kiwibyrd

Ok we are still not in our new flat, but we are in the building! It is smack bang in the middle of town, only a stone's throw away from everything we need. There is a nursery in the building too with friendly people working there, and the City Mall is just across the road. And it has a 2.5 pound shop! There is a great little shisha cafe across the road, in fact this was the first cafe we ever went to here, but we stopped going because Erin thought the waiter was dodgy. So we call it Dodgy Cafe. They make us nice sahlab with sprinkles in it. Another bonus about our building - we don't have noisy kids upstairs jumping up and down and ringing our doorbell. And there isn't a mosque right ... read more

One day, it rained. It rained short, heavy bursts during the night and throughout the day. It was mildy amusing after 5 months of hot dry weather, especially after we had laughed at NZ's appalling winter weather, but the amusement quickly faded when we got home and found our internet wasn't working. We called the technicians, and it turns out the rain had shorted the wired connection on the roof, which in turn shorted our network card and sound card. To fix the problem, we had to change our operating system to Windows, that at least got our internet working but we still have no sound so that means no Skype, no music and no movies. Things that really make a difference here. Shortly after our last blog, we were informed that our flat had been ... read more

To ensure Erin took it easy, we got sent to Alexandria for 5 days, timed so that we would make it back before the "Little Feast" at the end of Ramadan. With its beaches and plentiful sea breezes, Alexandria is a popular summer holiday destination for Cairenes but we were told that since summer has come to an end, it shouldn't be too busy. Now compared to Cairo, it wasn't busy at all, but it was far busier than we have ever seen it, in the past having visited during early spring. Like Cairo, it seems at times like there are too many people and too many cars, and just walking down the street becomes an exercise. We stayed in a lovely hotel right on the waterfront with a view of the Mediterranean. Outside, the honking ... read more

Ramadan has begun, the month of daylight fasting and nighttime feasting. Many of the shops and private apartments have Ramadan lanterns and flashing strings of lights. As non-Muslims, we are not expected to fast, but politeness dictates avoiding eating, drinking or smoking in public. We watched a Dubai news bulletin saying the Government there was stepping in to curb deliberate food price hikes during the month. Erin wasn't impressed by the drummer that comes around at 2.30am to wake people to eat before morning prayers. Our days are pretty much routine. We used to stop at the falafel shop most mornings and buy our lunch to take to work, but it being Ramadan restaurants are closed during the day so we are having to make it the night before and buy any ingredients in the evenings. ... read more

The steel for the fence got delivered the evening of the day we arrived. We wanted to be present to show them where to put everything, but didn't get a phone call until quarter to midnight - normal to Egyptians but too late for us. Unfortunately all the steel and the precious welder got dumped in the sand in front of the building site. We had to ask the clinic to arrange labourers to move it all inside at our own cost. There are 3 or more Egyptians permanently on site, working for the contractor. I asked them if they really were permanently on site. Yes, they live there, eat there, sleep there, do their washing there... I asked if they left the site to pray and they said only on Fridays and that should they ... read more