Secret spy, that's me!

Well, it has been a week since we went to the Mogamma to apply for my 3 year temporary residency visa.  They told us to come back in a week and we could pick it up.

We got up early this morning, well, early for us, and headed on down to Tahrir Square, where the Mogamma building is located.

At first hubby thought maybe it was not as crowded because we didn't see many people going inside, and I told him it was probably because everyone was already inside.  Guess who was right?  :D

Anyways, as we waded in through the crowds, we went to the original window we applied at, and the lady directed us to another window down the hall to get the actual visa.

We went to the second window and the lady there looked through her papers but didn't have one for me, so we headed back towards the first window.

Hubby asked the woman there what was happening as they didn't have my visa, so they looked through some papers and it seems that they didn't get it in yet, that either it hadn't cleared or they just didn't send it yet or something.

I suppose they tell everyone a week because that is usually enough time, so I'm not quite sure what is holding up my visa. 

Maybe it's my super secret spy activities. 

In any case, a wasted trip and hubby was not happy about that because he has to take time off work for us to go down there.  And now we will have to go back.  They told us to come back in a week but I think hubby might go down and see if it's ready first before he brings me down as well, since I have to be there to sign something.

In any case, I was a little disappointed not to get it, as I was a bit excited about the whole thing, but in time insha'Allah we will get it.

:::

After leaving the Mogamma building, we walked a short ways to Talaat Harb, which is a main street nearby, and we were looking for a Singer sewing machine store. 

Well, we started at the very beginning of the street, number 1, and we were looking for number 39.

This normally wouldn't seem like a very far distance right?  Except they don't number things the same here.  They number the whole building as one number, not individual stores.  So we had to get 39 large buildings down, not 39 stores.  lol

We finally found the place, and they only had one model that looked anything near current, and it was overpriced.  In addition, it was a very basic model, not exactly what I was looking for, though I might have considered it if the price was decent.

After leaving that store, we went down a street and around a corner or so and hubby knew of another store that had electronic items that also sold sewing machines, so we went inside and found both a Singer and a Brother machine, both of which were somewhat basic models and both of which were also very overpriced. 

I'm not sure what the deal is with the pricing.  Hubby's aunt just bought a Singer in Kuwait for about 55 dinars, which is according to her about 1000 pounds, which is roughly (I'm not sure the exchange rate right now), 200 dollars.  Which I'm okay with paying for a machine. 

So, when we visit Kuwait insha'Allah, perhaps I will get one there.  I just can't see paying the way too high prices that we have seen here.  Or perhaps I will look into getting a used machine, as I'm sure it would be much cheaper.  In any case, no sewing machine anytime soon I don't think.

:::

After leaving that store we caught a taxi and headed to the in-laws.  We haven't been here in a couple of weeks so we came to visit, though hubby left to go back to work and left me here.  lol

I took a short nap and woke and we had a wonderful lunch.  My sister in law made a very nice pasta with Alfredo sauce and I will try to get the recipe for the sauce from her.  I'm always looking for good sauce recipes since hubby is a major sauce lover.  He does not like dry food at all, and I'm normally quite the opposite, I don't like things too sauced or wet.  lol

At the moment, before hubby comes back to the in-laws to eat and we leave, he is actually back at our apartment.

We were having a problem with our drain, it was backing up really badly.  Hubby bought some drain cleaner for the tub, which was fine and cleared those particular pipes, but then it left the clog just a little further down, so we were still having an issue.  Like when I did a load of laundry, instead of the water going straight through the drain, it backed up on the floor, which is fine except it makes a bit of a mess.

So, hubby called the building owner and they were supposed to get a plumber to come yesterday but they had to start unclogging the drain from the bottom floor, or it causes problems for the people below you if you only get yours unclogged.

I guess people weren't home so much yesterday, so today the plumber finally got to our apartment and so hubby had to go over there and keep a watch and see what was going on.

Thankfully, even though we pointed out the drain problem and we were having an issue, the owner is going to try to get every apartment the plumber unclogs to pay for an equal part.  Normally when you call the plumber, you pay for it all yourself.  So insha'Allah everyone will pay and it won't be such a burden for us.  Because who knows where the actual clog started, it could have been two floors down or something.

I hope it will be unclogged by the time we get home though.

:::

Last night I decided to try a recipe I found for cinnamon rolls.  It was a simple recipe, no yeast, and they were easy to make and tasted divine.  The only problem is that the dairy clogged my sinuses up pretty badly.  It called for heavy cream and hubby bought whipping cream.  lol

I read up online and found that though not exactly the same, I should be able to sub one for the other in this instance.

I think I will try to make them again using just the full milk and see how that goes.

I also made some orange bars last night.  Kind of like lemon bars only with orange.  They are a bit sweet for me, I think I prefer the lemon, but I do like the crust.  I'm considering making a pan of just the crust for me to munch on.  :D

Here is a picture of each.