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| Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 I am going through stages. Yesterday was runny-nose-day. Today was congested-nose day. Because I have been feeling like crap this week, I didn’t go shopping at all. My fridge is empty. Not that I am eating much anyway…. But it’s like a desert in there. A half full tub of Philadelphia, a bottle of milk, the usual assortment of chili sauce, ketchup, mustard, capers and anchovies. So last night I sacrificed my last eggs to make an omlett. Could have saved the effort, didn’t taste a thing. My taste is gone, totally. I could have eaten cardboard, same difference. Had a small Lasagna from Pizza Hut for lunch today. I detected a faint tomato sauce flavour. I am not beaten easily, I just orderd some Korean food. Let’s see if that will leave an impression. Cancelled my trip to Alex on Thursday. I feel really knackered. No energy left, all day long blowing my nose and trying to get enough air into my lungs has done me in. Good news as well, though. The work permit has come through. Should have it in my hands tomorrow. Friday, Jan. 24, 2003 Day off. Flu is receeding, although my throat is still a bit sore. I actually ordered some Vitamin C and Echinacea online yesterday, without leaving the house. I love Otlob! Got up this morning, wandered in the kitchen to make some tea and realised that my milk had gone off. Bugger. So I had to go down to the shop to buy some. Shop was closed because of Friday prayers (ok, so it wasn’t morning anymore), Bugger again. But the little shop around the corner was open, so about half an hour later I had my tea…. Just checked my e-mails and now I am going to do a little fry-up, saussages, tomatos and eggs…. Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003 Sore throat. I am battling it with some evil looking green gargling stuff…. Doesn’t taste too bad though, like toothpaste. My mum used to torture me with this horrible red mouth wash. It was hideous. Or, if we ran out, with some homemade lukewarm saltwater. Pu-uke! It was terrible…… Anyway, the trip is booked, now we unfortunately have to pay for it. Oh, well. Work is as ususal. Not much of a social life. I get home, I watch the telly, I go to bed….. Which reminds me, I wanted to order in some food….. Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003 Booked the trip. Starting to get excited. But first we have to get through a major audit at work. Lloyd’s are coming in the second week of Feb to evaluate our systems. We had a seminar to that end last Thursday. Well, that’ll keep us entertained for the next 3 weeks…. Back home they started to plan a 15-year highschool reunion (Abitur). Wasn’t quite expecting that. I always said, no matter what, for the 20-year-do I will go home, no matter where I am at the time. Well, oops. Haven’t got a lot of holidays. Depends on the date, I guess….. Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003 What can I say, I am a lazy fart…. Nigel left, the following weekend Ji and Les came and staid over for 2 nights. Les mainly went off to play golf, Ji and I exlored the area. Next time when Nigel wants to eat Kofta, I know where to go, elhamdulilleh! Had a really good time. Work is as always, it’s getting a bit warmer, just did another bloodtest and another set of photos for the work permit. Let’s wait and see. Sooner would be better, as Eid Al Adha starts in the second week of February and we have one week off. Looks like Ann and I are going on a Nile cruise. Found this, it’s a cruise boat from Oberoi: Embarkation in Luxor Day 1 12noon Embarkation Lunch Guides introduction Visit Karnak & Luxor Temples Afternoon tea Dinner (what happens between Afternoon Tea and Dinner???) Dancing Music (Help!!!) Overnight in Luxor Day 2 Buffet Breakfast Visit the West Bank (Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Temple of Hatechepsut) Lunch Sail to Esna & to Edfu Afternoon tea Oriental Dinner Galabiya & Costume Party (get me off this boat!!!!) Overnight in Edfu Day 3 Buffet Breakfast Visit the Temple of Horus in Edfu Sail to Komombo Lunch Visit the Temple of Komombo Sail to Aswan Afternoon tea Video Presentation on Upper Egypt Dinner Dancing Party Overnight in Aswan Day 4 Buffet Breakfast 8:00am disembarkation Visit the High Dam, Old Dam, the Granite Quarries Ann will check out something else tomorrow and if that is not better, we will do the above thing. Dirk might come along from Frankfurt, if he can get a flight sorted out that matched the cruise dates. Friday, Jan. 03, 2003 HAPPY NEW YEAR! So I flew home on the 18th of December. On the morning of the 19th we were off to the Alsace and had a really nice lunch at this place I had wanted to go to for ages. Nothing fancy, but really nice food. The on to Basel. Nice shops, bought a cute litlle teddy bear (another one, the collection is growing….), so many nice shops anyway! And more food….. Back home we spent most of our time eating as well. I actually put on weight. Ridiculous. Christmas was fairly uneventful. We stopped giving each other big presents a couple of years ago, because it started to get out of hand. It makes the whole thing a lot more enjoyable, if you do not have to wreck your imagination for weeks, trying to come up with an “inspired” gift…. I came back on the 28th and then Nigel came down from London on the 29th. I had to go to work for 3 days and he just went off to the museum, to collect material for his report book. New years eve we spent at the Hard Rock Café. All the bid dodas at the major hotel just sounded way too stuffy. We stayed all night and then, in the morning, had this wacky idea off going to see the sun rise at the pyramids. Said and done, grabbed a taxi and went. The grounds were still closed off, so we went through the village and snug in illegally. Obviously we got caught by a guard. Nigel just charmed the socks off him, combined with a little intimidation down the lines of ‘I am a doctor of Egyptology and I know how it all works…”. The guard in the end gave us a small tour of the grounds, always on the look out for other guards. All very cloak and dagger. When the sun came up, we were in the middle of all those tombs and subsidiary pyramids, with a brilliant view along the big ones. It was great. The guard got his bakhshish and gave us advice, when and where to come back in at night, so he can take us for a climb up Khufu’s pyramid. It’s just unreal what they will do, if you pay…. Anyway, we wandered off through the village, slugging past chickens, dogs, ducks and lots of horse manure towards the Mina House for breakfast. Very civilised, daaaling! Finally got back home by 9 am and just dropped into bed for a few hours. |
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| Ever wondered if I am the only non-Egyptian person living here that thinks this country is strange? Go and have a look at Walters' World, that's the site of my colleague Steve - he actually left Egypt now, but hey....it's worth a look, although he is actually funnier live! |
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