Settling In

It's hard to believe that I have already lived in Monterrey for forty days. In some ways I feel as if I've just arrived - the house is still a bit bare and I am still using 'Retournos' like crazy when I get lost or over-shoot my destination as I explore the city; however, I have established my routines and some new friendships and feel very much rooted to the spaces of my daily life.

Life in Monterrey is vastly different from life in Cairo. Most notably, transportation is different. Maadi, where I lived in Cairo for most of my four years there, was a very walkable neighborhood that, for Cairo anyway, was very green. I did not have a car most years, so that meant taking a 20 - 90 minute bus ride to and from school each day and relying on taxis and Said's family of drivers to get around. Friday morning always meant a coffee date with T down Road 9, followed by grocery shopping - which required visits to no less than four different specialty shops within the same block, and a $1 cab ride each way. Adventures downtown either meant a 20 cent metro ride to Tahrir or the Opera House (in the years before the revolution), or a $8 - $12 dollar cab ride that could last from 30 minutes to an hour; both of which relied on an open window for air-con.

In Monterrey I have a car. While the central rules of the road are the same as in Cairo (lanes are mostly arbitrary, aggressive driving IS defensive driving, etc), here there are traffic lights and stop signs that are more-or-less obeyed, and fewer cars in general. Yesterday, I met friends for brunch 20 km away and it took only 20 minutes to get there.  Last night, I went to a play near downtown (which had an amazing cast!), and again the drive time was short and it was easy to find. My morning commute is less than 10 minutes.

view of Monterrey from a neighborhood 1/2 way up a mountain

Of course, I've traded the quaint, walkable Maadi for highways and strip malls; my adorable little veg man, the cute pork guy, and the Massoud's lady for large, western-style, one-stop, well-stocked grocery stores; and coffee with T is now over skype instead of in-person. Some of these adjustments are as much welcome as un-welcome (though I think it goes without saying that coffee-chats over skype lack a little something and in-person meetings with hugs and sunshine would be the ideal.)

One amazing thing I have reclaimed in the transition to Mexico is brunch. I almost never brunched in Cairo and I can tell that brunch in Mexico is going to be a regular thing. Especially when it is as good as the chilaquiles I had yesterday that cost about $5 and kept my belly full for the rest of the day:

mmmm...chilaquiles!

Food here in general is pretty amazing. At a birthday party the other night, there was a taco stand set-up in the street next to the home (the host had hired a guy to come and make tacos for the party); after-school last week, I met some colleagues and we walked to a taco stand nearby and had amazing, enormous tacos. Near school is a place called Todos Empanadas, where you can pick up a big box of assorted empanadas with chimichurri to dip in, and all the empanadas have a little stamp branded into them that tells you what's inside that particular empanada (I like the steak & cheese and the chicken best).

I guess it goes without saying that I've put on a little weight here. I walk less, I sweat less, and I eat more; but other than needing a bit more exercise, I would say that life is pretty good.

Limbo Time

I am a responsible, well-seasoned traveler. Before leaving the house for my 4 am flight (with cat) last night, I checked the flight status online - all was well and good.

Then I got to the airport and the flight was cancelled.

Thanks to a confluence of 'fate on my side' events (though you could argue that the fates were against me for not bringing the plane to Cairo in the first place -- but I think they were just against someone else who was on the plane and I got caught up in the whirl-wind) I am happily booked to fly tomorrow (with cat) and got to sleep in my own (for another few hours anyway) bed . . . when I finally got home at 4:30 am.

All I have to say is, at crazy hours of the morning, Lufthansa customer service at the airport was fabulous. I wish I knew the name of the guy who helped me because he was awesome and cheery and efficient and helpful and all those things that stand out when dealing with airport personnel at 3 am.

And now to relax (which I haven't done all week) since I am packed and sorted and cleaned out of house and home already.

The Final Countdown (dudududu-dadudududuhhhh)

I move in 94 hours.

This is positively insane. I have three full days of work left, have only packed one suitcase, am moving a cat across the Atlantic, and ... seriously I have to stop listing or I'm going to give myself a panic attack.

I will miss Cairo. I will miss T and B; The Ladies of Awesome. I take much solace in the fact that next-summer vacation plans are already shaping up so I can see them both again (possibly on different sides of the world - but I think that's what happens when you live your life in the global neighborhood). I will miss my great job, my amazing students, and seeing all of the Pyramids of upper Egypt in one sweeping glimpse from the detour route through Mokkatam we have to take whenever there is a traffic jam on the main highway.

I am so very very lucky. With all the stress of moving, it's easy to forget; but my life is pretty amazing. Particularly given all the travel and adventures I've gotten to have over the last four years with my incredible friends. *deep sigh of satisfaction*

Ok, now back to stressing about the move ...

A Cairo Retrospective: 4 years in 12 pictures

All the photos below were taken in and around Cairo. Just a little retrospective of four awesome years of getting to take photographs in the interesting, ever-changing landscape of Egypt.

The photos appear in no particular order, but were selected to show a sampling of all the different environs and experiences to be had in Cairo.

Wadi Degla, March 2012

Wekalet al-Ghori Mosque, March 2012

 Boating around Zamalek, June 2011

Graffiti in Tahrir Square, April 2011

 At the Pyramids at Giza, October 2010

 Inside the Bab el Fotouh (looking down the stairwell), September 2010

 Horseback Riding at the Pyramids, August 2009

El Tannoura at the Al-Ghori complex, September 2009

Camel at the Giza Pyramids,  Valentine's Day 2009

Sunset Felucca, November 2008

Farmer on Gezirit el Dahab, February 2009

Islamic Cairo from the Bab Zuweila, Ramadan 2009

Year 2 2009 - 2010

Distraction from reading the news this morning seems like a good thing, so I bring you Year 2, my travels from September 2009 - April 2010. I actually didn't have many crazy adventures abroad that year, but I did have loads of visitors; which made life in Cairo interesting as I was suddenly not so much a passive observer as a tour guide and resident - suddenly I felt like I LIVED in Egypt; and that was very cool indeed. I also got to take one of my brothers on his first trip to Europe when we went to Rome in October; also very cool. There were also a random few nights stranded in NYC in a snowstorm while trying to get back to Baltimore, a conference in Bangkok, some mini-vacations to Cyprus and Alexandria, and my first trip to Luxor.

I am including one picture from Cairo that year, possibly my favorite picture I've ever taken. In Spring 2010, I visited the El Safa Center (a retirement home) with my National Honor Society students. There I met three sweet old ladies who wanted nothing more than to pose for pictures; and the results were the most beautiful portraits I have ever taken (and likely, the most beautiful I will ever take).

Rome, Italy

 

 

Pompeii, Italy

 

New York, NY

 

Baltimore, MD

  

 

Luxor, Egypt

 

Bangkok, Thailand

 

 

Cairo, Egypt

 

 

Limassol, Cyprus

 

Alexandria, Egypt 

Year 1 Adventures: August 2008 - April 2009

One of the amazing things about living in Egypt is the travel opportunities it has offered.


According to my tripadvisor map I have visited 21 countries. (for some reason, on the map at left, all of my Egypt pins are on the Arabian Peninsula?...and when I post it, a bunch of pins disappear? grr...anyway...)

I am SO grateful for these opportunities and it's been an amazing four years of travel.



My goal is to post ONE favorite picture from each of my destinations from the last four years in my last four weeks in Egypt. I doubt I get it done...but I'm going to try!!!

Below are my favorite photos from each of my trips from my first year in Egypt, starting with my arrival in Cairo in August, 2008, and ending with a trip to Alexandria in April 2009. I will do summers in separate posts because summers are always packed with trips.  

During my first year in Cairo, I really explored the city, from the Island of Gezerit el Dahab - an island in the middle of the Nile accessible only by boat, to el Manyal Sheeha, to Saqqara...you get the picture. But THE picture; the one that is possibly my favorite picture I took in Cairo my first year here, is from a trip to the Khan with my photography club...a little boy running down the street carrying pretzels on his head:

Cairo

 

Red Sea / Sharm el Sheikh

Dahab

 

Athens

 

Cyprus

 

Istanbul

 

Alexandria

The Last Felucca on the Nile

Last night, I went on a felucca: probably for the last time (at least, for the last time while I'm living in Egypt).

They say once you've drank the waters of the Nile, you will always return to Egypt. Now, I've never scooped a cuppa out of the Nile and had a chug (like I saw the men on a felucca next to us doing) but I know that the water pouring from my tap and on to my toothbrush is l'eau de Nile, so it counts in my book. Also, I've fallen in the Nile trying to board a felucca in Aswan; which in my book is the same thing as 'bathing' in the Nile; which is another thing people say will bring you back to Egypt.

The point is, I will be back someday, if only to visit T and take a felucca.

Back to feluccas...this is my absolute favorite past-time in Egypt. For roughly $10 an hour, you cruise the quiet end of the Nile between Maadi and Helwan (South of downtown Cairo) on a single-sail vessel. If you hang out with us (and really, why wouldn't you?) there is quiet, pleasant conversation, endless carafes of Pimms cup, and T's homemade hummus (and, of course, AndreaDip).

The air on the Nile is somehow cleaner (even when you're just 100 feet from shore) and the breeze is cool and refreshing; keeping the sweat off of you (despite the 99 degrees noted on the thermometer just before you left). The sun sets, everything turns all golds and purples, and everything is right with the world.

The restorative powers of cruising the Nile after a long week of work are akin to magic in my book, and, other than my amazing friends, the thing I shall miss most about Cairo is the feluccaing.

Moving on

In the last four years, I have truly come to see Cairo as home. The desert landscapes, constant traffic and construction on the Ring Road, and old men drinking tea in front of the shops are as much the make-up of home as the lush green, constant traffic and road repairs on 95, and teens loitering in front of shops that was Baltimore.

About a month ago, I accepted a job closer to 'home.' I'll be moving to Mexico in five-months. It's time to learn another new language (not that my Arabic ever got very good) and figure out how to navigate another new city and try every restaurant until I find the spot where I will be a 'regular'. It will be great to be a short flight from family and friends (and all their many babies), to explore new places (I've been to Mexico and Guatemala, but that's as far south as I've gotten in the Americas), and to make new friends.

As much as I am confident I am ready for a change (and ready for a place where 'good taco' is not an oxymoron), I am suddenly struck with a sense of nostalgia and longing for the Cairo I remember from my first year here. Gone are the days when I would take the metro to Sadat station (read: Tahrir) alone, visit the museum, wander down side streets looking at shops and statues and sites, and generally soak in the early morning of this beautiful city.

It's a different time now. Cairo has entered the modern age, for better and worse (the news reports enough of the 'worse' that I feel I needn't address it here). I can now, with confidence, research goat cheese recipes because I know the shops carry it most of the time. Blue Box Mac and Cheese has just returned to the shelves here for the first time since the revolution, but Old Bay (YES, OLD BAY) started appearing on shelves a year ago with a bevy of McCormick spices. Fair trade sugar, cherry Coke, Folger's coffee - I can get all of these things now at the expat shop, whereas, in my first year in Egypt, these commercial foodstuffs were memories of the life I left behind.

Cabs have been updated, roads have been re-paved, and non-smoking signs now (sometimes) appear in restaurants. And yet, the man with the donkey cart selling oranges still rolls by my door each afternoon.

So yes, I will miss Cairo. I will miss my friends and students and "Mr. Vittorio" at my favorite Italian restaurant. But I know it's time to go, and time to live closer to the fairyland of my memories known as 'home'.

Once you've drunk the waters of the Nile...

Watch this space! Soon to be updated with posts from such exotic locations as Bali, Singapore, Thailand, and Baltimore!

Right now though, I'm just winding down the year and saying goodbye to some great friends who are moving on to new homes ... or moving on to circling the globe for a year! Good luck and great travels!

One such goodbye took place last weekend, on a boat in the Nile, where a group of friends and colleagues gathered to say "Bon Voyage!" to three great friends who are off to explore new places.


The weather was perfect - cool (not chilly) and calm as we sailed around the island of Zamalek in downtown Cairo. The sunset was gorgeous and reminded me so much of all the things I love love love about living in Egypt.

...and of some of the things that are just plain fun. :)

Dispatch from Cairo, May 14

The summer should be closing in on Cairo, and yet yesterday at a garden party in Rehab (think Columbia, MD surrounded by a wall with secure entrances) a colleague sat shivering in a tee-shirt and jeans.

A typical early May finds myself and my fellow sun-worshipers crowding the edges of a pool in Giza, sweating in 90+ degree heat. Today, I walked a quarter-mile whilst drinking a coffee and was a bit chilly. The sky is overcast every weekend, and after 24 hours on the line, my clothes are still damp. Sandstorms have become a constant - the Khamseen (named so because they typically last fifty days from start to finish) began whipping up well more than 50 days ago and just don't seem to be letting up.

Some blame the ash plume from last Spring, or global warming, or the new tilt on our axis from the Japan earthquakes, or even the end of days (though if cooler temperatures that allow walking around comfortably signals the end of days I think it a bit of an odd choice...no plague of locusts, that.) Whatever it is, there is a distinct chill in the air in Cairo.

---

I've gotten a few concerned emails from friends and family thanks to the American media's propensity for drama (specifically a NYT article that made it seem like Cairo was turning in to the Wild West). I'd like to remind everyone, before they get all worked up, that Mobtown was far more dangerous (just look at the numbers) and I learned in my many years of urban dwelling how to properly be a city girl. I'm well aware of my surroundings, have moved in to a very secure apartment, do not wear flashy clothes/jewelry (which frankly is just uncomfortable in this climate!), and have a good sense of where/when to be and not be. In short - don't worry about me in Cairo - I am as safe as I would be anywhere in the world, if not safer.

Cairo has changed in lots of great ways (see my previous post), and so has Maadi. Since I last lived in this area, it has been cleaned up, given a fresh coat of paint, and new stores and services are opening up locally. Mostly, this is due to the fantastic youth of Cairo, who have taken to the streets with buckets of paint and trash bags - much like 'adopt a highway' groups back home. Walls that were once covered in offensive graffiti (with a slant towards English swear words) have been white-washed and then covered in pro-unity and pro-Egypt artwork (I took some pics this morning, and will post soon). Everyone, it seems, is more friendly than ever (which is really saying something, as Egyptians are inherently welcoming and friendly anyway) despite the tough economic times that are upon us following the loss of tourists and expats in the area. (My roommate's hairdresser, for example, currently has only 10% of the business she had pre-revolution).

So that's my dispatch from Maadi - life is good, if colder and a bit pricier than before, and I am happily settled in my new / old neighborhood.

Cairo Today

I've been seeing a lot of the sunrise recently. The beautiful calm of Cairo in the morning as the sun breaks the horizon takes my breath away - particularly on clear days.


Today was not one of those days. The sky is overcast and the air is surprisingly damp. However, I had plans that were not to be broken - my first trip downtown since the revolution!

The first change I noticed was walking to the metro. Typically, walking to the metro in my neighborhood has meant endless catcalls and harassment from the time I set foot on the Corniche until I'm safely ensconced in the women's carriage of the metro. (I have not ridden the metro since January when some men were aggressively shouting at my roommate and I trying to get our attention). In a surprising 'New Egypt' development, I've ridden the metro twice in two days this weekend, and neither there nor back did I get more than a single "Welcome to Egypt!" This, in and of its self, is enough to give me pause.

My first year in Egypt, I would occasionally take the metro downtown on Friday or Saturday mornings and go to a museum, or shopping, or wandering. Midan Tahrir was always bustling with people and traffic (except the very early Friday mornings, when only tourists were about). What I remember most about emerging from the metro in Tahrir Square, pre-revolution, is that there were always PEOPLE and CARS everywhere.

This morning, there was a distinct change stepping off the metro in Sadat station. Most of the passengers getting off were Egyptian women; as opposed to a mix of Egyptians and Westerners. The metro station was virtually empty compared to Saturday mornings in the past. When I emerged on the street, where there were once throngs of tourists trying to navigate the streets/hawkers/buskers/traffic, I saw only four. There were police directing traffic in the square, but, even though it was still quite a lot of traffic, it was not what it used to be. A few enterprising individuals sold tee shirts around the square, and most gave honest 'Egyptian' prices to me - only one man was fool enough to think I was a tourist and more than double the price of a tee shirt. Generally, there was no need to haggle, or argue, or push, or run through traffic. There was hardly anybody there.

The purpose of the jaunt downtown was a book fair hosted by AUC (American University, Cairo). It was a well stocked fair where I got three hard-back cookbooks (two Collichio, one Ripert) for under $20; some handicrafts made and sold by Eritrean and Sudanese refugees; and loads of books, which are usually quite expensive here, on deep discount.


On the way out of the campus, I took a few pictures. One wall of the AUC compound was decorated with post-revolution graffiti that was compelling. I love graffiti, particularly uplifting graffiti with a purpose.

As we left few protestors were still stationed in the center of the square, though they were really more standing and chatting than protesting. However, the scorch marks on the old NDP building, just beyond the pink museum, are still stark reminders of all that happened here. There are still broken out windows and myriad litter of a revolution, which seems to have been ground into the cement of the pavement in a way that appears un-sweepable.

One can never say it isn't always interesting to live in Cairo!

A Note on Life in Egypt TODAY

The weather is beautiful; it's just warming up here. The sky is blue, the Nile a deep Navy, and the breeze intoxicating.

...and I'm going out for a WALK.

If Oprah can do it, So Can I

There is a bit of rumor that Oprah is apparently coming to Cairo in the next few weeks to help revive the tourism industry. (update: according to the international press, this is not actually happening. *sigh*)

Last weekend, two friends went to the Khan el Khalili to do some shopping and support our regular vendors - they saw only one other Westerner the entire day. While traffic is back to near-normal opposite-of-flow; the utter lack of tourist busses, inappropriately dressed tourists (seriously, I've seen people in bikinis in the Egyptian Museum), and feluccas sailing down the Nile is disheartening to say the least (well, maybe not the bikinis, but the rest of it). What are the local people who support their families off the tourist industry to do while they wait for the tourists to return?

As I live here, I've done the tourist bits lots - both with visitors and as a curious individual. Once a year, I try to get horseback riding (more if it's possible). I'm a huge fan of Maryanne Stroud Gabbani's blogs (for example: Cairo/Giza Daily Photo and Living in Egypt from my sidebar), and her horse rides are the best I've taken in Egypt, so, with the tourism economy suffering, I thought it was time to give some local businesses a boost!

I organized my favorite ladies and we went out to Al Sorat Farm. It was a PERFECT Friday, mid-70's temps, a light breeze, clear skies (we could see all the way to Maadi from Abu Sir), and the beautiful quiet that Friday mornings bring in Cairo.




The tour is 90 minutes and took us into the desert where we could see the pyramids of Abu Sir, Sakkara, and, in the distance, the bent pyramid of Darshur (which I still have not visited). Then we took the horsies (or rather, they took us) on a gentle walk through the countryside.

Frankly, there is no better way to shake off a long week, and re-connect with Egypt, than winding through villages and the countryside on horseback (or mule back in the case of my roommate - much to her donkey-loving excitement!). The day was perfectly pleasant in every way.

After riding I drove (6 of us in a tiny Kia) back to Maadi. Friday is my grocery-shop day, so after a lovely lunch outside at my favorite cafe (which has not had outside seating in over a year and I was SO excited to see) I bought endless amounts of veg and headed home for a long nap while my skin turned a lovely reddish-pink with my first sun of the season.

*sigh* I do love living in Egypt!

Eating Seasonal?

This probably belongs on the other blog; or maybe it doesn't - who knows anymore?

I'm reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I am very interested in the "by-gone" idea of eating locally and seasonally; and tend to patronize restaurants that feature local, seasonal ingredients.

However, I am not Mario Batali, and my cooking abilities are yet limited: shrimp (available locally from the Nile - though I'm not sure my delicate constitution can handle them), fish (same deal), basic soccer-mom veg, and meat and chicken.

I judge the growing season by the donkey carts I see coming off the highway on my morning commute (and play dodgems with on the weekends), and the trucks I follow across the bridge from the farms on the way home. Yesterday, the trucks were piled high with oranges; today they were piled high with tomatoes. I see homemade pasta sauce in my future week.

But, trying to reduce butter and fried-foods intake has meant a major shift to my diet - including imported delights such as Pam and I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - the only way I can meet my weight watchers restrictions and still enjoy eating.

Still, though, there's one item I don't feel guilty about creating a carbon footprint with. The miles traveled are extreme, and the results delicious on top my popcorn right now.

I feel no guilt, whatsoever, about having a shaker of Old Bay wherever I live. It's a little taste of home and is the comfort of summers ripping apart red-shelled Maryland crabs on the porch: the newspaper tablecloth soaked with juice, Italian bread slathered in butter stacked high, and the burn of old bay in paper cuts from the crabs' sharp tips. This is what food memories are made of.

Cooperation

Egyptians live in a very cooperative society. At work, there is a cafe for the bus drivers and other Egyptian staff and it is available to all faculty and staff to use, as well. Nowhere I visit every day better exemplifies everything that I love about Egypt.

First, the family that runs the cafe is lovely causing the entire atmosphere of the cafe to be one of a family helping each other out in the kitchen. Today, as I left with my "kibeer maya" (big water), a bus driver was helping cut up bell peppers for tomorrow's fuul at a desk near the door, another driver helped me get my water, and many random people were pitching in with various duties as well; all while the woman who runs the cafe was balancing her adorable little boy on her hip and serving up tamayaa sandwiches.

All this cooperation and teamwork is implied in the culture. You can't even park your car without one or more people trying to help you know when to turn your wheel or how to squeeze in to a space (which can be frustrating when you are a good parallel parker and you can't do it quickly enough because someone is standing behind your bumper "directing" - but at other times can be awfully helpful).

It was hard for someone as independent as I am to adjust, but I'm coming to really appreciate all the help people are willing to offer - especially last week when I sliced my foot open getting out of a taxi, going to a friend's bbq, and needed stitches. Guys hanging out across the street rushed to me with kleenex for the bleeding, fellow teachers helped me get a taxi, the taxi driver flew through traffic and got traffic police to let us go through intersections when we were meant to be stopped, an assistant put me in a wheelchair as soon as we got to the hospital, and a kind taxi driver got us back to the party where the drama started after my stitches were in. After all that, I've never been more glad for everyone being willing to pitch in!

Reasons to love the new neighborhood

In my new neighborhood, 4 small zucchini cost me $0.17.

In my old neighborhood, these would have cost me at least $1 and would not have involved some good-natured cultural-divide giggles between me and the old woman sitting outside a lean-to shack near my apartment,; plastic bags of vegetables and a scale on the ground around her acting as the only indication of her profession.

Her henna stained hands reached out for the guinea I offered her as we shared a laugh at my terrible Arabic and pitiful attempts at communication. She continued laughing fully as I walked away calling out my "shukrun"s and "ma' salaam"s.

More on Driving in Cairo

Great video on being a female taxi driver in Cairo!

Arabic Acquisition

I am proud to report that this week I had the following exchanges in Arabic:

- understood a muezzin in Islamic Cairo when he told me who he was, what his job was, asked if I wanted to tour the roof, how much it would cost, and to enjoy the beautiful mosque and when we were done he'd unlock the door and take us upstairs**

- asked my bawab to change my cooking gas canister, responded to his inquiry about whether I had another upstairs, and asked him to get me a new canister to replace the empty

- ordered Koshary, explained where I was from, and got extra hot sauce for my friend's koshary, as well as declined a bag

hooray for language learning!



**btw, I'll post a pic soon; but climbing up to the 'roof' of the mosque was ACTUALLY climbing up a multi-storied turret in the ancient wall that surrounds Islamic Cairo to the roof of it, well above the roof of the 1 story mosque. Some of the steps were likely 1000 - 1500 years old. The climb was tricky, precarious, and magical; and the view from the top was one I will likely never see again.

Cooking and Cars

In leaving the expat-comfort of central Maadi and moving a few miles closer to downtown, my life has taken on quite a few changes.

First of all, my diet has changed. In Maadi, every restaurant under the sun delivers - from about noon until midnight. You can order American style nachos from Lucille's, sushi from Makani, or chicken from KFC. From the high end Egyptian Delicacies of Abou el Sid to the relatively inexpensive McDonald's - everyone will be at your door in generally an hour or less. While this made life easy (there is even an English language website that you can order through), it also made life pretty expensive as items such as sushi and nachos are not locally grown or acquired. Still, about 4 days a week (7 if it was a rough week) I was having one of the 50 or so restaurants in my neighborhood deliver dinner; I even knew a few of the delivery guys by name.

I'm not sure these places deliver to my new neighborhood; and even if they did, there is the unfortunate flavor decline of food that has been in a metal box on the back of a scooter for 30 minutes or more while it would sit in traffic instead of my belly.

On top of that, every morning in Maadi I used to walk 10 - 15 minutes down to Road 9 to get a cappuccino before walking another 5 - 10 minutes back towards my apartment to reach the bus stop. I am a miserable, horrible, no-goodnick wretch without my morning dose of espresso. (You now may ask "why not just drink the coffee at work? the regular coffee, like everyone else??" - simple: to make it taste good without the addition of foamy milk I need to add sugar, sugar leads to a sugar high, which leads to a sugar crash, which leads to me being a miserable, horrible, no-goodnick wretch again; all of which makes it a bit pointless.) Anyway, there were a few places I went and, power and water outages aside, I could easily get a pre-or-post school cappuccino with little effort or having to go too far out of the way.

So the new neighborhood has changed my life pretty drastically. First, my morning begins with a 15 minute coffee routine with my new cappuccino maker. It pulls beautiful espresso shots with a full inch of crema, but the steaming wand needs coaxing to heat up enough to produce a good foam. Still though, my skills from as a part-time barista are coming in super-handy. Additionally, I've worked out that I am saving roughly $20 USD a week - yippee!

Because the delivery guys don't get out this far, and even if they did I'd fear the condition of the food on arrival, I've been cooking every meal. This, again, has lead to a major cost savings, easily in the $50 - $100 a week range, and is introducing me to the joys of cooking. So far I've turned salmon belly into delectable fillets, created a sorry-excuse for moussaka, and really explored the range of the cheap 'cheddar' cheese available at the grocery store here. I try to expand my cookery skills by deviating from my standards at least once a week (but also stick to serious comfort food at least once a week, hence Tuesday's Chicken in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom over white rice). At right is left-over steak I pan seared in leftover red-wine reduction with goat cheese, shrimp and asparagus that I made last Spring in my Julia-Child-is-God phase. I'm hosting a roast dinner for some friends tomorrow night and will be attempting roasted veg and chicken livers for the first time (not in the same pan) to accompany roast chicken, which I'm usually pretty successful with - esp with the liberal application of butter, rosemary, and Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Seasoning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Another major change that's come with the move is driving.

I'll give you a second to get over your shock. . . especially if you've ever been on the roads in Cairo.

It's much faster to get home from work with a car, and easier to get groceries and supplies back and forth from Maadi and the mall; but oh...my...god! the roads.

So far I've driven twice, on weekend mornings, when there is no traffic. I simply don't have the skills/patience/desire to combat the crowded traffic situation here (this coming from someone who used to commute daily on the Washington beltway); but it does shave 40 minutes off the afternoon commute and is great for running errands after school or those days when I'm running late and would never make the bus, but could easily still make it to school on time. Fortunately, my roommate is gung-ho to drive here and generally enjoys the rush-hour game of 'dodgems'; so I get home faster with half the hassle.

So that's life on the Nile right now, cooking and cars. As Ramadan approaches it's end, I'm planning upcoming trips to Aswan and Athens (again, hopefully for more than 2 days this time) and can't wait to give my new camera a proper work out! I'm also hoping to tack-on a few days on a Greek Island, so if you have a favorite I should not miss, please let me know!

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.