The market

Went today, this morning, and met with my friend and her boyfriend.
Hubby dropped me at their hotel and went to a meeting downtown, and then me and my friend/bf went down to the khan al khalili, which is the big outdoor shopping market.

We had a nice time walking around and chatting. Saw so many adorable kittens. Just the tiniest little eensy weensy cute things!! I totally wanted one so much.
But as we all know, kittens grow up and although cats are cute, they aren't as cute as kittens. lol

Here is a picture of my friend and her bf.



Hubby met back up with us after his meeting, and we sat at a cafe there at the market and had some lunch and chatted for a bit before we took them back to the hotel so that they could head out on the next leg of their adventure.

This is a boy who was walking by while we were at the cafe. It's common that they carry these big pallets of bread on their heads. If you look, under the pallet there is a cap type of thing that they place on their head. I guess it helps for balance, but it doesn't look like it would help much. It's not tight or strapped on or anything.




Not much else going on. I hope we will go this week to buy some things for the kitchen, however we also need to go back downtown to the mogamma building and take care of my visa before we get a fine. Apparently there is a 15 day grace period, but I think we're fast approaching that deadline.

Fresh doughnuts!

Well, I am feeling quite a bit better, alhamdulillah. Still dragging a bit (or a lot) and a little stuffy, but able to be up and stuff.

Turns out that my friend who is in town came down with what sounds like the same thing I had/have, but I haven't seen her yet so no one can blame it on me! :D

They were supposed to leave tonight to go down to Luxor, but she has been in bed today so they will call us tomorrow and hopefully we can meet before they leave, whenever that is.



My MIL made doughnuts last night. She hasn't made them since I've been here, so it was a nice surprise. They were fried but they weren't overly fried you know? The inside was still very cakey with no oil or heaviness. Very nice. And coated simply with sugar. Oh, and she put the holes back on top of the doughnuts, so they look like they have little hats. Cute. I'll see if there's any left to get a picture.



Here's a picture of the snickerdoodles that I made. I was quite disappointed with the look of them, as in they were flat, but the taste was great.
They usually come out light, fluffy, chewy and airy, and these were light, but flat and more towards the crispy side. I think because they were room temp (and it was hot that day) before going into the oven, that is what made them flat, but not sure. Usually I fridge all my cookie dough before baking, so they go into the oven fairly cool.




Seems hubby is coming down with a cold now, but something different than what I had. His is starting with a cough.
I hope this means we'll be done with getting sick for a while...

Wednesday

It always gets worse before it gets better. That's the expression anyways.

Felt much worse this morning when I woke, but feeling a little better this evening.

I had a fever last night and I was sure my eyeballs were going to burn up in my head. lol

And as much as I ate yesterday (maybe even more than normal), today I barely had any appetite. Though enough of an appetite to eat the cinnamon roll from the bakery after lunch late this afternoon. :D


I have a friend from the States who will be in town starting tomorrow morning. Her and her boyfriend are flying in from their latest vacation spot of Thailand. Before Thailand was Cambodia (do people really go there for vacation??) and before that they had been living in New Zealand for a year.

She has never been to Egypt before, and they couldn't find a guide book before now, so they are hoping to find one at the airport in Thailand. Presumably they are landing in Egypt with no place to stay and no solid plans. And I can't exactly offer them accommodation since we aren't in our own place yet.

We shall see what happens.
I'm still too sick to be going out and about anyways.

Also found someone to maybe go walking with, will update with that when I have further news.

Things have been going pretty well it seems. Alhamdulillah.

Sniffle sniffle sneeze

Well, it appears that I was wrong about two things.

One of them is that we didn't go out Friday night with friends, it was Saturday night.

The other thing is that it wasn't some 24 hour bug I caught, it was a cold.

I've been sniffling and sneezing my way through the morning. Hopefully I won't use up a whole box of tissues. lol

I think my MIL is making me some chicken noodle soup with some fresh zucchini in it. Now if only my dad was here to deliver one of his grilled cheese sandwhiches!!

I'm sure they sell American cheese here though they don't buy it here at my in-laws, the sliced cheese they have is... well, I dunno, it's white and just tastes like... cheese. lol

And they don't appear to have decent bread here, at least not at most of the stores. It reminds me of Wonderbread or something such. It's not horrible, it just isn't great. They have it in a whole wheat flavor but I didn't find it really improved much.

Hopefully I won't get hubby sick. You know how men are when they get sick. lol
Like the whole world is going to end! :D

So, more watching movies in bed today instead of going out shopping for things for the apartment.
It's not all that bad. :)

6 months and Eid Mubarak!

Well, the month of fasting, Ramadan, is finally over! Phew!

When greeting fellow Muslims after the last day of fasting, one of the things you can say is, "Eid mubarak!", which means something along the lines of "Happy Celebration", or "Blessed Celebration".

We are actually on the second day of Eid, though we have not done much. I think it is customary to go visit people during Eid and to bring sweets or little presents for kids.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well, I must have come down with some 24 hour things and we were home all day. Today I slept (well, last night) for about 9+ hours, finally getting up around 1:30 p.m.

Technically we went out but it was on Friday night, and I guess Eid starts with Saturday, so I'm not sure how to call that one. It was in celebration of Eid, just early I guess.

We met up again with hubby's friend and friend's wife, and went to a mall called Dandy Mall. It's fairly large and has a Carrefour in it, which is one of the large grocery stores here in Cairo. Dandy Mall is located outside greater Cairo. You head out like you're going to Sheik Zaid, but turn onto the Alexandria Desert Road. It's kind of just out in the middle of nothing. There's no housing or anything out there that I'm aware of, some occasional store or cafe is all.

Hubby and his friend sat at a cafe and talked and had coffee or whatever, and the wife and I went to Carrefour (where I found Gala apples, yipppeeeeee!!!!), and then walked around the mall a little bit.

When the men found us, my back was starting to get sore from all the walking (two and a half hours or so) and not having sat down, and it was close to midnight I guess, so we decided to call it a night.

Nice to see them again and insha'Allah we will meet up again soon. Hubby's friend is more than happy to sit at home with my hubby while us women go off shopping. lol
Sounds good to me.

In other news, I have been here for 6 months as of the 19th!

I can hardly believe it has been that long. I don't know where the time went, though I guess most of it was sat on my butt doing a whole lot of nothing. lol

Some of the rose is fading from the rose tinted glasses, but I guess it's to be expected. I still like it here, there's just some things that I haven't gotten used to, which I think I mentioned before. Well, the main one being how dirty it is here everywhere.

I don't know how long we will live here. I'm alright with it for now, but I have a hankering to explore other countries as well, something new for both hubby and I.
For some reason I have Paris stuck in my head, but it's not the greatest/easiest place for Muslims to live, and I don't think hubby is particularly excited about even visiting Paris, much less living there.

Not sure when my desire to visit Paris started. It was always a place that I NEVER wanted to go to. Something changed I guess.

Still hoping to get to the States for a visit this winter. Need to bug hubby about details.

Hoping to move in a few days. We all know how that goes!!
lol

Hopefully the next time I post it will be from our new place.

Hey, a girl can dream can't she? :D