weekend...

This weekend was only two days, but I still managed to fit in a few fun things. Since Rachel and Stephanie hadn't ridden a felucca yet I went with them. I also went to a 4 year old's birthday party (her Mum works with me). Next weekend a group of us from the hotel are going to Sharm El Sheikh , Mt. Sinai, which you might remember from such books as "the bible" (....that's where Moses had his little chat with the burning bush!), and St. Catherine's monastery- it's a 5 hr drive, so we're going to take a bus which will be fun- reminiscent of ski trips in high school-- we'll leave after work on Thursday and drive straight to the mountain, climb it in the dark and watch the sun rise- it's supposed to be really amazing.  After that we will head to sharm for some sleep and beach time! Here are some pictures from the birthday, as well as a shot so you can see how the hotel is progressing, and some houseboats on the nile. Bye for now! C

This shot is mandatory for all people who visit the pyramids

Hope everyone had a great easter weekend! 

pictures....

As promised, some pictures from the last few days.....

Happy Birthday Dad, Dave, Jakey, and Nicky.....and Mohamed!

So, this weekend we have 3 days off, because Thursday was the phrophet Mohamed's birthday, which is a big deal in the Muslim world! To celebrate, one of my co-workers and I and her sister (who is visiting from Spain) went on a felucca ride on the Nile- it was nice to get out of the city for a bit, it was only a 2 hour trip but it was amazing how quickly the scenery changed as we got further up the river- we saw some women washing their clothes in the water, some men fishing and even saw some kids jumping off a dock and swimming in the water....after a closer look at the water, I would not want to do ANY of those things in the Nile! After the Felucca ride, we sat at a river side cafe for about 5 hours (seriously!).....it was the laziest day I'd had in a long, long time....one annoying part about Mohamed's birthday for some in the group, was that it is a "dry day" so we had to wait till the sun went down till they would serve beer...

Continuing with the tourist-in-my-own-town theme- yesterday was a day of pyramids --- we saw the ones in Giza that I'd already seen in the summer (the ones that probably come to mind when you of when you think of egypt....with the sphinx etc) and some smaller, nicer ones that I hadn't seen yet, in a place called Sakkara or Saqqara, (depending on how they feel like spelling it that day!)- there were more of them than in Giza and we could even go inside some of the tombs, which was pretty amazing-- these ruins date back to 2400BC (or B.C.E if you want to be more politically correct...). Inside the tomb there were hyroglyphs on the walls- lots of animals and human figures in profile with their legs facing sideways but their upper bodies straight on.... (you know what I mean), naturally, I couldn't resist whistling the begining to "walk like an egyptian..." I was surprised, though, at the lack of protection for the artifacts though....they let us touch the hyroglyphs- there was no glass or anything.

I took lots of pictures and will post some when I have a chance, but before I go, I wanted to send birthday greetings to Nicky, Dave and Jacob, on March 23rd, and Dad on March 24th. Also, people tell me that it's Easter in the rest of the world, so I hope everyone has a wonderful easter weekend too.

Okay, it's breakfast time! Bye for now :)

C

long time, no post....

It's been a while since I posted, so this might be all over the place since lots of things have been happening. I had a great visit with Gus, he was here for just over a week and managed to see more than most people see in a month- he also got to be really good friends with my driver Abdou, since they spent A LOT of time together. I moved out of my noisy, rabbit-slaughteirng apartment and am back in the hotel for a couple of weeks before I can move into my new apartment at the beginning of April.

This week we had a career fair for the hotel and over 3000 people showed up-- just to put it into perspective, at the empress, we were lucky to get 100! We had no idea the newspaper ad would generate such interest and were a little unprepared for the result. At the moment my office looks like a bomb hit it- there are piles of resumes everywhere- sorting through them and doing the necessary interviews will keep me busy for the next few years probably....

This weekend Gus and I went to a place on the Red Sea called Ain Soukhna which translates literally into the "hot eye"--( I think they mean a hot spring)- nevertheless, it was really great to get away from Cairo for a little while-it only took an hour to get there, but the clean air and water made it feel like another world! The resort wasn't amazing, but I got really good deal because of my 'hotelier' status so I can't really complain- it was clean and we spent most of our time on the beach anyway. The culinary team really seemed to like making sculptures out of food...here's me in a boat made of bread. Did you check out www.bedjump.com? Gus and I decided to take a few bedjumping pics of our own...

I keep thinking of interesting/amusing things I should write but keep forgetting, so I am going to put them all in a list below:

1) Even though I have tried and tried to explain the difference, the 'coffee boy' (who is actually about 45!) in our office insists on calling me Mr. Catherine...I know I have a bad haircut, but I don't think I look that manly :( {actually he knows it's a sign of respect, but hasn't quite figured out there's a different word for women!}

2)Huge congratulations are due to my cyber triathlon coach Jazz, and his wife Jude, on their new baby boy, Finlayson! He is a very lucky boy, not only is he very cute, but he has some amazing parents!

3) I bought the egyptian version of honey nut cornflakes, "Crunchy Nut" and couldn't stop laughing when I saw their advertising slogan.....I think the N. American marketing world is really missing out by not using the adjective "ludicrously" more often in their advertising (or is it an adverb??....Nicky!!??)

4) There is a lovely statue in the garden of our other hotel in town- from the front it's a traditional egyptian woman, holding a baby, very peaceful and serene... from the back, it becomes something QUITE different {sorry to everyone who thought this was a G-rated blog...}. I think the sculptor must still crack up every time he thinks about how he convinced the poor hotel owner to proudly display this thing in the garden! ha ha

Okay that's all for now, I'll leave you with some pictures. Miss you all! xoxo C

Gussy does Cairo!

So when Gus told me he was coming to visit, I thought it was to see me, but it turns out, he actually wanted to spend some time with his new best friend, Abdou- aka my driver!

Actually, I THINK he came to see me, but since I seem to always be at work, Gus has been having a great time with Abdou- yesterday they rode camels at the pyramids, had lunch at the Mena House (the oldest hotel in Egypt), bought perfume at a traditional perfume shop and bought carrots from the back of a donkey cart. Today, on their way to Alexandria, they stopped at Abdou's grandma's house for some tea.....

All this while I was at work organizing a job fair :( But Thursday we are going to Ain Soukhna, a resort on the red sea- it'll definitely be great to get out of the city for a few days. Since my driver is still out gallivanting with Gus, I have to catch a ride with Sean, and his driver is here now, so I have to go!

Bye for now, hope you're all well!

C

new office, new home, B.O. and bed-jumping

Thanks to everyone for their support over the last little while- hearing all of your experiences with homesickness and culture shock helped me put things into perspective and realize that this is just a phase and things will get better (hopefully...). 

In the last few days, things have improved a little. I found a new apartment- I can't move in for about a month, but I think it'll be worth the wait- it's in a much quieter area, with a huge balcony and  is within walking distance to a cook st. village type area (for those of you from victoria) with lots of cafes and shops and the furniture is really "funky"- I really hate that word, but it truly is the best way to describe it- the couple that owned it is an Egyptian guy and  a Serbian woman and between them they have a really unique style- there are beanbag chairs, a dresser with a weird blue light coming from behind the mirror, bright red leather couches and it even has a bar....

Besides the living situation, I also have a new office- we finally moved into our space in the hotel- it's nice to have our own area, but the walk to work is unreal! Not only do we have to walk through an active construction site (people with saws, welders, jackhammers etc) but the workers act like they've never seen a woman before-- at first it bothered me, because they stare and point and whisper to each other, but now my female co-workers and I just look at the floor and totally ignore them-- it's actually better to look at the floor because there are sometimes huge holes and live wires etc.  (Geoff you would have a heart attack if you saw the WCB violations here- I'm bringing the first aid kit to work...) The other day a couple of us actually broke up a fist-fight between two of the guys - I guess it's all in a day's work, right!?

So, you know the Seinfeld where the valet parking guy had really bad B.O. and Jerry's car smelled bad and everyone thought it was him.....well I had the exact same experience today. I came back from lunch and immediately noticed a horrible smell....not just the kind of B.O. where you think..."hmmm I think that guy could use a shower..." but the kind that makes your eyes water and makes you think you might throw up at any time . I got a little closer and realized it was coming from the IT guys that were installing computers..... it was SOOOO bad- I can actually still smell it on my sweatshirt....I'm a little self-conscious sitting in this coffee shop. right now. 

I found out about a cool new website today www.bedjump.com! My co-worker and her fiance started it as a blog to post their vacation pics, which included themselves being silly and jumping on hotel beds---then people started sending in their own pictures and it took off from there and travelocity bought it a few months ago! Some of the pictures are pretty entertaining! Check it out :) 

Okay, after speaking to 2 servers, I think my sandwich is finally on its way, so I should go, but I hope you're all well and I miss you lots! 

C