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.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
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~
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~
Monday, April 12, 2010
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
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
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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 >_<
[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 >_<
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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...
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...
Saturday, April 3, 2010
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
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
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