What Makes the Ideal Bookshelf?

A few months (?!) ago, my friend posted a request on her blog - photograph your ideal bookshelf.

I wanted to settle in to the new apartment before I took the picture and I've taken pictures of two of the three bookshelves in my study. These aren't my IDEAL bookshelves, as many of my favorite books have been left behind in the Americas. Instead, this is what I have picked up on my travels, read, and have left to read.

First, the "cultural reading" shelf.


I haven't read all of these yet, but have some serious recommendations (and you should read them, because I'm an English teacher and I say so).

First, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam - which I picked up in Vienna last Summer and read in Bratislava on a day spent recovering from a rumbly tumbly. Not only a great title, but a really interesting portrait of life in Rhodesia in the late 1970s.

J. Maarten Troost, my favorite Dutch-Canadian-American humor-travel writer, figures prominantly on the shelf and would definitely make my "ideal" bookshelf if such a thing were ever assembled. It says quite a bit that I have copies of his book in storage in America, and extra copies in Egypt.

Nomad's Hotel is another Dutch travel-writer's journey. Very much over-stylized in the writing, but incredibly interesting as well and full of quotables that I relate to very much

The Egyptian and Middle Eastern Books on the shelf are yet-to-reads that I've been working through as I've been reading Midaq Alley and Mistress of Nothing - two fiction novels set in Egypt that are not on the shelf at the moment as they are, well, being read, and Apricots on the Nile a non-fiction read about life in Cairo in the 1930's that was also worthwhile (and came with recipes!).

Anil's Ghost, which I picked up at a book swap in Cyprus, was incredible. I'm told by another English teacher and several students I must read A Thousand Splendid Suns this Summer, so I probably will.

The other shelf is my favorite shelf - three guesses why - but again, not my ideal because it's lacking important titles.


For instance, it is still far too heavy on the Europe, and not heavy enough on the places I haven't been. (Like Bali, for instance, where I hope to be visiting next year!!!!!)

I'm on the fence about buying a kindle. A digital reader means much more room in my luggage for things like new shoes (my enormous feet are too big for the shoe-shopping in Cairo); but it means no more bookshelves to photograph, books to lend, or wonderful book smell.

oh what to do, what to do?

Moving In Egypt - Movers of the Lost Ark

Moving in Egypt - like everything else here, is a unique experience. Remember the big dig scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Well, it was nothing like that, save the fact that they both take place in Egypt and involve way more people than seems necessary.

First, I could not believe how much stuff I've accumulated in two years! The plates, chargers, and glasses purchased for hosting Thanksgiving Dinner took up 3 boxes alone! In addition, every time I go back to the states, I return with a 40 kilo bag of clothes. Clothes get ragged pretty quickly here, my weight fluctuates with the seasons (as well as with this move, read further) and my shoes are forever falling apart, so I compensate with bringing back twice as much as needs replacing. Add all the trinkets I have brought back from Turkey (blankets, bags, large decorative eggs) and Thailand (bags, baubles, marionettes...) and you end up with a lot of boxes and bags for someone living in a furnished apartment.

At 8 pm, 2 moving guys arrived and moved all my stuff to the curb in under 10 minutes. Then we waited for 30 minutes for a hired truck to arrive. The guys that owned the truck were not particularly nice and this lead to a very stressful 20 minute drive down the Nile - that involved my bedding ending up in the middle of the road, albeit briefly, in heavy traffic. At the new place, the bawab, his wife, his three small children, and the movers got my stuff to the elevator and my friend and I unloaded it all at the top.

Total people involved in the move: 11; total cost including tips: $60.

Did I mention the elevator fits two, average sized people quite uncomfortably?

On Friday there was still quite a bit to move. Unfortunately, I arrived at the apartment only to discover that the "some time soon" that the elevator was going to be replaced was, in fact, Friday! The elevator had already been taken apart by the time my friends and I arrived with several large suitcases and a cat. The bawab's wife (a wonderful, amazing, incredibly strong woman of about 5'1") put a hard-case suitcase that was easily 30 kilos on her head, and flew up the 6 flights of stairs! (She did this again later with two huge bags of cat food). Each of her children grabbed a box or small bag and followed their mother like three little ducklings. It took 3 trips each up 6 flights of stairs to get moved in (combine this with the painting and lifting and packing and unpacking and I should have lost a good 15 lbs by the end of this 'adventure'.)

There is still painting going on (the cheesecake color in the cherry-cheesecake reading nook is thick, but requires several coats), and lots of unpacking to do; but all-in-all I am happily installed in my new home. My wonderful friend T, who just went through a big move herself, brought over a lovely Eggplant Parm for dinner - with brownies - and now, belly full, I am typing while watching a purple + orange sherbet sunset over the Nile from my office window.


Life. is. good.

New Name, New Link

Over the last few months, I filled my first passport. In 2003, I got a new passport to visit AwesomeAmy in Guatemala. Since then, I have eaten my way through France, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, Thailand, Egypt (again and again), Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

Make no mistake, these trips were as much about the eating as they were the sight-seeing and cultural learning. In fact - I'd say they were 80% about the eating.

I mean, who can forget the grilled feta in Athens?



...or the Moussaka in Cyprus? The Grilled Kobe Beef Tongue in Manhattan? Or the street-cart chips here in Cairo? Not this foodie!

Anyway, this blog has become about so much more than my life in Egypt. It has become about my life (and the food I eat) in the wide-wide world. So I thought it needed a new title.

I have extra pages in my passport now. I'm hoping by the time it needs to be renewed, I'll have filled the extra pages (and this blog) as well.

Next stop - ITALY! (again. the food. oh the food! the pasta, the prosciutto, the cheese....)