4 months in....

Long time no post! A few days ago my internet and landline both stopped working, which was a problem as the internet was already hooked up when I moved in, so I had no clue which of the 3 big internet providers I was using. After a few calls with the landlord, I managed to figure it out and thankfully their customer service line had an English option, but even still, both of the Ahmeds I talked to tell me it will be a few more days before it is fixed (inshallah).

So, on Tuesday, I will have been here for exactly 4 months- and these landmark dates always seem to arrive with a certain amount of reflection. I am definitely glad I came as I have met some fabulous people and am learning a lot, but there are some things I miss about home. Although at first glance it seems relatively "civilized"- Egypt really is a third world country and lately I find myself thinking about things I had completely taken for granted in North America- most of them are fairly trivial, but cumulatively, they can be pretty frustrating....... I think maybe it's a good time for a new top ten list of things I never thought I would miss about Canada:

10. Police officers who aren't trying to get money from you and 99% of the time have your best interests at heart.
9. Feeling reasonably confident that when a dog approaches you on the street, it doesn't have rabies.
8. Appliances that don't give you an electrical shock when you touch them
7. Utility companies that send you a bill in the mail, instead of personally bringing the bill during the day when you are (of course) at work, causing the doorman to have to pay them and causing him to harass you for the money the second you get home
6. Using a debit card to pay for things instead of having to carry around stacks of the dirtiest cash I have EVER seen
5. RECYCLING and environmental awareness- my carbon footprint and I are going to hell for sure after all the waterbottles I'm throwing out!
4. Applicants, vendors, suppliers and co-workers who, for the most part, do not necessitate the use of air freshener after they leave the office.
3. Stores that play music at a volume that does not make you want to leave the store the second you enter
2. Shopping for clothing and not having a store employee (usually with terrible BO) follow you and stand no less than 6 inches from you the entire time, straightening the and re-folding everything you touch.
1. Using a bathroom in a mall, gas station, movie theatre or hotel and feeling confident that a) there will be toilet paper in the stall and b) that there will not be a woman who hands you a paper towel to dry your hands and expects a tip

Above are some of the funnier things- annoying more than anything, but there are some pretty major things that really do bother me and make me wonder how long I can actually live here. Some of you might be familiar with Egypt's political situation, but if not- the same president (Hosni Mubarak) has been in power for the last 26 years since the last, much-loved president, Sadat, was assassinated (by a fellow egyptian) for wanting to make peace with Israel/Palestine. During this time there has been one "election", and the only other candidate "mysteriously" ended up in jail. Of course, at times, we all question the opinions and decisions of our politicians, but at the end of the day, I think most of them have the well-being of Canadians in mind, unfortunately, this is clearly not the case with Egypt's government. While Mubarak and his gang gets richer and richer, the majority of Egypt's people are becoming increasingly and shockingly poor. It truly breaks my heart to see how some people are forced to live.

Most Egyptians are very loving and warm and would do anything for their friends and family, so I was pretty surprised when I saw the way strangers treat each other. Maybe their treatment by the government has lead to an "every man for himself" attitude in order to survive, but the whole society seems to be generally inconsiderate of each other- everything from the way people drive, to they way they shove each other in lineups..... For example, on my quiet residential street, few nights ago around 12:30am, someone was honking their car horn for about 20 minutes- clearly not caring that they'd woken up the entire street. The other strange thing is that for a population so big, I can count on one hand the number of people I've seen with physical and mental challenges- there seems to be a lot of shame and embarrassment connected with this section of society.

Anyway, that's my 4 month check-in.... I'm sure I would find things that bothered me anywhere I went, and all in all, it's been a great experience so far, but I am really looking forward to coming home for a few weeks in June. The opening of the hotel has been delayed slightly, so I might be able to stay for longer than I'd initially planned, which would be nice :)

In other news, I had a great visit with my parents- they left on Wednesday and are now at the beginning of a 10 day walking tour in Sardinia, I am looking forward to hearing about that when I'm home next month.

Congratulations are in order to Meera, Cathy, and Erika and their respective husbands as they all had babies in the last few weeks! Cathy, Graeme and Callum welcomed Sylvie; and Meera, Bobby and Rohan have a new daughter and sister, Amana and I don't know if Erika and Tim had a boy or girl, I just saw some congratulatory messages on E's FB wall, so if anyone has the deets, can you fill me in!!?? Congratulations to everyone!!! :) I can't wait to meet all the new little ones when I am home!! On a sad note, Shane said good bye to Billy this week. Those of you who remember Billy know that he was definitely not your average dog- his personality and antics made him seem almost human. He will certainly be missed.

After my last post, some of you asked how the banana bread turned out....welllll apparently baking soda was an instrumental ingredient because it didn't rise at all and was hard as a hockey puck. But I'm going to try again....maybe cookies this time.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm leaving you with a few pics of the last few weeks- mostly from a night where the whole team had dinner on a boat on the Nile- but one of the alley beside my apartment and another of my driver, Abdou. Hope you're all doing well and having fun. Over and out from catincairo :)

xoxo C