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Published: November 21st 2009
Sadat City
New fence - left hand side.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 rented to someone else since we hadn't said we needed it after the 15th of the month. Since our work had ground to a halt while we waited for someone to help with the installation, we began making plans to pack up and return to Cairo. Then it turns out that they had found another worker for us, the lease on the flat has
Sadat City
Front view of hospital. been extended another month, and in December we will be able to move into a brand new flat that has been built to house medical staff. And in addition to building the gates and the ventilation shaft covers, we have been asked to put bars on the basement windows. It has been a real answer to our prayers for some direction.
Over the course of 3 weeks, we got the entire fence up! Erin taught the Egyptians to stick weld on the first day but unfortunately they didn't get the hang of using a welding visor, and the two of them suffered arc eye for two days. At least after that they learned to use the visor. The fence sections are heavy and we tried to stress the importance of holding them up until at least one side was secured. The number of times I heard Erin yell, "Two hands, Adel!" and still Adel would look for a piece of wood to prop it up so he could let go. One time a gust of wind blew the whole thing over the wall and the fence broke in 3 places. Then, on the very next piece, Adel again tried
Sadat City
Peanut plants! to prop it up with a stick and then it fell down on Gamal. After that, and a very stern telling off, Adel agreed to hold it by hand. All of a sudden, Adel became the boss, ordering the rest of us around and leaving us holding the fence while he drilled the mounting holes and welded the brackets on. He liked turning it into a race with me and him doing one side while Erin and Gamal did the other. When we did the sections by the vege garden, the peanut plants got trampled on and the okra plants irritated our skin. We noticed Adel giggling as we scratched our arms and asked what had irritated our skin. We hadn't seen peanut plants before. They look like clover, and when the pods get to the right size, they pop up out of the ground. We tried eating some that were still under the ground, the pods are soft and white and crisp like peas. The seed shop sells peanuts in the shell which they roast themselves, they are really cheap at $NZ2 per kilo.
Today we finally got the shower fixed, after a week of bathing from a
Sadat City
New fence - right hand side. bucket. Now that it's getting colder, it isn't nice to stand in a tub of rapidly cooling water and fumble for a towel! Last week we came home from work to find the neighbours' kids chasing a kitten, which I later let into the house. Erin was mean and told me to put it outside, then when he watched it from outside he thought it might be an Egyptian Mau cat and he went and brought it back in again. Egyptian Mau cats are a unique breed of spotted cat and their spots extend to their skin. They have large, straight ears that point upwards and efforts are being made to preserve the breed. However cute this one is, I think its a bit feral for us to keep.
Another significant event that took place recently was the soccer World Cup qualifying matches between Egypt and Algeria. The matches were marked by violence between opposing fans. Algeria won eventually, and Adel says it was God's justice being wrought on Egypt for the behaviour of its supporters. He was very upset the next day, especially after we pointed out that even NZ had made it to the Cup.
After
Sadat City
Here's the little kitten that Erin calls "Utti" and pretends is a Mau. several episodes of having groups of schoolgirls stand in front of me pointing, laughing and staring rudely, or little kids screaming and throwing stones, I decided I wasn't going to accompany Erin to the shops anymore. My only regret about being here is that we haven't made more friends. We have been here for 5 months now and we don't even know our neighbours. People are polite, but they keep their distance. I am not sure if that's because we are foreigners, or if that's just how people are here. Certainly in Cairo and Minya we found people to be more "in your face" than they are here and we had gotten used to Egyptians being like that. By our next blog, we will be in our new place. More to come...
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nice little sis
non-member comment
aww what a cute kitty. what does utti mean? haha towel fumblers!