Tonight I've been feeling a bit "argh" due to simple things just winding me up. It's only over relatively trivial matters, but my imagination of "what could go wrong" often runs away with me and so I've been feeling a bit headless-chicken-ified as everything is magnified by the language barrier.
Tonight's panic has been about rent. Last month our landlady came round to the apartment to collect the rent in person. However, had she been 5 minutes later we'd have been out as we were going shopping. So...she was lucky!
This time the end of the month falls on the Eid holiday, and as such is likely to be a nightmare for everyone wanting to carry out financial transactions. We've already had enough hassle finding a cash machine that actually had money available to withdraw, but my panic was about getting the money to our landlady. She speaks no English, and we speak no Arabic other than basic words picked up from the phrasebook, so we haven't set a routine for rent collection. My assumption was that she would come round on an off-chance in order to collect the rent, but there has been no sign of her...and we're away for the next two days visiting to pyramids at Saqqara and staying in a swanky hotel downtown.
My over-active imagination has had me panicking about what would happen if she came for rent, but didn't get it for another 2-3 days, and so I was up trying to work out what to do. Fortunately we had her son's mobile number (who speaks very good English) so we sent him a text asking for advice! He told us to leave the rent with the bowab (doorman) and his mother would collect it tomorrow morning. Sorted!
Our phrasebook came in handy to say "rent", "landlady", "tomorrow morning" accompanied with animated gesticulations, but I think that he understood what I was trying to explain. However, he then asked me some other things in Arabic - now presumably mistaking me as fluent in the language following my convincing show - which I completely failed to understand. He asked if "house" was "hallas" (finished). Erm...yes, we've moved in and so it's finished. He looked disappointingly at the rent envelope and said "hallas". "Oh," I thought, "is he asking if we've finished with the apartment and moving out?" "La! (No!)" I said. Again, a puzzled look. Basically, I have no idea what he was asking and he has no idea what my positive then negative responses were all about. I seriously hope it wasn't about whether he should say tell her we were handing in our notice!
I gave him 2LE for doing the favour of handing the money to our landlady for us, and as we made our pleasantries he counted the four 50piastre notes. "Oh no," I thought, and still am thinking. "Did I not give him enough?"
So, basically, I'm feeling a bit lost and a bit helpless at the moment as I so desperately want to get along with everyone here and do the things that are expected of me, but feel I'm wallowing a bit due to not really knowing what I'm meant to be doing, nor knowing the words to ask what I'm meant to be doing, nor knowing the words to understand the reply. Even just knowing what is an acceptable amount to give to the bowab as baksheesh for doing a trivial task like handing over the rent mone to the landlady is beyond me at the moment.
Still, after my worrying it'll probably be the case that everything will work out fine and I'll be kicking myself for getting so worked up about it. I just need to remind myself that the rent is with the doorman, as requested by the landlady's son, and the doorman has made a couple of LE out of it that he otherwise wouldn't have got.
Now to get reading up on Saqqara...
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Monday, 29 September 2008
UKNova Radio - 29/09/08
Hello folks,We've just finished uploading our radio show for this week. We've secured a new regular weekly spot from 6pm-8pm (UK time) every Monday for our freshly-titled show, "Rock the Casbah". You can listen live by visiting http://uknr.dyndns.org/ or can catch up by downloading the podcasts we'll post here every week.
Download podcast here.
Alternatively, stay on this website and listen to the show in the MP3 player below:
Saturday, 27 September 2008
A weekly round-up
It's been a busy week for us, so it wasn't until today that we had a chance to do (in Alice's words) "a piece to camera". So, with an exciting view of our back-room, here's what's been going on in Cairo...
PART 1
PART 2
Saturday Morning in Maadi photos
Maadi's own Banksy at work.
And another perfectly framed palm tree.
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
The interweb commeth!
So we've been online for a couple of weeks now, but in that time we've been plagued by terrible Skype connections due to painfully slow speeds. We asked one of the tech guys at work to look into upgrading our speed, and duly gave him 200LE to get us on a faster package, but then heard nothing. It wasn't until last night, though, that we looked into it. Alice had the almost impossible task of acting as intermediary between me and the chap on Internet Egypt technical support as messages and data transfer rates were passed backwards and forwards.
The conversation was pretty much:
"We should be on a 1 megabit connection, but it's not fast enough."
"I've checked, and you are on a 1 megabit connection."
"But the speed isn't fast enough..."
(repeat a few times)
"Look, we've run tests and we can only download at 512kb, not 1mb like we're paying for."
"I've checked, and you're on 1mb."
"But we're sure we're not."
"Go into your router settings and read me the connection numbers."
So we did.
"Oh," say the tech guy, "I'll speak to my manager about why your speed is too slow!"
This morning, we rebooted the router and our speed had doubled. It appears that they'd updated the account to say they were charging us for 1mb but not actually flicked the switch to enable it! Still, it seems to be sorted now, and Skype calls to the UK are sounding much clearer for everyone involved. Hooray!
The conversation was pretty much:
"We should be on a 1 megabit connection, but it's not fast enough."
"I've checked, and you are on a 1 megabit connection."
"But the speed isn't fast enough..."
(repeat a few times)
"Look, we've run tests and we can only download at 512kb, not 1mb like we're paying for."
"I've checked, and you're on 1mb."
"But we're sure we're not."
"Go into your router settings and read me the connection numbers."
So we did.
"Oh," say the tech guy, "I'll speak to my manager about why your speed is too slow!"
This morning, we rebooted the router and our speed had doubled. It appears that they'd updated the account to say they were charging us for 1mb but not actually flicked the switch to enable it! Still, it seems to be sorted now, and Skype calls to the UK are sounding much clearer for everyone involved. Hooray!
Cairo roads
The roads in Cairo are an experience and a half.
Let's start with using the horn. In the UK you might use your horn once a month to warn someone of your position. Here you use your horn every few minutes. You beep to let someone know you are behind them; they then beep to let you know they've seen you and then you beep to acknowledge them. You beep to let someone know you are coming up on the inside, or the outside, or just that you are near by. Basically instead of "mirror, signal, manoeuvre" in Cairo it is "manoeuvre, beep, manoeuvre".
But this doesn't mean that they don't use their mirrors – oh no, quite the opposite. We’ve heard that if two cars run into each other, it is always seen that the driver in front who is at fault. So most drivers in Cairo spend their time looking in their mirrors at what is going on behind them, rather than what is happening in front of them. Most cabs we have been in have either an extra-large rear-view mirror, or multiple mirrors on the door frame – the most we have seen so far is five mirrors, but I am sure that will be topped soon.
Now to inside the taxis as a passenger. Getting into the cab - I haven’t found a taxi yet where the door to the back seat on the drivers side still works – most of them must have been bashed in at some point. It goes without saying that the black and white cabs don’t have air conditioning; so once in the back seat (or passenger seat beside the driver if you are feeling brave – and a bloke) you might want to open or close the window. Whilst this might seem a straightforward activity in most taxis, in Cairo we’ve found that a god proportion of taxis only have one window handle, that then has to be shared and passed around the cab to open or close the windows. For a general idea about the condition of taxis, of the taxis that we have been in only two have had a working speedometer and one was started by putting two wires together under the dashboard.
And then there are the rules of the road. The roads technically look similar to the UK; there are traffic lights and lane markings for example. It is just the interpretation of these that differ. Lane markings aren’t seen as holding any more function than simply decoration. Our route to work for example goes along the ring road, which has four lanes marked, but normally traffic flows in at least six lanes. This feat is repeated on local roads and local roundabouts which might accommodate two lanes of traffic in the UK but can manage at least three here. The traffic lights though are not only ignored, but possibly for good reason. Instead of the Green – Amber – Red combination of most countries, Egypt has gone for Amber – Amber – Amber. These flash in sequence, the meaning of which is lost to all motorists who just drive on regardless.
I must talk about one of the other road users though, who are the boys working for dry cleaning / laundry firms. These lads have adapted their bicycles to their work in the most ingenious way. On the back of their bikes they have attached a little clothes rail that is just the right height to hang ironed shirts and trousers on.
Oh, and a new law in Cairo means that all vehicals must have an emergency triangle. This means a roaring trade has started for this nieche market. Here is a picture of my favourite sign....
Let's start with using the horn. In the UK you might use your horn once a month to warn someone of your position. Here you use your horn every few minutes. You beep to let someone know you are behind them; they then beep to let you know they've seen you and then you beep to acknowledge them. You beep to let someone know you are coming up on the inside, or the outside, or just that you are near by. Basically instead of "mirror, signal, manoeuvre" in Cairo it is "manoeuvre, beep, manoeuvre".
But this doesn't mean that they don't use their mirrors – oh no, quite the opposite. We’ve heard that if two cars run into each other, it is always seen that the driver in front who is at fault. So most drivers in Cairo spend their time looking in their mirrors at what is going on behind them, rather than what is happening in front of them. Most cabs we have been in have either an extra-large rear-view mirror, or multiple mirrors on the door frame – the most we have seen so far is five mirrors, but I am sure that will be topped soon.
Now to inside the taxis as a passenger. Getting into the cab - I haven’t found a taxi yet where the door to the back seat on the drivers side still works – most of them must have been bashed in at some point. It goes without saying that the black and white cabs don’t have air conditioning; so once in the back seat (or passenger seat beside the driver if you are feeling brave – and a bloke) you might want to open or close the window. Whilst this might seem a straightforward activity in most taxis, in Cairo we’ve found that a god proportion of taxis only have one window handle, that then has to be shared and passed around the cab to open or close the windows. For a general idea about the condition of taxis, of the taxis that we have been in only two have had a working speedometer and one was started by putting two wires together under the dashboard.
And then there are the rules of the road. The roads technically look similar to the UK; there are traffic lights and lane markings for example. It is just the interpretation of these that differ. Lane markings aren’t seen as holding any more function than simply decoration. Our route to work for example goes along the ring road, which has four lanes marked, but normally traffic flows in at least six lanes. This feat is repeated on local roads and local roundabouts which might accommodate two lanes of traffic in the UK but can manage at least three here. The traffic lights though are not only ignored, but possibly for good reason. Instead of the Green – Amber – Red combination of most countries, Egypt has gone for Amber – Amber – Amber. These flash in sequence, the meaning of which is lost to all motorists who just drive on regardless.
I must talk about one of the other road users though, who are the boys working for dry cleaning / laundry firms. These lads have adapted their bicycles to their work in the most ingenious way. On the back of their bikes they have attached a little clothes rail that is just the right height to hang ironed shirts and trousers on.
Oh, and a new law in Cairo means that all vehicals must have an emergency triangle. This means a roaring trade has started for this nieche market. Here is a picture of my favourite sign....
! There's been an accident! Brilliant!
Friday, 19 September 2008
Cake!
Egyptian people really do have a sweet tooth. In the Grand Mall there are 3 patisseries, one of which (Le Gourmet) we decided to check out for some dessert. They have an enormous display of all types of sweet and sticky cakes, biscuits and things in-between. You can buy individual slices - although they have a tendency to laugh if you only want a couple. The best way to buy cakes, therefore, is to buy the whole thing. They have a number of fridges containing revolving cake stands, and so we decided to buy this amazing chocolate creation. Lovely!
A favourite smell in Cairo
After all those new purchases (and a can of Pocari Sweat) I was really in the mood to make the house and home. One thing we'd said we wanted to buy was a laundry basket. In the UK we had an Ikea-special, but as a basket-man has a stall opposite our apartment block I really wanted to buy a nice wicker one here.
So we took a wander over and decided on a nice tall basket for laundry. When we asked the price, he pointed back to the cart and said "how many?" wanting us to buy more before we settled on a price. There were lots of different designs, but I thought a small bowl-shaped one would do for fruit and he dug around to find us some of those. We decided on two of them and asked again how much for the lot. LE65 for the large basket and the two small ones for LE35 I then asked if this was the bess price and he lowered the small one to LE25 for the two. LE90 for the lot wasn't too bad to be honest, but then he threw in a larger bowl and said LE100.
So here is a picture of our purchases!
And now I'm becoming addicted to sniffing the baskets, as they smell so good! mmmmm wicker!
So we took a wander over and decided on a nice tall basket for laundry. When we asked the price, he pointed back to the cart and said "how many?" wanting us to buy more before we settled on a price. There were lots of different designs, but I thought a small bowl-shaped one would do for fruit and he dug around to find us some of those. We decided on two of them and asked again how much for the lot. LE65 for the large basket and the two small ones for LE35 I then asked if this was the bess price and he lowered the small one to LE25 for the two. LE90 for the lot wasn't too bad to be honest, but then he threw in a larger bowl and said LE100.
So here is a picture of our purchases!And now I'm becoming addicted to sniffing the baskets, as they smell so good! mmmmm wicker!
We will come again - insh'Allah!
This afternoon we again ventured across the tracks from Road 9 in search of the fabled linen shop. We're still not convinced that we found it, but certainly found a fabric shop where we bought 440LE of stuff. The guys in the shop really did seem like we'd made their day. Three separate people were showing us towels, sheets, and bedding. They were reaching them out of bags to show us, cooing over their softness, raiding the back of cupboards for different colours.
One of them shook me firmly by the hand, wished us "welcome to Egypt" (comically always pronounced as "welcome t'Egypt" as if they've been watching a Peter Kay stand-up routine) and checked I was strong enough to carry all the bags home again. He also whispered to me that Alice was "very beautiful"...was she already my wife? Sadly for him, I showed my wedding ring. "Very beautiful," he repeated. "You must be strong for beautiful wife!"
The shop also had loads of shirts (a fraction of the price of elsewhere, assuming that these too are 100% cotton or linen mix) and sold hundreds of colours of suit fabric. When things are a bit cooler I may go back with some pigeon Arabic to see if I can find out if they know a seamstress who could make me a suit. I said that we'd just take what we had for the time being, but that we would come back. "Insh'Allah!" laughed the main chap who was serving us. Although strictly translated as "If God wills it," the phrase is most regularly used to mean simply "hopefully!" I'm sure we will go back sometime - the things they had really were quite lovely. We bought a couple of throws for the bed/seats in the back room, sheets for the bed, and some towels. We reckon it was all reasonably priced, too.
On our way back we called in at Metro (a Budgens-style supermarket) to pick up some of their renowned fruit juice. And, as if things couldn't get any better, we found a street kiosk that sold sachets of Nescafe 3-in-1.
One of them shook me firmly by the hand, wished us "welcome to Egypt" (comically always pronounced as "welcome t'Egypt" as if they've been watching a Peter Kay stand-up routine) and checked I was strong enough to carry all the bags home again. He also whispered to me that Alice was "very beautiful"...was she already my wife? Sadly for him, I showed my wedding ring. "Very beautiful," he repeated. "You must be strong for beautiful wife!"
The shop also had loads of shirts (a fraction of the price of elsewhere, assuming that these too are 100% cotton or linen mix) and sold hundreds of colours of suit fabric. When things are a bit cooler I may go back with some pigeon Arabic to see if I can find out if they know a seamstress who could make me a suit. I said that we'd just take what we had for the time being, but that we would come back. "Insh'Allah!" laughed the main chap who was serving us. Although strictly translated as "If God wills it," the phrase is most regularly used to mean simply "hopefully!" I'm sure we will go back sometime - the things they had really were quite lovely. We bought a couple of throws for the bed/seats in the back room, sheets for the bed, and some towels. We reckon it was all reasonably priced, too.
On our way back we called in at Metro (a Budgens-style supermarket) to pick up some of their renowned fruit juice. And, as if things couldn't get any better, we found a street kiosk that sold sachets of Nescafe 3-in-1.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Iftar at Hussein Mosque and Kahn El-Khalili
This evening we were invited by some friends to visit the square outside the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Hussein at sunset to witness Iftar. We arrived at about 5.30pm to take in the build-up to sunset (including the continuous stream of bread deliveries), and as the call from the Mosque went out just after 6pm were there to see everyone breaking their fast.
We then took a walk around the streets and alleyways of Khan El-Khalili after dark, stopping at the legendary Fishawi coffee shop. According to local lore, it has been open continuously (as in 24/7) for the last 240 years without every closing its doors. This may explain the constant stream of people moving through - both as customers and hawkers bent on selling their souvenirs and henna tattoo designs to the ever-present tourists. Locals do, however, frequent the coffee shop for a drink or a shisha and it was interesting to note that they were in the significant minority when we first arrived as they were still breaking their fast. Soon, however, the place really began to fill up.
We wandered some more streets for a while, but later took a taxi back to the nearby metro station which returned us to Maadi. All in all, a thorough assault on the senses, alngside great company.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
UKNova Radio: Our first show from Cairo
Tonight we broadcast our first internet radio show from Cairo. Despite the problems we've experienced with Skype, the radio held up pretty well and only dropped out once. Right-click the link below and select "Save target as..." to download the 2 hour show (55MB) to your PC.
Download podcast here.
Alternatively, stay on this website and listen to the show in the MP3 player below:
Download podcast here.
Alternatively, stay on this website and listen to the show in the MP3 player below:
Sunday, 14 September 2008
www.otlob.com
It calls itself a "free online food ordering service" so we decided we'd try ordering some food online for free. We paid for the food, obviously, but not for the ordering service. Hooray!
We can guarantee that this was totally unscripted...we didn't know they'd call!
We can guarantee that this was totally unscripted...we didn't know they'd call!
Saturday, 13 September 2008
You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight, Baby!
We've had a bit of a nostalgia-fest this weekend (if indeed it's possible to get nostalgic over something that only happened 7 weeks ago), but here's another video from the wedding courtesy of Jan: Soul Calibre, with yours truly on guitar and vocals, performing "You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight, Baby!" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
A Maadi Friday
I went out for a walk on Friday morning to find the Kimo Market - which is a rival to the Soudi Market on Road 253. We were told the Kimo Market is better as it sells maple syrup! Kimo does indeed sell maple syrup, and Oreo cookies and the fruit and veg looks better than at Soudi - but the fruit and veg here is outside, beside a main roundabout, rather than inside at Soudi, so I'm still undecided about the winner in this competition.
Here are a few photos I took on my expedition that show how quiet things are on a Friday morning.
Here are a few photos I took on my expedition that show how quiet things are on a Friday morning.
Here are a few photos that I took that afternoon when we ventured over the Metro line and were in "proper Cairo". Between the houses they hang up decorations for Ramadan.
Friday, 12 September 2008
The other side of Maadi
This afternoon we decided to visit Road 9 in Maadi to try to find a linen shop we'd been told about. We knew was that it was "over the bridge from Road 9" but, having no real idea of where we were looking, we just decided to wander around to try to find it. We never did actually find it, but we did have the video camera with us so shot some footage of the streets where we were walking.
It was a very different "type" of place to where we live - more hectic, and generally more "front line" than the wealthy area around the Grand Mall. If we were confident about our health we would certainly have bought some food for later but instead just took in the sights , sounds and smells for a quarter of an hour.
The streets were full of shoppers and hawkers; kids were playing football in dusty courtyards; lots of people spoke to us but, having yet to pick up much of the language, all we could really say was "hello" and "Ramadan Kareem" (rough translation: Happy Ramadan; more accurate translation: May Allah make your Ramadan period generous). Greetings and faith here are almost inseparable. Even the basic formal greeting for "hello" (is salaam 'alaykum) has a literal translation of "Peace be upon you". Anyway I'm sure that in time we'll get a real chance to learn and practice Arabic.
Something else we noticed when we were walking around were the amount of people seeking the charitable form of baksheesh. It's something we've discussed previously on the blog but as we haven't been out much, today was our first chance to really be able to "share the wealth". I bought my first handy pack of tissues (a common exchange used by the poor to elicit baksheesh in return) from a young girl for, and gave 50 piastres to a woman with two kids sitting on the steps by the railway line. Both were enormously grateful - "please mister, thank you please!" - and I must say I felt really good for it. However, how long my long-hoarded bundle of small change will last with my new-found enjoyment of charitable giving is quite another matter!
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Here's the video...
It was a very different "type" of place to where we live - more hectic, and generally more "front line" than the wealthy area around the Grand Mall. If we were confident about our health we would certainly have bought some food for later but instead just took in the sights , sounds and smells for a quarter of an hour.
The streets were full of shoppers and hawkers; kids were playing football in dusty courtyards; lots of people spoke to us but, having yet to pick up much of the language, all we could really say was "hello" and "Ramadan Kareem" (rough translation: Happy Ramadan; more accurate translation: May Allah make your Ramadan period generous). Greetings and faith here are almost inseparable. Even the basic formal greeting for "hello" (is salaam 'alaykum) has a literal translation of "Peace be upon you". Anyway I'm sure that in time we'll get a real chance to learn and practice Arabic.
Something else we noticed when we were walking around were the amount of people seeking the charitable form of baksheesh. It's something we've discussed previously on the blog but as we haven't been out much, today was our first chance to really be able to "share the wealth". I bought my first handy pack of tissues (a common exchange used by the poor to elicit baksheesh in return) from a young girl for, and gave 50 piastres to a woman with two kids sitting on the steps by the railway line. Both were enormously grateful - "please mister, thank you please!" - and I must say I felt really good for it. However, how long my long-hoarded bundle of small change will last with my new-found enjoyment of charitable giving is quite another matter!
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Here's the video...
Wedding photos
Okay, so it's nothing to do with Egypt. BUT tomorrow is our 7-week anniversary and so we've edited together a montage - yes, a montage - of the Stillvision photos from our wedding day. Live the experience in glorious fast-moving action with the montage.
If you want to download the full-resolution video, right click the following link and select "Save Target As..." http://www.redhotscott.co.uk/july26/weddingphotos.wmv (it's a 14.5MB file).
If you want to download the full-resolution video, right click the following link and select "Save Target As..." http://www.redhotscott.co.uk/july26/weddingphotos.wmv (it's a 14.5MB file).
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Thoughts from the third floor
We sit on our balcony and mull over buying water from a man on a street corner.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Towards a diagnosis
In which we find out what exactly has been making us ill, and Alice sits on a cushion so looks a lot taller than Scotty.
Saturday, 6 September 2008
The oven door
Our oven, as well as being a death trap due to the amazing "light it by sticking a match through a hole in the base" technique, has a wobbly door. We, however, have a broom with a long handle.
Power cuts and the healing power of limes
We experience our first power cut in the apartment, and make some Sprite 'n' lime.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Computers and Pocari Sweat - update
I just wanted to add a note that we have now discovered the one disadvantage of having a Shuttle PC...the aluminium frame is liable to be "live"!!!
Scotty now has to wear my rubber soled house slippers when he is working there as the computer is live, as are the mircophones when they are plugged in! We will have to earth it all via the taps in the kicthen (about 15 meters away and past the front door...we'll work it out).
Also - we've just finished our second and final can of Pocari Sweat, so we're off to buy some more from the mini supermarket by the mall or the organic supermarket we found today on our street.
Scotty now has to wear my rubber soled house slippers when he is working there as the computer is live, as are the mircophones when they are plugged in! We will have to earth it all via the taps in the kicthen (about 15 meters away and past the front door...we'll work it out).
Also - we've just finished our second and final can of Pocari Sweat, so we're off to buy some more from the mini supermarket by the mall or the organic supermarket we found today on our street.
Computers and Pocari Sweat
Scotty finally gets his computer set up with a fancy 19" monitor, and we taste Pocari Sweat for the first time.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Scotty's birthday - at Costa Coffee
Scotty's birthday was somewhat limited by the fact we still haven't recovered from whatever bug it is we've picked up. For the past 3 days we've eaten nothing but plain bread and pasta, but we decided to risk something a little more adventurous for Scott's birthday so headed over to the exotic Costa Coffee for a sandwich...
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