Sunday, June 27, 2010

California here I come

Well, internet issues again. so I haven't uploaded the street paving videos yet.  Of course, since the last post I've had plenty of time to do so, but the day that I post, well... wouldn't it figure there are issues!  lol
Hopefully they'll be sorted shortly (sometime today) and I'll be able to upload.  I also still have some pictures to upload if I'm not mistaken, from our trip to the mall a few weeks ago.

:::

Well, my round trip tickets are booked and I am finally going to be heading back to the States for a visit! 
So excited and nervous and happy and I really hate flying but it will be worth it.
I was possibly going to fly through London's Heathrow airport, but am saving that for another adventure some other time, and instead I'm flying to Paris and then to San Francisco, which is the exact route I wanted to begin with.

It's interesting to note that although I could fly Cairo to JFK in New York, and then from JFK to San Francisco, that route actually takes 19 hours of flying, while the Cairo to Paris to San Francisco only takes 16 hours.  I understand why, though it seems strange.  But that's one of the reasons I wanted the Paris flight.  Three less hours that I have to be stuck up in a metal tube?  Alright by me!

Planning to stay 3 weeks, which seems short and long at the same time.  Will be staying with the folks who are gracious enough to let me leech off them while I'm there.  :D
It's hard to be without a car but I'm sure I'll manage.  I just hate to impose when I need anything.

Already started a list of things to buy and bring back with me to Cairo when I return.  Some funny things on the list.  Well, maybe not exactly ha ha funny, but strange to bring back.  But, they are things I can't find here that either I miss or that I want hubby to try.

I'm sad that hubby can't come but he needs to focus on his business, so insha'Allah next trip he will be able to come.
I'm also going to miss him like crazy.  Three weeks is a long time to be gone.
It might not sound like a huge amount of time, but because we were apart for so many years, I find that it's really hard to be apart from him now.  Like the two times he traveled to Kuwait were so hard.
I know it shouldn't be that difficult but I guess it just brings back all the years we were separated before.
Insha'Allah it won't be bad and I will just be happy to be visiting with family and such.

And, he might take the opportunity of my visiting the States to make a business trip to Kuwait, which makes sense, so that way I am not missing him and having to stay at the in-laws when he goes.  Not sure about the trip but I do hope he goes when I'm away if he really has to go.

Wish I could stop and visit more family on this trip, but I don't have the money for it and so it will have to wait.  Would also like to visit when hubby is with me so he can meet everyone.

Also, 5 hour layover in the airport in Paris.  Suggestions? 

:::

We've been having a lot of power outages lately, which doesn't particularly surprise me with the summer heat and energy consumption up.

The outages last anywhere from 5 minutes to a couple hours, though lately it's more like half an hour to an hour.  Not too horrible.  The bedroom, which has a/c, usually doesn't get too warm in that time, though I would imagine if it was out for more than an hour and it was too hot in the apartment it would warm up.

The new thing though, about when the power goes out, is that our internet also goes out, since we are now getting dsl instead of using wireless (though we do have wireless as a backup for when the dsl is out, like right now, lol).  So, whenever the power goes out, the internet goes out.  Which I suppose is fine because the battery on the laptop only lasts so long anyways.

It's funny, we've been having some trouble off and on with the dsl and the line being down, and many times when we finally get the line back up and working, that's when the power goes out, so of course, it stops working again.  You have to laugh.  What else can you do?

:::

There is a nice video that I found posted on the web about street food in Cairo.  It's in two parts, the first part is about 15 minutes and the second part is about 7 minutes.

I'd say it's well worth a watch.  It shows exactly what it looks like here, how the streets are, how the people are dressed, it's very real and what I see every day (or rather, whenever I'm out).

It focuses a lot not just on what the street foods are here, but the problems with selling foods on the street and how the economy is affecting that. 

It's quite sad actually, in a way.  These people make so little money, and most of us in the West truly have more than we need.  It's hard to see people that are so poor, and Egypt is full of them.

So here's the links to the videos. 

Street Food part 1

Street Food part 2

And that's all folks!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Travel weather tar

This was written yesterday but we're having internet issues so I'm not getting round to posting it til today.

:::

Well the biggest news lately has been the temperatures here.
Quite hot to say the least.
I usually check the forecast online several times a day to see the current temps,
but also to check for what's coming later in the week.
The strange thing is, the forecast can vary a lot from morning to noon to night.
I took a few screen shots one day to show this.
Pay attention to the last day listed here, the forecast goes from 111, to 118 to 105.











In reality, Sunday ended up being the hot day at about 113, and Monday was only a comparatively mild 109.

We also get sand in our forecast, but often when it says sand there isn't any, so I'm not sure how they
forecast that.  It also often says rain or light rain and I can promise you it doesn't rain as often as it says.

Here's a couple of the sand forecasts.  Actually it wasn't a forecast, it was the current weather at the time.






So, that's the exciting weather news.

:::

I've been trying to book a ticket for my trip back to the States.  The travel agent I used last time has been
less than helpful so I've been looking online.  I can get some better prices than the agent quoted me,
but I was really really hoping to avoid going through JFK airport, as it's pretty much a nightmare to
get around in, but I'm not sure how to avoid it when I'm checking flights online.  There is no check box for
"avoid _____ airport".   If anyone has any tips about that or a great place online that they've used for
booking tickets, please let me know.

The place that I've found the best deals through so far is cheaptickets.com
I've never used them before and not sure if anyone I know has used them, but they look okay.

The last trip I had was booked through Delta but the flights were actually operated by Air France.
Best service I've ever had flying.  Unfortunately, if I try to book through any of the airlines directly,
they are very expensive compared to checking the "cheap" flights websites.

In any case, I really need to get the tickets done since I'm planning to fly in less than a month insha'Allah!

:::

They've been working on our street this week.  Despite the heat and the smell, it's a good thing.

It started the other day, Monday I believe (or was it Sunday?), with a lot of very loud noise out on the street.  It kind of sounded like a tractor at a construction site hefting and dumping rocks or something.  What it turned out to be was some kind of tractor with a lift thingy in front, and they were using the lift part to scoop up any protruding cement chunks from the road and then also to flatten the surface out.  At least that's what it looked like.

Today I heard some banging out on the street around 9 a.m.
It sounded like someone hammering large spikes with a sledgehammer.  I wasn't about to get out of bed
to see what it actually was, so that will have to remain a mystery.

But, around 2:30 this afternoon I heard trucks on the street and could hear they were getting ready to get some  more work done, so I got myself "decent" (long sleeve sweater over my t-shirt and hair covered) and went out on the balcony to check it out.  They had some kind of paving machine and a dump truck full of black pebble stuff and then I could see they had what looked like a 55 gallon drum with a fire going underneath it.  It turns out they were making some of the pebble stuff into a liquid, which they then spread out on the street before the paving truck went over it.  I'm not sure the sense in that but they must have a reason.  Perhaps to help it stick better to the rock that had been laid all over the street. (pebble stuff = tar I suppose?) (In Egyptian, tar is called zift, which can also mean something else entirely)

And then the paving machine slowly made it's way down the street.  I could see other neighbors out on their
balconies, also watching the progression of the noisy smelly beast.

I took a bunch of videos in 30 second segments.  I didn't want to make it one long video because it takes too long to upload and for anyone to download.  Also took a few pictures.

The pictures and videos are not ready to post yet but I should get to it this week insha'Allah (provided internet issues are solved).
And that was the excitement for today!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Snickerbiscuits

Well, apologies, again, for lack of posting.  I can't tell if I'm just being lazy or what? 

:::

The weather has been pretty stable.  Generally in the low to mid 90's.  Kinda hot. 
And exciting huh?  I bet!
I don't know why people don't get tired of talking about the weather.  It's not like there are people who don't experience weather, unless they never leave the house that is.
But what's the comparison for?  Are we looking for sympathy?  Envy?  What? 
Sometimes I think we're all too silly.

:::

Looks like it will just be me visiting the States this summer, as much as I wanted hubby to come with.  I'm looking forward to it, A LOT, and can't wait to breathe some "fresh" air.  lol

Lots of things I want to buy or stock up on while there before going back to Cairo, though with luggage fees these days, I guess I'll have to watch it.

It's kind of weird sometimes to think about traveling around the world to different places.  I never thought I'd be the one to say I was flying off to Egypt.  It always sounded so exotic to me to hear people talk about visiting other countries.  But it's really just... being at home somewhere else.

There are many places I'd like to visit, and technically it should be easier based on living in Cairo, because of proximity, but you never know.  Maybe some of the "exotic" destinations I've dreamed of will always just be dreams.

:::

I found a chicken feather on the bedroom floor the other day.  Which is a little strange considering that the bedroom balcony door is never really opened.  Which means it had to get into the bedroom from the living room balcony doors?  They do stay open in the morning when hubby is in the living room.  And we have so far failed to get screens up on those particular windows (don't ask!!!!!), but it's still a bit of a journey to make it just not into our bedroom, but around the other side of the bed where it was.

And what was a chicken feather doing floating around anyways?  lol

I often used to see them at the in-laws, but I understood that a little better, as my mother in law used to get a flat of eggs, and the eggs were not exactly cleaned and would frequently have feathers on them.  So you would see the odd feather floating around here and there.

It's not particularly bothersome, just strange sometimes.  I'm not exactly living on a farm.  Except the way things are here, at the same time, I kind of am.  lol

You will see all manner of animals transported on the roadways here, both the big streets and the little small alleyways.  And often transported in a manner you wouldn't expect, which seems somewhat comical to watch.  But you have to give it to the Egyptians, they are nothing if not determined.  They will find a way to get what they want.  I would even go so far as to call them ingenious, which Webster defines as, "marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness in conception or execution."  That's Egyptians to a T.

:::

We've discovered the wonder of "drop" biscuits.  So simple to make and quick as well.  Only 4 main ingredients, and then additions if you so desire.

I've made them a couple of times with cheddar cheese which was nice.  Once I made them with rumi cheese, but those went to the in-laws and I didn't taste them, though I was assured they tasted good.  I made them plain once which was not bad either.  I love the taste of fresh bread, even just "plain".

And then last night I decided to make them a bit sweet and added sugar and cinnamon.  The taste was great, though they ended up being a bit flat and not holding their shape like the others.  I can only imagine it was from the addition of the sugar, or the butter got too warm before I was able to get them in the oven.

In any case, they ended up being kind of like a light cakey version of a snickerdoodle cookie.  Nice.
And now, gone, as I just had the last couple with breakfast. 

:::

I've got it in my head that we need to walk to the pyramids.  It's totally doable.  Except for the heat.
It means that we would need to get up at early o'clock if we wanted to get there before it got too hot to walk, and we would in all likelihood have to take a taxi or microbus back home.

Hubby used to walk there when he was younger.  He was coming from further away than we would be, and it took him longer, but he did it all the same.  And quite a few times if I'm not mistaken.

I'm not sure how long it would actually take us to walk it.  Maybe a couple of hours?  Maybe less.

The biggest obstacle (aside from decent shoes), is getting up early enough to do it.  We stay up so late every night that it would almost be easier to just start walking and get there and back home before going to bed.

I bet it would be nice to see the sun rise over the pyramids.  Hmmmm......
I'll have to see if I can convince hubby.  I doubt it but it's worth a try. 

:::

I also asked hubby if he would make a guest post here.  He asked, before answering, what would he talk about, and I told him that he could talk about whatever he wanted.  He agreed but let's see if it happens.  lol

I know I said I'd post the rest of the pictures I took from our outing the next time I posted but apparently I was fibbing, as I've still not got them ready to post.  Maybe next time.  Maybe not.  lol

:::

It seems that my allergies have started up here.  I didn't really have any last year while living here, and I had hoped that maybe I had escaped them and wouldn't get them here, but it seems they were just delayed and adjusting.

I heard from someone else that their allergies didn't show up after moving here for a year or so, so perhaps it's just a normal acclimatization thing?  Annoying though.  It was really nice not having to deal with that.

And because it's always so windy and always so dusty in the apartment, I think they are just going to be here with me.  Perhaps in an apartment that didn't get so much wind and dust it wouldn't be so bad.

The thing is, I've no idea what it is that I'm allergic to here.  My guess is that it's either some trees or grasses, but which trees or grasses I don't think I'll ever find out.

I never took medicine for my allergies in the States, though I considered taking Claritin on more than one occasion.  I don't think they sell it here though.  Not that I'm ready to take any.  But maybe I'll bring some back with me from the States when I visit.  I don't care for Sudafed or that kind of thing.  Yuck.
Maybe they'll never get bad enough that I'll have to take anything.

Here's hoping!