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| Monday, Jul. 29, 2002 Hot, hot, hot….and today my A/C at work broke down. Waited all day to get it fixed. Nada. Hopefully tomorrow….After a while I was boiling. It must have been around 40 to 45 degrees. The sweat was pouring off me like water. Went shopping at Metro today and met Don and his wife in the coffee aisle….Hiya, back already? Nope, still here, I’m not a teacher…..His wife never said a peep. Nice woman, just doesn’t say much. Lyn on the other hand is back and although she caught some virus and her larynx is infected/inflamed and she lost her voice, she is still managing to talk nonstop…. Did I mention I am hot??? *steam rises off head* I will go and have a shower and then prepare my “Zuericher Geschnetzeltes” – not from scratch, but Karin left me a German sauce mix, just bought some veal kebab, here we go…. Sunday, Jul. 28, 2002 Hot, hot, hot….Walking around in the factory, with all those big machines, it’s like stepping into an oven. The whole experience today was enhanced by a sandstorm. Just walking through the printing department, ended up with sand in my mouth, in my eyes…..Bliss! Just what you need as a final touch for those 40 degrees in the shade…. It’s 8.30 pm and still over 30 degrees, I am absolutely boiling, it is way too hot to sit here and type, ma salama! Saturday, Jul. 27, 2002 It looks like I got that flat after all! With a little luck the contract will be signed on Monday, wehee! Friday, Jul. 26, 2002 The usual Friday. Got up at ten, switched on the telly and spaced out for about half an hour on the sofa till I was conscious. Then fixed myself some coffee – with cream, as I could not be bothered last night to stop at the shop for some milk. Fixed some breakfast, watched some more telly, worked on my needlepoint for some hours. Then I had another neighbour at my door, complaining that something from my water pipes was leaking into her apartment. Did the warranty for all my plumbing run out or what??? So the boab got a plumber, they went up on the roof and did their thing and I ended up with no water at all! So they came down to fiddle around in my bathroom, doing god knows what, to get it going again. It’s working now, thank god. I really need a shower, it’s 35 degrees!!! Well, perhaps first I should get rid of the minor flood in there…. Thursday, Jul. 25, 2002 Mysterious goings-on about the prospective flat. The agent said they were agreeing to my allowance, my new boss said they were asking for more….Just spoke to the agent and now I’m even more confused. He will talk to them again, as I really liked the flat. If he can not get it sorted by Sunday, we will make arrangements for me to come to Cairo again and look at some more flats. Bugger! Good thing of the day – it’s weekend. 4 more weeks to go! God, I wish I could have an extended holiday before starting the new job. Bugger again! Hey, I think I am depressed…. Let’s see, perhaps chatting to Carla can make me feel better….. It’s probably that unsatisfying book I started this morning. Perhaps I should read something funny? Tuesday, Jul. 23, 2002 Egyptians…*&*&^%$#@^%$)*^(_GY*^%&$!!! Apparently the owners of the flat must have thought that I looked really eager – they are asking for way to much money. So if they do not mend their ways by tomorrow, I’ll have to go to Cairo again and look for something else. This really sucks! They (Egyptian, dimwitted, greedy landlords…) do this every time. Agree to something and then ask for at least 50% more. Where is the logic in that??? No honour in this damn country. How on earth can you deal with these people, if you can not rely on a single word they say? Morons! Well, no good to get my knickers in a twist about it. Let’s do it like the Egyptians – Inscha’allah, if god wants it! I still wanna kick their balls….. Sunday, Jul. 21, 2002 I have been thinking about Friday and meeting my new colleagues….Did I behave in the right way, did I make a good impression, what did they think of me? Did I mess up somewhere and now they think I’m a dork? And so on, I have replaying the afternoon and been putting hidden meaning in all the things that were said. Unnerving. I have to rehash the whole thing with someone, live….but since Sadie and Steve are gone, I’m lacking in conversational partners. Karin is on holiday, Ji is on holiday, as are Les and John and everybody else. I can’t really talk about it at work…. And e-mails are just not satisfying in that respect. My sunburn is really painful by now. And extremely itchy. You could fry an egg on my left hip, its’ so hot. And really red. And my back, ouch! Agony! And somehow I managed to get my scalp severely sunburnt. Ok, my hair is only about 2 ½ inches long, but I would have thought that would suffice to protect my head? Nope, wrong! It is itchy, it hurts…..If the skin on the top of your head peels, do you loose your hair? Imagine that, my hair coming off in tufts….Patchy woman strikes again….. Saturday, Jul. 20, 2002 I found a flat today in Heliopolis that I liked. Monday my new company will pay a deposit. I hope it will work out and they won’t give the flat to someone else in the last minute. Smaller than my current flat, but still 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, large dining-living area. Nice little balcony, big enough to have breakfast on it. Quiet neighbourhood, no mosque nearby, but a small church. The street is named after some Coptic priest. Second floor. Close to the hotel where all the people from the company hang out at the pool on the weekends. I’m quite pleased. Another month to go…. Tuesday, Jul. 16, 2002 It’s 11 pm and still 30 degrees. Ok, we’re in Africa, but enough is enough! Back home they have rain, floods, hale, gimme some of that!! Currenlty listening to: The traffic going by down below. Especially entertaining, when you’re leaving the window open to escape the heat and try to sleep…..breathe, breathe, rattle, honk, breathe, breathe, honk, tram going by, argh!!! Close the window, sweat dribbels….. Can’t switch the ac on, because it either starts to dribble (drip, drip, drip, argh!) or I get frostbite…..Mpf! Monday, Jul. 15, 2002 We had an accident yesterday on the way to work. I sat in the back, no safety belt. Not out of choice, there isn’t any. The usual street life – mad people swerving across the lanes which ever way they please. One got in our way, lots of honking, braking and WHAM! Someone smashed into our derriere…. Luckily we were not too fast. I jolted forward, smacked my knee into the door and stopped myself with my hand against the headrest of the front seat. I know, I know, pointless, you can’t hold yourself anyway. That’s why it’s called a reflex! So now my right knee hurts a little and my neck, right shoulder and right arm ache. Slight whiplash plus some….Lucky, I guess…. Saturday, Jul. 13, 2002 Came home, had a shower and was soaked again 10 minutes later. Have given up on my dripping ACs. The damn things don’t work properly anyway. Instead I open all balcony doors as soon as I come in. At least until the sun goes down – no mosquito screens at the doors. It helps a little. This morning when I woke up my pillow was wet. Not moist, WET. And it is bound to get hotter still in August. One good thing about the new company – the whole place, including the production floors, is air conditioned. As expected, the day at work went quite well. The Most-disliked-person-in-the-company has a long weekend off, he won’t be in tomorrow either. That should give me a fair chance to finish off that big development before he starts going on my nerves again. Friday, Jul. 12, 2002 Just for the record, I don’t like Oasis, all their songs sound the same and they depress the shit out of me. Had a little crying attack yesterday at work. Stressed out…. Calmed down after a while and tackled the remainder of the working day with a bit more self control. 6 weeks to go. Tuesday, Jul. 09, 2002 Was a bit short tempered at work today. Stress makes me mean, growl….. But I actually finally made some headway. Had my boss on the phone today, asking “Are you still leaving?” Oh, you noticed? You bet I am! “Oh, someone said that you had changed you mind and were staying!” Not bloody likely. Although I had several people asking me to re-think my plans and PLEASE! stay…… Well, perhaps if they’d consider doubling my salary….. Not much happening otherwise. Just had my “I’m-glad-I’m-home” shower. Again have not been shopping for groceries – it’s just too hot to do anything at all. So I will have to see what I can scrape together for dinner. Not much left. This morning, as I was late again and did not have anything decent left for breakfast anyway, I look a quick swig out of the milk carton – it was off and I was over the kitchen sink in record time. Ugh. I can’t throw up just like that, so it staid down and I felt miserable for the next hour. On the upside we had this aubergine dish for lunch – it’s the only one I like out of the unexciting lunches they provide at work. It is totally swimming in oil, but at least it has some flavour and does not contain beans, beans, beans or okra. Anyway, let’s see what we can do to enhance that really old and dry toast….. Monday, Jul. 08, 2002 Work, work, work…. I have so much to do, it’s getting ridiculous. 7 more weeks (or thereabouts) to go….. Otherwise getting home, having a shower, popping a can of beer, watching some telly and eat….that’s about it. It’s still about 30 degrees even in the evenings, so at work everybody is absolutely boiling. Had a funny dream where Lyn came to work wearing a miniskirt and everybody got really excited about that…... Oh, not to forget the weekends, where I alleviate the boredom by working on my needlepoint….It’s slowly coming along. Will I ever finish it? Who knows. Der Weg ist das Ziel. However you say than in English…. It’s my brother’s 43rd birthday today, have to give him a call. Amazing, what an old fart….. and I am in hot pursuit. Good thing about being 9 years younger – I can make fun of him, hehe….. Saturday, Jul. 06, 2002 I’m glad the World cup is over – I was getting tired of getting all the support and remarks. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. 11 guys running after a leather ball, if you’re lucky there’s 1 or 2 goals, it’s about as interesting as watching paint dry. We came second, great, can we all now relax again? I would have loved to see a Turkey-South Korea final. Now that would have been something…. Just watched this report on German football fans (that’s soccer for you guys over the big pond….) and I just thought “Oh my god, I am glad I am living abroad.” But apparently this is not exclusively a German thing, all nations are equally stupid about this…. 5 minutes ago I received the first e-mail ever from my 7 year old niece. Well, my dad pretty much told her what to write, but she typed it up all by herself. She just finished the first grade. Exciting afternoon, the garbage man just rang my door, asking for some money. Didn’t have any change, so tomorrow again, Insha’allah. Lordly, he smelled just a little rank…… Off to make some pasta now…. Saturday afternoon, it’s so nice and quiet, not a peep from the mosque. I just wish it wasn’t so hot! Friday, Jul. 05, 2002 Another 2-day weekend. They seems to define me. My oasis in the everlasting deserts of Egypt. Or better still, the everlasting madness called Egypt. Sadie and Steve had their last day last Sunday, they are heading off home in two days. Lucky bastards. The things they will be able to do…..and to buy….and no hour-long Friday prayers to listen to….and no boss throwing chairs through windows…..on the other hand they won’t have the everyday entertainment typical to Egypt….like cab drivers beating each other up in the middle of the street….or having to stop in the middle of the highway to let some camels cross over…..err……I’m sure I can come up with some others, if I just think about it a little longer…. Nigel came up from Cairo last Monday – I had off on a Monday instead of the usual Friday – not quite sure about the reasons – perhaps it makes sense to Egyptians, the logic of it certainly escaped me…..anyway, Nigel…….was nice….chatted on my sofa until 3am….went shopping for breakfast in the morning….felt very housewifely…….cut his hair, holey moley! Went to the barber shop right after that…….and to the cinema…..and went to eat Koshary…….after returning to Luxor he immediately bought his ticket home……could not stand the excitement of staying in Egypt any longer than he absolutely had to….. |
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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. It's worth a look, although he is actually funnier live! |