Mmmmm...... brains!

(Friday August 20th, written on paper and later typed up on the computer)

I can't say that writing in the near dark is one of my favorite things to do, but once again, as every night at some point lately, the power is out.  It's only been and hour and a half so far tonight.  Last night it was out from 3:30 a.m. until 7:45 a.m.  And add to last night's power cut, a jackhammer bing used down on the street about a half a block away.  Though the jackhammer actually started up around 2 a.m.
I did manage some sleep, even though it was stiflingly hot and humid, but hubby couldn't sleep but a short light doze until the power came back on, and with it the a/c.
Apparently the guys jackhammering couldn't sleep either, as they were still at it until just before the power came back.  Who schedules these people to work in the wee hours of the morning, disrupting people's sleep?

A few nights ago, the power went out right before I was going to start making our meal to break the fast.  That was interesting and hubby was kind enough to help by holding the flashlight as needed.  I'm so thankful we have a gas stove and not an electric one.  Which brings me to 2 other things that I'm thankful for.  The first is the hand crank flashlight that I brought with me when I moved to Egypt last year (which I'm using to see to write this).  No batteries needed, it works solely by you cranking the handle.  It has come in so handy lately.  The second item is one I just purchased on my recent trip to the States, and that is an Asian hand fan - the kind that folds out into a half circle.  When you have no power, hence no a/c, and the humidity gets up to about 85% every night, this is, aside from the flashlight, the most useful thing.

Quite frankly, I'm more than tired of the power outages.  I'm not sure how much they are happening in other areas, and maybe we are only getting more of them as we live in such a densely populated area.  I have to say I will be overjoyed when "winter" gets here and I can start to complain about how cold I am.

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Ramadan is going well and I think that I am even managing to gain some weight, which is good.  We have been 4 or 5 times over to the in-laws to break our fast.  The last time we went we took the Metro (train).  There is no a/c on the train but there are small fans mounted on the ceilings (they don't really do much) and our departure stop is only 2 short stops away from where we board the train.

Today we took a taxi to get to the in-laws, but took a bus home.  Not a full size Greyhound type of affair, but a smaller bus, kind of a mini bus I guess.  Both the Metro and the bus are so cheap to take.  They are also more crowded.

Our bus today wasn't quite sardine like yet (and yes, they do keep packing people in til the aisle ways are jam packed!!) but was getting close.  It makes for a hot and sweaty ride, however I don't mind taking it to save a few pounds since without much traffic it's only a 10 minute or so ride.

One of the things my mother in law made the last time we were there is called kebbit shakir (that is how I'm spelling it, there are no real equivalents for spelling Arabic words in English - it's whatever you think works best to pronounce it correctly).  Although she has made them before, this was the first time I had tried them.  It's not easy to categorize them, but the best I can do is to call them an hors d'oeuvre (I just had to look up how to spell that, you don't want to know what my original guess was, lol), even though they seem to be eaten after the main meal (at least at the in-laws - I think they are originally an Indian dish).  They have potato and onion in the dough, so on the one hand they are savory, but they are fried and then covered with powdered sugar, so they are also sweet.  It was a strange combination, but they were very tasty nonetheless and I did want another but stopped at having one.

Here is a picture that I took of the dish.

And the time before when we visited, my mother in law had made what I call sugar balls.  They are kind of like donut holes only not.  They actually use the same dough as the above treats, only without potato and onion.  And after they are fried they are dipped in a simply sugar syrup.  Yum!

(the power is back on now and this will be continued later)

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I've been having the strangest dreams lately, very vivid.  Not sure why but it seems to come and go in cycles like that.  Or maybe just my ability to remember them comes in cycles.  In any case, this morning when I woke up, I had been having a dream where I was saying, "mmmm.... brains".  I honestly can't remember what was going on in that dream, but I'm sure it was not a case of me eating brains, as though many people consider them a delicacy, I am not one of those people.  You will never catch me voluntarily eating brains of any sort!  lol

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We have a small star system up on one of our bedroom walls.  I had bought one of those kits with the glow in the dark stars that you can put up on your ceiling/walls, and I bought it quite a few years ago but never used it, and it somehow made it into the pile of stuff that I brought with me when I moved here.  After going through all of my stuff when I got back from my trip, I decided it was finally time to use them.  Hubby was happy enough to let me go at it and see what I came up with.  I'm fairly happy with the results, though they almost look slightly symmetrical.  They aren't, but something about it looks too even somehow.  I'll see if I can take a picture, though I'm not sure it will turn out all that well.

Every time I pass by the wall now, I do a double take though, as I'm not used to having anything on the walls other than paint.  I'm sure I'll get used to it in time.  And in the meantime, as well as being kind of neat to look at when we turn the lights out, it also provides some light when the power goes out.  Not enough to do much by, but a faint glow at least.

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I did manage to get one Ramadan craft done, though it's something I made to put up at the in-laws.  It was nothing too fancy or special.  I cut out some star shapes in different colors of paper, and then used a glue stick around the edges and sprinkled glitter on them.  After they were dry, I turned them over and did an outline of the stars just a little bit in from the edge with a dark colored pen.  It actually turned out nicely.

Except for the glitter.

Please, if I ever talk about using glitter, please, I'm begging you, stop me!  lol

I forgot how messy glitter is, how it gets EVERYWHERE, and how no matter how well you clean, you will find pieces of glitter in the years to come, in places you weren't anywhere near when you were using it.

It seems that the glitter I bought was extra fine, making it more of a pain in the patootie.  I think if I was using a larger size it wouldn't have been so bad.  Blargh that stuff drove me crazy!!!   :D

Anyways, here's a picture of some of the stars.  We (meaning hubby) hung them from the ceiling after I strung them through with some ribbon.  I didn't get a clear picture of any of them since the fans/wind was blowing and they weren't standing still.

I'm hoping to get out and take some pictures of the Ramadan decorations that are up in the neighborhood, so hopefully I'll have some nice pictures to post of that soon.

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Ramadan kareem!

Well it is the first day of fasting here in Egypt and also many other countries.

It's been a blessedly quiet day, though I have a feeling that is only going to be for the first day of fasting and then things will be back to their usual -  busy, loud and crowded.

We just got to the in-laws a short while ago.  I found out that it's traditional to break the first day of fasting with your parents and other relatives.  It is also traditional to break fast on the last day of Ramadan with your parents and or family.  When I say traditional though, I don't mean in Islam, I only mean in a cultural sense. 

Just a bit over an hour to go until we have iftar, which is what we call the meal that breaks the fast.  I have been at turns both hungry and thirsty today, but nothing that has been unbearable.  Of course, the last hour before iftar is usually pretty hard.  You know the food is coming and you can smell good food smells everywhere and it can become a bit of a test.  If ever the time passed slow, it's during that last hour.

A funny thing that seems to happen for me during Ramadan is that I'll get hungry or thirsty and think to myself, "Well, I'll just go have that leftover pasta", or "I'll go have some cold water, that would be great right now", and then immediately I remember that I'm fasting and I can't.  But it happens over and over throughout the day.  I can't remember if that goes away after getting a bit into Ramadan but I don't think it goes completely, maybe just lessens.

It is a tradition in Islam to break your fast with dates and or water.  I generally do both.  And if no dates are available there is always water alhamdulillah.  My in-laws drink a substance kind of like buttermilk/yogurt when they break their fast but I prefer the water instead.

I will try to share some more traditions or other things from Ramadan as the month goes on.

For now, God bless each and every one of us, no matter what our religion or faith.

The Sauna

Well, back in Cairo for a couple of days now.  Only it feels like I took a trip to a sauna and just forgot to leave.  It's hot but more than that, it's quite humid.

Thankfully, as long as I'm here at the in-laws (only 1 more day) I am sleeping and spending some day time in my sister in law's room, which got a new a/c installed recently.  Much more comfortable.  Trust me, it's hard to sleep in this weather without a/c.

So, great trip.  But great to be back home too.  Can't wait to see hubby tomorrow insha'Allah.

I made a separate page to post a bunch of pictures from the trip.  If you look over to the right you will see a link to "Vacation July 2010" and there's a slew of photo's in there. 

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Not much going on except trying to get ready for Ramadan.  This takes some mental preparation as well as the mundane parts like grocery shopping.  Everyone stocks up on food like crazy during Ramadan and so many people over eat, when in fact it is the opposite we are supposed to be doing.  I don't understand this but I think a lot of it has to do with culture.

In any case, excited and only slightly weary (it will be SO hot) at the thought of our blessed month about to start.

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Tons of laundry to do when we get home and I'm sure the whole apartment will need to be cleaned, so I'll have my work cut out for me.  But it will be nice to get home and back to my own bed and kitchen and bathroom and routine.  Well, maybe not the routine.  I'm hoping to break that up a little.

I'm actually hoping there will be time to run downtown before Ramadan (yeah right, good luck with that!!!) and look at and hopefully purchase a sewing machine.  I have SO many projects I want to do and I need to do something besides while away the hours on the computer all day. 

There and back again, again

We took another trip to California yesterday.  But it was just me and my dad that went down and picked up my son and did a few other things.  And then we drove back the same day.  That's a lot of driving and I was beat!  I didn't do much after we got back except rest.

Here's a picture of some sunflowers along the side of the road at a place we stopped that sold fresh fruits and pies.

This was driving through the hills in Livermore, which are dotted with windmills.

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We went late last week to visit an aunt and uncle of mine who live a couple of hours away but who I hadn't seen in at least 11 years or so.  They both look great and in terms of being around them, it was just as if no time at all had passed.  They are so easy to be around and very gracious hosts.  They live on a beautiful spot of land with a wonderful view out of their back yard.

This is the view you see from the backside of their house and balcony.

There were wild turkeys roaming their yard while we were there.  I saw 6 at the most at one time.  They didn't seem to want me too close but I did manage to get some pictures and video of them.  I'm told that there are bears around the area and that they actually come up to the house.  There are also mountain cats as well.

Here's a few of the turkeys that were roaming around.

As beautiful as it is, and as relaxing as it was to sit out on the back balcony in the afternoon, I'm not sure I could live somewhere that was so remote.

The drive there was not entirely pleasant.  It took about two and a quarter hours and I believe at least one of those hours was just twisty turny curvy thin road.  Not fun.  When I say twisty I mean really really twisty.  Not the kind of ride you want to make if you get any kind of car sickness.

But, we did have some amazing views and passed a nice lake which we got some pictures of.  We saw a sign at one point that said "cow crossing", which I thought was kind of funny since we were up in the mountains and not around pasture at all, but sure enough, not long after passing the sign, we rounded a corner to find a cow standing right alongside the road munching on something or other.  It was rather amusing.

Here's some pictures of the lakes.  The first we just stopped so I could take a picture, didn't even get out of the car.

And here is a lake we stopped at and got out to look at.  There were little fishies swimming in the water and lovey waterlilies and I found out later that I got burrs all over my socks from walking around there.  lol
The first picture here is just the lake.

And here is a picture of me with the folks standing in front of the lake.

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Went to Walmart today.  As much as I might not like their business practices, sometimes it's the best place to shop.  Maybe if I had more money to spend I wouldn't shop there.

Anyways, I had been there a couple of times since I've been visiting here and I noticed that I get a lot more looks when I'm in Walmart than when I'm in other stores.  I tend to forget for the most part that I'm wearing a scarf on my head because it's normal to me.  I usually only remember when I notice people staring.

Today seemed to be the granddaddy of days for people to stare.  And not all that nicely either.  Maybe it was just because it was the weekend and there were more people around, I'm not sure.  It doesn't bother me all that much but I don't know that I'd be really comfortable living in this community.

We did find a good sale on cheesy poofs though.  lol
I thought it might be amusing to take one of these back to Egypt with me, but I definitely don't have that much space in my luggage.

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Ramadan is coming up fast.  It should be starting around the 11th of this month.  I came across a link to a site that had a lot of nice decorations that can be made for Ramadan and for Eid, so when we were out today shopping we stopped by Michael's craft store and I spent some time looking around for everything on the list of items I wanted based on making crafts from the site I found (wow that was a long sentence).

I actually found all but one item (vellum paper) and insha'Allah when I get back to Egypt I'll be able to make some decorations.  I want to start some traditions for hubby and I for Ramadan and Eid.  I don't have any traditions because I didn't grow up with Islam, and I think a lot of the traditions in hubby's family were for when they were kids or something.  I want the house to feel special and festive during this time.

Ramadan will be a bit harder this year (and for the next few years) as it is coming when the days are very long and very hot.  I'm so thankful that we have air conditioning in our bedroom, however hubby told me that since I've been away, there have been a lot of power cuts.  I'm really hoping there won't be many during Ramadan.

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Speaking of hot, it's forecast to be around 100 or a little hotter in Cairo this week.  Which is relatively hot.  But when I look at the forecast for Kuwait (where hubby is at the moment) the forecast gets up to 118 degrees.  Ouch!!  The forecast there lately doesn't seem to dip below 111 degrees during the day.  And apparently it's quite humid as well.  Hard to be outside there during the day, and even at night it stays pretty hot.

So, when I get back to Egypt I will be staying at the in-laws.  But only for a few days insha'Allah til hubby gets back from Kuwait.  But it means no a/c and only fans for a few days.  Which isn't happy happy joy joy considering how hot it will be, but you do what you need to.  I will just be happy to see hubby again when he gets home insha'Allah.

As a reminder, you can click on any picture to get a larger view of it.