Typical...

Julie and I are going to a yoga class tomorrow so, tonight after dinner (salmon...mmmm) we looked up the studio so we'd know where to go... here are the directions on the website--- so typically egypt, that I had to laugh:

"The studio is on the second floor (if you count the first floor as zero). The door does not have a number on it but the door across the way is labeled with the number 2.....The building has a wide outdoor staircase with white pillars that takes you to a landing and then you'll see a staircase on your right that will take you up to the second floor."
While this sort of thing is indicative of how inefficient it can be here sometimes (why don't they just put a sign on the door instead of saying it's across from number two- wouldn't that be easier??), we had to laugh because we are both guilty of directing people to our houses in the same way, in fact I don't actually know my address at all-- I just say my apartment is on X street, the same side of the street as the _____ cafe, above the "electronices {sic} shop", and across from the organic food mart-- and if you get to the italian deli, you've gone too far. And it works.

Anyway I am going to rest up before my first yoga class ever (pretty excited but a little nervous about it!). Hope you're all having a great weekend-- yours is just beginning, mine is half over already. not fair :(

xoxo C

A wedding and some light carpentry

I think I mentioned that I had been invited to a co-worker's wedding last night. It was an interesting cultural experience if nothing else. The invite said 9:30pm, but I'd been warned not to show up before 10:30 or 11:00 unless I wanted to be there alone. Tanya and I actually had time to have a cup of tea, watch a DVD and go out for dinner (apparently dinner is never served before midnight) before we even got there. When we arrived at around 10:45 and things were just getting started- the first thing we saw as we walked into the ballroom was a gigantic flying horse made of white roses-- the thing was about 7 feet tall- picture a My little Pony on steroids! Yikes! (I was so shocked I didn't even think to get my camera out-- darn.

We made our way into the ballroom and found the table with our co-workers-- as we were in the middle of double air kissing about 100 people, this star wars (the ominous music, when darth vader comes- Dun dun dun, da da dun, da da dun...) kind of music suddenly started blaring from the speakers and a stage smoke started billowing out of a smoke machine under the stairs... and suddenly the bride appeared with her father... then the groom came out and took her and they made some speeches. A lot more drama and fanfare ensued, but what was most prominent was the LOUD music- an traditional zaffeh band played- which is about 20 people with drums, these straight trumpet things that sound sort of like oboes, and my personal favourite, egyptian bagpipes. These guys in silky pants that sort of reminded me of sigfreid and roy, pranced onto the dancefloor carrying a huge flower, and suddenly the flower started moving and a belly dancer popped out-- sounds like something you might expect at a bachelor party, not a wedding, but when in rome, I guess... Here's a short video I did this morning... defintely not my best work but gives you an idea of what it was like. (for full screen you can look at it on FB).3 of the 4 members of the HR team: Sylvia, Ehab and Me

Dinner was finally served at about 12:30am and when I left at 1:30, the belly dancer was jiggling her way through the crowd. I didn't get home till about 2 so needless to say, I skipped the 14miles run, (but not breakfast, of course, although I was too slow and all the bacon was eaten before I could get any!)

So about an hour ago, I was sitting on my bed with my computer and there was a weird sound and a huge crash (like, HUGE, I'm surprised the people below didn't come up to see what was happening!) and suddenly the mattress (and I!) were on the floor-- I guess a screw had worked itself loose and one of the support beams that was holding up the mattress gave way! It's a king bed, so it was holding a lot of weight.... anyway I wasn't hurt, just surprised. I managed to get the mattress off the bed, and took a better look- I needed to lift the beam, align the holes and put the screw back, I tried a kitchen knife and a potato peeler before I remembered the I actually did have a screwdriver-- in the toolkit Gus bought me when he was here this time last year- it came in really handy (thanks Gussy!) and the issue seems to be resolved. Now that my bed is intact again, I'm going to take a nap for a few hours before heading over to Julie's for dinner!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

C

Fat Tuesday..

This picture is from Luxor, but Julie just sent it to me- the kids were so cute when they weren't asking for money or our ipods... I think these ones were better behaved because they were girls...they just wanted to give me five! Anyway, I am realllllly glad this week is almost over- tomorrow is Thursday and I'm so ready for the weekend. I'm going to my first egyptian wedding tomorrow night! I think it's going to be a long night- the invite says it starts at 9:30pm (I know!) but my coworkers have told me not to arrive anytime before 10:30 or I'll be the only one there! A few of us are going out for dinner first, as apparently the food likely wont be served till midnight or after! I asked some people in my office what time it would be acceptable to leave without being rude and they said I should stay till 1 or 2 at least...and we are running 12 miles the next morning...I might just show up for brunch....

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras (the day before the first day of lent) but instead of pancakes, I went to Julie's for an amazing meal- a thai lady comes to her house every Tuesday morning, brings all the ingredients and cooks a huge assortment of Thai food- she plates it all up, does the dishes and leaves Julie with all this amazing food- so great! In Luxor we bonded over a mutual love of apple-tinis (and running, I guess...), so we had one of those too! (as I was writing that last paragraph I remembered that I had a Tupperware full of leftovers Julie sent home with me last night- as I was planning to have cereal for dinner it was a great revelation!)

Anyway, even though it's only 9:30, I'm going to head to bed- probably not a bad idea as I have a looooong day ahead of me tomorrow!

Hope you're all well!

xo C

ugh...

What a crappy day at work today- I won't go into details, but I wish I could go on holiday for a LONG time.

Today on the way home it started raining- initially it didn't register how out of place it was until my driver told me he'd never driven in the rain before...great! I thought for a sec about switching places with him. It stopped after about 15 minutes, but it was nice, I sort of miss the rain and it also fit with my mood...

People here are still upset about yesterday's bomb, but unfortunately, although Egypt is a fairly peaceful country, this sort of thing is not unheard of- in fact, there was a blast at the same market in 2005.

This weekend I think I'm going to try a yoga class- I've never done yoga, but with no swim team I need another activity to balance out all the running. In the area where I live there are tons of studios and many different types of yoga to choose from. That's one of those weird double standards about living here-- I can't be guaranteed that my apartment will have running water every day, but my yoga options are endless.....

A funny anecdote that made me laugh-- everyday I drive past a hospital with a big crane sticking out of the top- I always thought that it was still being built or was going through renovations, but it turns out that when they were building the hospital in the 80's they sort of forgot about the crane and by the time someone realized it was still there, nobody could figure out how to get it out! Apparently they have to spend a fortune every year to maintain it so it won't deteriorate and harm the building....oh egypt!

Anyway, I hope you're all having a better day than me, bye for now,

xoxo C

I'm okay...

You might hear, or might have heard that one or more bombs were set off in a tourist area of Cairo today. Although it is an area I have visited before, it isn't near my home or work. Details are still sketchy but at least one person was killed and 17 people were injured, likely both tourists and locals as it was right outside a major mosque in the city.

Brown sugar and some random pictures

Today I ate lunch with 3 other people from Victoria! Lindsay, who I worked with for years has a sister who is teaching here at the BC International School so I met her and 2 of her friends today. It was strange to refer to things from home and not have to explain that I am from an island near Vancouver, or if they don't know where that is, Seattle, or if they don't know where that is, "North of California"...

On my way home from the restaurant I stumbled across a market that I'd heard the runners talking about- I made a mental note of it as it was rumoured to sell brown sugar, so I went in and the rumours were true!! There were 6 bags on the shelf and I bought 3- you never know how long things here will be around so if you see something you want you have to grab it as it might be gone next week. I also found gatorade, which is also hard to come by too!

Some totally unrelated pictures:

At home I never wear slippers- my feet get too hot, but here the dust builds up so quickly that unless you want to wash your feet all the time, you need to wear slippers- the ones I brought were getting a little ratty so I thought I'd buy a new pair....wellllllll just look at the ones I got-- and they were the best of the bunch!

At the market, Anna didn't realize how much hibiscus tea was in a kilogram-- a lot apparently!

Sometimes when I turn on my computer, the hotmail and blogger home pages are in English, sometimes they're in arabic.. there's no way to know...on the days when it's Arabic it can be confusing since everything is on the other side of the page-- I've mostly memorized what the words look like, but once in a while I still get into trouble.

At the top of the page are Jen, Tegan, Nicky and Me- they were all together this month for Jen's baby shower- I miss them a lot-- (I also miss my long hair...)

Okay I'm going to bake some cookies now with my new brown sugar- hope you're having a good weekend! xoxo C

19.2K and Bacon!

I tried to upload the Luxor video again and it still won't work- but if we're friends on FB you can watch it there... it's actually better there as you can watch it full screen.

This morning we ran 12 miles (19.2K)- a few kms shorter than last weekend's race- we ran along the main road that runs beside the Nile- not my favourite route- there are always dead animals on the sidewalk (a cat today) and lots of cars going by with men shouting things. Brunch was good, as usual, but with an extra special treat- one of the runners who works for the US embassy and gets to shop in the government commissary (a legendary wonderland that only a select few have access to, where you can buy everything you can get in North America!) brought bacon- real Oscar Meyer pork bacon-- I barely ever eat bacon at home, but there's something about it being forbidden here that makes it irresistible! mmmm it was good :)

Okay I think I'm going to take a nap now, hope you're all having a good friday!

xo C

The "help"...

So, I had a driver when I was here before, but for some reason I've been resistant to getting a housekeeper- I'm not sure why...I think I thought it would make me seem lazy or something--but the dust here builds up SO quickly (cairo is surrounded by desert remember) that I was actually in the minority not having a maid- in fact most of the people in my running group have theirs come several times a week.
So last week I finally caved and got one, and I can't believe I waited so long, because it's SO GREAT!! It's about $12 each time (which is relatively expensive since she lives on the other side of town so I have to pay for her transportation) but she stays for about 4 hours and seems pretty thorough- last week she even took all the clothes out of my drawers, wiped them out and put everything back folded perfectly. She comes when I'm at work, so I just come home to a clean apartment! Some of my co-workers have cooks who come and make all their meals for the week....maybe that should be the next addition to my "staff". Yes, I know, I am in for a shock when I finally give up the expat lifestyle.

Hope you're all doing well. xoxo C

New love affair!

I have to admit, although I've run ever since I can remember- track, and cross country in elementary and high school, and long distance running more recently- I have never truly enjoyed running for what it is- it's always been something I know is good for me and will make me a better athlete, but I have always seen it more as a vehicle to achieve other goals- a way to be able to eat whatever I want, or become a stronger swimmer, or a necessary, but not so enjoyable part of completing a triathlon, but in the last few months, I have really begun to enjoy running in its own right. (sorry with that title I guess some of you were expecting something a little more steamy!)

As I might have mentioned, life in Cairo can be a little crazy to say the least, but I know, that three times a week, no matter what happens, a little bit of normalcy is waiting for me behind the high walls of the american school. I'm sure it has to do with the people I'm with as well, but on the days when we run in the evenings, I find myself looking forward to it all day- looking at the clock on my computer and calculating how many more hours till I can run. And when we're sprinting around that bouncy red track I can let myself forget that I'm thousands of miles away from home in a country where everything is illogical, inefficient and different- I'm just a runner, running. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way- we often arrive at the gates of the school complaining that we're tired, or something is sore or we have other things to do, but we always finish the run laughing- as somebody said a few weeks ago "I never regret a run".

Anyway, as a result of my newfound love of the sport, I have decided that I want to run a marathon- till now I had always thought that it wasn't for me, or it was something I'd do "someday", but I think someday has arrived- or will arrive in the next year or so. Our group is going to Copenhagen in May for the marathon- I'm not sure if work will allow me to get away, but if so, I might try to do it then, otherwise, if I can get back to BC in the fall, maybe the RVM...I tried to post a video I made of the marathon but I can't get it to post on either this site or facebook so you'll have to make do with this picture of me doing the classic cheesy pyramids pose. (This is actually just a poster of the pyramids in the airport)

Also, I think I might have an ear infection- I think I mentioned that I try to avoid going to doctors here at if at all possible, they prescribe antibiotics for everything, and usually try to give you unnecessary injections (last time I went for a cough and they tried to give me a shot for nausea!)-- so I googled ear infection remedies and found a lot of weird stuff- the strangest was to cook up some onions, drain off the clear juice and pour it into the affected ear... another site said the same thing but with garlic juice-- what I want to know is how did these people discover that these cures worked-- did they just pour a bunch of different things into their ears until it felt better? The most normal home remedy I have read about is to put warm olive oil in the sore ear-- has anyone tried this? Does it work?

Anyway I should get to bed, but I hope you're all having a great week!

xoxo C

Race Report

Okay, here is the race report that I promised:

I took Thursday off work – a few of us were on the same flight so we took a van to the airport together. . The trip was fairly uneventful- about an hour in the air- it was interesting to see the landscape as we flew over- I remember learning in Gr 7 social studies about Egypt and the banks of the Nile flooding, fertilizing the crops etc etc, but from the air it really is apparent how the river truly is the lifeblood of the country- desert as far as you could see except for a bright green strip about a kilometer wide on either side of the Nile.

We got in around noon and the air smelled fresher as soon as we stepped onto the tarmac- I was excited about the weekend and really looking forward to a break from the chaos of Cairo, we were just a 20 minute taxi ride away from the hotel….simple right? Well the air might have been fresher, but we were definitely still in Egypt- Since we were a pretty big group, we tried to get a van to take us, well… that almost caused a brawl- bus drivers, taxi drivers, van drivers and a tourist policeman were screaming at each other for about 15 minutes- all in Arabic, so I’m not sure exactly what the issue was, but I gathered that we were upsetting the delicate balance of the airport by not taking taxis- as vans should only be reserved ahead of time by the hotel….anyway eventually we got to the hotel and everything was fine again.

Some of our group was already there so we sat and had a late lunch and napped and rested for what was left of the afternoon.


(**I don’t think I wrote about this since I thought it was too much information for the blog, but my right toenail has been about to fall off for a few weeks- I was trying really hard to keep it on for the race, so I’ve been really careful when I was washing it and kept a Band-Aid on it etc the whole running team knows about it and asks for status reports on it……. Anyway now you have the back story), I arrived with my toenail still intact, and I was so happy to finally be on holiday and in a warm place where I could wear flip-flops, but when I was walking back to my room after lunch I tripped on an uneven piece of marble – it hurt a bit but there were other people around so I downplayed it and kept walking, but when I got to a private spot I looked down and saw blood- but not coming from my right foot, that was still fine—I had cracked a big chunk off my LEFT toenail- it was still hanging on, but not by much!!

I went back to the room and by then it was hurting a lot- I put some polysporin and a band-aid on and tried to forget about it, but when I had my runners on it was so painful, I could barely walk, let alone run! I was SO annoyed. I figured I’d see how it felt the next morning, but I was feeling pretty blue…..that night we carb loaded with some pasta at the hotel buffet and Julie (my roommate) and I strategized about my toenail (should I try to cut it off or just tape it up and deal with it later... we opted for the latter) then went to bed early in anticipation of a VERY early start the next day (the hotel took the liberty of giving all the rooms with the marathon group a 4:30am wake up call!)

Our bus left the hotel at 6 for the 7am start- we had to cross the river as the race started on the west bank near Hatshepsut’s temple- I had heard that you could ride in a hot air balloon but I didn’t realize there would be so many of them- when we started out there must have been about 35 or 40 balloons in the sky, it was beautiful.

The bus dropped us off at the start line and we warmed up a little bit – with both my toes taped up, I washed some ibuprofen down with some grape Gatorade and was feeling okay… I said going into this that since I wasn’t trained for this distance, that I would just go out and relax and have fun- three of us, Julie, Jenny and I agreed to run together and even brought our cameras on the first loop of the course- even if I wanted to take it seriously it would have been almost impossible- first of all, the course wasn’t actually a half marathon, it was about 2K longer, also, as soon as we started, hoards of kids from the village started charging on to the course, wanting to practice their English (what’s your name? where you from?) wanting us to give them high fives, candy, money, and/or our ipods…one little guy, Ali, actually ran with us for about 12km, in crocs! Besides the kids, there were also animals and a lot of traffic on the course, although it was cool when we started, by the time we finished it was about 25C, by the time the marathoners were done it was almost 30C.


Needless to say, I didn’t PR, in fact I was about half an hour slower than my last half, but it was definitely a race I’ll remember forever- running by the amazing temples, seeing daily life in luxor taking place right in front of us, just as it has for centuries, and the spirit and smiles of the adorable kids…



After we watched the marathoners finish, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a few hours before meeting the group for a sunset felucca ride- we all brought snacks and drinks from cairo to share so we ended up with a great assortment of champagne, cakes, cookies etc.


After that, we went to the gala dinner where we got a papyrus certificate commemorating our achievement and a cool finishers medal too. Our run leader, Mohsen was recognized for his sportsmanlike conduct when he stopped running to help and 80 year old Japanese runner who had collapsed during the race, adding 6 minutes to his time. We were all tired from our early start and they were only serving egyptian wine (which is gross) so it was a pretty tame evening.

The next morning we slept in a little bit and went in the town to rent bicycles- it took a while to find a shop that had 15 bikes that had at least one working brake, but eventually we all got one and off we went. We rode to Habu temple and looked around for a bit before lunch. Then we rode back to the bike shop, handed in our bikes (10 egyptian pounds for 3 hours—about $1.50)


Then we went back to the hotel, packed and it was back to the airport. It was a quick trip, but a great break.- I feel really lucky to have found this group, they make life here a lot more fun!

Hope you all had a great weekend, bye for now, xoxo C

Back in Cairo...

It's late, so I'll just post a few pictures- I'll do a full race report tomorrow..

Me with some of my new little buddies- watching the marathoners finish (they look cute but they were actually incredibly annoying after a while...)















Some of the heiroglyphics @ Habu temple















warming up before the race: there are a lot of hot-air balloons there













Hope everyone's having a great v-day. xoxo C

Mohamed DVD

It's Thursday and I'm not at work!! Why? Because I'm going to Luxor today! YAY! I am actually supposed to be packing right now, but I have about 2 hours before I need to be ready so thought I'd do a quick post.

This week actually went pretty quickly--- work is, well....since we're still not open, or even actively openING everyone is getting a bit antsy--see, hotels need guests, and more importantly, hotel employees need guests to serve - its what they like to do as they get satisfaction from making people happy, and when they can't, they get bored and come and bug HR about stupid things.... anyway, I did learn a few things this week- for exmple, the arabic for blah, blah, blah (or in seinfeld, yada yada yada) is kaza kaza kaza... also, I made and brought in chocolate chip cookies and one guy thanked me for the "cupcake" - I told him it was actually a cookie and he said they call them cupcakes here... I don't try to argue logic any more, so I started offering people cupcakes after that-- they were a big hit!

But the best thing I learned about this week was "Mohamed DVD"- I have yet to witness it, but apparently once a month or so, a guy comes by the office with a suitcase full of DVDs (I'm not saying he acquires them illeagally, but they are still-in-the-theartres titles and he sells them for 20 egyptian pounds, which is less than $5, soooo...) apparently he's got some new titles and he's coming next week! I'm told that we all buy 2 or 3 different ones and swap them around the office- last month he brought slumdog millionaire so I'm excited to see what he'll bring this time!

Anyway I should get packing, I'm sure I'll take tons of pics in luxor so I'll post again when I get back.






















I just can't do a post without adding a picture (I actually published this but then had to go back in to add one- it looked to0 boring) so here is one Taylor took last week- I don't think I was happy about having my picture taken.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy valentine's day! xoxo C

ten miles, brunch and more T&A...

Yesterday was my favourite day, Friday- running and brunch!! Yesterday’s run was ‘10 miles’ (aka 16km) as we’re tapering for the race next weekend- I am actually happy with how quickly I’ve been able to get back to the longer distances- before I left BC I was running almost every day, but no more than 10K at a time, but last week’s 24K, although difficult, wasn’t impossible, and yesterday’s run was quite bearable… it’s always easier when you have people to talk to. Then we had our weekly brunch at one of our Egyptian runner’s houses- her mum made a great apple cake that everyone was taking about…I brought a loaf of banana bread and it was a hit too. We are all getting really excited about next weekend- besides the race, we are doing a lot of other cool stuff- among other things, a sunset felucca ride to celebrate our accomplishments and a bike ride through the valley of the kings. I am also thinking of doing a hot air balloon ride as Cole tells me it was one of his favourite memories from Luxor.

Yes, I know you're all waiting to hear about the T&A.......Taylor and Anna (are you disappointed...what kind of t&a did you THINK I was talking about?!) arrived back in Cairo yesterday after their Nile cruise and stayed with me last night- we had our new exec sous chef and his wife over for some wine and appies- as most of you know, appies are my specialty in Victoria, but with a sad lack of raincoast crisps, SSI goat cheese, and spinach dip makings, I was feeling a little lost (not to mention the fact that I was feeding a chef) thankfully Anna and Taylor had some good ideas and we whipped up a fairly impressive spread. It made me realize though, that my apartment is not really equipped for entertaining -notice the juice glasses for wine, and the chips served in a bundt pan! Poor Anna will be mad that I posted this picture- she got a bad burn in Luxor, but it was the only picture I had showing the food. Sorry Anna, you look beautiful anyway!






















This morning, Anna and Taylor were going to the Egyptian museum so I tagged along- I’d been before but they had a guide arranged for them by the ministry of tourism (Taylor is a photojournalist) so it was nice to have someone to explain things to us as the labeling/signage in the museum is a little lacking (I know it’s surprising in such an efficient, well-organized country!)

They are leaving for Sharm tonight and will be back in Cairo next week- I’m hoping we’ll have the chance to see each other again before they move on to Jordan. I’m jealous, they’ve already seen and done so much and they’re only a 3rd of the way through their trip –keep track of their adventures on their blog.

Here are a few more Cairo pics from today's drive to the museum- I find everyday life here so interesting but rarely have my camera handy at the right time.... xoxo C










Look carefully for the flock/herd (?) of goats on the side of the road.
















A fruit stand- shopkeeper reading the paper















typical street scene
















selling clay pots on the street.

Some videos....

We had a fun "marathon" today at work (actually just a 1K walk over a bridge on the Nile). Here's a video I made for a the colleagues. Also, I finally got around to putting together some footage (does it make me sound like a professional if I call it footage!?) I took while Greg and I were at the Vancouver Aquarium last fall.. (*Nicky, the Iron & Wine is for you!).

I'm going through a phase in my 'filmmaking' where I'm not using transitions between the clips- some of them are so cheesy (eg: the "ripple effect" or even worse, the checkerboard- ugh!) so I'm just letting them blend into one another, so far I don't mind it, it gives it more of a documentary feel I think... let me know what you think....

"See you later, Elevator"

Today was a funny day-- it didn't start out well..... I walked into my office and found about 8 security and housekeeping guys tearing the place apart-- one of them had a plastic bag on his hand.... I heard them use a word which I had learned last week-- RAT! I started freaking out a little-- two rats in 2 weeks was 2 rats too many! Wellllll..... it turns out that in arabic, mouse and rat are the same word "far"-- they just put big or small in front of it....so this turned out to be a small one...he was fast though, he made it from our office, passed by F&B, Rooms, and purchasing before he was finally caught!

Then later, it was a bit slow in the office and we got talking about expressions-- our HR co-ordinator, Ahmed, asked me what I meant when I said Okeedokee, so I explained it was just a funny way of saying okay.. Then this conversation followed:

Ahmed: "oh an expression; like, see you later elevator?"
Me: "you mean Aligator."
Ahmed: "Aligator? what?"
Me: "the expression is 'see you later, Aligator... '
Ahmed: "No, no, it's elevator.. 'see you later elevator"
Me: "That doesn't make any sense.."
Ahmed: "Aligator doesn't make sense either.."
Me: " yes, because the resposne is "in a while, crocodile.' you know, an aligator and a crodile are sort of the same kind of animal...'
Ahmed: "It's elevator"

I decided to humour him for a while till I checked with a few other people, but apparently he was right, that's the way they say it.... I don't know why I doubted him, it makes as much sense as anything else here... :P
I tried making banana bread tonight using the self-raising flour and it WORKED!! Here are a few dorky self-photos of me posing with (and pretending to eat) it...I know under normal circumstances this wouldn't warrant this level of excitement, but in light of my last attempt (and failure!) this is a serious baking breakthough!

Okay, I am 100 pages from the end of the last twilight book and it's getting verrrrrry exciting and I'm dying to find out what happens, so I should go, but I hope you're all having a great weekend! xoxo C