update

maybe i should just say that i've just been so terribly busy lately that i haven't gotten a chance to blog... pwahahaha... well not really... if there's anything to blame, it would be my slow internet connection that's deterring me from uploading any type of content... text, photos, videos...

so what have i been up to the past few weeks...
well i did have that interview on monday april 26th... i declined their offer, and i don't think i'll go into much detail as to why - the children were cute... let's leave it at that


i still don't know all the arabic letters, but whenever i see words i try to cut it up by trying to identify each letter in the word.  i'm also trying to read the 3 letters that are on the new license plates... seems like a lot of cars in alex start with Sheen (س) so i think that's one of the letters i've got down for now... there's a few more, but i'm not about to try and hunt down the letters on this keyboard (yet)... not the most progress, but a little

on my idle time, i've spent it mostly on watching various youtube channels.  don't think i've watched this much youtube ever... travel vloggers, exercise vloggers, cosmetics vloggers... it makes me want to become a vlogger too... though i don't know if i could decide on strictly a certain topic to vlog about cus my thoughts and interest bounce off in all sorts of directions

something i do want to do more of is doing more photography
i'm also itching to do some crafty stuff, but debating if i should buy materials i need for that or just hold off... so far it seems holding off is winning the debate
i guess i just want to find myself a creative outlet of sorts, but yet i don't want to spend money doing it... so maybe photography is a good thing since i have the equipment i need for it... just gotta go out there and shoot more

the cooking is going relatively well... i'm constantly welcoming new recipes, but maybe it puts people on the spot when i ask...
plus i've got restrictions like no oven, preferably no beef, mutton, and i've gotta be able to make it with readily available ingredients here in egypt....
so what do i have to work with?
chicken, egg
olive oil, sunflower oil
milk, butter, yogurt
rice (egyptian, jasmine, basmathi), flour, lentils, chick peas, pasta, oatmeal, sesame buns, croissant, egyptian bread, corn starch, baking powder, corn flour(meal)
cucumber, tomato, potato, carrot, eggplant, onion, garlic, cilantro, chilli pepper, olives, lime, zucchini
banana, apple, peach, strawberry, watermelon, (grapes are starting to appear, but i think they're still pricier than what i'm willing to spend)
oregano, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, basil, bay leaf, chilli pepper, turmeric, sesame seeds, cinnamon, sugar, mixed curry powder
tomato paste, canned corn, canned mushroom, canned tuna
honey

i've probably left out a few other things but that's basically the jist of it... there's of course fish and seafood too, but without proper ventilation in the kitchen, i'm not sure if i'd want to be cooking fish... maybe some prawns and calamari?

haha i just remembered the other day i was at this supermarket trying to figure out all the different salt packages... and there was one labeled 'chinese salt'... turns out it was msg... pretty funny


ohh yea... last week i went to renew my tourist visa at the passport office.  well i actually went on friday april 30th as that was my one month mark on the tourist visa i got when i arrived in cairo.  according to my lonely planet: egypt guide, they say the passport office is open 7 days a week which apparently isn't true cus the old security guard told me they're closed for friday prayers and i should come back on sunday.  which is what i did.  again according to the lonely planet guide, they say visa extensions are processed before noon... so i arrived around 11am... the first floor was just packed with locals applying for passports (not sure what other services are offered there as all the signs were in arabic...)
i found an office door was open and a lady was in there so i asked where i should go to extend my visa and she told me to go upstairs... *whew* i didn't have to be among the chaos on the first floor.  so up i went and i remember the lonely planet guide saying to go to window 6... how mysterious cus the windows were numbered 1 through 10 but there was no window 6... it went from 5 to 7... how strange i thought... so i went to the lady on window 7 and asked where i could renew my visa... she told me i needed a copy of my passport, visa, and passport photo... i had all except a copy of the visa, so i ran down and out the building to this guy who had a photocopy machine outside around the corner from the building (how smart is that)... lots of people were trying to get stuff copied and of course there was no line of sorts so you just had to shove your document to get his attention... finally i got the copy of my visa and rushed back to window 7 with all the stuff i needed... then she told me to go to window 5... now they're all next to each other and sitting next to each other without any dividers... so i slide on over to window 5 and tell the man i want to renew my visa, he took my copies, photo, and passport and handed me an application and told me it was 8L.E.  i handed him the money and filled in the application... when i was finished i handed it back to him and he gave it to the lady in window 7... for a while nothing was happening so i stood in front of window 7 to get the lady's attention and then she asked 'how long do you want to stay?' and i asked 'how long can i stay?' and she said 'it's up to you, as long as you want...'  wow i haven't felt so welcomed by a government body before... so i uttered... 'uhmmm can i stay a year?'  she didn't say anything... just after a while she told me to go to window 1 and get some stamps and bring them back to her... so i shuffle over to window 1 and the lady hands me a paper with some numbers and i'm not sure what to make out of it so i take it and i'm about to go over to window 7 with it... turns out that's the price for my visa extension... so i pay her the 83.10L.E.  she gives me a bunch of different stamps which i take back to the lady in window 7.  then the lady tells me to come back in one hour...
i leave and go for a walk and then get something to eat
i get back an hour later and she hands me my passport with my visa extended for a year...
overall, a pretty easy procedure, but a tad bit inefficient?  which sorta seems to be the theme here... a lot of people working, but little is being done... most places here are overstaffed and inefficient... i guess it's good that they're employing people since there supposedly is a pretty high unemployment rate here, but it just means people are getting paid even less, and there's not much of an incentive to be efficient, let alone a concept of customer service...

hi

nope, haven't tried molokheya yet, but i did finally try some fetir and it was super sweet and scrumptious... so fetir is what i'd like to call an egyptian pizza which comes in sweet or savory choices...
so we got one with honey and butter and another one with fruit (apple, banana, coconut)... they were definitely high on the sweet scale, but were really good... the 'crust' is kinda like croissant'ish and filo-dough'ish... flaky and buttery and soft...

my interview got postponed until monday cus tomorrow (sunday) is a national holiday here.

apparently vacuum bags are unheard of here.  supposedly, they just empty out the existing bag and reuse it.  kinda nasty...

Manaoomti and i had our first arabic lesson yesterday evening.  he taught me the alphabet and then i read a few words he wrote.  it will probably take some time, but i'm hopeful that soon i'll be able to read it.  i tried to write the letters and they come out so ugly... need practice on that too, but most importantly is to be able to read it.

ShashSha news

updates:  haven't tried molokheya yet, but did get some chicken from the market... i don't know how i feel about this though... it's the first time i've witnessed a chicken being killed for me... meaning; i actually saw her alive with the other chickens (and a pigeon) in the cage on top of all the cute bunny rabbits...  the man put his hand in the cage and grabbed the chicken, bent the neck backwards and slit off the throat, threw it inside a plastic drum for it to bleed and then put it in some hot water before he stripped the feathers off, cut off the feet and handed it over to us in a plastic bag... i've yet to cook the poor thing so we'll see if i think 'poor chicken' when i open up the bag, or just see a 'piece of meat'...

i'm done watching all of natalie tran's vlogs [see link on previous post] so maybe i'll start to watch this korean miniseries that LuckyCharms burnt me before i left oakland... think it was called "pasta"

in other news: i just came home from a shopping trip with Sunnrise and her cousin, in what i'd like to call "the labyrinth market" in mansheya.  tiny, tight alleys with little shops that sell scarves, accessories, textiles, craft/sewing supplies etc.  Sunrise wanted to get some fabric and beads to customize a dress she's wearing for her friend's wedding, and i wanted to check out some scarves as i only brought with me 2 from the states.  i figured why bring a bunch when this is the land of scarves?
so i'm happy that i found 4 coolbean scarves that are a relatively thin material.  one moss green, one indigo, one grey, and one black with grey tones.  i figure i'll start with some basic ones and elaborate later on my new collection according to the clothes i have.

i haven't been doing too much lately other than going food shopping and spending time with Manaoomti, whenever he comes over (every other day)... the next time we went back to the "butter shop" the guy was apologizing to Manaoomti about not being able to understand what i wanted at first and then he said "she was calling you to find out what butter is in arabic right?" 
then the next time i went alone, the guy asked me where he was so i told him "shoghl (work)"... that's right.. making the feloos (money) so i can come here and buy groceries :P

the other day we went to the souq (market) and got 4kg (8.8lbs) of strawberries for 10l.e. (less than us$2)!!!  Manaoomti and i cleaned them and then i portioned them out and put them in plastic bags and now they're hanging out in the freezer.  of course i made some juice with some too.  delicious!

mozzies have totally gone buffet-style on me.  i don't think i remember a time i've had this many bites at one time.  totally ridiculous!  and what's worse is that Manaoomti has no bites!!!  so unfair!

ooh and i actually have a job interview on sunday morning.  we'll see how that goes.  it's at this language school close to the airport.  so i'm going to meet up with my contact, who i'm thinking is the principal at the school and ride over with her from smoha.  gotta meet her at 7:15am so i hope i can wake up that early haha...  don't know a whole lot about the job or if they're hiring for immediate employment or if it's for the fall or what... i'll find out more on sunday.

which reminds me, i have to renew my visa

my internet connection isn't the greatest but i'll try to upload some pics on my fb soon

happy weekend~

what i've been up to... yea i've actually done something in the past days... amazing i know

hermit ShashSha is crawling out of her shell slowly but surely...  i'm not sure why i'm so hesitant going out by myself... maybe i'm still living a bit of trauma... i don't know... i'd like to think i don't have fear instilled in me, but sometimes the voices in my head tell me it's a big and dangerous world out there and i better just stay indoors... naww... just kidding...
i think it's more cus i don't want to be seen just wandering aimlessly around without a certain destination when i'm alone.  i want to make it seem to bystanders that i know exactly where i'm going and i might look different from all you people, but i'm no naive tourist that you can try to rip off...

yea ok i'm rambling a bit...

so what have i been doing the past few days?
well friday, went to the al azhar center across the way for jummah.  obviously didn't understand much of the kutbah other than shiaa this and shiaa that and sahaba this and sahaba that.  wonder why they have to talk as if we're all going on some protest rally afterwards? 
also wish the women's section wasn't a completely different room without a view of the sheikh... just a sharply loud audio speaker.  wish i could design the ideal masjid... it would probably look somewhat similar to MCA's masjid in santa clara, california (united states)... isn't it the right for the women to be able to see the sheikh or the imam or whoever's giving the kutbah too?  persionally, i don't like the actual physical barriers but i know other's don't agree with me so i think what MCA has is quite appropriate.  i've heard of some masjids where the women's section is on a level above the main masjid... i'd assume it's sort of like how some churches has the choir at the back of the church on a level above the congregation?  so that design would be pretty neat too, with perhaps one of those tinted glass floor to ceiling window/walls? 
apart from going to the service, i was also sort of hoping to meet some sisters there too, but i don't think that will be happening as most of the women were either a lot older than me or a lot younger... oh well
would it be totally off the wall to wonder if there are any masjids here who give kutbahs in english?  yea probably huh... again... i just have to learn the language...

so after the friday service, manaoomti and i went to bahary to have some delicious fish at abou asharaf... had some calamari, moza, a snapper type fish, prawns, seafood soup, seafood rice, and all the other salads and hummus and stuff that comes with the meal.  very filling and satisfying :)  manaoomti always overstuffs himself when we go there.  so cute.  we walked for a little and then had some ice cream (which is really more like a fusion of gelato and sorbet) at azza

on saturday i went to san stefano mall and met up with one of my students from last time i was here in egypt.  we had lunch in the food court and cought up with each other.  then walked around the mall for a while before heading out and walking on the corniche.  before heading home i went to the fathalla market and bought a few food items.  i'm excited to the thought of going scarf shopping with her some day soon :)
[happy birthday!]

sunday i stayed home all day.  manaoomti came in the evening and i got to try feseekh (putrified, salted grey mullet) which is a traditional way of eating fish for the egyptian national holiday, sham el neseem... the actual holiday was last monday (falls on the monday after easter sunday)... it smelled quite bad.  the flavor: super salty... they just eat it with green onion and bread.  i couldn't eat so much of it cus it was super salty... maybe i could eat more if there was some rice or something other than just bread and onion... so that's what egyptians have been eating for about 4500 years... a fish preserved from then and the one we ate yesterday would probably taste quite similar... haha just kidding :P

next on the egyptian dishes to try: molokheya

today i actually ventured out into my neighborhood to do some much-needed food shopping.  i walked down to this one shop where manaoomti and i have gone a couple times before together... got most of what i was looking for.  the main challenge was trying to get some butter... not as smooth as imagined... first i said 'butter' like an american so the man thought i was saying 'burger' and he said 'yes we have burger' and i said 'no, not burger... butter (this time trying to enunciate as clearly as i could)... it's from a cow' and he said 'oh you want cheese?' and i said 'no, butter'... he asked 'milk?' and i said 'no, it's not cheese or milk, but it's from a cow'  i felt like i was playing that one game where you have to describe the word but not use the word... so then i went on saying 'mmm it's yellow, it looks like cheese, you can fry with it...'  another store keeper came along to try and figure out what it was asking me again if i wanted cheese... in the end i just took out my phone and dialed manaoomti... 'hey, what's butter in arabic?.... zebda?.... ok'  and voila... zebda is what he brought out from behind the counter, cut off about half a kilo and i had butter :)
after that shop, i stopped by the produce shop and got some bananas, melon, oranges, onions and then went to the bakery and got some delicious rolls... then proud of myself for having accomplished the food shopping adventure, i headed back home...

in other news, my great friend, Stinky, totally got me hooked on this hilarious youtube vlogger, natalie tran (communitychannel) so i've been spending a lot of my not-so-awesome bandwidth on watching her videos... first time i'm actually following a vlogger and those of you in the know, probably already know about her... but yea she's been making me laugh about every day with her videos.  i think i also enjoy them cus she's actually got editing/cinematography skills too :)
so thank you Stinky for that!

i have a mini-mission: to find a local, convenient place to buy chicken

stop complaining!

i think anyone would agree that being around constant complainers is annoying... after a (short) while you just don't want to be around them cus you know what the main theme of any event will be:  them complaining about whatever it is that you're doing, your surroundings, the food, related experiences... you name it, they will find something to complain about... i'm sure people who constantly do this don't even want to hang out with others who complain all the time either...

[who are more annoying?  chronic complainers?  or chronic interrupters?] 

so thankfully, i would like to think that i'm not a person who fits into the chronic complainer category.  i know i do tend to have moments where i can find a whole lot of things to complain about and won't shut up about it... but we all have our moments right?

i don't like to complain and although i really don't do it a whole lot, i feel that it's something i still should try to reduce...  instead of complaining, i should do my part in changing whatever it is.  obviously, i can't change everything around me so that my world is complaint-free... that's kind of impossible cus i don't have power to influence other variables to that massive extent... but i figure if i can't actually change it, then i can try to change my mentality towards it?
easier said than done... that's for sure - it's a work in progress

i'm especially being tested by being back in egypt... someone who loves to complain would love being in egypt...

last time i was here i realized i was complaining a bit too much.  i wasn't doing it cus i don't like egypt or egyptians in general... i think i was ranting in order to deal my struggles of acclimating to this society
now... 2nd time around i figure i should know better.  i know what i'm getting myself into.  no one is forcing me to be here.  i came on my own free will (both times).  so if there's something i don't like, well then i'll have to suck it up or see if it's something i'm able to change.

no place is perfect.  we just adjust and get used to our surroundings.  so any new place will have its challenges, things that seem unreasonable and backwards, where you just wonder why and how people just accept the way it is...

i'm grateful for having grown up in several different environments and not just stayed put in one place my whole life.  i think it's helped me be tolerant towards others and their way of life without being too critical regardless if i agree or disagree with it...


on another note, i need dinner ideas...
last time on the menu was:
cream of mushroom soup
pasta with tomato sauce
sauteed beef with caramelized onions

not sure how tonight's dinner will turn out >_<

cooking

when i'm by myself, i hardly ever cook myself a meal.  whenever i'm hungry i just find food i feel like eating that will fill me up and satisfy my tastebuds...
so now i'm having to dig up recipes that have been shoved to the back of my mind...
i have no problem with cooking, that's for sure... it's just that i have to put some grease to my rusty thinking wheel in the recipe department.. plus making use of locally available ingredients... i figure i'll start out with simple things and then elaborate more as i go...

this evening's recipe:  whole chicken soup with 'spanish' rice
he just called to tell me he's on his way and is bringing some fish too... so i guess fish is added to the menu... wonder if he'll eat both cus he's not into mixing seafood with land/airfood...

i just cubed a bunch of beef chunks so some sort of beef stew is possibly going to happen in the near future.  i've found myself not to be very creative when it comes to meat (beef)... a slab of raw meat tends to scare me a bit unless i have a grill... then no problem... and i'm not about to experiment with the oven for the time being... so everything's gotta be made stove top...

on friday when we walked through the market, i saw some really tasty looking squid... maybe i should test them out next time... the fish here is really nice too, but i don't know if i wan't to be cooking much of that as there's no fan in the kitchen and opening the window just doesn't cut it
i also have to find more spices... i need basil, oregano, bay leaves, cinnamon...

back in egypt

was having some issues trying to navigate blogger with the menus being in arabic...  i think i know how to get around it for the time being... maybe it's a sign that i gotta get a move on with learning arabic already...
i've got the time
i'm in the right setting
so what am i really waiting for?


anyway... so finally got to egypt.  the 10 hour flight didn't feel as long after having to stay at jfk for 24 hours... though i can't really consider sleeping on an airplane as real sleep, i think that's what i was doing for about 75% or more of the time during the flight... so that was good... plus i was extra lucky of not having anyone sit next to my seat on this seemingly full flight... i'm almost pretty sure that seat was the only empty seat on the entire plane... so it was all good despite egyptair having the most dated aircrafts in the air... i mean it was many years ago when all aircrafts were equipped with personal entertainment screens... egyptair?  nope... they have those crt tube tv screens hanging from the ceiling on the aisles... so one can only imagine how old these planes are... i'd say close to 20 years old or more?  they should also probably re-stuff the seats... but one pro to riding an older plane is that you do get a tiny bit more leg room... and the entertainment screens aren't a big deal to me as it's been a long time since i actually took advantage of those anyway... i guess i just feel a bit more reassured if i'm sitting on a newer plane... especially when flying long distance...
but nonetheless, i made it safely without any added problems along the way.

the arrival at cairo went smoothly though waiting for the luggage is quite time consuming there... kinda strange as the airport is one of the least busy ones in the metropolitan world i'm sure... we were the only arriving flight, at least for the whole time i was there... and i waited a good 40 minutes for my luggage.  at one point i was getting a bit worried it hadn't come with my flight and then imagining the hassle of trying to get reunited with my luggage...

then finally it came out, getting past the toll declaration was hassle-free too "anything to declare?" asked the man, and i said "nope".  he glanced at my passport and let me go... on the other side of the tinted sliding doors was the best sight i've seen in a long time: (hmm i gotta find a good pseudo-name for him... name tbd)!

we loaded my stuff in the car and headed back towards alex.  our driver took a few wrong turns but we were soon on the right direction.  oh the crazy driving of egypt.  in the 5 months i've been gone, the driver had made a few modifications to his car.  i guess he's trying to go for the race car look on the interior with some orange trims and accents.  he's also got a couple siren horns so the car can sound like a police car... crazy is all i can say

in 4 hours we were back in miami.  i'm staying on the 14th floor in a 3 bedroom 1.5 bathroom apartment.  again, way too big, but there doesn't seem to be any smaller options.  living room windows have views of the mediterranean sea as i'm just a few blocks from it.  the balcony overlooks al azhar center, alex.  by far nothing like cairo, but pretty coolbean still. this place is way cleaner than the previous places i was staying in last time... so that's excellent.  plus i have a real washing machine and no cockroach tribe living in the fridge, though i did have a few roach sightings on the stove and one crawling under the bathroom sink.  i guess you just can't live roach-free in egypt... hopefully there won't be any giant ones crawling around: those are the worst.

i'm glad to be back to being able to hear the choir of the call to prayer during the 5 designated times a day.  luckily i'm not situated right on the main road so the traffic/honking level is way down.  the neighborhood dogs barking sounds a lot better.  i think they're gutting the apartment unit above me, cus the whole day has been constant sounds of banging on concrete.  wonder if that's even safe structurally

been eating a lot of fruits.  they taste so delicious and ripe here.  baby bananas, softball sized cantaloupe melons (so cute), oranges, and strawberries.  the apartment is equipped with a blender so we've been making our own juice instead of buying the nectars at the stores (they don't sell juice here except for at the juice bars). 

super duper trooper delicious banana juice recipe:
you'll need some of the following...
ripe bananas
milk
water
sugar (optional)
add all ingredients to taste in your blender, then pour in a glass and enjoy... you'll want the liquids to cover all the bananas before you blend.. i'd say about 2/3 part milk and 1/3 part water

the terminal update

finally got my boarding card for the flight!  i feel so relieved!
there was relatively no problems getting the seat though i unnecessarily had to wait longer cus the chick at the ticketing counter was slightly careless...
when they opened up the check in counters for the flight i went up to the ticketing person to ask if i should stand in this line or go over to the ticketing booth given my situation.  she told me to go to the ticketing booth...
when i explained my situation to the ticketing booth lady she told me i should wait until her supervisor comes... so i sit and wait for over 30 minutes... no one seems to be coming so i walk up to her and ask if she knows when the supervisor's supposed to come... she looks up at me and acts kinda surprised and says "oh he's right over there..." pointing at the first check-in counter... where he's been sitting for a good 20 minutes... then she says "i'm sorry"... i just turn around and walk over to him... he's on the phone chatting up a storm that really does not sound work related even in my limited arabic... but maybe cus of the distractions there's little questioning on why i need to re-book etc. so i didn't even have to pay extra! yes! :D

can't believe i've been here for the past 22 hours... i'm glad this 'waiting' part is almost over... hopefully the 10 hour flight will go alright

the terminal continued

got about 3 hours of sleep on a bench here in the terminal... it was getting pretty chilly and my jacket's in my checked luggage... though i do have some bedsheets in my carry-on but i dunno how that would be perceived by others if i were to bust out a duvet cover... it really shouldn't matter what others would think as long as i'd be warmer...
guess it just goes to show how much we do care about how onlookers perceive us...
regardless of being cold, i probably would have still been sleeping if it hadn't been for this stranger man who sat down right next to my head and started commenting on ladies walking by... wasn't like there was a shortage of sitting spaces elsewhere...
so i got up and scootched over to the other end of the curved bench... then a while later, the stranger man got up and sat himself down on the other side of the bench... so i scootched on over to the opposite side again... he kinda smelled funky so i'm suspecting he's not really a(n air) traveler but possibly just camping out at the terminal until someone notices he shouldn't be here?  who knows, i could be wrong... soon after i just got up and went to the bathroom and then came back to my electrical outlet spot in front of the peet's coffee & tea...
the cold floor isn't particularly comfortable, but this terminal hasn't been renovated to be more 'high tech friendly' i guess...  time to install some outlets in the various seating areas...

on a totally unrelated note, i'm not really digging this platform's ui... whenever i hit enter it doesn't always get me to the next line but sometimes goes to the beginning of the line i was typing on or the cursor doesn't move at all...
any other options for posting on this?
i still gotta figure it out

so here i am... hopefully just 13 hours away from possible boarding time to my flight to cairo... flight's overbooked by one person so that sounds somewhat promising, but won't find out for sure for another 10 hours or so... i've been here for about 10 hours already so i'm about halfway there... if i had made the flight, i would have been arriving pretty soon... *sigh*
just gotta try and think positive about the whole thing...

i think it would be a great idea to open up capsule hotel type options at airports as there seems to be a lot of people who are having to spend quite a few hours waiting for their flights... i'd definitely use that...

the terminal

one would think that a 'seasoned traveler' as myself would know better...
but it seems like the last few times i've been traveling i've just come across problems after problems... and many of them preventable on my own part...

and this is what happened today too... so i'm sitting here on the floor of terminal 4 at jfk airport cus i missed my flights...
i'll find out tomorrow about 2:30pm local time if i can get on the 6:30pm flight to cairo
i feel like tom hank's character in the movie 'the terminal' which was also set at jfk airport... hopefully i'll be leaving within the next 19 hours though

back to blogging?

it's been a few years since i've been blogging so i thought i'd try to pick it up again...
let's see how this goes...