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