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....
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends. I hope you are all enjoying this day with those you love and are able to fill your bellies with plenty of yummy food.
They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Egypt, though I am not averse to celebrating it myself. Just not quite the same if you're the only one celebrating and there aren't any of the usual trappings. Being with others who celebrate is what makes it so great.
Maybe next year I will get it together enough to make a Thanksgiving dinner for hubby and his family. I wanted to the first year I lived here and this year I just kind of fizzled on it. Perhaps due to being sick or who knows what.
I heard it was snowing in the UK and I was a little sad that the weather here is decidedly not really in the realm of Fall yet much less Winter. It was 77 or so today. Maybe this is what it's like to live in Los Angeles for the holidays. Northern California gets more seasonal weather than those living down in the southern half of the state.
In honor of today, here is a little friend I found some years back. He always makes me smile. :D
:::
The weather has been strange actually. It takes a long time until it seems to finally settle down into Fall here. We had temps as high as the 90's just a couple weeks ago and the high 80's the past week or so, but I think it's finally made up its mind now and hopefully we won't see anything above the very low 80's and even that should go soon and we'll have 60's and 70's and I can complain about how cold I am. lol
We finally stopped using the a/c for the season and have yet to use the heater, so at least we're saving some money on the energy bill. We just have the lightest of blankets on the bed, I'm not sure you could even call it a blanket, but I'm at a loss as to anything else to call it. Pretty soon we'll take the "winter" blanket to the cleaners so we can use it and put this light one away.
The water heater in the bathroom will probably start staying on more now. During the summer it's not on as much because it's so hot you don't need that much hot water. And the water stays pretty warm anyways without the heater, but boy oh boy in the winter you really want that hot water. I just wish the hose we use in the bathroom had hot water. Boy that water is a shocker in the cold of winter.
We did have a hot water heater in the kitchen so I could have hot water to do dishes, but there is some problem with it and it's not working. I think we'll need to get it fixed soon because it gets pretty cold in the house during winter and I can't be washing dishes in cold water. My hands will get frostbite or something. lol
:::
Alright, I will endeavor, now that I have the new computer, to finish editing the pyramid walk pictures and get those posted in the next week or so. Hurrah!
Todays video is of the roof on the buiding across the street. It seems every year they get a sheep to slaughter for Eid and they keep itup on the roof until they kill it. Well, we've also seen a mother cat and kittens on the roof recently and so this video shows both the sheep and one of the ktitens.
Here is a link to the video on youtube: video
I have to say, it was nice hearing the sheep make his blaaating sounds. Something different anyways. And definitely nicer than the continual sound of traffic we hear.
Now, even though the sheep is gone, I still hear the kitten at times. Or some kitten anyways.
The other night when we were coming home from the in-laws, we walked into the entry for our building and there was a mother cat standing and two kittens feeding from her. While standing. The whole thing seemed very strange and they were apparently skittish of strangers and so the mom started walking to avoid us and of course the kittens followed. To tell you the truth I'm not even sure they were both her kittens. You never know!
Happy gobbles to you all, enjoy your parades and football and food.
They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Egypt, though I am not averse to celebrating it myself. Just not quite the same if you're the only one celebrating and there aren't any of the usual trappings. Being with others who celebrate is what makes it so great.
Maybe next year I will get it together enough to make a Thanksgiving dinner for hubby and his family. I wanted to the first year I lived here and this year I just kind of fizzled on it. Perhaps due to being sick or who knows what.
I heard it was snowing in the UK and I was a little sad that the weather here is decidedly not really in the realm of Fall yet much less Winter. It was 77 or so today. Maybe this is what it's like to live in Los Angeles for the holidays. Northern California gets more seasonal weather than those living down in the southern half of the state.
In honor of today, here is a little friend I found some years back. He always makes me smile. :D
:::
The weather has been strange actually. It takes a long time until it seems to finally settle down into Fall here. We had temps as high as the 90's just a couple weeks ago and the high 80's the past week or so, but I think it's finally made up its mind now and hopefully we won't see anything above the very low 80's and even that should go soon and we'll have 60's and 70's and I can complain about how cold I am. lol
We finally stopped using the a/c for the season and have yet to use the heater, so at least we're saving some money on the energy bill. We just have the lightest of blankets on the bed, I'm not sure you could even call it a blanket, but I'm at a loss as to anything else to call it. Pretty soon we'll take the "winter" blanket to the cleaners so we can use it and put this light one away.
The water heater in the bathroom will probably start staying on more now. During the summer it's not on as much because it's so hot you don't need that much hot water. And the water stays pretty warm anyways without the heater, but boy oh boy in the winter you really want that hot water. I just wish the hose we use in the bathroom had hot water. Boy that water is a shocker in the cold of winter.
We did have a hot water heater in the kitchen so I could have hot water to do dishes, but there is some problem with it and it's not working. I think we'll need to get it fixed soon because it gets pretty cold in the house during winter and I can't be washing dishes in cold water. My hands will get frostbite or something. lol
:::
Alright, I will endeavor, now that I have the new computer, to finish editing the pyramid walk pictures and get those posted in the next week or so. Hurrah!
Todays video is of the roof on the buiding across the street. It seems every year they get a sheep to slaughter for Eid and they keep itup on the roof until they kill it. Well, we've also seen a mother cat and kittens on the roof recently and so this video shows both the sheep and one of the ktitens.
Here is a link to the video on youtube: video
I have to say, it was nice hearing the sheep make his blaaating sounds. Something different anyways. And definitely nicer than the continual sound of traffic we hear.
Now, even though the sheep is gone, I still hear the kitten at times. Or some kitten anyways.
The other night when we were coming home from the in-laws, we walked into the entry for our building and there was a mother cat standing and two kittens feeding from her. While standing. The whole thing seemed very strange and they were apparently skittish of strangers and so the mom started walking to avoid us and of course the kittens followed. To tell you the truth I'm not even sure they were both her kittens. You never know!
Happy gobbles to you all, enjoy your parades and football and food.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Again with the plague
Well, where to start?
I know I won't remember half the things I wanted to write about. I suppose that's what happens when I wait so long to write.
:::
We just finished celebrating Eid al Adha, which is our second holiday of the year. It always falls a certain number of days after the first Eid, which is celebrated at the end of our fasting month, Ramadan.
This time we went to my in-laws on both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I was able to meet a cousin who was visiting from Jordan and also to see some other cousins that I see a few times a year.
My mother in law was busy in the kitchen as always, and I got to eat fattah both days. Fattah being the rice/garlic dish that I absolutely adore. I even had a dream about it a couple of weeks ago.
It's customary for people to slaughter a sheep/goat on this Eid (or have the butcher do it) and then they share the meat out with those less fortunate and also with friends and family, so there is usually sheep during the Eid meals as well.
Unfortunately, on the second day, Wednesday, it seems I came down with the plague. Hubby has been sick for a week or so and I don't think I have what he has, but maybe he gave me his sick germs and they just mutated into something different in me. Also, half the family seemed to be sick while we were visiting for Eid, so I guess it's going around.
Hubby was nice enough to do most of the dishes yesterday and also boiled a chicken to make me chicken soup. Which was yummy. I'm thankful he is able to help when I'm sick, as I surely wasn't up to anything yesterday.
:::
Two exciting things to share.
I finally got a new computer, alhamdulillah! I didn't get to pick it out but it's pretty spiffy. It's loaded with Windows 7 which I have never used before and which I really haven't taken the time to figure out, but so far it seems like there's some nice changes from the other versions of Windows.
This means that I have no excuse not to finish editing pictures and posting them here.
The second item of excitement was that we bought an iron! Woo! lol
This may not seem exciting but I couldn't wear a lot of the clothes I have because we didn't have an iron. Oddly enough they're kind of expensive here. Which I really find strange. You can certainly get some cheap ones, or cheaper rather, like the ones that weigh about 5 tons and have no steam or anything to them, and you can get some super fancy ones as well. We went with something in the middle.
Now we just need to get an ironing board. lol
I was ironing a skirt the other day on the bed and it's a little bit of a challenge but it can be done.
Hard to iron hubby's shirts though without the board.
Insha'Allah we will get a board this week.
:::
My "baby" boy turned 16 on Tuesday. I am sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with him. Sometimes I worry about what I'm missing, and I know we both miss spending time with each other, but for now this is where I'm at.
It's hard to believe he's so old though. I barely feel older than 16 myself!
I never imagined having kids when I was younger. In fact I definitely didn't want them. But I am so happy that I had my son and the chance to watch him develop and grow.
I certainly don't wish kids upon him anytime soon, but I think I will like being a grandparent. All the fun with not so much of the responsibility. lol
Well, happy birthday to my bubba. Love you and miss you.
:::
Alright, last item for the day (will save some items to post in a few days insha'Allah), here is a link to a video I took a couple of weeks ago.
One afternoon I heard some drums down on the street and decided to see what was going on. I went out onto the balcony and saw that there was a guy who was playing a drum and he had a dog that danced on his hind legs to the drumming. Amusing. And the drumming was nice as well. Of course, donations were accepted.
dancing dog video
I know I won't remember half the things I wanted to write about. I suppose that's what happens when I wait so long to write.
:::
We just finished celebrating Eid al Adha, which is our second holiday of the year. It always falls a certain number of days after the first Eid, which is celebrated at the end of our fasting month, Ramadan.
This time we went to my in-laws on both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I was able to meet a cousin who was visiting from Jordan and also to see some other cousins that I see a few times a year.
My mother in law was busy in the kitchen as always, and I got to eat fattah both days. Fattah being the rice/garlic dish that I absolutely adore. I even had a dream about it a couple of weeks ago.
It's customary for people to slaughter a sheep/goat on this Eid (or have the butcher do it) and then they share the meat out with those less fortunate and also with friends and family, so there is usually sheep during the Eid meals as well.
Unfortunately, on the second day, Wednesday, it seems I came down with the plague. Hubby has been sick for a week or so and I don't think I have what he has, but maybe he gave me his sick germs and they just mutated into something different in me. Also, half the family seemed to be sick while we were visiting for Eid, so I guess it's going around.
Hubby was nice enough to do most of the dishes yesterday and also boiled a chicken to make me chicken soup. Which was yummy. I'm thankful he is able to help when I'm sick, as I surely wasn't up to anything yesterday.
:::
Two exciting things to share.
I finally got a new computer, alhamdulillah! I didn't get to pick it out but it's pretty spiffy. It's loaded with Windows 7 which I have never used before and which I really haven't taken the time to figure out, but so far it seems like there's some nice changes from the other versions of Windows.
This means that I have no excuse not to finish editing pictures and posting them here.
The second item of excitement was that we bought an iron! Woo! lol
This may not seem exciting but I couldn't wear a lot of the clothes I have because we didn't have an iron. Oddly enough they're kind of expensive here. Which I really find strange. You can certainly get some cheap ones, or cheaper rather, like the ones that weigh about 5 tons and have no steam or anything to them, and you can get some super fancy ones as well. We went with something in the middle.
Now we just need to get an ironing board. lol
I was ironing a skirt the other day on the bed and it's a little bit of a challenge but it can be done.
Hard to iron hubby's shirts though without the board.
Insha'Allah we will get a board this week.
:::
My "baby" boy turned 16 on Tuesday. I am sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with him. Sometimes I worry about what I'm missing, and I know we both miss spending time with each other, but for now this is where I'm at.
It's hard to believe he's so old though. I barely feel older than 16 myself!
I never imagined having kids when I was younger. In fact I definitely didn't want them. But I am so happy that I had my son and the chance to watch him develop and grow.
I certainly don't wish kids upon him anytime soon, but I think I will like being a grandparent. All the fun with not so much of the responsibility. lol
Well, happy birthday to my bubba. Love you and miss you.
:::
Alright, last item for the day (will save some items to post in a few days insha'Allah), here is a link to a video I took a couple of weeks ago.
One afternoon I heard some drums down on the street and decided to see what was going on. I went out onto the balcony and saw that there was a guy who was playing a drum and he had a dog that danced on his hind legs to the drumming. Amusing. And the drumming was nice as well. Of course, donations were accepted.
dancing dog video
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A hundred things
I hate it. I love it. It's okay.
It's smelly, it's dirty.
It's full of life.
I've been back and forth lately about my feelings for this city I live in. I feel sure I could find one hundred things I love about it, but also one hundred things that I hate.
I think this is probably normal? I've come to the conclusion that there is no perfect place as such, anywhere on earth. The only perfection we're going to find is the peace we find inside, no matter where we are living.
I find joy here. In the smallest things. A smile, a child walking along with its mother, the way people share with each other, the men who walk arm in arm as friends, there are really so many things and my mind has gone blank.
But I also find so much misery here, and things that make me despair. The beggars you find everywhere, the dirty crumbling buildings, the cart animals that are treated so badly, again there are so many things.
But I do find peace here. Despite the dirt and decay and rudeness and everyday lies people tell each other.
This city, it is full of life. I know there are many cities that could be said of. New York City, Chicago, San Francisco. Most large cities are full of life right? But it's different here. Each city has its own flavor so to speak, and I find that I don't care for San Francisco's flavor at all. It's nice to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. But Cairo, wow! The feeling here is just sublime. If you can let go and really feel this city, how can you not love it?
And now we're back to the wearing down. The traffic, the horns, the yelling, trash everywhere.
I hate it, I love it, It's okay.
:::
We went to visit the in-laws the other day and have lunch. When we got to the door and my mother in law opened it, the first thing she said when she saw me was "Mafeesh". lol
This word means finished in Egyptian. I have maybe lost a few pounds since she saw me last so this was her way of saying I am too thin, like I am all done. She is too funny.
:::
One thing I meant to mention which I don't think I did, was that really, it's a very BAD idea to wear jeans in the humidity here.
I never noticed this fact before because California isn't all that humid (it's actually pretty dry compared to most of the rest of the States), and I have not traveled enough in the humidity to other states at a time when I wore jeans it seems.
But, really, it's ugly. It doesn't matter if your jeans are lightweight and loose, you will still feel like you are the sweatiest thing around on two legs. It is VERY uncomfortable.
I thought I learned this the first time I wore them here on a humid night, but it seems I needed to wear them on another occasion to really get this lesson down. The second time I wore them was on a walk of about 45 minutes, so I had plenty of time for that to really sink in. lol
Am I the only one this affects? Or is the humidity here different? Is there some universal unwritten law that everyone knew but me about not wearing jeans in humidity?
Anyways, winter is coming alhamdulillah and jeans will be on the menu, humidity free! Woo!
:::
We recently celebrated our third wedding anniversary. Time is such a strange thing. Every year when I think about how long I have know my husband, somehow I'm always adding a year or two to the actual number of years. Why this happens I don't know except that time.... well, apparently it's not a constant in my mind.
I'm not sure we did anything too special that night, but I'm not sure we needed to?
Taking a few moments to acknowledge each other and how much we love each other, despite the normal ups and downs, that's enough right?
I remind myself often that even though things aren't perfect here in this country, they aren't perfect anywhere, and I'm happy that I can be with the one that I love. Alhamdulillah.
:::
No pictures this time but next time I'll try to post up some of Cairo tower (different or better than what I posted on Facebook) and also maybe a short video or two I took of it.
It's smelly, it's dirty.
It's full of life.
I've been back and forth lately about my feelings for this city I live in. I feel sure I could find one hundred things I love about it, but also one hundred things that I hate.
I think this is probably normal? I've come to the conclusion that there is no perfect place as such, anywhere on earth. The only perfection we're going to find is the peace we find inside, no matter where we are living.
I find joy here. In the smallest things. A smile, a child walking along with its mother, the way people share with each other, the men who walk arm in arm as friends, there are really so many things and my mind has gone blank.
But I also find so much misery here, and things that make me despair. The beggars you find everywhere, the dirty crumbling buildings, the cart animals that are treated so badly, again there are so many things.
But I do find peace here. Despite the dirt and decay and rudeness and everyday lies people tell each other.
This city, it is full of life. I know there are many cities that could be said of. New York City, Chicago, San Francisco. Most large cities are full of life right? But it's different here. Each city has its own flavor so to speak, and I find that I don't care for San Francisco's flavor at all. It's nice to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. But Cairo, wow! The feeling here is just sublime. If you can let go and really feel this city, how can you not love it?
And now we're back to the wearing down. The traffic, the horns, the yelling, trash everywhere.
I hate it, I love it, It's okay.
:::
We went to visit the in-laws the other day and have lunch. When we got to the door and my mother in law opened it, the first thing she said when she saw me was "Mafeesh". lol
This word means finished in Egyptian. I have maybe lost a few pounds since she saw me last so this was her way of saying I am too thin, like I am all done. She is too funny.
:::
One thing I meant to mention which I don't think I did, was that really, it's a very BAD idea to wear jeans in the humidity here.
I never noticed this fact before because California isn't all that humid (it's actually pretty dry compared to most of the rest of the States), and I have not traveled enough in the humidity to other states at a time when I wore jeans it seems.
But, really, it's ugly. It doesn't matter if your jeans are lightweight and loose, you will still feel like you are the sweatiest thing around on two legs. It is VERY uncomfortable.
I thought I learned this the first time I wore them here on a humid night, but it seems I needed to wear them on another occasion to really get this lesson down. The second time I wore them was on a walk of about 45 minutes, so I had plenty of time for that to really sink in. lol
Am I the only one this affects? Or is the humidity here different? Is there some universal unwritten law that everyone knew but me about not wearing jeans in humidity?
Anyways, winter is coming alhamdulillah and jeans will be on the menu, humidity free! Woo!
:::
We recently celebrated our third wedding anniversary. Time is such a strange thing. Every year when I think about how long I have know my husband, somehow I'm always adding a year or two to the actual number of years. Why this happens I don't know except that time.... well, apparently it's not a constant in my mind.
I'm not sure we did anything too special that night, but I'm not sure we needed to?
Taking a few moments to acknowledge each other and how much we love each other, despite the normal ups and downs, that's enough right?
I remind myself often that even though things aren't perfect here in this country, they aren't perfect anywhere, and I'm happy that I can be with the one that I love. Alhamdulillah.
:::
No pictures this time but next time I'll try to post up some of Cairo tower (different or better than what I posted on Facebook) and also maybe a short video or two I took of it.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What would you dooo-ooouuooo!
So, it seems that Fall has been teasing us for a while here, coming and going as it pleases. I'd appreciate it so much more if it would just stay for a while, until Winter lets say. The temperature at the moment is 104 degrees!
I know that even in November we could get an occasional day of 90's, but 104 in mid October? Bleeehhhhh.....
:::
We have a game here at the apartment that we play. I'll call it "What's That Noise?".
As it so happens, Cairo is a city that is chock a block full of more noises than you could possibly imagine. Hence the title of our game. Sometimes I think we can guess fairly well, and other times we are both left wondering.
There are often sounds which resemble a gunshot, but which could be a car back firing. And really, it could be either.
Quite often we hear loud bangs, as if someone has dropped a load of something heavy from a tall building onto the street. This is also quite possible but hard to verify unless it's happening within sight, which isn't likely.
There is one sound in particular which I hear, though hubby doesn't usually hear it as it seems to be more of a daytime sound. It's reminiscent of something you might hear at a fair. Kind of a squeaky horn type of deal. Or a badly tuned violin. The thing is, sometimes I hear it from further away, and sometimes it sounds very close. So it's apparently a mobile sound. But it's not the kind of thing you'd think would be a car horn, it's not loud and insistent enough to perform a horn's intended purpose. And it seems too loud and unlikely to be a bicycle horn. So this one is really a mystery.
We hear a lot of yelling. Sometimes from actual fights and sometimes people just talking over a longer distance. There is also a couple of periods during the day when kids get out of school (they have staggered start times so they get out a couple times a day) and they are very loud in the street. I wouldn't call it yelling so much but perhaps shouting. There's a difference ya know!
We hear so many noises that I can't begin to describe. It's kind of amusing. Because if we don't let it amuse us, it will drive us crazy.
:::
In a slightly related issue, we also have a "game" called, "What's That Smell??". This one is usually food related and so mostly enjoyable, but occasionally it is not food related and then it becomes quite less enjoyable.
The bad smells are usually coming from the kitchen drain. I don't know what people use in there but the variety of bad smells is truly amazing at times. It was actually fine for a while but recently I've taken to having to keep the plug in the drain so the smell doesn't permeate the entire kitchen and outwards.
We have a neighbor somewhere nearby that likes to cook up seemingly large batches of garlic at odd hours. We keep pretty late hours, so we are often up at 3 or 4 and we can smell the garlic as if we were standing in a field of it. It's just crazy. And this is with windows closed mind you.
I love the smell of garlic but sometimes it's a little much. The eyes water and I get a little sneezy.
I think the most fun is when I can smell something familiar cooking and I can't quite place it, so I kind of walk around doing whatever, sniffing every so often trying to figure out what it is. Sometimes I can catch part of what it is but am left wondering at other parts. Or I know that I've smelled it before, say at the in-laws, but don't know what it is.
And then there is the ever present smell of exhaust/bbq/smog. I know I've talked about it before. To me, if I was asked to pick one smell that represented this city, that would be it. And I have to say it's not all together a bad smell. I mean, it's not like having a bowl or roses on the table, but it's not stinky. Just a smell. The smell of home.
:::
We recently saw the movie Cairo Time, and I have to say, although the story was a bit slow, and that might be an understatement, the scenes from Cairo are amazingly real. Of course, they shot the movie here so it should seem real, but sometimes even when shooting a movie they can make it seem like something that it isn't. This film really gave a pretty good look at some ordinary life here. I'd say it's well worth a look if you're interested in seeing what daily life looks like here.
:::
The breast cancer walk is coming up this Saturday but I'm not sure if we're going to make it or not. We had wanted to go, or rather I had wanted to go, but sometimes things just don't pan out. I'm trying to remain positive but I just have a feeling we're going to miss this one.
We did talk about going to City Stars on Thursday though, which would be nice. It's the 5 story mall here that is actually one of the largest malls in the Middle East? It's certainly the largest mall in Egypt. It's quite huge. It might even be more than 5 stories, I can't remember.
But we thought we could walk around and maybe catch a film in the theater there. We tried to find the theater last time we were there but I think it's located in a slightly separate area than the mall itself and we weren't able to locate it.
And I've only been there once. And all we kind of did was take 5 hours to walk around the whole place, without actually really getting to look at too much in the stores themselves.
Sooo... not sure what the rest of the week will bring but hopefully we'll get out one way or another.
:::
Hopefully some good news coming regarding my mostly broken computer. It's at the HP certified repair/sales place right now. They said to call Thursday and they would let us know what was wrong.
We think it's a power issue, as it seems to be dying all the time. But weather it's the battery or the power cord, or possibly both, or something else all together we don't know.
We are hoping for an inexpensive fix, at which point we will fix it and sell it and get something better insha'Allah.
:::
Here's hoping for some cooler weather!
I know that even in November we could get an occasional day of 90's, but 104 in mid October? Bleeehhhhh.....
:::
We have a game here at the apartment that we play. I'll call it "What's That Noise?".
As it so happens, Cairo is a city that is chock a block full of more noises than you could possibly imagine. Hence the title of our game. Sometimes I think we can guess fairly well, and other times we are both left wondering.
There are often sounds which resemble a gunshot, but which could be a car back firing. And really, it could be either.
Quite often we hear loud bangs, as if someone has dropped a load of something heavy from a tall building onto the street. This is also quite possible but hard to verify unless it's happening within sight, which isn't likely.
There is one sound in particular which I hear, though hubby doesn't usually hear it as it seems to be more of a daytime sound. It's reminiscent of something you might hear at a fair. Kind of a squeaky horn type of deal. Or a badly tuned violin. The thing is, sometimes I hear it from further away, and sometimes it sounds very close. So it's apparently a mobile sound. But it's not the kind of thing you'd think would be a car horn, it's not loud and insistent enough to perform a horn's intended purpose. And it seems too loud and unlikely to be a bicycle horn. So this one is really a mystery.
We hear a lot of yelling. Sometimes from actual fights and sometimes people just talking over a longer distance. There is also a couple of periods during the day when kids get out of school (they have staggered start times so they get out a couple times a day) and they are very loud in the street. I wouldn't call it yelling so much but perhaps shouting. There's a difference ya know!
We hear so many noises that I can't begin to describe. It's kind of amusing. Because if we don't let it amuse us, it will drive us crazy.
:::
In a slightly related issue, we also have a "game" called, "What's That Smell??". This one is usually food related and so mostly enjoyable, but occasionally it is not food related and then it becomes quite less enjoyable.
The bad smells are usually coming from the kitchen drain. I don't know what people use in there but the variety of bad smells is truly amazing at times. It was actually fine for a while but recently I've taken to having to keep the plug in the drain so the smell doesn't permeate the entire kitchen and outwards.
We have a neighbor somewhere nearby that likes to cook up seemingly large batches of garlic at odd hours. We keep pretty late hours, so we are often up at 3 or 4 and we can smell the garlic as if we were standing in a field of it. It's just crazy. And this is with windows closed mind you.
I love the smell of garlic but sometimes it's a little much. The eyes water and I get a little sneezy.
I think the most fun is when I can smell something familiar cooking and I can't quite place it, so I kind of walk around doing whatever, sniffing every so often trying to figure out what it is. Sometimes I can catch part of what it is but am left wondering at other parts. Or I know that I've smelled it before, say at the in-laws, but don't know what it is.
And then there is the ever present smell of exhaust/bbq/smog. I know I've talked about it before. To me, if I was asked to pick one smell that represented this city, that would be it. And I have to say it's not all together a bad smell. I mean, it's not like having a bowl or roses on the table, but it's not stinky. Just a smell. The smell of home.
:::
We recently saw the movie Cairo Time, and I have to say, although the story was a bit slow, and that might be an understatement, the scenes from Cairo are amazingly real. Of course, they shot the movie here so it should seem real, but sometimes even when shooting a movie they can make it seem like something that it isn't. This film really gave a pretty good look at some ordinary life here. I'd say it's well worth a look if you're interested in seeing what daily life looks like here.
:::
The breast cancer walk is coming up this Saturday but I'm not sure if we're going to make it or not. We had wanted to go, or rather I had wanted to go, but sometimes things just don't pan out. I'm trying to remain positive but I just have a feeling we're going to miss this one.
We did talk about going to City Stars on Thursday though, which would be nice. It's the 5 story mall here that is actually one of the largest malls in the Middle East? It's certainly the largest mall in Egypt. It's quite huge. It might even be more than 5 stories, I can't remember.
But we thought we could walk around and maybe catch a film in the theater there. We tried to find the theater last time we were there but I think it's located in a slightly separate area than the mall itself and we weren't able to locate it.
And I've only been there once. And all we kind of did was take 5 hours to walk around the whole place, without actually really getting to look at too much in the stores themselves.
Sooo... not sure what the rest of the week will bring but hopefully we'll get out one way or another.
:::
Hopefully some good news coming regarding my mostly broken computer. It's at the HP certified repair/sales place right now. They said to call Thursday and they would let us know what was wrong.
We think it's a power issue, as it seems to be dying all the time. But weather it's the battery or the power cord, or possibly both, or something else all together we don't know.
We are hoping for an inexpensive fix, at which point we will fix it and sell it and get something better insha'Allah.
:::
Here's hoping for some cooler weather!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Picture day v 2.0
Whoopsie daisy! All those posts I have written in my head somehow haven't made it to the page here. Imagine that. :D
I've been able to do some photo editing so getting a little closer on the pyramid photo's. And in the meantime, here are some miscellaneous food ones. I think I mentioned them in my last post.
First up is the zucchini carpaccio. We liked it so much I think we had it 3 times that week. lol
Just thinly sliced zucchini with oil and lemon drizzled over, then some salt and pepper and last some asiago type cheese on top. Very yummy!
Next we have a couple of pictures of trying to figure out how to bake cookies since I don't have actual cookie sheets. I had been using a large pan tray thingy, but I found that the sides really hindered the baking.
Since this wasn't working well at all, I finally found something flat to use, with a slight modification. It's a uh, thingy you use over pans so that they don't splatter grease. At least I think that's what it's for. I just covered it with foil and it actually worked fairly well, so it is my current cookie sheet. Only having one, baking cookies is a slow and drawn out process.
Next we have the pizza I made from scratch. Well, I made the dough from scratch. I'm not quite making my own cheese yet. lol
The dough turned out really good and it was super super easy. I've been meaning to make it again but haven't yet. Soon insha'Allah.
So this is a before it went into the oven and an after it came out of the oven slide.
Here we have shots of my slices of pizza, minus sauce, and hubby's slices, which did have sauce.
And the final picture for this post, birthday cake! My husband and father kind of but not quite but still almost share a birthday. lol
So this cake was made for both of them, though unfortunately my dad did not get to taste any. Sorry dad!
But I thought of you when I was eating it. :D
:::
Since we're still having trouble with my laptop and I'm not able to use the computer as much, I'm doing more cleaning. There isn't a lot else to do. No tv and there's only so much laundry and dishes to do.
It's nice to get the cleaning done, though it tends to leave me a bit tired afterward. Also, it always feels slightly futile, especially any cleaning that gets done to the balconies, as I know that the dust will be back sooner that you can shake a rag at it. Nevertheless, it feels really nice to be surrounded by clean.
Still a couple of projects to be done, and then I'm not sure what I'll get up to. Still wishing on a sewing machine but not sure when I'll get it. I thought I would buy one when I got back from my trip to the States but holding off for now.
I do have plenty of books to read, however they are all on the computer, and so when it dies quite often, and with no warning, trying to read is a little frustrating. If we had libraries here like we do in the States I imagine I could keep quite occupied.
Hubby actually remembered a library that he used to go to when he was younger and so we will check that out soon insha'Allah and see if they loan books or have any in English.
:::
I found some information on the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt. They are having a walk later this month, well a walk/run, up at the pyramids. It's in connection with the Susan G. Komen foundation and also the Suzanne Muburak Peace Foundation (can't remember it's exact name - she's the President's wife).
The walk itself isn't that long, it's only supposed to last for a total of 45 minutes and I believe it's less than a mile. After the walk they'll have a parade and some ceremony type of thing. Everyone is welcome to join, men, women and children.
I've convinced hubby that we should do the walk. It's not that expensive and the money goes towards a good cause.
Here's a link to the page linky link
I'm really looking forward to this! Will try to take pictures of course.
And that's all folks!
I've been able to do some photo editing so getting a little closer on the pyramid photo's. And in the meantime, here are some miscellaneous food ones. I think I mentioned them in my last post.
First up is the zucchini carpaccio. We liked it so much I think we had it 3 times that week. lol
Just thinly sliced zucchini with oil and lemon drizzled over, then some salt and pepper and last some asiago type cheese on top. Very yummy!
Next we have a couple of pictures of trying to figure out how to bake cookies since I don't have actual cookie sheets. I had been using a large pan tray thingy, but I found that the sides really hindered the baking.
Since this wasn't working well at all, I finally found something flat to use, with a slight modification. It's a uh, thingy you use over pans so that they don't splatter grease. At least I think that's what it's for. I just covered it with foil and it actually worked fairly well, so it is my current cookie sheet. Only having one, baking cookies is a slow and drawn out process.
Next we have the pizza I made from scratch. Well, I made the dough from scratch. I'm not quite making my own cheese yet. lol
The dough turned out really good and it was super super easy. I've been meaning to make it again but haven't yet. Soon insha'Allah.
So this is a before it went into the oven and an after it came out of the oven slide.
Here we have shots of my slices of pizza, minus sauce, and hubby's slices, which did have sauce.
And the final picture for this post, birthday cake! My husband and father kind of but not quite but still almost share a birthday. lol
So this cake was made for both of them, though unfortunately my dad did not get to taste any. Sorry dad!
But I thought of you when I was eating it. :D
:::
Since we're still having trouble with my laptop and I'm not able to use the computer as much, I'm doing more cleaning. There isn't a lot else to do. No tv and there's only so much laundry and dishes to do.
It's nice to get the cleaning done, though it tends to leave me a bit tired afterward. Also, it always feels slightly futile, especially any cleaning that gets done to the balconies, as I know that the dust will be back sooner that you can shake a rag at it. Nevertheless, it feels really nice to be surrounded by clean.
Still a couple of projects to be done, and then I'm not sure what I'll get up to. Still wishing on a sewing machine but not sure when I'll get it. I thought I would buy one when I got back from my trip to the States but holding off for now.
I do have plenty of books to read, however they are all on the computer, and so when it dies quite often, and with no warning, trying to read is a little frustrating. If we had libraries here like we do in the States I imagine I could keep quite occupied.
Hubby actually remembered a library that he used to go to when he was younger and so we will check that out soon insha'Allah and see if they loan books or have any in English.
:::
I found some information on the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt. They are having a walk later this month, well a walk/run, up at the pyramids. It's in connection with the Susan G. Komen foundation and also the Suzanne Muburak Peace Foundation (can't remember it's exact name - she's the President's wife).
The walk itself isn't that long, it's only supposed to last for a total of 45 minutes and I believe it's less than a mile. After the walk they'll have a parade and some ceremony type of thing. Everyone is welcome to join, men, women and children.
I've convinced hubby that we should do the walk. It's not that expensive and the money goes towards a good cause.
Here's a link to the page linky link
I'm really looking forward to this! Will try to take pictures of course.
And that's all folks!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Gasoline clean
Well in the continuing saga of the computer being broken and the internet being out, things are still unsettled. I was using hubby's very small mini laptop for a couple of days which isn't great for editing pictures on and though at the moment I'm on the old "broken" laptop, all my files are on a hard drive which is currently with hubby at work. So, not sure when I'll get to finishing the editing of pictures from our walk. I had really hoped to have them up rather quickly.
:::
The other day I noticed it smelled like gasoline in the bathroom and so I closed the window thinking that would keep the smell out. Only it didn't. I noticed it the next day as well and mentioned to hubby that it smelled like gasoline in the bathroom. He said yeah he had noticed it too and that some people use gasoline to clean out their drains.
My mind kind of just boggled at that. Whaaaaat????? Who on earth would pour gasoline down their drain to clean it? Bleach I can understand. Cleaner specifically for drains I can understand. But gas??? And especially down a shared drain when you don't know what someone else has put down as well?
Sometimes I'm really just stunned at the things people do here that would never fly or that are illegal in the States.
I'm still constantly amazed at the sight of whole families riding motorcycles and scooters, including newborn and young babies, and none of them wearing helmets. Not to mention no one wearing seat belts in cars.
I actually heard something that was one of those amusing/sad things the other day. There were t-shirts being made that had a seat belt printed on them so that it would look like you were wearing your seat belt while driving without you actually having to wear it.
I'm not sure if people understand that they really do save lives or they think that the enforcement is just another way for the police here to earn money. Which is what I was assured was the reason for the new enforcement.
This country is so behind in so many ways. The thinking is so backward. The education is just completely lacking. And further, people don't seem to care. I don't know if this is because they are too busy trying to survive and feed themselves and their families, or if there is some other reason.
Sometimes I feel sure that if everyone in this country could stop looking out for themselves for a while (I mean in terms of being greedy) and put their vision toward the common good and greater goal, this country might actually get somewhere. But I'm doubtful that will happen.
:::
A few weeks ago, just before the end of Ramadan, we went shopping at Metro and Alfa markets. Metro we have been to before, so there wasn't a big surprise in terms of the products and imported goods they carry there, although this particular time they seemed to be lacking in a bunch of the things we are usually looking for. Whether this was due to Eid coming and people stocking up or just the end of Ramadan and the store being depleted I'm not sure.
However, Alfa market was a whole new experience. I had been wanting to go for quite some time now, maybe even as long as a year. It just isn't really on our way anywhere so we never made it, though in reality it isn't all that far away.
Well, they do carry imported goods as well, and the store is quite a bit larger and carrying quite a bit more variety of goods. Not all imported from the States, many imported from Europe, Germany in particular I noticed.
But, although they had more variety, they were also more expensive. Remember that we don't try to figure out how much it would cost in dollars, we treat the pound as if it were a dollar. So paying 30 pounds for some pickle relish was pretty steep. Would you pay 30 dollars for a bottle of pickle relish? Nevertheless, we did. lol
We also bought some cereal. Cereal is not as big here as it is in the States, and most of what I see is imported or a knockoff of the brands that sell in the States. Just a few weeks before I had been visiting the folks in California, and had been eating Post lightly frosted shredded wheat for breakfast on many mornings, and though I had not seen any in our regular store here, I did see some at Alfa. The price was just crazy though. I told hubby it was too much to spend for a box of cereal. He really wanted me to just get it so that I would have something to eat for breakfast besides the breads I make all the time. So, 47 pounds for a box of cereal. Crazy.
I'm actually just about to open the box now. We had so much food towards the end of Ramadan and for Eid that I really didn't have a place to keep an open box of cereal, as I wanted to keep it in the fridge. So... lightly frosted wheat, at 47 pounds, here I come! I plan to eat small amounts at a time to make it last. I just can't justify paying that much for cereal on a regular basis. We also got a box of some knockoff brand of frosted flakes, but the price wasn't nearly as much at *only* 27 pounds. lol
:::
New foods I have made lately, which will have pictures at some point here, include home made pizza, zucchini carpaccio, nachos, and salsa (no picture on that one). There could be some more but that's what I'm remembering at the moment.
I've also made a couple of things for hubby that he's never had before. Sloppy joes, which I made with a mix I brought back from the States, and "American" style (or maybe just my style, lol) tuna sandwhiches.
Hubby never heard of mixing mayo and mustard and relish with tuna, they don't do that kind of thing here, so though he was skeptical of it he tried it and was actually really pleased with it and had it several times after the first. He had always heard me talking about making my son tuna sandwiches when I was in the States and so he finally got to try them. I realize people do tuna differently, some adding onions or celery or pickles or what have you, this is just how mine evolved. Relish is easier than chopping up pickles. lol
:::
So, hopefully pictures to come soon, just don't know when.
:::
The other day I noticed it smelled like gasoline in the bathroom and so I closed the window thinking that would keep the smell out. Only it didn't. I noticed it the next day as well and mentioned to hubby that it smelled like gasoline in the bathroom. He said yeah he had noticed it too and that some people use gasoline to clean out their drains.
My mind kind of just boggled at that. Whaaaaat????? Who on earth would pour gasoline down their drain to clean it? Bleach I can understand. Cleaner specifically for drains I can understand. But gas??? And especially down a shared drain when you don't know what someone else has put down as well?
Sometimes I'm really just stunned at the things people do here that would never fly or that are illegal in the States.
I'm still constantly amazed at the sight of whole families riding motorcycles and scooters, including newborn and young babies, and none of them wearing helmets. Not to mention no one wearing seat belts in cars.
I actually heard something that was one of those amusing/sad things the other day. There were t-shirts being made that had a seat belt printed on them so that it would look like you were wearing your seat belt while driving without you actually having to wear it.
I'm not sure if people understand that they really do save lives or they think that the enforcement is just another way for the police here to earn money. Which is what I was assured was the reason for the new enforcement.
This country is so behind in so many ways. The thinking is so backward. The education is just completely lacking. And further, people don't seem to care. I don't know if this is because they are too busy trying to survive and feed themselves and their families, or if there is some other reason.
Sometimes I feel sure that if everyone in this country could stop looking out for themselves for a while (I mean in terms of being greedy) and put their vision toward the common good and greater goal, this country might actually get somewhere. But I'm doubtful that will happen.
:::
A few weeks ago, just before the end of Ramadan, we went shopping at Metro and Alfa markets. Metro we have been to before, so there wasn't a big surprise in terms of the products and imported goods they carry there, although this particular time they seemed to be lacking in a bunch of the things we are usually looking for. Whether this was due to Eid coming and people stocking up or just the end of Ramadan and the store being depleted I'm not sure.
However, Alfa market was a whole new experience. I had been wanting to go for quite some time now, maybe even as long as a year. It just isn't really on our way anywhere so we never made it, though in reality it isn't all that far away.
Well, they do carry imported goods as well, and the store is quite a bit larger and carrying quite a bit more variety of goods. Not all imported from the States, many imported from Europe, Germany in particular I noticed.
But, although they had more variety, they were also more expensive. Remember that we don't try to figure out how much it would cost in dollars, we treat the pound as if it were a dollar. So paying 30 pounds for some pickle relish was pretty steep. Would you pay 30 dollars for a bottle of pickle relish? Nevertheless, we did. lol
We also bought some cereal. Cereal is not as big here as it is in the States, and most of what I see is imported or a knockoff of the brands that sell in the States. Just a few weeks before I had been visiting the folks in California, and had been eating Post lightly frosted shredded wheat for breakfast on many mornings, and though I had not seen any in our regular store here, I did see some at Alfa. The price was just crazy though. I told hubby it was too much to spend for a box of cereal. He really wanted me to just get it so that I would have something to eat for breakfast besides the breads I make all the time. So, 47 pounds for a box of cereal. Crazy.
I'm actually just about to open the box now. We had so much food towards the end of Ramadan and for Eid that I really didn't have a place to keep an open box of cereal, as I wanted to keep it in the fridge. So... lightly frosted wheat, at 47 pounds, here I come! I plan to eat small amounts at a time to make it last. I just can't justify paying that much for cereal on a regular basis. We also got a box of some knockoff brand of frosted flakes, but the price wasn't nearly as much at *only* 27 pounds. lol
:::
New foods I have made lately, which will have pictures at some point here, include home made pizza, zucchini carpaccio, nachos, and salsa (no picture on that one). There could be some more but that's what I'm remembering at the moment.
I've also made a couple of things for hubby that he's never had before. Sloppy joes, which I made with a mix I brought back from the States, and "American" style (or maybe just my style, lol) tuna sandwhiches.
Hubby never heard of mixing mayo and mustard and relish with tuna, they don't do that kind of thing here, so though he was skeptical of it he tried it and was actually really pleased with it and had it several times after the first. He had always heard me talking about making my son tuna sandwiches when I was in the States and so he finally got to try them. I realize people do tuna differently, some adding onions or celery or pickles or what have you, this is just how mine evolved. Relish is easier than chopping up pickles. lol
:::
So, hopefully pictures to come soon, just don't know when.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Oopsy Daisy!
Well my computer is trying to die on me again. Poor old thing has been much used.
I'm still in the process of getting the pyramid walk pictures ready to post. And until the computer is a little more stable that's kind of on hold. Hopefully we will "fix" the computer in the next day or two and I can get back to editing pictures.
The weather has been much nicer as of late. High 80's to low 90's. Fall is coming for sure and I can't wait.
Of course, when it gets colder and I go to take a hot shower and the hot water doesn't last long enough I'll be wishing for warmer weather again. lol
I've done some nice baking and made some new dishes lately. Exciting stuff. I'll write about it later.
So, this is not really a post but kind of a post. Just a holler that I'm still alive and as soon as this piece of... uh.. *ahem*, computer is fixed, I'll get back to posting and pictures insha'Allah.
I'm still in the process of getting the pyramid walk pictures ready to post. And until the computer is a little more stable that's kind of on hold. Hopefully we will "fix" the computer in the next day or two and I can get back to editing pictures.
The weather has been much nicer as of late. High 80's to low 90's. Fall is coming for sure and I can't wait.
Of course, when it gets colder and I go to take a hot shower and the hot water doesn't last long enough I'll be wishing for warmer weather again. lol
I've done some nice baking and made some new dishes lately. Exciting stuff. I'll write about it later.
So, this is not really a post but kind of a post. Just a holler that I'm still alive and as soon as this piece of... uh.. *ahem*, computer is fixed, I'll get back to posting and pictures insha'Allah.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
This morning
Woke up waaaaay too early this morning. Our sleep schedule since Ramadan ended has been very irregular and trying to get back to a decent schedule is painful. I feel like a zombie. lol
But, the plus side of getting up at or before 6 a.m. (4:45 a.m. this morning, unintentionally to be sure), instead of going to bed around that time, is that, well.... hmmm... I was sure I had a point there for a minute but upon further reflection, I can't think of anything. lol
However the sky was interesting this morning. Full of clouds and colors and not as humid as usual but still a bit damp. It gets SO humid at night/early morning here. Yesterday morning or the day before when we got up, there was actually a slight chill in the air and hardly any humidity. Plus a bit of a breeze. Very nice.
So anyways, back to the sky this morning, I took a picture, though I don't think this really captures how it looked in person. The grey stuff that almost looks like buildings at the back of the skyline is just clouds! Or smog. Or uh, something. It seems being precise isn't one of my strong points at 7 a.m. lol
But, the plus side of getting up at or before 6 a.m. (4:45 a.m. this morning, unintentionally to be sure), instead of going to bed around that time, is that, well.... hmmm... I was sure I had a point there for a minute but upon further reflection, I can't think of anything. lol
However the sky was interesting this morning. Full of clouds and colors and not as humid as usual but still a bit damp. It gets SO humid at night/early morning here. Yesterday morning or the day before when we got up, there was actually a slight chill in the air and hardly any humidity. Plus a bit of a breeze. Very nice.
So anyways, back to the sky this morning, I took a picture, though I don't think this really captures how it looked in person. The grey stuff that almost looks like buildings at the back of the skyline is just clouds! Or smog. Or uh, something. It seems being precise isn't one of my strong points at 7 a.m. lol
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Walkabout
Well, we finally did it, we walked to the pyramids! Wow it was a long walk, about two hours, but I got some great photo's along the way and at the pyramids themselves.
Will be making a page like I did for my vacation photo's so that it won't be too download heavy with pictures on the main page here. I will link to it when I do, hopefully in the next day or so, but I hope to have at least a few photo's to post here in the main section within the next day.
Right now I'm exhausted (can't imagine how I'll feel tomorrow) and so more details will have to wait.
** Alright, it's officially tomorrow now. Still tired but feeling some better. I posted these photo's on facebook so if you've seen them there then there is nothing new. Haven't started to work on the rest yet. All in good time. But I do need to get the writing done soon or I'll start forgetting, so hopefully in just a little bit.
Okay, it seems that blogger doesn't want to upload any of my pictures right now, so I'll try again later, sorry!
Will be making a page like I did for my vacation photo's so that it won't be too download heavy with pictures on the main page here. I will link to it when I do, hopefully in the next day or so, but I hope to have at least a few photo's to post here in the main section within the next day.
Right now I'm exhausted (can't imagine how I'll feel tomorrow) and so more details will have to wait.
** Alright, it's officially tomorrow now. Still tired but feeling some better. I posted these photo's on facebook so if you've seen them there then there is nothing new. Haven't started to work on the rest yet. All in good time. But I do need to get the writing done soon or I'll start forgetting, so hopefully in just a little bit.
Okay, it seems that blogger doesn't want to upload any of my pictures right now, so I'll try again later, sorry!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Eid Mubarak!
Well our month of fasting, Ramadan, is over. Now we have our 3 days of celebration, Eid
I will try to post a little more this afternoon and add a few miscellaneous pictures. At the moment I have pizza dough rising and I am about to make some cookies!
Hopefully tomorrow we'll be doing the special thing I mentioned in my last post and insha'Allah I will have some great pictures to go with a post about it.
** Pizza is out of the oven and eaten and MAN was it good!! Relatively easy to make as well. Will post a link to the dough recipe I used later, which is actually a 5 minute instruction video from youtube. Yum!!
Looks like we'll be having pizza more regularly around here insha'Allah.
=)
I will try to post a little more this afternoon and add a few miscellaneous pictures. At the moment I have pizza dough rising and I am about to make some cookies!
Hopefully tomorrow we'll be doing the special thing I mentioned in my last post and insha'Allah I will have some great pictures to go with a post about it.
** Pizza is out of the oven and eaten and MAN was it good!! Relatively easy to make as well. Will post a link to the dough recipe I used later, which is actually a 5 minute instruction video from youtube. Yum!!
Looks like we'll be having pizza more regularly around here insha'Allah.
=)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Best Days
Last night as I was laying (lying?) in bed and trying to sleep, I was thinking that I would ask my husband in the morning, what were his best days. Not necessarily the happiest, but the best.
And then I started thinking of my own best days.
The first one I thought of, and this will sound weird until I explain it, is the day that I left to move to Egypt.
It was a sad day to be sure, leaving family and friends and home.
But it was also a day when I felt the love for my so so strongly. And felt how much he really means to me.
It seems that in our day to day lives, when we live with people (or work with them or what have you), we tend to take them for granted. We do the same things over and over, falling into ruts and grooves. We forget how much we value someone and what they mean to us. Even if you know you love them, until something happens to bump you from your rut or groove, you maybe forget the depth or strength.
My son means the world to me and I value him and the fact that he is in my life. He is a wonderful individual and I'm so looking forward to seeing what he will contribute to this world.
Anyways, that was the first best day I thought of. A reminder of how much I loved my son.
The second was the day I first visited Egypt and met my fiance (now husband). Wow what a best day that was. I don't remember all the details from that day. But I remember riding in the cab on the way from the airport to his parent's house, and thinking how happy I was to be with him and in Egypt.
There are other days of course. Hopefully we've all had many best days. And many best days to come.
:::
I meant to post more during Ramadan but that didn't seem to happen. We're drawing to a close for the month with just under a week or so left to fast. I believe the last day of fasting will be next Thursday insha'Allah.
And then we will have 3 days of Eid, in which most people are off work and celebrating. It's kind of like Christmas in the States. Visiting with family, lots of good food, wearing nice clothes, etc.
We have a plan during Eid, to do something special, but I don't want to talk about it until we do it insha'Allah and then hopefully I'll have some pictures to post. I'm really excited and can't wait.
And then I started thinking of my own best days.
The first one I thought of, and this will sound weird until I explain it, is the day that I left to move to Egypt.
It was a sad day to be sure, leaving family and friends and home.
But it was also a day when I felt the love for my so so strongly. And felt how much he really means to me.
It seems that in our day to day lives, when we live with people (or work with them or what have you), we tend to take them for granted. We do the same things over and over, falling into ruts and grooves. We forget how much we value someone and what they mean to us. Even if you know you love them, until something happens to bump you from your rut or groove, you maybe forget the depth or strength.
My son means the world to me and I value him and the fact that he is in my life. He is a wonderful individual and I'm so looking forward to seeing what he will contribute to this world.
Anyways, that was the first best day I thought of. A reminder of how much I loved my son.
The second was the day I first visited Egypt and met my fiance (now husband). Wow what a best day that was. I don't remember all the details from that day. But I remember riding in the cab on the way from the airport to his parent's house, and thinking how happy I was to be with him and in Egypt.
There are other days of course. Hopefully we've all had many best days. And many best days to come.
:::
I meant to post more during Ramadan but that didn't seem to happen. We're drawing to a close for the month with just under a week or so left to fast. I believe the last day of fasting will be next Thursday insha'Allah.
And then we will have 3 days of Eid, in which most people are off work and celebrating. It's kind of like Christmas in the States. Visiting with family, lots of good food, wearing nice clothes, etc.
We have a plan during Eid, to do something special, but I don't want to talk about it until we do it insha'Allah and then hopefully I'll have some pictures to post. I'm really excited and can't wait.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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.
:::
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)
:::
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
::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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)
:::
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
::
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.
:::
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.
:::
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
Monday, August 2, 2010
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
:::
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.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Cal ih for nigh A
Well we are back from a quick overnight trip to California to drop my son off and check on some things I had in storage.
I think we were in California for all of maybe 24 hours or so. Stayed overnight at a nice hotel, though after seeing all the exposes they do on hotels nowadays, I was feeling slightly germaphobic. lol
I was sorry to drop my son off but we'll see him again in a week. It's been great spending time with him and I've missed him so much. He's a great kid and insha'Allah he'll keep growing to be a great man.
Saw a friend who I didn't get to see before I moved to Cairo and also met her daughter who I had never met as she was only a month old when I moved. Nice to meet with a friend since I don't really have any in Cairo.
So here are a few pictures from the trip. In no particular order.
This is from this afternoon, on our drive back. I can't remember the names of the lakes right so you don't get a name with it. lol
These are some baby cows that live where my son lives at. Apparently my son's house shares a yard with a couple other people so they have a lot of animals - cows, goats, ducks, chickens, geese, etc.
There were some baby ducks that were too cute.
This was monkey enjoying the ride into California. We were somewhere around Sacramento at this point. I think he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the governor. :D
This is a little over halfway driving from California to the folks place. Lots of wide open fields, and because it's summer and it's hot with low humidity, everything turns brown.
This is a picture my son took of me when we were just starting our drive on Saturday morning. The long boring hours in the car had not hit yet. lol
It's a beautiful drive but it's also a rather dull one and almost 4 hours.
Took my parents out for dinner on Saturday night. I ordered the home made mac n cheese with a side of veggies. The mac n cheese is great. I'm sure the veggies were too, but I didn't have any of them!! (Shhh... don't tell my husband!).
All in all it was a nice trip. It was odd driving around the town I grew up in and lived in most of my life. Lots of conflicting emotions. I miss driving around and the freedom of going wherever I want to go without the hassle of traffic or taking a taxi or whatever. But I don't miss the rut my life was in, and the grooves I had worn into my life in this city. Plus and minus, like so many things in life.
Good to be back at the folks.
I think we were in California for all of maybe 24 hours or so. Stayed overnight at a nice hotel, though after seeing all the exposes they do on hotels nowadays, I was feeling slightly germaphobic. lol
I was sorry to drop my son off but we'll see him again in a week. It's been great spending time with him and I've missed him so much. He's a great kid and insha'Allah he'll keep growing to be a great man.
Saw a friend who I didn't get to see before I moved to Cairo and also met her daughter who I had never met as she was only a month old when I moved. Nice to meet with a friend since I don't really have any in Cairo.
So here are a few pictures from the trip. In no particular order.
These are some baby cows that live where my son lives at. Apparently my son's house shares a yard with a couple other people so they have a lot of animals - cows, goats, ducks, chickens, geese, etc.
There were some baby ducks that were too cute.
This was monkey enjoying the ride into California. We were somewhere around Sacramento at this point. I think he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the governor. :D
This is a little over halfway driving from California to the folks place. Lots of wide open fields, and because it's summer and it's hot with low humidity, everything turns brown.
This is a picture my son took of me when we were just starting our drive on Saturday morning. The long boring hours in the car had not hit yet. lol
It's a beautiful drive but it's also a rather dull one and almost 4 hours.
Took my parents out for dinner on Saturday night. I ordered the home made mac n cheese with a side of veggies. The mac n cheese is great. I'm sure the veggies were too, but I didn't have any of them!! (Shhh... don't tell my husband!).
All in all it was a nice trip. It was odd driving around the town I grew up in and lived in most of my life. Lots of conflicting emotions. I miss driving around and the freedom of going wherever I want to go without the hassle of traffic or taking a taxi or whatever. But I don't miss the rut my life was in, and the grooves I had worn into my life in this city. Plus and minus, like so many things in life.
Good to be back at the folks.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
On Time!
Enjoying my stay here at the folks house. For the most part it's pretty lazy and comfortable and relaxing.
One difference that I've noticed is that whereas in the Middle East, time is approximate, here it is very precise. When someone says 2:30 here, they don't mean 2:45 or 3:00 or as soon as you can make it, they really mean 2:30. It's a little bit of an adjustment after having no schedule and not having to rush for almost a year and a half for anything. It's not bad, just a difference.
We saw a movie yesterday, Sorcerer's Apprentice. We all really liked it. It's nice to see movies in the theater instead of on your computer. lol
Thinking about walking down and getting some video or pictures of the geese that hang around this one area nearby. Not sure if I'll do that today or another day though. I did get some video this morning of all the birds and squirrels in the back yard. Well, it's more of a back strip, long and thin. Anyways, it's nice to wake up every morning and have scampering animals to watch.
Here is a picture of some birds on the seed sock that is hanging from the patio.
The other day we had a great thunder and lightning storm. It did rain but not too much, mostly just the thunder and lightning. I had a great video shot, or would have, of some lightning, but one of the porch posts got in the way and obscured it completely. lol
Here are the hills across the way during the storm. I'm sure it was raining plenty up on top there.
I might try to upload some short videos to youtube later, but I got a new camera and it takes really large sized photos and videos, and while I can easily fix the file size on the photos, I'm not sure how on the videos, and they might just be too large to upload.
:::
I have noticed some stares since I got here. I guess people here are not used to seeing a woman wearing a head scarf. Well, the town size is approximately 3,000 people (it was under that on the 2000 census), and I can't be positive, but I really doubt there are any other Muslims living in a close proximity. Perhaps in Reno, but that's 45 minutes away.
The stares aren't really nasty or mean, mostly just curious. You can see people whispering sometimes after catching sight of me. I just try to act "normal", lol, and don't really let it bother me, but it's hard not to notice. I've tried, in general, to be more smiley or something when out in public, as a smile can make such a big difference to your appearance. I had forgotten what it was like not to look so much like everyone else, as it's the norm for women to be wearing a scarf in Egypt.
Maybe something positive will come from this, who knows.
One difference that I've noticed is that whereas in the Middle East, time is approximate, here it is very precise. When someone says 2:30 here, they don't mean 2:45 or 3:00 or as soon as you can make it, they really mean 2:30. It's a little bit of an adjustment after having no schedule and not having to rush for almost a year and a half for anything. It's not bad, just a difference.
We saw a movie yesterday, Sorcerer's Apprentice. We all really liked it. It's nice to see movies in the theater instead of on your computer. lol
Thinking about walking down and getting some video or pictures of the geese that hang around this one area nearby. Not sure if I'll do that today or another day though. I did get some video this morning of all the birds and squirrels in the back yard. Well, it's more of a back strip, long and thin. Anyways, it's nice to wake up every morning and have scampering animals to watch.
Here is a picture of some birds on the seed sock that is hanging from the patio.
The other day we had a great thunder and lightning storm. It did rain but not too much, mostly just the thunder and lightning. I had a great video shot, or would have, of some lightning, but one of the porch posts got in the way and obscured it completely. lol
Here are the hills across the way during the storm. I'm sure it was raining plenty up on top there.
I might try to upload some short videos to youtube later, but I got a new camera and it takes really large sized photos and videos, and while I can easily fix the file size on the photos, I'm not sure how on the videos, and they might just be too large to upload.
:::
I have noticed some stares since I got here. I guess people here are not used to seeing a woman wearing a head scarf. Well, the town size is approximately 3,000 people (it was under that on the 2000 census), and I can't be positive, but I really doubt there are any other Muslims living in a close proximity. Perhaps in Reno, but that's 45 minutes away.
The stares aren't really nasty or mean, mostly just curious. You can see people whispering sometimes after catching sight of me. I just try to act "normal", lol, and don't really let it bother me, but it's hard not to notice. I've tried, in general, to be more smiley or something when out in public, as a smile can make such a big difference to your appearance. I had forgotten what it was like not to look so much like everyone else, as it's the norm for women to be wearing a scarf in Egypt.
Maybe something positive will come from this, who knows.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Ah Paris, oui oui
Well here I am back in the United States. It is kind of strange. In one way it feels like I never left and yet... even though everything is the same, it's different too. Still trying to figure that out.
Had a slightly rough trip. Pretty much everything that could go slightly wrong did. lol
However I made it and I'm happy to be here.
The flight from Cairo to Paris was fairly uneventful. We had screens in the backs of the seats in front of us so we could watch movies or whatever. It's one of the reasons that I picked Air France, because their planes are pretty nice. My seat mate was fairly quiet and didn't seem to want to talk at all but she wasn't necessarily unfriendly.
We landed in Paris just before sunrise and by the time we got off the plane and I was walking through the terminal, the sun was coming up. It was really beautiful, though the picture below doesn't necessarily show it.
I used the bathroom shortly after arriving. The airport was pretty empty seeing as how we landed at 6 a.m. and not even the shops were open. In any case, there were people constantly cleaning the bathrooms and they were actually pretty nice. I took a couple of pictures because I liked the color. lol
The first picture is in the actual uh, stall.
And then the sinks that I liked. They just kind of flowed all the way down, not completely separate. And you can see me in the mirror at the end.
I was waiting in one particular are of the terminal, gate E65 I believe, which was all the way at one end. About 5 to 10 minutes before my flight was due to leave, a lady made an announcement that my flight had changed gates and was down at the other end of the terminal. Oh joy! I got up and put my laptop bag over one shoulder and my large purse bag on the other and made a mad and very long dash to the other end.
I'm sure it took over 5 minutes to get there and I was so sure I had missed the flight. Thankfully they were just starting to load people on.
Most of the time I was waiting in the terminal it was beautiful and sunny outside but towards the end it got cloudy and I could see when I got to the second gate that it was raining outside and I heard some thunder. I was so thrilled I can't tell you. We get so little rain in Cairo that it was just joyful.
So we all got on the plane and situated. I took a picture out the window to show the rain. lol
I had monkey with me, he wanted to visit the States and see his family and friends. Here he is waiting on the plane for something to eat. He was pretty hungry.
And then the waiting started. At first they said they were waiting for some baggage. And then half hour later it was because there was lightning on the runway and also because of an air show going on because of their national holiday. I think we waited about an hour and a half before actually taking off. Which sucked as the flight is long enough to begin with. Also, these seats did NOT have the screens in the back of them, so that cut out almost all options as far as watching anything. Very disappointing on such a long flight and I'm going to see what I can find out about the return flight and whether the plane will have screens or not.
Anyways, that flight lasted forever. And ever. And ever. But my seatmates were nice, a young couple going home from some vacation or other. And the flight attendants on Air France are always super friendly, more than any others I have ever encountered. It's great.
They stopped me a couple of time in immigration to ask a slew of questions but they were nice and aside from the fact that I was super tired from not sleeping much or well on the flights, I didn't mind.
And then after I got my luggage, one piece of which I thought they lost as it didn't turn up til about 10 minutes after all of the rest of the plane's luggage had come out, I made my way out to my parents and son who were waiting and it was so nice! We hugged and hello'd and got started out towards the car.
Because the flight was delayed and it took so long going through immigration and to get luggage, we ended up hitting a lot more commute traffic than anticipated. After an hour and a half driving we stopped for an early dinner and then got back on the road. 3 hours or so later and we finally got home.
All in all a very long time from leaving the apartment in Cairo to arriving home here at the folks. Over 24 hours. I was so tired and wiped out. I had wanted to take a nice hot shower and get to bed but I didn't manage much before I just went to sleep. lol
Anyways, nice to be here. Very different than what I've been used to for the past year and four months.
Had a slightly rough trip. Pretty much everything that could go slightly wrong did. lol
However I made it and I'm happy to be here.
The flight from Cairo to Paris was fairly uneventful. We had screens in the backs of the seats in front of us so we could watch movies or whatever. It's one of the reasons that I picked Air France, because their planes are pretty nice. My seat mate was fairly quiet and didn't seem to want to talk at all but she wasn't necessarily unfriendly.
We landed in Paris just before sunrise and by the time we got off the plane and I was walking through the terminal, the sun was coming up. It was really beautiful, though the picture below doesn't necessarily show it.
I used the bathroom shortly after arriving. The airport was pretty empty seeing as how we landed at 6 a.m. and not even the shops were open. In any case, there were people constantly cleaning the bathrooms and they were actually pretty nice. I took a couple of pictures because I liked the color. lol
The first picture is in the actual uh, stall.
And then the sinks that I liked. They just kind of flowed all the way down, not completely separate. And you can see me in the mirror at the end.
I was waiting in one particular are of the terminal, gate E65 I believe, which was all the way at one end. About 5 to 10 minutes before my flight was due to leave, a lady made an announcement that my flight had changed gates and was down at the other end of the terminal. Oh joy! I got up and put my laptop bag over one shoulder and my large purse bag on the other and made a mad and very long dash to the other end.
I'm sure it took over 5 minutes to get there and I was so sure I had missed the flight. Thankfully they were just starting to load people on.
Most of the time I was waiting in the terminal it was beautiful and sunny outside but towards the end it got cloudy and I could see when I got to the second gate that it was raining outside and I heard some thunder. I was so thrilled I can't tell you. We get so little rain in Cairo that it was just joyful.
So we all got on the plane and situated. I took a picture out the window to show the rain. lol
I had monkey with me, he wanted to visit the States and see his family and friends. Here he is waiting on the plane for something to eat. He was pretty hungry.
And then the waiting started. At first they said they were waiting for some baggage. And then half hour later it was because there was lightning on the runway and also because of an air show going on because of their national holiday. I think we waited about an hour and a half before actually taking off. Which sucked as the flight is long enough to begin with. Also, these seats did NOT have the screens in the back of them, so that cut out almost all options as far as watching anything. Very disappointing on such a long flight and I'm going to see what I can find out about the return flight and whether the plane will have screens or not.
Anyways, that flight lasted forever. And ever. And ever. But my seatmates were nice, a young couple going home from some vacation or other. And the flight attendants on Air France are always super friendly, more than any others I have ever encountered. It's great.
They stopped me a couple of time in immigration to ask a slew of questions but they were nice and aside from the fact that I was super tired from not sleeping much or well on the flights, I didn't mind.
And then after I got my luggage, one piece of which I thought they lost as it didn't turn up til about 10 minutes after all of the rest of the plane's luggage had come out, I made my way out to my parents and son who were waiting and it was so nice! We hugged and hello'd and got started out towards the car.
Because the flight was delayed and it took so long going through immigration and to get luggage, we ended up hitting a lot more commute traffic than anticipated. After an hour and a half driving we stopped for an early dinner and then got back on the road. 3 hours or so later and we finally got home.
All in all a very long time from leaving the apartment in Cairo to arriving home here at the folks. Over 24 hours. I was so tired and wiped out. I had wanted to take a nice hot shower and get to bed but I didn't manage much before I just went to sleep. lol
Anyways, nice to be here. Very different than what I've been used to for the past year and four months.
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