven last night.
Hip hip hurray!
He bought the one that we looked at last, which is a bigger one than we had originally planned to buy.
It has 5 burners on top and is wider than a "normal" stove, but not quite as high I think.
It is supposed to be delivered tonight at 8:30 and hubby will meet the delivery people at the apartment.

Insha'allah we will be able to buy some more stuff this week for the kitchen, and be moving before you know it!

I think we can all get ready to breathe a big sigh of relief.
lol

Our first

Well, I guess it may have been a little misleading to say "date", however I'm not really sure what else to call it and I think it's cute to call it that. lol

Although I have been here just about 6 months, we finally had our first get together with a couple whose husband is friends with my husband.

Hubby has several friends who are married but we had yet to get together with any of them. It was hardly practical to invite them to our place since we didn't have one, and we couldn't just invite ourselves over to any of their places. Hubby has been pretty busy with work as well.

So, his friend and wife invited us over for iftar, which is the meal we break our fast with every day.

I was excited to get the chance to meet this couple, as I have been hearing about hubby's friend for years. Funnily enough, when talking with the wife later on, she said she has been hearing about my hubby for years too. lol

I was also excited because they lived in what I was told was 6th October, though in reality turned out to be Sheikh Zaid. 6th October is an area that is outside greater Cairo by maybe half hour or so, maybe a little less with no traffic.
Sheikh Zaid is about halfway between Cairo and 6th October. (and I have no idea why they named the place Sheikh Zaid, lol, maybe he donated a bunch of money to the project)

In any case, it was nice to get out of the city and breath some "fresh" air and actually listen to the quiet! It is hard to come by in Cairo, both the fresh air and the quiet. lol

The couple we visited lived on the top floor of their building and had a wonderful large balcony that we spent quite a bit of time on. I loved looking out over the area. In Sheikh Zaid, there are no buildings allowed over 4 stories, which is quite a change from greater Cairo, and allows for an all around view when you are at the top story.

It was also a great view of the smog and pollution that sits over Cairo. Kind of disgusting to think about breathing that air in, and I know they are trying to make changes to help with it, but it isn't happening fast enough.

As to the "date" itself, I think it went really well. I spent most of my time with the wife, and our hubbies hung out together.
Wife spoke English okay though it has been some years since she spoke it. But it was good enough for us to have a conversation.

They have 2 cute kids. The little girl is just 1 1/2 years old and totally adorable.
I love other people's kids. At least those who are well behaved! :D

The night ended well and we are hoping to get together during Eid and go to a mall so wife and I can shop while the men sit at a cafe or something.
And of course I told her they have to come visit once we get our apartment set up.

So, here are some pictures I took on the drive there and once we were there.
As a reminder, you can click on any picture for a bigger view of it.

This is of some date palms. You can see they are full of dates, though I don't know how close to ready the dates are.



And here is a view looking across at the pyramids. They are barely visible through the smog, but you can see them towards the right of the middle.



This is once we got the Sheikh Zaid area. There are different areas within. I thought these apartments looked like they could have been in the States (these are not the apartments where hubby's friend and wife live).



And here is a mosque inside the area. I love seeing mosques with their round domes and tall spires.



Here is a general picture looking from the rooftop of the apartment we were at. I loved looking out. And the street below actually reminded me of being in SF for some reason. I'm not sure if it's the tall skinny apartment buildings and the way the street kind of curves. I'm sure anyone who lived in SF would disagree, but for some reason that's the impression I had.



And the last picture is similar to the above, only it shows the pollution hanging over Cairo in the background. Yuck!



The end!
lol

Coming tomorrow...

...the "date"!!

Stay tuned for all the excitement, with pictures even!
lol

Watch it

I know I've mentioned before that there are lizards around here. And what appear to be geckos.

Usually I just see them on the outside of the bathroom window. One actually startled me the other day but then I just laughed as he scooted off the window to who knows where.

Well... last night, I was walking towards the kitchen, and I saw a teeny tiny lizard on the floor border.
I thought it was cute and I was excited to see it in the house.
However, I made the mistake of telling my mother in law about it.
And I am therefore responsible for the death of this poor guy, my mother in law having sprayed about a whole can of insecticide on the poor creature.
I really felt bad about that for the rest of the evening.
Suffice it to say, if I see any more of them I will not say anything, but just smile and enjoy it.

----

I have a few videos that I uploaded to youtube.
I still have some more miscellaneous ones that need uploading but they can wait.

This first one is of the fanoos that my MIL bought for me. You can leave just the lights on without the sound, which is a good thing because the sound is irritating and very loud in person.

fanoos

Next we have a bird making its call. It's a bit of a funny sound. You can hear them throughout the day or night. I haven't seen one, but I just hear them.
It sounds something like, "who who who".
I forget the name of the bird and I'm too lazy to get up and ask Ahmed. If I remember to ask him later I'll post the name.

who who who bird

And then from today, we have a bunch of dragonflies that were all around the tree that is next to the balcony. I was sitting on the couch and my MIL pointed out the balcony doors (which are always open) and I was really surprised when I saw a huge bunch of them flying all over the place above and around and in the tree.
I went out on the balcony to get a closer look and was just delighted and amazed.
This video doesn't actually show them that well, but the video that I got that shows them better has a problem and won't upload for some reason.
I made hubby go look because it was so neat. I hope they stick around.
Maybe they can eat the mosquitoes. lol

dragonflies

This and that

No news on the apartment.
At all.
lol

Not much else going on. Just focusing on Ramadan. We are about 9 days from the end of fasting, and then will be the 3 days of celebration called Eid.
Ramadan... well, I have mixed feelings about it.
I love the month, and while I am sad to see it end, I am also somewhat relieved after 29 or 30 days of fasting.
But there is a great feeling of being around so many other people who share what you are going through. It's different in the States in most areas, as most places don't have a very large Muslim population.

Eid is nice except that many things close down during those three days, which can be inconvenient to say the least. I'm not sure exactly of what all closes, but some stores and I'm sure some attractions.
But I am looking forward to it.

I just wish I could look forward to it with food that I thought was yummy and should be included in a celebration, instead of what my MIL likes to make.
Don't get me wrong, she makes food that her family loves. I'm just not used to her style of cooking, and of course the cuisine here is different anyways.

I'm quite sure I've gained about 15 or so pounds (possibly more, hard to say with no scale), all of it FAT!
I am really looking forward to cooking when we get our own place, and not eating anything that is fried or full of oil and butter.
I dream of fresh vegetables that are lightly steamed and eaten with nothing on them at all! No butter, no oil, no salt, nothing! :D

All of my parents seem to be gardening right now and I'm so jealous of the fresh veggies they are getting. *sigh*


In other news, I will have to go visit an eye doctor here. Nothing serious I don't think, but all of a sudden my eyesight seems to have changed. It might just be that thing that happens to people when they get older and have to hold everything at arms length to see it alright. lol
I just know that when I bring things closer to my face to look at them, all of a sudden my glasses aren't working right anymore. Things get blurry.
So, either it's age or my eyesight is actually getting better.
We shall see. Sooner or later.

Also need to go and get my resident visa stamp. I think we are going Monday to the mogamma building downtown to do that, but not sure about the date. I just know that it needs to be done before the 19th or we will have to pay a fine, and so I'm fairly sure it will get done. lol

I thought the weather was getting better but it has taken a turn for the worse in terms of humidity. Temps were low to mid 90's, but the humidity shot up like crazy. Urgh.

Hoping to visit the apartment this week. I need to get some things out of my luggage there. And I want to see if the stinky smell has gone from the kitchen cupboards. We left them open to air, and left a window open, and that was two weeks ago come Saturday.

A stroll

We went for a nice walk last night.
I think we were out for just over an hour and a half.
Now that I think about it, stroll isn't exactly the right word. Hubby walks pretty darn fast!
We walked for about an hour before stopping at a furniture store we passed, and after spending 20 minutes looking around in the store, walked a short distance back home.

Found a nice dining table at the furniture store, but they had just received it in yesterday and hadn't priced it yet. They really had some nice stuff, and it was all imported. The quality seemed really good and the prices were not bad considering.
We are waiting to hear from them after they put a price on the table.

We saw soooo many little kittens last night while walking. There are cats and kittens all over Cairo, as there isn't much (from what I know) of spaying/neutering going on here. They are scavengers and tough little critters!
The kittens are so cute though. I stopped briefly a couple of times to watch them playing while we were walking.

The other night when we were looking at kitchen stuff, we did see some stoves, and I found one that I am okay with except for the fact that I would have to use a match to light the oven every time I needed it.
I don't know why, but gas and matches just kind of scare me. We didn't have a gas oven/stove while I was growing up, and only had one briefly at a place I lived at some years ago.
The stove has a button that will ignite the burners automatically if you plug the stove in to an outlet, but apparently the oven doesn't have an option like that.
I'm going to see if we can find one that does, though maybe they just don't make them that way.

Trying to get hubby to call the washing machine manufacturer to try to get a manual in English. The problem is that the dials, if I remember correctly, don't have words so much as numbers or letters. The numbers and letters must mean something specific, and unless I know what they mean, I'm going to have a heck of a time and possibly lose some clothing trying to figure it out.

Just under 2 weeks left of Ramadan and fasting. It is going well, better than I expected.
Hopefully this will quell any fears I have about fasting in the years to come insha'Allah.

There is a possibility that someone I know from the States will be coming to visit Egypt with her boyfriend. Not sure if we will manage to meet up or what we will do, but it should prove interesting. Also not sure if we will be moved into our place by then or not. I have a feeling not. lol

The adventure continues...

Fruit loops

You know, they just don't make breakfast cereals like they used to. Not sure why this popped into my head. They don't sell much here by way of cereals. There are a few brands that get imported, but it's pretty expensive. I doubt I'll ever buy any. Notice I didn't say never. lol

Well, pictures as promised.

The first is the lamb that my MIL made. I had thought it was a leg but I think maybe it was a shoulder. All I know for sure is that it was mighty tasty!



And here is some of the lemon squares that my MIL surprised us by making the other day. She made one container that was an oval shape but larger, and then a bunch of these little tiny ones that were cute. She doesn't have the measuring cups like I do, so she kinda approximates for ingredients. It worked fairly well.



And now some pics of the apartment.

Here is our front door after it was painted. You can't really tell with this pic but the color came out very nicely and I'm really pleased with it. Much nice to look at as you approach the door from the outside hall than what it was like before.



And here you can see the lovely fuse box for the apartment, right where we were thinking of hanging a bunch of pictures. I'm thinking of maybe doing a wall quilt to cover the area instead. Though that might not be handy when we need to actually replace a fuse. Ideas anyone?



Here I was trying to show how low the box spring (which isn't actually a box spring) is to the floor. I don't like how low it is and I will have to move the bed every time I want to clean under there. Plus... it just seems wrong that low to the floor.



And last of the pictures is one of the inside of our fridge. lol
Funny I guess but they are different shaped than the ones I'm used to in the States. Thinner and taller I guess. Though it seems deep enough and it should be fine for just the two of us, though perhaps we could use a little more freezer space.



Oh, and I forgot, the kitchen cabinets. Which I don't like and only consented to because I was told they would be replaced in a couple of months. I wish I had thought about it at the time. A couple months in Egypt time could mean half a year. They just look very cheaply made and the stain was put on sloppily and the handles are cheapy plastic. And it's way too dark for an all white kitchen. Bleh.



Hoping to go out for a walk tonight around the neighborhood. We'll see if it's too hot and humid for that or not. If I stay in the house and my brother in law isn't around I can wear a tank top or something, but when outside of course it's long sleeves and scarf an all.

Mom and dad, I replied to your comments in the last post.