Weblog

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003

It’s official, my mum has a hearing loss of 45% on both ears. Not much of a surprise, we have been shouting at her for years. It’s a family tradition. My great grand mother was as deaf as a pole when she was old, my great aunt as well. Now my mum, eventually me. I inherited all other body traits from my mum.

How we found out? Beginning of last week she woke up early in the morning, because she felt pretty bad. The furniture was jumping up and down and swinging from side to side, she felt nauseous and – freely transliterated in her own words – she felt as if she was gonna croak there and then….. Eventually things calmed down enough for her to wake my dad and they went to see their doctor. Her blood pressure was very high, but otherwise he couldn’t really determine what was wrong. Because of the nausea and her description of the revolving bedroom, he had a wild guess that it might be an imbalance in her inner ear.

She went to see an ear doctor (pardon my English, what do you call those guys properly?), who checked her and decided that her inner ear, i.e. her balance, was just fine. She mentioned that she did not hear that well. He checked her and told her “No kidding”. She has to come back next week for a more detailed examination, presumably to get a prescription for hearing aids for both of her ears. In between that she will see a neurologist, have an EEG done, already had a 24 hour EKG and is waiting for the results etc etc…. She was already diagnosed with a slight heart arythmia a couple of years back and her blood pressure is a bit erratic and tends to spike at the moment. We will see.

Friday, Nov. 21, 2003

I am having my uncreative week. Nothing to report. Dinner at Hana again. Still no discount. Just not acceptable, that! Really!

We worked today, instead we will have Monday off already. Nice, but not much good to me, as Anne is working on that day. So we are still flying to London on Tuesday. No sight seeing plans yet. All I want to do is to go to that Sushi place in Covent Garden and to Belgos and not to forget some really good dimsum…. Anybody else here thinking that I have a fixation on food? Good that I have a high metabolism. Lots of nervous energy, the calories have no chance to settle on my hips. Well, almost none.

Ok, ok, I also want to go to the BM and the National Gallery and the New Tate. Very important, I moved away a couple of weeks before they opened that place and the last time I was in London, I did not manage to go.

Monday, Nov. 17, 2003

Went to a silent auction last Thursday. It was for a good cause, namely to support a kindergarden in Helwan. Some of my friends went really overboard with the bidding. I bid for some photos, now I just have to find some nice picture frames for them. I am still on the quest to find an appendage for all the orphaned picture nails sticking out of my walls. Not much of an achievement that I still have empty ones sticking around or rather out after having lived in this apartment for over a year. Well, that’s what laziness does to you….. it makes you lazy….

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003

Winter has finally arrived in Cairo. Two nights ago I put the down duvey on my bed and started to sleep in a t shirt. Started to wear a jacket when going out and right now I am actually wearing my old trusty cardigan, leggings and house slippers. What a sight, but I am nice and comfy. The disadvantage of living in a hot country: No concept of central heating. When it’s cold, it’s really cold.

Anyway, I am glad I am finally online again. Not being online is like having a limb amputated. Silly, right? After paying the bill it turned out that I paid the wrong friggin one. Well, you try reading an Arabic phone bill, let’s see how you are doing! My boab thought it was hilarious… The post office wouldn’t give the money back. Dorks. So I asked a guy from work to help me out and call the lucky phone bill winner. Sounded like he didn’t have a problem with giving me the money back. We will see. One of the drivers will go over on Saturday to collect the dosh.

On a happier note, my last weekend was really good. Anne organised a birthday party for me at her place. Supposedly a surprise party, but I knew all along. But still, Ji and Les showed up unannounced from Alex and that was a nice surprise. Nice people, nice food, most of us got totally legless. After everybody left, Anne and I sat on her sofa and had one of those alcohol induced deep and philosophical conversations that solve all of life’s problems… I think…. Can’t remember much…. Finally managed to connect my friends from work with my teaching friends. Everybody is getting along well. This is probably the best group of friends I have had since the last ice age.

Ok, so the morning after the party – I staid over at Anne’s – a slightly smaller group of us went for breakfast. After the meal one of the waiters came out with a cake with candles and they all sang another “Happy Birthday”....

Afterwards went to the Khan for shopping and then in the evening to the original Buo Khao in Maadi. Good food. All in all an excellent weekend!

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003

Thank god, I am online again…. finally…..

Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2003

5 pm

Argh, they turned off my friggin phone, because the bill wasn’t paid. Well, excuse meeeee! Am I supposed to be clear voyant and feel it in the air when it’s due??? Marc’s just going on the internet now, to look how much my bill is….. He’ll have to give me that internet address, so this won’t happen again. Crap!

5.38 pm

Marc can’t find my phone number…. Great! So I will just send the boab tomorrow morning. Hopefully, when I get home tomorrow, he’ll have the bill for me.

Just spoke to Anne and got directions to her place for tomorrow night. Christ, Maadi is so complicated. Go past the first Midan (that’s a round about, people), go past the second Midan, in the third Midan do not turn at the tram lines, go past the flower shop and right, then go to the fourth Midan, take a sharp left into the street of your choice. This, obviously is highly irregular. Which is why it mighht work in Egypt. Alternantively you can go round the Midan up to the red glass kisok, which used to be a flower shop, and go right…. Ugh! At least we got a laugh out of that conversation…..

6.19 pm

Just sent text messages to my brother and Carla in Germany, telling them that I don’t have a working phone at home and giving them my mobile number. It is just not on that they can’t reach me on my birthday, nononononononono!

Monday, Nov. 03, 2003

New personal record: Five nights in a row out for dinner. I am knackered!

Last Wednesday met up with folks to go down to Maadi and eat Steak at Fuddruckers. Consequently three of them spent the next day in bed with upset stomachs. Ops. I liked the steak…. Initiated Sheri into the delights of coffee and cake at Alain Le Notre. She’s considering to camp at their doorstep from now on…

Thurdsday after work caught the train to Alex. Eventually ended up at some bizarre birthday party for someone I had never met before, eating chicken wings and tortilla chips…

Friday, still in Alex, went for breakfast at Coffee Roastery. Coffee is so-so, not as good as at Alain… Service sucked big time. It took over an hour till the food showed up and then it was lukewarm. Don’t bother! Well, I might give it another try here in Cairo, there’s one 5 minutes from where I live…. Then for dinner Thai…. Went shopping at Carrefour for the first time down here. Used to shop there all the time when I lived in Portugal, just haven’t checked it out here yet. Was pretty similar, although the food is obviously the same stuff I get in any other supermarket here. Finally bought a coffee maker! Moulinex, called Little Solea. Really cute and the ideal size for me. Just makes enough for 2 big coffee mugs. Sheri will go to Berlin during Eid Al Fitr, I already placed an order for some decent German coffee…. and some filters…. Could only get big ones, so at the moment I have to do Origami every time I make coffee…. fold the filter….. fold the filter again…. squash….. squash….

Anyway, back in good ole Cairo, went to Hana on Saturday. Reached new heights of over ordering. But we ate it all. Scary.

And yesterday dinner at the Sonesta with people from work. So today I was really looking forward to going home to an empty fridge and no company whatsoever…

****

So first time I made coffee with my new coffee machine. The Egyptian filter coffee I bought for this is not even that bad. I drink my two mugs, I wash everything out, I unhook that filter thingy and empty it out over the bin, wash it out, leave the kitchen…..

An hour later I come back into the kitchen. I briefly contemplate emptying out the garbage, but then decide to clear away the dishes first. I put the coffee pot back on the plate, I pick up the filter thingy, look into it to see if it is dry yet and …. What’s that? Didn’t that look different before? Wasn’t there this other thingy inside, into which I squashed the paper filter earlier? So I turn around, lift the lid of my bin and have a peek inside…. And what do I see? Another plastic filter thingy, sitting innocently on top of my garbage….. phew! I fish it out of there, wash it and finish assembling my BRAND NEW COFFEE MAKER!

Imagine this – I tied up the garbage bag, popped it in front of the door, left the dishes sitting for a day. The boab picks up the garbage bag in the morning and throws it out. I come home tomorrow afternoon, want to fix myself a coffee……………

Jesus H. Christ on a motorbike! Was I lucky or what???

...to my weblog. There probably won't be something new every day, but keep coming by and have a look what makes my day (or doesn't....). And if you have any comments, drop me a line in my guestbook!

Current entries: