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