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Sunday, Dec. 30, 2001

Came back 2 days ago. Work was not too overwhelming, although I had 127 (!) e-mails…

Christmas was nice, Germany very, very cold and lots of snow! I took the train to go up to Carla & Michael, which turned out to be a very good decision, as on that day people got stuck in the snow for 15 (!!) hours with their cars on exactly the motorway I would have taken. Phew! Well, Carla looked very pregnant, my nieces wanted to play with me all the time, my parents complained about my brother and his wife 24/7 and I ate way too much. Basically the usual Christmas.

I picked up my “Euro starter-set” of new coins for the equivalent of 20 German marks. Very shiny and quite heavy. I will miss all those currencies. Paid in my last German money at the airport, bye-bye forever! Another piece of national identity that goes down the drain of globalisation.

Everything was ok at the flat, the mould kept growing while I was away, everything still works, everybody at work seemed pleased that I am back. Almost didn’t make it, was on stand-by for some incomprehensible reason. Checked in as one of the last people, sat in the last row, in front of the toilets – well, at least I had a lot of people to look at during the flight, cueing…

Haven’t even been shopping properly yet. Friday night I went to the corner shop for some toast, cheese and milk, last night I had a Chinese take-away. I am just chilling out at the moment, getting used again to the solitude and the missing central heating….

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001

GOING HOME, GOING HOME, GOING HOME! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY!!!! HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY, I KNOW I WILL!!!!

Good thing of the day: I got my remote back, it’s been fixed, yeah! I can be a proper couch potato again, channel hopping is quite stressful without that little black thing with the buttons on!

Oh, and Stargate is finally back on air, they finished with this totally brain damaged fly-on-the-wall-thing that was running the last few weeks. Who came up with that shit? Give me some good old-fashioned sci-fi instead anytime! (Andromeda still sucks though….)

Anyway, tomorrow morning at 6am I’ll be off to the airport, at 7.30 is my flight, touchdown in Frankfurt at 10.45am, yesyesyesyesyesyes!!!!!! I’m back in Egypt on the 28th of December….can’t wait, urgh! Till then, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Signing off for now...

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001

2 more days and I’ll be home!

I pretty much decided now that I am going to rent a car to drive up to Carla and Michael on the weekend before Christmas. The only thing holding me back now would be snow and ice. Which they have forecasted for Germany. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Going by train obviously has its advantages – I could read, sleep, chill out, whatever…. But the car just gives me more independence. Well, I guess I could have a look at the website of the German train net….

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001

The first one of our merry little group has left tonight to go home – a two day trip to New Zealand. And the lucky bastard will only be back in February. 4 more days for me. ....

Sunday, Dec. 09, 2001

My last week, THANK YOU, SUPREME BEING! Man, I so had enough of work. I am gagging for a holiday. Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-perhaps work on Friday-and there! 2 weeks of freedom, pure bliss!

On more mundane matters, tried out a new supermarket just around the block from here. They have freshly baked bread!!!! Baguette!!!!! I am delirious! And a great meat counter. Abstained from my semi-vegetarian state and bought 2 steaks, which I just had for dinner. Going to fix a cup of tea now and chase the steak with an inch thick layer of Nutella on that fresh baguette…Yes!....Sometimes food is better than sex!

Saturday, Dec. 08, 2001

So Thursday night was our little Christmas dinner. Agami was flooded, so we drove up to the restaurant as close as possible and took a leap. Inside upturned beer crates parted the waters to our table. Ship ahoy! Anyway, the restaurant is a quirky mix of Egyptian, French and American cuisine. So a few days ahead we had to explain to them what an English Christmas meal consists of. First course was a veg-soup, very close to the winter-vegetable soup that Steve had requested….then a Greek (?) salad and on to the main course – a 12-kilo turkey! It was huge, it was massive….. and it came with hash-browns, veg and an orange-sauce (oriental turkey?). All in all slightly strange, but very nice! We had plenty of wine, Irish coffees and a sea of whisky for Walter. Nice evening.

I staid over. When we came back to the house, no electricity…The things you get used to! We did not even get excited, we just got our torches out and lit some candles. God bless Egypt for Gas-ovens! So we had some tea, had a chat and went to bed around 1am. No heating and it is cold at the moment! So I slept in my jogging outfit, with two blankets on. At 4.30am the electricity came on for about half an hour. Convenient for all the Muslims, that it came on right at breakfast time, before the feasting starts, isn’t it?

In the morning, still no electric. But luckily there was enough hot water left in the boiler to at least brush my teeth and wash my hair. I absolutely refuse to have a cold shower! Breakfast and home to Alex….Slightly hung-over, so I went to bed for another 2 hours and the rest of the day I was just a couch potato, watching the telly.

Oh, another strange one – when I went into my kitchen yesterday, I found this black, smelly mud in my kitchen sinks!? It smelled sweet, was very fine and black and there were some orange chunks in it. It must have bubbled up, I guess…. Very strange indeed….. I laddled it out of the sinks with a big spoon and gave everything a good scrub with plenty of hot water. Couldn’t get the smell off my fingers though…..Yuck!

7 more days!!!!!! Next Saturday I'll fly home.....

Monday, Dec. 03, 2001 .

20 years of AIDS awareness, that totally blows my mind! I still remember a time without AIDS! That probably just means I am ancient…..20 years!

Windy outside. Gave up watching the telly hours ago. The usual Egyptian handiwork – slightly stronger wind and the dish is wobbling all over the place. No picture. Internet connection is really bad tonight, too. Wrote some e-mails. Got bored. Played Kyodai for a while. Got bored. Opened a can of beer. Now I am sitting here, staring holes into the screen. Should probably go to bed.

The horse cart just came by…. They all have bells on. Very strange, when you come from a cold area with lots of snow in winter – I automatically associate the sound of hoofs and bells with horse-drawn snow sledges, winter, Santa Claus and mountains. Nope, it’s just your little old Egyptian veg-seller, going home with his horse and hopefully empty carriage.

Tram going by (Lots of things going by….). They are usually three cars long, with the middle car being exclusively for women. In the beginning I thought that was a stupid idea. Changed my mind. Somehow women do not stare so much, so it’s quite a relief to sit in a car without lots of guys staring at you like imbeciles. I find it strange though that the tickets get sold by a man. Slight glitch there in the system.

We went through our book box at work today. We have accumulated quite a collection there. About a third of them must be from me. I should stop getting new ones and start reading some of the ones from the box. One of the things I miss most – decent bookshops. Book clubs, you order, they send! Or a postal service that is reliable, not corrupted or a bunch of thieves – then I could have Amazon send me things to my address here.

Sunday, Dec. 02, 2001

It is getting coooooold! Rain and a lot of wind for the past two days. I was awake till three the previous night, listening to my window panes rattle…… Finally gave up and wandered about, stuffing paper between frames. Helped a little. Was knackered all day yesterday. Today was definitely the last day without socks. It is freezing! Not much to contribute to the world otherwise….