Just Everyday Living
Friday brings some realities we can no longer ignore. The master bathroom bathtub does not drain. The dishwasher does not work. We can’t figure out how to make the dryer work and are not sure we are running the washer correctly. What a great time to NOT be the Landlord! We call Ron’s assistant at work to find out who to contact. She calls back and says someone will be by tomorrow morning to address the problems. Who knows if that will be “tomorrow tomorrow” or “Sunday or Monday tomorrow?” I’ll hope for the former.
The maid is here. She took the laundry with her on Wednesday. It does not come with her when she arrives today. A long verbal exchange ensues with lots of sign language. I gather it will be delivered. Sometime. And she will be here when it is delivered. Okay. I just want my clothes back! I didn’t pack enough for three weeks and no laundry. And yes, I could get them washed in the washer (once we figure out how to make it work) and hang them out to dry. That’s what a majority of people do. However, the balconies in this apartment do not have anything to hang clothes on. Hand washing in the sink will be the next alternative and then I’ll lay them on top of the air conditioner/heater (both are in one unit) to dry!
Dinner out at a Chinese restaurant on Friday night with two couples from Ron’s work. All are Brits. Very nice. The British accent takes some getting used to but a very fun evening. Great sense of humor all around. Both couples drove to dinner. Ron wanted to walk back to one of the homes where we were to gather after dinner so he could smoke a cigar on the way. So we walk….. and arrive a good five minutes before they get there! Really, anything within 2 or 3 miles should be walked. It is much faster than driving except in the middle of the night.
Saturday the maintenance man does, indeed, arrive. In the morning, even - at 11:50a.m. He and Ron communicate well. Maintenance stuff must be more universal than cleaning and clothing stuff! Now we know the dishwasher has its own electric circuit which was turned off. And, it has its own instant heat tank. That’s why we had no hot water in the kitchen!! They will send a plumber to address the bathtub problem. In the meantime we will shower in the other bath. He had no idea about the washer/dryer (which, by the way is just one machine – washes and dries in the same tub). He will try to locate the manual and thinks the dryer might need some repair. It is probably too much to hope for that this will be taken care of while we are in Marassi this week. But, hope springs eternal! We head out for the coast tomorrow a.m. Can’t wait for another Desert Road Adventure! :)
Necessities and Niceties in Egypt
November 13th
Today, for sure, Linda and I are going out to get my phone chip and do some shopping. The driver is to pick me up at 10:45a. This is the driver who took Ron and me around when we were here the first time, so at least I will recognize him. I go outside around 10:40a. It is now 11:00a. That’s okay, time is not exact here. I wait some more. Finally, about 11:15a Mosin arrives. Ron had given him the address of 82 Canal Street, and our address is 92 Canal Street. Talk about adding confusion to chaos! Anyway, we pick up Linda and are off to the Mobinil store. Getting the chip and 25 Egyptian pounds put on the card was a piece of cake. Then I find the chip will not work in a US phone. Well, at least I have the chip and on my way I go. Maybe Ron’s office will have an extra, unused phone to put the chip into. If not, phone shopping!! We go to the CarreFour store. It is French owned and is a competitor of Target. So, picture the biggest Target you’ve ever been in and then double it. It is attached to a large mall. Upon first entering I spy ***STARBUCK’S***. Fortunately Linda is a Brit who loves coffee and this is our first stop. Since it is lunch time, we eat there too. Wonderfully delicious. Now we are sustained and can enter the melee of shoppers in the CarreFour. I need innumerable items but first on my list is a coffee pot and then a hair dryer. They have many expensive items out and about, but the hair dryers are kept under lock and key and must be paid for separately. Go figure. I found most things on my list easily. Some of the brands I could recognize from the company logos, such as Laughing Cow Cheese or Post cereal. Many items are labeled in Arabic and English, but not all. They do take credit cards here and that is a huge advantage. Many places outside of the major tourist shopping areas do not, and cash is required. We check out, load up and quickly arrive back at the apartment. Having a driver is awesome from the standpoint that he always knows where he is going. No, he knows how to GET where he is going; there is a difference! First shopping extravaganza completed and no longer starving…. AND, a coffee pot!!
It is Thursday evening, the equivalent of Friday night in the states. Ron heard about a restaurant called El Sid so that’s where we go. The ambiance was everything you would conjure up in your mind about an evening meal in Egypt. Dimmed, mostly sconce lighting; heavily plastered walls, intricately tiled floors; dark wood round tables with huge, beautifully painted, spinning metal trays in the middle of each table. Arabic music, very relaxed atmosphere. The food was great – veal with carrots and potatoes and onions and rice. They have shisha here… the flavored tobacco that is inhaled via a hookah (a water pipe). They bring out burning coals periodically to keep the tobacco burning. I have not tried this yet. But I might, just to say I have! J It is extremely common here… not so much with the women, as you can imagine. But you see the men sitting around in coffee shops smoking shisha all the time. The actual pipes can be beautiful.. some are works of art. I will find one and take a picture to send.
End of the first week....
Still Wednesday, NOVEMBER 12th (LONG DAY)
The pollution in Cairo is much worse than anything I’ve seen. I remember being in Los Angeles back in the 70’s and I thought that was pretty bad. This is much worse. You can see it and smell it; actually, on the worst days you can taste it. Thank goodness for air conditioning. I am going to look for an electric air filter for at least the bedroom in the apartment. This cannot be good for my fair complexion or my typically clean lungs! And I must mention the trash. Did I mention that already? Well, I just want to go outside and start picking up all the street trash. It is everywhere, from high priced suburban areas to the poorest of downtown areas. I think it might be worse in the outlying areas because there is more consumerism. On the one hand, they have people sweeping in the streets with brooms and dust pans. On the other hand, they sweep right around huge mounds of garbage as though they are stone monuments. I am intrigued by the psychology of this behavior and will explore its origins and the nature of its universal acceptance.
Well, it’s noon. No phone call yet and I am starving! I brought Ron some pretty awful tasting beef jerky from home. It is sounding better and better to me as my stomach rumbles for attention. I’ve yet to try my CD’s for learning Arabic. Guess I will entertain myself with this and hope it takes my mind off food. However, I am longing for some decent coffee. The coffee beans I brought from home could surely be used in some fashion. So, I grind them up. Then I get one of Ron’s old handkerchiefs for a filter. (Old as in aged, not used. Normally you would think to use a paper towel but we have none. Some of the US tissues would probably work but the ones here would just disintegrate.) So, I fire up the electric tea pot, pour the hot water slowly over the grinds and…. Wahlah!! Coffee. Really strong and still sediment in the bottom of the cup but, better than nothing. Certainly better than Nescafe. The handkerchief is now garbage but that is a small price to pay for tasty caffeine. J
The phone call I was waiting for all day comes at 4:00p. By now I’m weak with hunger. Anyone who knows me well knows that there is ALWAYS time set aside in my schedule to eat. Seldom does a meal time pass me by without sustenance. Too late now to go out and get my cell phone chip. Since Ron will be home in about 2 hours for dinner, I don’t want to go out and look around for food in a totally unfamiliar environment. So I have some Cointreau (a French liqueur that my daughter Megan introduced me to) and read until Ron arrives. And read… and read… okay, alright already. It is 7:00p and no sign of him. Finally at 7:15p or so he comes in… with a GUEST to stay OVERNIGHT, in this apartment that has no food, no extra pillows and only one small extra towel. I am so happy. And my happiness is further highlighted by my lack of blood sugar. The three of us go out to find food. Ron has a restaurant in mind but we make one, small, teensy tiny wrong turn and that’s the end of that. It is dark and there are few street lights. No way are we going to find this place. So, we drive further. We see a lot of Maadi in the dark. Very interesting if I could think about anything but the lining of my stomach. We opted to try for TGIFriday’s since that was familiar and we thought we knew where it was. No, we did not. Okay, just stop the car anywhere and I will eat anything remotely resembling food. We find fast-food Egyptian. I ate something with beans, pasta, onions, rice and sauce. It was quite good, actually. They had french fries so we ordered some to see what they were like here. Won’t bother doing that again. Cold, kinda limp and rather tasteless. Oh for good old McDonald’s fries! By now it is after 9:30p. As we make our way back to the apartment in the car we realize we had earlier driven for at least ½ hour and ended up within walking distance of the apartment. “Lessons hard learned are long remembered.” And that is how I console myself. J
Egypt.... continued
Tuesday, NOVEMBER 11, 2008
We are still in Marassi. The resort where we are staying is beautiful, overlooking the Mediterranean. The water is turquoise-blue up close to the shoreline and deep navy on the horizon. The sand is white and today it is breezy, 75 degrees with sunshine. It is the off season and we are practically the only (if not THE only) guests. It is rather weird. The staff is very accommodating. The food is good and so far I have no intestinal issues. I’m sure it is only a matter of time.
Wednesday, NOVEMBER 12, 2008
About last night….. We drove back from Marassi beginning at 4:30p. It is a 3 l/2 hour trip (frighteningly reminiscent of the Branson drive in that regard) that we made in a fashionably record time of 5 hours. Foremost, it was raining when we left the coast. It seldom rains, so they don’t plan for it to rain at all. Don’t ask why, just know. There is no drainage off the highway. In fact, they have 8” high curbs along the side of the highway that actually keep the water IN the roadway and it creates a temporary river. One of the resorts was using a front loader to push water out of their driveway. Really, you must see it. Anyway, the going was slow because of hydroplaning concerns. After about 45 minutes of heading inland, the rain stopped. However, now it was dark. Only some of the vehicles deem it necessary to use headlights. Why, I don’t know. So, every moment you are keeping eyes alert for a stray auto appearing out of nowhere. The speed limit on this road, the best one in Egypt (mostly 8 lanes) is 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph). Not particularly fast, but you don’t dare go much faster for fear of crash results. Yes, they do have radar and speed traps. More about that later. Driving in the right lane is not desirable. First, people just STOP in this lane. To let out passengers from busses, change drivers, who knows what? Maybe even to fix a flat tire, try to re-attach a front axle or relieve their aching kidneys. Why not use the shoulder for these activities? I will let you know as soon as I get an answer. Also, some drivers decide to take shortcuts and just drive on the shoulder the WRONG WAY. So, traffic comes at you from two directions, with or without lights on. In case you are wondering…. Yes, this is stressful! Good thing Ron has sharp reflexes. Okay, so we made it half-way to Cairo. We stopped for dinner at an “Italian” restaurant. I had a Margherita pizza crepe. I’m not sure what the crepe part means… I guess it’s that they don’t use yeast in the bread so it’s pretty flat and the dough is really hot but tastes not quite done. Ron had penne with red sauce. The sauce was so fiery, his bald spot was sweating! I think they put chili peppers in the Italian red sauce. Anyway, we continue our journey.…. We make it to the big bridge over to Cairo. Traffic is dreadful. (Although I’m probably not experienced enough yet to know if this is TRULY dreadful or just semi-dreadful) Is it volume, an accident or broken down cars? There are numerous broken down cars here, especially the old taxis. We went 5 kilometers in 45 minutes. You can imagine our delight. We’re still not sure but we think the backup was at least somewhat created by two taxis broken down within about 20 yards of each other. It’s hard to fathom the audacity, but some people actually ride motorcycles through this traffic. They weave in and out and around like nothing you’ve ever seen. No one wears a helmet, not a soul. They all wear sandals and some have their robes and headdresses flying behind them. There are usually at least two people on each cycle. Often they are carrying something. If not a small child on their knee then groceries or a boom box or maybe a TV…..Almost every driver of every type of vehicle is male. I have seen probably 30 female drivers so far and all of those were in Cairo in small private vehicles. Okay, now we are in downtown Cairo. Only about 8 kilometers to go to get to Maadi and (only) another 45 minutes. Finally we arrive. I, who have not driven one mile, am wired for sound but have not a drip of energy left within me. I send up a prayer of thankfulness that we have arrived alive.
It takes effort to keep the days straight. There is certainly no excess of English-speaking television stations and so far no newspapers. Marassi doesn’t have any newspapers at all and I haven’t located a shop in Cairo yet. I could go out, of course. But I’ve no cell phone and am expecting a call. So, I stay. I have water and chocolate covered pretzels and Coca Cola Light. Should get me through ‘till dinner? I had one cup (okay, two teeny tiny cups; they don’t use coffee mugs here, evidently) of Nescafe instant coffee this morning. We had it left over from the hotel. Usually I turn my nose up at it but, when it is all you have, you appreciate the bird in the hand. I brought wonderful coffee with me and I have a grinder. However, I need filters and a coffee pot. We asked the guy to get us a coffee pot and he brought us an electric water heater. Not the first or last of our lost-in-translation exchanges.
The maid is here. What does she do, exactly? Well, she does the floors each time, that I know. And she dusts. These are critical tasks, as there is fine sediment from all the sand here that creeps in though the tightest of windows and doors. There is a dishwasher but she washes by hand. That’s all I can determine thus far. Oh, and she makes beds and cleans the bathroom. I’m told she will take the housekeeping laundry (sheets, towels) to the laundry for us. I suppose she will take our clothes to the laundry too if we can convey that desire. Under most circumstances, I’m sure I will want to do it myself anyway. So, that’s that. Our sheets do not fit the bed here. The beds are in between queen and king size. I brought one set of our queen sheets for some semblance of home. Well, we wound up putting the flat sheet on the bottom and using the fitted sheet for the top sheet. I’m sure the maid was dumb-founded when she saw that arrangement. I don’t think she could figure out what we were doing with the fitted sheet … not common here as I understand. When she changed the sheets she put the flat sheet in the laundry but folded the fitted sheet very precisely and left it on our bed? J
Ron’s boss is British. His wife is here until November 16 and she has lived in Cairo before. I am very much looking forward to meeting with her at length to gain insight. We are to go to the cellular phone store later today to get my new mobile phone chip. You must have a passport to get cell phone service. Interesting! American society is so incredibly open. I still have no internet here in Cairo… very frustrating but, ONE day won’t kill me. Two days and I will be suffering… If I don’t have it by Friday, we will be trekking to the Cairo office so I can do some work from there. Friday is the first day of the weekend so no one else will be in. I’ve thought before, in the States, how ridiculously dependent I have become on the internet. Now, it is a vital connecting filament to the familiar part of my world.
Continued...
We spent the first two nights at the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Cairo. This is where Ron has been staying when in Cairo since the end of September. Very nice place. This is where we stayed the first time we came to Cairo. Our room overlooks the river Nile. Gorgeous view of the city. First night we go to pick up Ron’s laundry at the cleaners. A funny thought for me because he doesn’t even like to take his suits to the cleaners in the US, let alone boxer shorts, dress socks and polo shirts. But I digress. We go into the shop. Ron forgot his ticket. No problem, he just goes around to the different stacks of clothes and hanging items and pulls out the plastic bags with his stuff. You pay when you drop off so we gather his stuff, nod at the attendant and walk out. Just like that. The guy doesn’t know us from Adam and he takes our word and we leave. Unbelievable!
My first full day in town is Friday, the holy day for Muslims. This is good because traffic is much less on this day and Ron is driving his newly acquired Jeep Cherokee. No sense getting it dented in its first 100 Kilometers. We go over and check out our Cairo apartment. I had no idea what to expect. It is in Maadi, a section of Cairo. The apartment is number 8 on the fourth floor (they count the ground floor as zero so you push 3 on the elevator). There are three bedrooms, two full baths and one half bath. One room is set up as a den so could be another bedroom. It came furnished. Some of the stuff I like…. French provincial bedroom set, beautiful dark-wood, antique, small armoire, large wall units and lavish draperies. Some of the sofas are not my taste but perfectly comfortable and adequate. The floors are all wood except for tiled baths. The kitchen has a gas (propane) stove, dishwasher and microwave, no garbage disposal. The parking garage is big enough for about four cars the size of our Jeep. We park there anyway with 9 other cars already parked in the garage. The apartment attendants are helpful and direct us into the garage and parking space. I am dripping with sweat by the time we get parked and would rather walk a few miles than go through that again. Because getting out proved to be just as harrowing. We FINALLY get out of the garage and careen up a narrow passage at a about a 35-40 degree angle…. when you get to the top you pop into non-stop two-lane traffic. This is why they say “en shalah” (God willing) about every single thing. If God wills, you will live coming out of the garage. If not, well, you get the picture! The building attendants do not speak English but try to help as much as possible. For any and all assistance, a tip is expected. Usually just 1 or 2 Egyptian pounds. This is approx. 50 cents. So, not much each time but it is a constant activity pulling out the 1 pound bills.
Second day is Saturday, the Egyptian equivalent of our Saturday. So, lots of people out shopping and milling about. Ron and I head up to his Cairo office at the New Cairo Uptown development. They are having a HUGE open house with lots of food and entertainment and tours through all the models. The homes range in price from $500,000 US to $3M US. The one for $3M was AWESOME! There was so much beautiful wood (teak, walnut and oak) and marble (Egyptian and Italian and Spanish imports) in all the units. The ceilings were 10 to 16 feet tall. Just gorgeous. Most interesting to me was that the people at this event were upper class Egyptians and few wore the common clothing of robes for the guys and covered heads for the women. And, the program was all in English! I found that very surprising.
We go back to the apartment. Maid is there. She doesn’t speak English… great. Oh well, somehow I will figure out how to communicate. She’s to come every other day…. we think. I don’t know exactly what she does yet but I’m sure I will find out soon enough. At least the apartment was pretty clean when we arrived. Hurray! She had already put some of our stuff away. REALLY put it away!.... it took us quite some time to find it all!
Sunday morning in America, first day of the work week in Egypt. Ron and I leave about 7:00a from Cairo and head to Almein, in the Sidi Abdel Rahman area, home of the Marassi project. We drive for one hour. We go somewhere but, not far, in the interesting traffic and, we don’t know EXACTLY where we are. The car has a compass so we know we are going west and north (most of the time). However, there are no street names. I can’t appropriately describe the traffic at this point. I will work on it and get back with you. Suffice it to say the streets are crowded and noisy. And they include cars, taxis, mini-busses, huge, overloaded city busses, trucks and semi-trucks, with people walking in and through traffic and a few donkeys and goats for good measure. Finally we find the actual Alexandria Desert Road. This is good. “Now I know why most people have drivers”, is what I am thinking to myself. Of course I don’t relay this thought to Ron. J So, now we are on the open road. Police checks are random and I’ve yet to discover what they are checking for. We always get waved on through. They have camel crossings here instead of cow or deer crossings. We saw at least five dead camels on the side of the road. A couple of them looked petrified. No one comes along to pick up the dead animals so they just stay around for however long it takes to decompose. Hey, at least they pull them off to the side! We stopped at a rest stop about half-way to Marassi. This was the best coffee (the only REAL coffee) I’ve had since getting to Egypt. I savored it, let me assure you. I decided to go to the bathroom. There’s an attendant. She walks me to the stall and proceeds to clean off the seat and dry it for me. So far so good. Then she pulls off some toilet paper from a roll and hands it to me. I look at it. “More?” she asks. Not thinking about it much I say “No” and continue on. Thankfully that bit did the trick. Note to self: ALWAYS carry toilet paper in purse. Of course she expected a tip upon my departure. Then we walk out to get in the car. Two guys are washing it! “La, la” Ron tells them. This means NO. He wound up giving them two Egyptian pounds (50 cents) and we drove off with a half-washed car. We were on our way to the desert for Pete’s sake. Why would we care if we had a clean car?
On this particular trip some guy got off a bus in the middle of five lanes of traffic directly in front of our car. He proceeded to go out into the desert and defecate. No, I’m not kidding. Trust me; you have plenty of time to take in every detail of the local activity because usually the traffic is simply inching forward. Sometimes its two inches in a row with no stop in between! Trucks and vans are stacked at least 8 feet tall with rope-wrapped possessions. They sway from side to side and I feel confident more than one has tipped right over. Trash is a constant. I don’t know if they understand the concept of litter. How can they walk by heaping piles of trash every day? (the SAME pile only bigger) I have no idea. This is only one of the many questions about fundamental Egyptian living that I am now in search of.
CAI is the Airport Code for Cairo
CAI is the airport code for Cairo. As I sat on the plane, the capital letters kept running in sequence through my mind….C..A..I..R..O. I’m from Kansas – Cairo is all the way around the world. What am I doing on my way to Cairo.. to LIVE? This is the beginning of an adventure. I guess it’s appropriate given that this is my 50th year. What a way to bring it in!
The route was Kansas City to Chicago to Frankfurt to Cairo. United and Lufthansa are partners so they were the providers. The airplanes were perfectly comfortable but I did not sleep a wink. It is a 1 hour flight time to Chicago, 9 hours to Frankfurt and then 4 hours to Cairo. I left at 10:30a and arrived 3:00p local time the next day. Upon arrival: All the “Meet and Greet” men holding their signs for whom they will be picking up that day. I go slowly down the line looking for my name in print. Nothing. Okay. I will try again. This time, slower. I look for variations in the name.. Tresa or Millaire. Still nothing. Okay. Wait a little bit. I was one of the first off the plane and could have been through passport control by now if my greeter was on time. Oh well. Third time is a charm. I take my time going down the now depleted line of greeters. “I must think,” I tell myself, “What now?” I need a visa to get through passport control. Usually the greeter gets this for me. But, evidently I will be going through by myself. So, I go to the window of one of the banks on site that sells visas. He speaks English – no problem. Fifteen dollars later I have my small sticker. I try to call Ron. I have his Egyptian phone number. My cell phone doesn’t have an International chip, though. Tough way to find this out. Okay, now what? I will go through passport control and get my luggage. Then I will find somewhere to make a local phone call to Ron. Sketchy plan but all I had at the moment. I get in line with about 200 other people. By now three other large planes have disembarked. As I stand in line with this waving sea of humanity a guy walks by with a sign that says Teresa Malarre. Close enough. I practically knock over my greeter as I rush out of line to claim him. He mumbles something about 4 planes arriving at once. My assessment is that he is late. Regardless, I hand him my visa and passport. We walk around the waving sea to a window at the side, behind which sits a man in an official government uniform. People are vying for his attention from every which side. My guy stands silently for about a minute. Then he pushes my papers underneath the window. The official stamps my visa and we walk out. Just like that. Okay. Now the luggage. I had visions of my luggage being opened by customs officials and never shutting. Of half my stuff not making it and my suitcase on the luggage belt half open with clothes strewn about. Well that nightmare was put to rest. My luggage was safely zipped and arrived quickly. My greeter unloaded it for me and we headed for the front door. A man at the door taps my luggage on top and says “What’s in here?” I said “clothes.” He said “okay.” Okay, great customs. Then, another sea of humanity. I would have to be claustrophobic! I focus on the greeter and my luggage. He is supposed to have a car waiting for me to take me to my hotel. I don’t look left or right. People are everywhere. Some guy is sidling up to me on my left side. Oh bother! He sticks his head around in front of me… It is Ron! Oh, thank God. A familiar Anglo-Italian face and he speaks English. You can’t imagine my relief.
