Well, it was my aim to post at least once a week, on Mondays, so here we are. :D
It's been an "interesting" few days around here. At least for me. And by interesting I really mean kind of cruddy. lol
Something I ate late on the 25th left me with world war 3 going on in my stomach. I thought I would be fine the next morning but not so.
I wasn't eating or drinking anything as my stomach really couldn't handle it. Not a great idea but I was listening to my stomach.
I was also freezing all day and decided to take a shower. Tried and tried but couldn't get warm, and ended up passing out in the shower. I could tell before hand it was coming on so I kneeled down and thankfully wasn't injured, but this was not the highlight of my day.
Passed out once more before I made it out of the bathroom, after which I went to lie in bed under the covers.
Hubby brought home some 7-up for me, which I mixed with water and that seemed to stay down okay. And had some fresh chicken broth later in the night that seemed okay as well.
But... you know that saying, when it rains it pours.... lol
It seems that the shower and being cold had managed to make me slightly ill as well, and last night I had achy bones and a fever.
Doing better today. Managed to make pancakes without passing out though I did have to bring a stool into the kitchen to sit on. lol
Hopefully, tomorrow will bring better things. I'm pretty tired of being sick!
:::
I figured out that yellow split peas and green split peas are basically interchangeable. I'm not sure why I never figured this out before, but why have two different kinds of peas if they are pretty much the same? And what's the deal with the things that look like split peas but they're kind of orange/red? Are they split peas or something else?
Anyways, I've not found any green split peas here in Egypt and I really miss the split pea soup I used to make. After some research I see that you can make split pea with fresh peas but it won't have the same taste as with the split.
But, I will now keep an eye out for yellow split peas and see what I can see!
:::
Still no rain but hubby heard there was a possible storm predicted for later in the week. Boy that would be nice. I don't miss the gray skies of winter where I used to live but I do miss the rain.
I think, perhaps if we lived someplace where I could see the Nile from our apartment, maybe I wouldn't feel it so sharply, but as it is it's just dry dry dry. I miss the water.
Optimally, I'd really love to live by the ocean somewhere. Or at least have a vacation home by the ocean. Not a crowded LA type of area. Someplace a little more quiet.
I remember my first trip here, back in 2007, after we had gotten married, hubby and I were staying at a furnished apartment for a bit and there was a very large and long thunderstorm. Totally awesome. It lasted for a couple of days. Thunder, lightning and rain. I think it was actually a little unusual in its length. Something like that would be nice now.
:::
Missed being with family over the holiday. Miss seeing Christmas lights and decorations everywhere. Missed the feeling of excitement and energy everyone seems to get.
Although as a Muslim I don't celebrate Christmas anymore, it's hard to let go of something you've done every year of your life.
Honestly, Christmas was never a religious celebration for me. It was more of a secular thing I guess you could say. And I think it's that way for a lot of people.
It wasn't so bad when I was living in the States, after becoming Muslim, because even though I wasn't celebrating myself, I could still see the lights and all that stuff. But here in Egypt, not so much.
There are ex pats here who celebrate but you don't see hardly anything by way of decoration.
And most of the Christians who live here are orthodox (no idea what the difference is) and celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
Anyways, missing family. Still feeling homesick. Thinking about where I really want to live in the future. Not sure if I'll be happy here in 10 years? Who knows. Things change. People change. Circumstances change.
But I'd be intrigued by perhaps Italy. Or France....
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Agua por favor
Water was turned off this morning as they were going to be trying to fix the pipes in the building. Again.
Of course this means I can't do much in the house. No dishes, no cleaning, no laundry, no getting lunch ready.
Perfect excuse to be lazy, which is what I would have done anyways. lol
Thankfully water is back on now and laundry is going and lunch/dinner will be going soon.
:::
We still have not had any rain yet this season. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll get any at all before the year is out. Since I've only lived here about 2 years I don't really have a long history of weather to remember to see how abnormal this is. I know that this isn't exactly the rainiest place on earth, but it seems odd to not have had any yet. Even hubby remarked that it was dry.
Alexandria got beat by some horrible storms a short while back, even getting a light dusting of snow, but all we got was a sand storm for 2 days. Which deposited PLENTY of sand on our floors and pretty much everything else with a horizontal surface.
I saw some video of the flooding in Alex, it looked pretty extensive in some areas. Hopefully they will be able to recover from that fairly easily. I am hoping we can go visit there soon but maybe best to wait for another couple of months first.
:::
We finally got our winter blanket cleaned and have it in use on the bed. Alhamdulillah!
Although our weather is not as cold as many places, when it's in the 50's or 60's outside and you don't have a heater to use, it stays pretty darn chilly. My hands, nose and feet are in a semi-permanent state of frostbite until the weather decides to warm up again. lol
We do have the a/c slash heater in the bedroom, and we did use the heater for a couple of days when it started getting cold, but the filters need to be washed and they're a bit of a pain to get to so we've had the heater off since then and I just need to keep reminding someone, since they are taller and can reach better, that they need to be cleaned.
And we finally got the hot water going in the kitchen again, which has been great for not freezing to death while doing dishes. It makes such a huge difference. Very happy about that.
:::
I eat pancakes maybe once or twice a week for breakfast. I don't put any butter or oil in them, only some butter in the pan so they don't stick, so they aren't too bad on the unhealthy side, and I do get some dairy from the milk in them.
In any case, I made some the other day and decided that I would make them rather miniature sized, or smaller than normal anyways, just for something different. I really like eating smaller sized foods for some reason. I just adore chip crumbs. lol
After I had finished making all of the pancakes, I decided to take some pictures, and I was mostly taking them with the macro thingy on the camera to get close shots, but hubby came into the kitchen and saw I was taking pictures and decided I needed to have a syrup bottle in the shot. And then he further decided that we should stick some green apples in the shot. I'm not quite sure what the thinking was here. Artistic license I suppose.
So, here is the picture, as arranged by hubby. :D
:::
I think this has been the longest break I've taken from writing since I moved here and started posting regularly. Just needing a break and not much going on I suppose.
I decided that maybe if I picked one day a week to post, maybe that would be easier to do than reminding myself that I need to post and never getting around to it. Like a schedule eh? I haven't decided what day yet, but I'm leaning towards Mondays. Keep your fingers crossed. :D
:::
I have heard rumors that there is a sewing machine in my immediate future. While this is exciting, I heard this a couple of weeks ago and should have technically had it already, so I know not to hold my breath until it happens.
Insha'Allah we will be getting it sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Although I looked around online for models I was interested in, I'm not sure of the availability here, so we'll have to actually go check to see what we can find. Right now it's between Singer and Brother. I wish I could have brought my Husqvarna machine with me when I moved here but wishing isn't helping much now. lol
:::
It seems that a Kuwait trip will be happening sometime in the near future and though I thought we might have been able to include me in this trip (I even offered to delay the buying of a sewing machine to be able to go) it isn't going to happen on this trip.
I have been assured that hubby will look around and find a decent place for us to stay at so that in the future I will be able to go with him.
I wouldn't say I exactly threatened him about leaving me here while he goes, but he understood that I was not in any way happy about it.
As much as I love and care for his family, being deposited to live at their house while hubby is off in Kuwait for 3 weeks is not okay with me. However, it's also not okay for me to stay in the apartment for 3 weeks on my own.
It's impractical for a bunch of reasons, most of which I think can be solved but perhaps not all. Which is why he is going to look for places for us to stay while he is there this trip.
I really really REALLY hope I will have the sewing machine by the time he goes, so that at least I can fiddle faddle around on the machine every so often. Maybe I'll even finish the couple of quilts I brought with me when I moved here. :D
Of course this means I can't do much in the house. No dishes, no cleaning, no laundry, no getting lunch ready.
Perfect excuse to be lazy, which is what I would have done anyways. lol
Thankfully water is back on now and laundry is going and lunch/dinner will be going soon.
:::
We still have not had any rain yet this season. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll get any at all before the year is out. Since I've only lived here about 2 years I don't really have a long history of weather to remember to see how abnormal this is. I know that this isn't exactly the rainiest place on earth, but it seems odd to not have had any yet. Even hubby remarked that it was dry.
Alexandria got beat by some horrible storms a short while back, even getting a light dusting of snow, but all we got was a sand storm for 2 days. Which deposited PLENTY of sand on our floors and pretty much everything else with a horizontal surface.
I saw some video of the flooding in Alex, it looked pretty extensive in some areas. Hopefully they will be able to recover from that fairly easily. I am hoping we can go visit there soon but maybe best to wait for another couple of months first.
:::
We finally got our winter blanket cleaned and have it in use on the bed. Alhamdulillah!
Although our weather is not as cold as many places, when it's in the 50's or 60's outside and you don't have a heater to use, it stays pretty darn chilly. My hands, nose and feet are in a semi-permanent state of frostbite until the weather decides to warm up again. lol
We do have the a/c slash heater in the bedroom, and we did use the heater for a couple of days when it started getting cold, but the filters need to be washed and they're a bit of a pain to get to so we've had the heater off since then and I just need to keep reminding someone, since they are taller and can reach better, that they need to be cleaned.
And we finally got the hot water going in the kitchen again, which has been great for not freezing to death while doing dishes. It makes such a huge difference. Very happy about that.
:::
I eat pancakes maybe once or twice a week for breakfast. I don't put any butter or oil in them, only some butter in the pan so they don't stick, so they aren't too bad on the unhealthy side, and I do get some dairy from the milk in them.
In any case, I made some the other day and decided that I would make them rather miniature sized, or smaller than normal anyways, just for something different. I really like eating smaller sized foods for some reason. I just adore chip crumbs. lol
After I had finished making all of the pancakes, I decided to take some pictures, and I was mostly taking them with the macro thingy on the camera to get close shots, but hubby came into the kitchen and saw I was taking pictures and decided I needed to have a syrup bottle in the shot. And then he further decided that we should stick some green apples in the shot. I'm not quite sure what the thinking was here. Artistic license I suppose.
So, here is the picture, as arranged by hubby. :D
:::
I think this has been the longest break I've taken from writing since I moved here and started posting regularly. Just needing a break and not much going on I suppose.
I decided that maybe if I picked one day a week to post, maybe that would be easier to do than reminding myself that I need to post and never getting around to it. Like a schedule eh? I haven't decided what day yet, but I'm leaning towards Mondays. Keep your fingers crossed. :D
:::
I have heard rumors that there is a sewing machine in my immediate future. While this is exciting, I heard this a couple of weeks ago and should have technically had it already, so I know not to hold my breath until it happens.
Insha'Allah we will be getting it sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Although I looked around online for models I was interested in, I'm not sure of the availability here, so we'll have to actually go check to see what we can find. Right now it's between Singer and Brother. I wish I could have brought my Husqvarna machine with me when I moved here but wishing isn't helping much now. lol
:::
It seems that a Kuwait trip will be happening sometime in the near future and though I thought we might have been able to include me in this trip (I even offered to delay the buying of a sewing machine to be able to go) it isn't going to happen on this trip.
I have been assured that hubby will look around and find a decent place for us to stay at so that in the future I will be able to go with him.
I wouldn't say I exactly threatened him about leaving me here while he goes, but he understood that I was not in any way happy about it.
As much as I love and care for his family, being deposited to live at their house while hubby is off in Kuwait for 3 weeks is not okay with me. However, it's also not okay for me to stay in the apartment for 3 weeks on my own.
It's impractical for a bunch of reasons, most of which I think can be solved but perhaps not all. Which is why he is going to look for places for us to stay while he is there this trip.
I really really REALLY hope I will have the sewing machine by the time he goes, so that at least I can fiddle faddle around on the machine every so often. Maybe I'll even finish the couple of quilts I brought with me when I moved here. :D
Monday, December 6, 2010
Dirty onions, sprains and vampires!
Well, after almost 3 weeks from when I first caught the latest round of the plague, I'm finally feeling almost normal. Which is good news because I've been dying to get out and go walking now that the weather has finally cooled down. It's been in the 70's this week though I think it did reach 80 the other day. In December! lol
:::
I was cleaning the floors in the apartment today and whenever I clean the floors, I thereafter have to clean the bathtub since that's where the dirty water gets rinsed out at.
Today, as has unfortunately happened before, I was leaning over and scrubbing the far side of the tub and I felt something in my left side protest at me. Uh oh. Sure enough this evening I can feel that I've strained something down there near my middle. I don't know why I'm not more careful since this has happened before and it's not like I forget, but I somehow always seem to think it will be fine.
Maybe it's delirium after cleaning the floors. lol
:::
I find it strange that the onions we get from the store here or whatever market, are the dirtiest pieces of vegetable that I've really ever seen.
It's like someone digs them up after every layer that grows and rubs some dirty sooty stuff on them and then plants them again, so that when they are finally well grown and ripe, when you go to use them you have to peel off about the first 50 layers.
And the dirt isn't just dirt. It does seem very soot like. It gets on your fingers when you're peeling the onion and you really have to do a decent scrub to get it off.
I realize that things aren't made "pretty" here like they are for the grocery stores in the States, I just find it really strange. Maybe that's just how onions are when they grow and in the States they go through some cleaning process before they're put out on the shelves for the consumers.
I've also found that although the regular veggies are edible, much like the onion they are not very nice to look at. Wilted, small, non-uniform, dirty, not smooth, etc.
Unless you buy Organic. There's a company here that does sell what they claim is organic fruits and veggies and some other things and I have to assume that their claim to organic is true. And if it isn't I have no way to know. But their veggies and fruits look so much nicer. A little more expensive of course, but to me, it isn't just how something tastes, I like it to look nice as well.
I realize this is a problem of someone who has the ability to be picky about food, and I realize many people, especially in a country like Egypt, don't have that luxury.
We don't buy organic all that often but whenever I get the chance I try to pick a couple of things up from the import store.
:::
And it seems that it's vampire season again.
The mosquitoes went away when the summer heat came. I guess they can't handle it.
And now that the weather has cooled down they are back and in force!
When we first moved in here last December, we were getting a ton of mosquitoes in the apartment, even with the windows closed.
We aren't sure where they're coming from exactly since there isn't an obvious place for them to get in.
Perhaps one of the cracks along the wood doors to the balcony or a hole in a screen somewhere.
I think though, that it's time to invest in a mosquito net for the bedroom.
As much as I enjoy seeing my husband play "hunter" to try to kill the suckers, enough is enough.
:::
Still no work on the pictures. No real surprise there I suppose. I will keep making the intention to get them done soon. It will happen sooner or later.
It's amazing how relaxed (lazy?) you can become when you let yourself.
With no job to rush off to every morning and no real schedule to keep, I find I just don't get stuff done.
Perhaps I should make myself a schedule....
:::
I was cleaning the floors in the apartment today and whenever I clean the floors, I thereafter have to clean the bathtub since that's where the dirty water gets rinsed out at.
Today, as has unfortunately happened before, I was leaning over and scrubbing the far side of the tub and I felt something in my left side protest at me. Uh oh. Sure enough this evening I can feel that I've strained something down there near my middle. I don't know why I'm not more careful since this has happened before and it's not like I forget, but I somehow always seem to think it will be fine.
Maybe it's delirium after cleaning the floors. lol
:::
I find it strange that the onions we get from the store here or whatever market, are the dirtiest pieces of vegetable that I've really ever seen.
It's like someone digs them up after every layer that grows and rubs some dirty sooty stuff on them and then plants them again, so that when they are finally well grown and ripe, when you go to use them you have to peel off about the first 50 layers.
And the dirt isn't just dirt. It does seem very soot like. It gets on your fingers when you're peeling the onion and you really have to do a decent scrub to get it off.
I realize that things aren't made "pretty" here like they are for the grocery stores in the States, I just find it really strange. Maybe that's just how onions are when they grow and in the States they go through some cleaning process before they're put out on the shelves for the consumers.
I've also found that although the regular veggies are edible, much like the onion they are not very nice to look at. Wilted, small, non-uniform, dirty, not smooth, etc.
Unless you buy Organic. There's a company here that does sell what they claim is organic fruits and veggies and some other things and I have to assume that their claim to organic is true. And if it isn't I have no way to know. But their veggies and fruits look so much nicer. A little more expensive of course, but to me, it isn't just how something tastes, I like it to look nice as well.
I realize this is a problem of someone who has the ability to be picky about food, and I realize many people, especially in a country like Egypt, don't have that luxury.
We don't buy organic all that often but whenever I get the chance I try to pick a couple of things up from the import store.
:::
And it seems that it's vampire season again.
The mosquitoes went away when the summer heat came. I guess they can't handle it.
And now that the weather has cooled down they are back and in force!
When we first moved in here last December, we were getting a ton of mosquitoes in the apartment, even with the windows closed.
We aren't sure where they're coming from exactly since there isn't an obvious place for them to get in.
Perhaps one of the cracks along the wood doors to the balcony or a hole in a screen somewhere.
I think though, that it's time to invest in a mosquito net for the bedroom.
As much as I enjoy seeing my husband play "hunter" to try to kill the suckers, enough is enough.
:::
Still no work on the pictures. No real surprise there I suppose. I will keep making the intention to get them done soon. It will happen sooner or later.
It's amazing how relaxed (lazy?) you can become when you let yourself.
With no job to rush off to every morning and no real schedule to keep, I find I just don't get stuff done.
Perhaps I should make myself a schedule....
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