Half full...

So, I've decided that instead of thinking about all the things I don't like about Cairo, I need to focus on the good things....Sooooo, David Letterman style..... I present, Cat's top 10 reasons to live in Cairo! 

10: The fruit is really good here, every few days I buy locally grown fresh strawberries, apples, oranges, plums and pears for next to nothing at one of the many fruit stands near my apartment.

9. I am learning Arabic- I can already greet people, count and bargain for a taxi!

8. The people are really friendly and welcoming and take every opportunity to feed me.

7. Chocolate is cheap :)

6. my running club does track practice and speed work twice a week so my running is improving.

5. I am getting really good at charades from communicating with my driver- yesterday I made him understand "I want to stop at a fruit stand" by miming eating a banana and an apple.

4. Because there are only a few english channels, I am learning waaaaay more than I ever wanted to know about the US presidential election from CNN.

3. Because there are 10 of us working together in the same office, I am learning a lot about speccing glassware, cutlery and table linens as well as HVAC  (heating ventilation and A/C) and refrigeration systems. 

Okay that's all I can think of at the moment....but that's pretty good don't you think?! If I think of the last 2  I'll add them.  (wow, a third of the list involved food......can you tell I like to eat?!)

Okay, back to work....hope you're all doing well :)

C

Stage 2

I haven't written in a while mostly because it would be a fairly negative post (according to Nicky, I am in stage 2 of culture shock)...it's been a tough week- the housing situation hasn't improved and this weekend it actually got worse: I had been out for a run (11K) and brunch with the running group and was actually in a relatively good mood, and when I got off the elevator I saw a man about 10m away with a basket full of about 5 or 7 fluffy, adorable rabbits!  He was holding one so I walked toward him and was going to say hi when I suddenly noticed the giant machete in his other hand!! You can guess the rest of the story, but I was pretty shocked, especially since this happened in the corridor of my apartment building! I think he might have been a door-to-door salesman (I guess you can't argue that the meat wasn't fresh....), but I think after seeing my face, he decided not to ring my bell....

On a positive note, the people in the running group were really nice, and the brunch was good, even if the route was not exactly what I'm used to (I got to practice lengthening my stride while jumping over piles of garbage beside the nile and  my agility trying to avoid the homeless people on the sidewalk). Also, I am closer to finding a swim team I think..

Okay back to work. Maybe I'll wait till stage 2 is over to write again.....

C

not always greener....

The "grass", in this case, is my apartment-- I moved in on the weekend (which as you remember, I was pretty excited about), but the first night I got maybe 1 hour of sleep......probably less. I went to see the place twice, once during what would seem to be the only quiet hour of the entire day, the next time I went and noticed a few cars going by, but was told it was rush hour and it would only last another hour or so...wellllll, that turned out to be all night. 

In NA people use their car horns very rarely....maybe to tell someone "um...you are getting a bit too close", or "you *jerk*, you cut me off..." or"hey, the light is green..", but that's pretty much all..... here they use them ALLLLL the time, and not just one short honk, but they often honk a tune- some cars feature la cucaracha, and I think I heard 'shave-and-a-haricut' the other day, or some drivers just honk to the beat of whatever song happens to be playing on NileFM. So that was the first night...

When I got up after my one hour of sleep, I turned on the shower and the shower head flew off and smacked me in the head and somehow I tripped the breaker that runs the hot water tank and the shower was cold. Anyway, the shower got fixed the next day, but there isn't anything that can be done about the traffic so I've decided to keep looking- which means more quality time with Mohamed #2! 

btw The latest Mohamed incident happened on Sunday: I called him to tell him about my issues with the apartment...I knew he had just had a baby on saturday so I said maybe we could schedule a meeting for later in the week, but he insisted on meeting me that very day, and when I got in the car with him to go to the flat, he said we had to stop somewhere first and  he drove me to see his wife and new baby in the hospital! As if someone who is recovering from a C-section really wants one of her husband's clients in her hospital room...it didn't seem to bothe her but it was sort of awkward nonetheless...

On a positive note, I connected with the organizer of the running club in the area where I'm hoping to live... there are about 20-30 runners and it sounds like they are a pretty social group- they do a long run on Friday mornings and then have brunch afterwards (running and brunch!!! can you think of a better combination!!!????)

Okay I have to get to work, but I miss you all a lot, (and honk-free victoria)

C

Moving, finally!

So, I got the keys to my apartment today and am going to move all my stuff tomorrow- YAY!!!! I think I told you that people are a little less, um...professional than they are at home.... but let me give you an example... Mohamed (#2) and I arranged to meet my new landlord and get the keys etc. Here is how the afternoon played out:

12:19pm:  Mohamed pulls up to the hotel... I get in. His 3 year old daughter and wife are in the car. 3 year old immediately hops on my lap. 

12:45pm: arrive at Mohamed's office. We get out. Mohamed jokes with his coworker, does some emails and drinks a nescafe.

1:00pm: Mohamed goes to the mosque with his daughter for friday prayers. Women aren't allowed to pray in front of men that aren't their husband, brother, or father, so his wife and I sit in the office and chat.

1:45pm: Mohamed and his daughter finally come back from mosque. He and his wife and daughter disappear into the office for about 10 minutes. They don't tell me where they are going. The receptionist stares at me for a while and I pretend to read a magazine. 

2:00pm: Finally we leave to meet the landlord. Mohamed's daughter has a tantrum because I am leaving (she did this last week too...I am like the horse whisperer for egyptian kids apparently!) so his wife and daughter come along to the appointment with us. 

Can you imagine a realtor bringing his family along to close a deal in Canada!? "Um sorry about the baby puke on these mortgage papers.....but just sign here". Here there seems to be no separation between work and personal life.  Why didn't he tell me to take a cab and meet him at the flat at 2!!??  Anyway, I got the keys and it looks like all the conditions of the contract have been met so I am going to move tomorrow!!

I hope you all had a great Valenteim day! I said I'd give an update on mine...It was fun, but it was a really late night- didn't really get started till about 11:30pm (and it was a dinner!)- a  dance group from Prague, Extravadansa, performed throughout the night... they were really good, but their costumes were reeeeeallly revealing..I think they might have been glued on! The people at our table were really nice and welcoming, but I was definitely sporting the least amount of "bling".  There isn't really much of a middle class here.... sort of like mexico- you either have money, or you don't, and the ones who do like to show it- one of the women had a diamond ring as big as a toonie. I'm attaching a couple of pictures of the dance group and my hair... you can see it's calmed down a little-- I still don't really like it but I think it might be okay (yes Mum, I am doing my "dad smile", but I find it weird to smile normally for a self-photo).

'Happy Valenteim Day!'

That exact phrase was printed on a balloon I saw the other day (actually, it was at the front desk of the fateful hair salon...maybe I should have taken it as an omen.....). 

 It would appear that Valentine's day here is a pretty big deal- all the restaurants and hotels have special menus, and are having galas and parties and the whole city is pink and red  (My Egyptian colleagues were telling me that they have another similar day in November too, but it's less commercial).  I am actually attending one of these galas tomorrow- our GM was invited by one of our high-end travel industry partners to a dinner at one of the hotels near ours, so when he found the only plans I had for tomorrow night was a date with the treadmill, he invited me to join him (out of pity mostly I think!). Apparently we will be there with the "upper echelon of  high society in Cairo" and all the women will be preened and manicured and wearing waaaay too much makeup and perfume (which is actually not much different from usual) so Frank wanted to make sure I had something appropriate to wear...I brought a couple of dresses with me and I got a mani/pedi at the hotel salon tonight (for less than that $20 including tip!), but I still don't think I'll be fancy enough.   I'll give you a report tomorrow though...we'll see!

oh btw, Thank you all for your support about my hair...your kind words have been very comforting to me during this difficult time ;) 

Bye for now everyone, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valenteim Day!  :)

Hugs and kisses! 

C

Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the hotel I helped at this summer- it finally opened last week after many months of delays, and it looks great- very modern with lots of glass and lights. I went there this weekend to check it out. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the rooms are arranged in a concave shape (or convex if you're looking at it from the outside) around a huge atrium...if you look at it from the top, it's in the shape of an eye...the eye of Horus, to be specific. Also of note are the palm trees- they are real but are dead and have been preserved in a such a way that they will last indefinitely without any water. It's hard to tell but they are really tall, the hotel is about 10 floors tall and the trees go right to the top.

By special request from Erin and Nicky, I am posting a photo of my tragic haircut. I hope that you are asking because you are my friends and want to help me through this difficult time, not to laugh!   I am pointing out the Farrah Fawcett layers...

In other news, I signed a lease for an apartment today- it's the one I was trying to decide on last week- even though it's on a busier street, it's still the nicest one I've seen inside and to be honest, I just got tired of looking. It has 3 bedrooms so lots of space for you all when you come to visit. I think I can move in on the weekend so I'll take pictures once I'm settled. 

Bye for now,

C

bad haircut, sushi, dim sum and soccer

Even if I wanted to be sleeping right now, there is no way I could-- about an hour ago, Egypt just won the Africa Cup of Nations football (soccer) tournament....the streets are filled with honking cars and screaming fans. I watched the game in a pub with some of my colleagues-I'm not really a soccer fan, but it was pretty exciting- the Pharaohs played Cameroon and they won 1-0- the atmosphere in the pub after the goal was electric. 

This weekend was more eventful than last- I actually did quite a bit: went for dim sum at the four seasons for Chinese new year; looked for more apartments; went for sushi; took a tour of our new hotel by the airport that's just opened and got a haircut. The haircut was the least successful of all the activities... I purposely waited to get my haircut until I got here because this stylist/colourist (both called Mr. Hassan) team are really famous in Egypt have all sorts of famous people and stars for clients...but I think something got lost in the translation... I tried to explain to the stylist that I wanted a few long layers around my face, which apparently to him meant a combination of Farrah Fawcett and the Friends haircut circa 1996! It looks a little better now that I have washed all the product out of it... but I'm hoping it grows reaaaallllly fast!!!

Okay internet time is running out so I should go. Miss you all and hope you're well! 

C

the weekend...

Not much to report lately...I saw a few more apartments with Mohamed last night (after experiencing another broker I figured it was best to stick with the devil I knew...or whatever that expression is...) and I saw one that I quite liked- it's on a really quiet street and the kitchen is reasonably big and pretty new looking. I am going to go back on the weekend to see it in the daytime, but if all goes well I should be able to move in by the 3rd week in Feb. YAY!!! Living in a hotel sounds fun, but the novelty wears off very quickly...for me it was about 4 days- I can't wait to have a place of my own. This place is also a 3 bedroom, so I have plenty of space for visitors (yes YOU!!!), and in fact, I think I already have my first houseguest lined up- Gus, who lives in Prague is going to come in march if he can get the time off approved!  

Besides apartment hunting, I have been eating a lot....Egyptians really like to eat, and my co-workers have been taking pity on me since I don't really know anyone besides them, so they've been inviting me out for meals...but they order SO much food because they want me to try everything, and I can't really say no because they are so eager to show me their culture, so I try to eat as much as I can but sometimes I just have to tell them I'm full...but they don't believe me, and think I don't like it.  Anyway.....I have a date with the treadmill tomorrow, so hopefully I'll feel a little better after some exercise. 

Okay my internet time is running out, but I hope you're all doing well :) 

C

fire!

So, yesterday along with the usual chaos of preparing to open a hotel, we had a little extra (unwanted)  excitement. A few of us were in the office yesterday afternoon, when one of the receptionists yelled something..I wasn't sure what she said exactly, because it was in arabic, but it sounded sort of urgent, so I ran out of the office with the others to see what was going on. When we got to the reception area, there was thick black smoke coming out of one of the light switches- at first just a little, but it after a few seconds it got worse...then flames started leaping out of the switch! I'm no electrician, but I could tell that something was not right! Suddenly, someone came running down the hallway and into the office with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on the flames and put the fire out- which was the good news....the bad news was that now the entire office and everything in it- (furniture, computers, our hair, our clothes, our mouths) were covered with the fine powder from the extinguisher. It looked like it had snowed inside- it was a huge mess! We were able to find another spot to work, but it took a cleaning crew most of the afternoon to get rid of the stuff.

After that, I went to look at apartments again. I wasn't happy with the broker from last week (the car accident etc) so I called a new agency to see if they were better.  As we drove to the area where I was meeting the new guy, my co-worker, Sean, joked that wouldn't it be funny/awkward if I ran into Mohamed (the other broker) while I was with the new agent!! Welllllll..I'm sure you can guess where this is going!!! Sean's driver stopped the car outside the designated meeting spot, and suddenly Sean said, "quick hide, it's Mohamed!" I thought he was kidding at first, but there he was, walking right towards us! (In a city of 18 million people, what are the odds!!?? This isn't Victoria!)  I was sitting in the back, so I dove behind the seat and didn't put my head up till Sean said it was safe.... he seemed to be gone, so jumped out of the car and went to meet the new guy...Sean's driver (also called Mohamed) came with me so I wouldn't have to wait alone....suddenly, Mohamed (the driver) said, quietly... "um...Miss Catherine... Mohamed coming!" CRAP!! So Mohamed #1 and I turned quickly away and pretended we were looking at jewelry or something in a shop window till Mohamed #2 had passed....Mohamed #1, thought this whole situation was just hilarious!  Thankfully Moh'd #2 he didn't see us, and he left before I met the new guy. I know I shouldn't feel bad, I don't have a contract with him and as I joked to Sean "I'm allowed to see other people!", but knowing Mohamed #2, he would have made a HUGE deal out of it.....so, I was glad to avoid the awkwardness for at least another day. Sadly, I didn't really like the apartments or the new agent.  

(You might have noticed that a lot of people here are called Mohamed. It is a very popular name for muslim boys because he was one of their prophets. Without exaggeration, I would say that 50% of muslim men here are Mohameds)

Okay I should go, it's only 7pm but I'm tired! 

Miss you all! 

C

Swimming with an audience and my new "boyfriend"...

Today was another lazy day off, but I did finally get in the pool...I think I said before that it's not ideal for laps because it's kidney shaped and about 10C warmer than the pool we usually practice in, but I thought I should get a few lengths in just so I didn't forget how! After about 10 minutes I put my head up to defog my goggles and noticed that there were about 5 people watching me from their balconies! I kept going for a little while longer but I felt a lot of pressure to make sure my strokes were perfect (you would have been proud John!). 

Tonight I went to our GM's house for a fabulous Lebanese meal (which he cooked!)...his driver and his wife and 3 kids were there too, and as of tonight, I now have a new boyfriend...he's dark and hansome, and pretty tall...for a 5 year old!  It was very cute, the two youngest kids, Mohamed and Neda, are twins (boy/girl),  and they wouldn't leave me alone- but Mohamed especially- one of them had to be sitting on my lap and stroking my hair or holding my hand the entire time- Moh'd even slept on me on the way home in the car. Their mum says they have never seen a person who has such light hair before... I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but it was pretty cute!

Day off

So, today was a day off, and since I don't really know anyone, I stayed at the hotel and caught up on some sleep, read, went to the gym and taught myself how to use imovie. Here is my first attempt....I think it's pretty good for someone who is not all that technologically inclined!  The still pictures are of me (see, don't worry, I still look the same), my socks and undies after they came back from the hotel laundry (I don't know why but the way they were packaged cracked me up!) and if you zoom in a lot on the shot of the rooftop and look closely, beside the satellite dish, you will see two sheep!!! At first I thought they were dogs, because this is a seriously urban area...but they are definitely sheep! Crazy! 

Okay time for dinner! 

C