Life As I See It - From Egypt

Christmas Eve Eve 2008

December 23^rd. Finally, a day that sort of reminds me of Christmas weather. Well, you have to have a lot of latitude with your memories under these circumstances. It was in the 50’s this morning…. cloudy and windy. The locals are wearing winter coats, all of them zipped up, many with hoods! It is so funny. What would they do in Kansas?

I am determined not to have a repeat of our Thanksgiving feast… calzone and the Arabic version of spicy chicken. I broke down and bought one of the gigantic turkeys they have here, weighing in at 31.1 pounds. As I’ve had a lot of experience with holiday turkeys, this will be a prize fight for sure. We’ll see which one of us ends up “roasted.” Today I made brine to soak the turkey in, baked banana bread and white bread and, planned out the rest of our dinner. I’m sure this sounds like nothing – especially to all you master chefs out there. Here, and for me, it is something.

First, I have no measuring cups or measuring spoons. Do they sell them in Egypt? I’m sure they do… but I have none. Then there’s the conversion factor for liquid and dry ingredients. Then, of course, Fahrenheit to Celsius. When I was in elementary school I remember my teacher telling me how the whole world was going to be using metric measurements and it was imperative that I learn them NOW. It was one chapter in our math book and I never visited that again until chemistry in high school! Therefore, these conversions are necessary and a pain in the …. they are a pain.

The oven and cook top do not have electronic ignition. Granted, our home didn’t have that either when I was growing up…. FORTY YEARS AGO! The gas is propane, coming in from a visible pipe through the wall near the stove. We have our very own shut off valve so a slow leak won’t asphyxiate us in the middle of the night or blow us up before I can make pancakes in the morning. Lighting the burners is a little tricky with a regular match, singed skin and all. So, we bought a butane lighter. We got it home and it had no butane. Apparently this is not uncommon, as when we returned it the guy took the butane out from under the counter and proceeded to fill it right up.

Back to the cooking… the banana bread was burned on the bottom – I chopped that right off as soon as it was cool enough. No one will ever know the difference. The white bread recipe SPECIFICALLY stated “put the rack near the bottom of the oven so the top of the bread pan is in the center.” Which I did. You guessed it; the bottom of the white bread was burned as well. It is amazing how delicious bread tastes without the bottom crust. :)

Well, no Christmas carols playing at Town Center or the Plaza, no snow, no “Ho, Ho, Ho” Hoers jingling their bells. And no family or friends to celebrate with. It sounds kind of bleak when you describe the bare facts of our Christmas. We are very thankful for modern communication technologies to keep us in touch with everyone. And, frankly, thankful for cooking fuel, food to cook, and a warm abode. It is amazing how circumstances can alter priorities. My Christmas present this year is a large dose of humble pie. It doesn’t taste very good but it definitely nourishes the soul.

posted by Teresa @ 8:25 AM 4 Comments

Eid El Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of last week the Turner office in Cairo was closed for the celebration of Eid El Adha, a major Muslim holiday. Yesterday was the day the animals were slaughtered. Ron and I took an afternoon walk. It was an experience we will not soon forget. (Please see pictures)

First off, this Eid is seventy days from the end of Ramadan and is in remembrance of Abraham, (Ibrahim) who was willing to sacrifice his son to God. God did not require of him this sacrifice so, Abraham offered a ram instead. That’s where the sheep come in. Everyone here who can afford it has a sheep (or cow or goat) slaughtered and cooked up to share with family, friends and those less fortunate. Here in Cairo you just walk down the street, find a herd of sheep and pick out the animal you want. They will slaughter it, skin it, disembowel and cut it up for you right on the spot. Some people prefer to take their animal home and perform this ritual themselves. I’m not overly squeamish about such things, having grown up in a hunting and fishing family, but this took me quite by surprise. They do it right on the sidewalk and blood just runs in rivulets down the street. I was standing right in it before I realized what was going on!

As we walked on, many men were walking about with blood all over them and wearing rubber boots to protect their shoes from the streams of blood. The smell was a curious mixture of dung and fresh blood mixed with rotting entrails– not easy to describe in a blog. And definitely not something you might want to try replicating! The children stood about, fascinated with all the sights. At some points you would see men with small hatchets trying to hack off ram antlers from skulls. One lady was holding onto the hoof end of a lamb’s leg while the other end boiled in a pot of water. The sheep hides were heaped about left and right… honestly, it was amazing. This wasn't taking place out in the country, it was happening in the heart of a metropolis of 16 to 18 million people!

I have posted some pictures. It is difficult, at times, to get the best pictures because many of the people do not want to be photographed. What an experience!

posted by Teresa @ 3:02 AM 4 Comments

Teresa Takes A Field Trip

Admittedly, I feel somewhat ridiculous making this accounting of my time. Alas, events of significance vary from person to person. My event today was DRIVING THE CAR BY MYSELF ON AN EGYPTIAN HIGHWAY! The car, nor I, was damaged in the process. Although it remains difficult for me to believe, I had not driven on a highway for over a month. Imagine the exhilaration! Truly, what a luxurious freedom. I decided to venture forth to a market, or some such establishment, not far from our hotel. From the moment I drove the car off the highway onto the bumpy, unpaved, crater-ridden lot, all eyes were upon me. Not only was I an uncovered woman in Western dress but, I was driving in a remote area, on the highway and by myself. The scrutiny was overwhelming! Everyone watched me roll and bump through the parking area. Their eyes surveyed my parking abilities and were riveted upon me I walked toward the shopping area. A group of men huddled around a table drinking hot tea from glass cups. They appeared uneasy that I was entering their “domain.” Briefly I pondered whether any of them would dare wait on me. Finally, one of the gentlemen arose. I asked for a Coca-Cola Light and potato chips – two things I recognized without study. I paid my 7LE and then endured the whole gazing routine in reverse. I was sweating by the time I got back to my car! Driving out of the lot felt like an escape. As I continued my drive, every man (you never see women walking about on the highway in the more remote areas) looked, recognized me as a FEMALE driving alone and did a full swivel to stare at the back of the car. If I were 30 years younger I likely would have been flattered and thought they were impressed by what they saw. At my age, only the factor of my apparent boldness was eliciting this overdone response. After this experience I was more than ready to return to Cairo. There is not a perfect equilibrium between the sexes in the city, but it’s a lot more balanced than what I had just lived through!

posted by Teresa @ 8:32 AM 3 Comments

The Fish Market in Alexandria Harbor

The other gentleman in this picture works for Emaar, the developer of the Marassi project. His grandparents came to Egypt from Italy in the early 1900's and he and Ron hit it off immediately. Since my arrival he has wanted to take us for the "best fish" in Egypt. He is from Alexandria, and that is where we go for dinner the night of November 24th. We had our Thanksgiving feast early!

These pictures are from the fish market in Alexandria Harbor. We picked out our fish when we entered.. including which squid we wanted for our fried calamari. They cleaned our choice of fish right in front of us prior to being seated. Yum, yum! Once we sat down, the food started arriving. We didn't think it was going to stop! Grilled eggplant, humus, bread, fresh vegetables, rice... then our fish and prawns (each with heads and tails and eyes and everything). Truly, we could have fed our whole family two meals from this extravaganza. After all this they brought out the fruit plate. Then we had Egyptian ice cream (don't ask, I've no idea what makes it different but it is) and tea. Ron had lemon ice cream. Mine was "milk" flavored. Rather like vanilla but yet not. We started dinner around 8:00p and finished up about 9:45p. Pretty quick evening meal by Egyptian standards. We ventured forth to Alexandria about 6:30p and returned to Marassi at 11:30p. Quite a long way to go for dinner but definitely worth the experience.

posted by Teresa @ 12:06 AM 2 Comments