In Conclusion

Well then, 1095 days in Cairo and I'm mighty grateful for every one.  I returned home to Canada last month and it's admittedly pretty hard to be in mourning when I've touched down in paradise (aka Victoria, BC).   But saying 'Ma'a Salama' to our time in Egypt was reeeally hard all the same.

There were a lot of things that made the posting so special: I had a blast teaching dance to students from around the world; my husband and I had wonderful friends and a pretty awesome social life; we got to do a fair bit of travelling (I've been to 13 countries now!) and have in excess of 10,000 pictures to prove it...

Would any brave souls like to come on over and be put through the most epic slide show of your lives?  No?  Even if I told you that at least 1000 of the photos we took were images of the outsides of old churches?  Still no?  Fine then.  No popcorn for you.

Beyond my own luxurious experiences and beyond the times of turmoil, worry, sadness and hope for the country, there are some steadfast aspects of life in Egypt that are pretty cool and for which I strongly recommend taking an extended visit.  Thus in no particular order, please enjoy.

The Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Living in Cairo:

5.  Being interesting.  Living abroad automatically gave me something to talk about to friends and family in Canada.  Also, being a foreigner in my own neighbourhood and always getting asked where I'm from; having strangers ask if their kids can have a picture taken with me... it all made me feel like I was a unique and exotic individual.  Fun!

4.  Forever being "welcome".  Nearly every single day I would get at least one shout out from a passing car or from other pedestrians saying "Welcome to Egypt!  You are welcome!".  Also, the guy that sits on the corner, the fruit stand guy, the barber, the cleaner and the security guard that always stand up, pat their heart, wave and ask how you're doing.  I definitely do not get that sort of fanfare when I walk down the street now.  I will MISS that.  Where is the love Canada?

3. Adventure Awaits.  Never did I ever have a day where I went outside and nothing noteworthy happened.  Sometimes Cairo could feel like a circus.  Seeing trucks piled sky high with products or even people; A man cycling while balancing 50 pieces of bread on his head; watching workers install a billboard 30 feet up wearing flip-flops and no sign of safety gear;  walking with arms loaded down with groceries and being simultaneously asked to buy mint, lemons, tissue, strawberries and mandarines and flowers... where exactly would I put it people?!

2. A Connected Community.  There would be no need to teach the lesson of The Good Samaritan here.  If someone is in trouble, no one politely turns their gaze.  No, they all jump the heck in there.  People drive with their windows open so that they can give directions to others that may be lost; Arguments that escalate to fisticuffs never get far because people come out of the woodwork to help break it up.  But wait!  There's more!  Here are a few examples that I witnessed first hand.  True story!

Example 1: An elderly lady riding the metro could not climb in and out of the carts by herself.  When it came to her stop, she just walked to the edge and reached her arms out.  At least 5 ladies instantly reached out to grab her and help her down.

Example 2: I was riding in a taxi home from work and the driver hit a pedestrian.  Not too hard, don't worry!  We were going slow because we were in total gridlock.  Well, the jostled pedestrian caught right up to us, reached in and punched my driver square in the face.  Okay, that is not the nice part.  The nice part is that people came flooding over, pulled the victim/assailant off of my driver, tidied them both up, talked them both down and gave my driver some tissue to press against his slightly bloody face.  The driver dutifully finished his fare and drove me quietly home.  Phew!  That could have been a whole lot scarier.  Thank you kind strangers.

Example 3: I was walking in a quiet residential neighbourhood with a friend when a couple of bees came by and swarmed me.  I must have been particularly sweet that day because when they landed on me, they refused to be swatted away.  Being the calm, dignified lady that I am, I proceeded to scream, spin in circles and shake my arms very effectively.  Well!  Within seconds, police officers appeared out of nowhere to come to my aid.  They looked very perplexed about the source of my distress and were unsure how to proceed.  The remaining bee was now down the front of my shirt.  Eeep.  Thankfully it was my friend that helped extract the wayward bee rather than the kindly officers standing at the ready.  Peace was restored and the brave men returned to their posts.

1.  Incredible Sights.  Before moving to Egypt, I knew about the pyramids and about the golden mask of King Tut, but other than that, my sightseeing wish list was pretty minimal and definitely incomplete.  ATV-ing amongst the pyramids; camping in the desert; climbing up sand dunes (and sand boarding down!); floating in a felluca sailboat down the Nile; walking awestruck through the temples in Luxor; swimming in the red sea, snorkelling around coral reefs and seeing spectacular fish...

Sounds pretty incredible doesn't it?!  I'm telling you: Go!  Visit Egypt!  Stay awhile.  Oh, and when you come back, can someone please bring me a falafel sandwich?

One Step Behind

Seems like these blog posts are getting further and further apart!  Well, that is really the point here with IDEA #4: Being One Step Behind.

While everyone else is pushing to stay on top of the latest and greatest of everything - electronics, gear, fashion - I encourage you to recline, grab a second hand magazine, and wait.  Be patient.  Keep waiting.  While you are biding your time, those eager, up-to-the-minute consumers are most assuredly making their purchases.  That's great - that's the idea!  Each of their new purchases means a new castoff for us.

By staying a safe distance away from the cutting edge, you can 1) save major coin; 2) be green; 3) get really cool stuff; 4) get creative; 5) foster a sense of community.

Have a look at furnishing a room in your home for example:  You could take a four hour trip to Ikea, spend hundreds of dollars on furnishings which will last only a few years, and end up with the same stuff as thousands of other people.  Or, you could visit garage sales, antique stores, friend/family basements, or websites like kijiji, craigslist, marketplace.  There you can get used, unique items with their own history.  Just because something has been used by someone else doesn't mean there is no use/function/life left in the item.

But the benefits don't end there!  Using sites like kijiji can put you in touch with people you may otherwise have never met.  In my own family, picking up a used couch led to a two year relationship and a lifelong friendship.

But wait!  There's even more!  Say you get a used couch for a free.  It has good bones but hideous upholstery.  Now you have the opportunity to support a local craftsman and get something completely one-of-a-kind by taking it to get re-upholstered.  Or, you can impress and amaze your friends by learning a new skill and trying a DIY project.  All of that PLUS you are preventing something from being added to a landfill.

This premise goes way beyond furniture too.  What about fashion?  Maria Von Trapp was definitely living by the one-step-behind credo when she created stylish play clothes out of old curtains for example.  And we all know that fashion works in circles.  Who'd have thunk that the 1980s would have any lasting value?  And yet!  Neon is everywhere right now.  Why?! I guess that's someone else's blog topic.  But places like Value Village, Salvation Army, your fashionable aunt's closet, are all just treasure troves of items that no one else will be wearing right now but could be right on trend.  Last month I hosted a used clothing exchange which is something I've been meaning to try for years.  It ended up being very successful: 6 ladies with different styles and sizes all ended up finding wearable items within each other's castoff clothing.  We're talking free shopping!  I would highly recommend making used clothing exchanges an annual event.  Bonus points for including mimosas and macaroons.  Mmm.

There is another type of person that We, the Thrifty and Green can benefit from.  I'm talking about the Didn't-Quite-Think-it-Through-Crew.  They know who they are.  The ones who think they want to fully immerse themselves in a new hobby or sport, buy hundreds of dollars worth of gear, and then find out it's not really their cup of tea after all.  I myself fell victim to this when I asked for a fancy GPS/heart monitor/pacing watch for a gift only to discover that figuring out stuff like that is complicated/unfun/never going to happen.  Or when my husband wanted to get back into skiing and bought himself boots, skis, gloves, jacket, pants and goggles; got on the ski hill once; fell... hard; was assisted by the emergency ski patrol; and has never stepped foot on a ski hill again.  All that expensive gear has to go somewhere.  Why not to you?  The patient and frugal.  Buy or borrow the failed dreams of others at a fraction of the cost!

Let's not forget about cars.  You buy a brand new car, it devalues greatly the minute you drive it off the lot.  Plus you have to pay additional fees for things like undercoating, paint protection and freight.  Buy a used car and the initial extra costs and value losses have already been eaten by the previous owner.

This next item is perhaps the hardest idea to sell.  I know not everyone can handle it, but I personally am going to give it a try when we move back to Canada.  That is: staying one step behind on electronics.  When iPhone 6 comes out, I am banking on the diehard techies wanting to buy them faster than the stores can put them on the shelves.  As such, there will probably be a bunch of perfectly good iPhone 3s, 4s and 5s looking for a happy second home.  Gadgets that were cutting edge a few years ago can surely still be put to good use.  Plus, if you're always a few steps behind, the next step up, no matter how old it is, is still new-to-you.  Maybe not every app or plug-in will work on an older model, but the practice of reusing and money saving is something we can buy into and I'm pretty sure there is no app for that.

 

Always a Borrower or a Lender Be.

It's been a busy week for the Shan.  But now, at last, long awaited IDEA #3: Don't Own Stuff.

I have been fervently youtube-ing clips of people living in smaller homes lately. Apparently there is quite a large movement of people successfully living in spaces that are, in some cases, even less than 100 square feet. Woa!  That is pretty impressive. When it comes to saving money and resources, it seems to me like they just might be on to something.

But my big idea is not about living in a small space.  That is someone else's big idea and I am merely a big fan.  No, my idea would indeed make small space living more possible, but that is just a happy bi-product.  I'm talking about reducing the amount of things that we own.  The more that we own, the more space we need to store all of our little treasures.  And in a lot of cases (to be named in this fascinating installment of 'Ideas-by-Me') the more we own, the more we need  to own.

For example, if you own a car, you most likely also own: floor mats, air fresheners, a jerry can, jumper cables, an emergency kit, a spare tire, a pressure gage, a faux fur steering wheel cover, a witty/cheesy/ironic bumper sticker and countless other items for the repair, maintenance, and personalization of your car.  On the other hand, if you own a bus pass, you own a bus pass.

Additional vehicle-owning hassles include expenses like car payments, insurance, gas, oil changes, car repairs, parking fees and maybe even speeding tickets.  Again, if you own a bus pass, expenses include: buying a bus pass.

And what about other car owner worries like finding a parking spot, having to scrape your windows in the winter, car not starting in the cold, getting into accidents, getting a flat tire, having your car stolen or vandalized, arguing with your GPS, backseat drivers, etc.  Owning a car may mean freedom to come and go as you please, but it also means owning additional stresses.

But cars are just one illustration of the principle.  Ownership of anything is a responsibility.  When we make a purchase, we are making a commitment to store, use, maintain and eventually dispose of that item.  And I'm not just talking about vehicles.  I'm talking about camping gear, exercise equipment, musical instruments, power tools, and even books.

The beauty part is that there already exists a completely accessible and affordable solution for all of our ownership woes.  Here is an extensive, though highly incomplete, list of ways to get out of owning stuff:

1. Borrow books from the library (that include epubs and printed books) rather than buying a book you will likely only read once.

2. Rent you child's musical instrument from a music store rather than buying it.  They will likely change their mind 7 times as to what instrument they want to play anyway.  It is so much easier to rent those drums for a week and then trade them in for a bass guitar rather than have your basement become a musical graveyard of forgotten dreams.

3. Join a gym or exercise class/club rather than building a home gym.  If you have a home gym you need to repair, maintain, upgrade and find space for all that equipment.  If you visit a gym, they will always have the newest, functioning equipment and as a bonus, you can reduce your water bill by showering there.

4. Doing a home renovation?  You don't need to go out and buy every tool for the job that you may only use once or twice a year.  If you buy tools, then you'll need a tool shed... and then you'll have to buy the tools to build that too.  Renting tools has the added bonus of getting some advice/instruction from the rental staff.

5. Going on a once-a-year (or once in a lifetime) camping expedition?  Borrow gear from your adventure buddy, or visit Mountain Equipment Co-op and rent their gear.  Again, this rental comes with bonus advice and opinions of the service staff.

I do believe this is just the tip of the iceberg.  I invite you to borrow these ideas (free of charge) and see what other ways you can reduce the requirements of space, expense, and stress of ownership.  So lighten up, go hop on your bike-sharing wheels, head over to a public park, and rent a paddle boat.

Traffic Meditation... Serenity Now!!

I love living here.  There are heaps of wonderful reason to enjoy living in Cairo and specifically on our little island of Zamalek; but that is not the subject of this post.  No.  I would like to vent about an issue so deeply, smotheringly, intolerably irritating that there will be little room for positivity.  Maybe by the end of this cathartic entry I will have relocated my sunny disposition and have found some possible upswing... but I doubt it.  The infuriating issue I would like to publicly flog is: CAIRO TRAFFIC.

For starters, I'm pretty sure road-rage was invented here.  Or, is there a word stronger than rage?  Road fury?  Road wrath?  Whatever we want to call it - I am feeling it.

Last night, a 20 km taxi trip home took over two hours and cost about 2.25 years of my life;  or 75 Egyptian Pounds to be more literal. The same trip tonight took 1.25 hours and cost 50 EGP; or 0.75 years of life.  There has to be a better way!  Well, when I find one I'll let you know.  In the meantime, let me paint a picture of why these travels are such a hardship:

• Issue 1: 75% of the taxi drivers chain smoke.
• Issue 2: 95% of the cars drive with their windows down.  That means eating my own hair and breathing in the exhaust of all the other idling vehicles.  Might as well join the driver in a cigarette...
• Issue 3: 97% of the cars don't use air conditioning.  You get to stew in your own little sweat pool on the vinyl seats and question just how liberally deodorant was applied that morning.
• Issue 4: 100% of the vehicles on the road have been pimped out with the loudest horns you have ever heard in your life.  We are talking shockingly loud.  And they are not afraid to use them either.  Horns, not signal lights, are used as a means of communicating between the drivers.  BEEP YOU giant truck, BEEP YOU.

Add all of that onto my great dislike of lengthy sitting - one definitely can't stand in a car - (Who do I call with that invention?) and you get one ornery, complainy (obviously) Shan.

Okay, silver lining already.  By popular request (well, one friend suggested it): Here are the TOP 5 things to do when stuck in Cairo Traffic:

5. Group scooter sightings.  I once spotted a family of 6 riding on a single scooter!
4. Seeing how many seconds you can hold your breath.  Between the drivers' smoking and the pollution, breath holding competitions not only serve as your entertainment but may also prolong the life of your respiratory system.
3. Goat counting.  Like counting sheep, but less relaxing.  Seriously!  In this urban setting, the side of the major roadways are used as pasture land for the goats.  True story.
2. Take pictures of hilarious 'lost in translation' signage along your travels.  Here is the best one we've seen so far.

1. Donkey racing.  Choose the fittest looking donkey along your route, give it an endearing name to make it more interesting, then see which one of you (your taxi or his wagon) makes it to the next intersection first.  My money is on the donkey.  Always.

Take a Stand

Pull up a chair, have a seat, brace yourself for IDEA #2: Standing Up.  I mean like, all the time.  Hear me out, this one might be a little harder to implement than the early bed time thing, but that doesn't make it any less of a great idea.  Incidentally, curfew is now extended until 11:00 pm here in Cairo - but for those of us early sleepers, curfew-schmerfew anyway.

So, standing... I would like to propose adding a little standing to our days.  Nowadays, we are most certainly getting enough sitting time.  We are master sitters.  Most of us eat our breakfast sitting, ride to work sitting, sit at work, ride home sitting, eat supper sitting, sit in front of the TV or computer, and then finally stretch out only as we lay down to sleep.

Take a moment and look down at those lovely stems of yours, those attractive feet, those wiggly little toes.  These boots were made for walkin' were they not?  And what of the lost arts of hovering, leaning, crouching, perching and squatting?  We've got so many other options and it's high time we give 'em all a fair shot.

My standing experiments on this front have been years in the making and there is admittedly still a long way to go.  The truth is that standers tend to make people uncomfortable.  Just last week I went to a photocopy shop and was asked to have a seat three times while I was waiting for my order.  Every new staff member that walked by would take their turn smiling politely and gesturing at the row of chairs behind me.  Also, standing up beside a table in a restaurant?  Definitely gets some looks.  There are times when sitting is just expected and I have yet to figure out a way around that except to create other standing opportunities.

In Italy for example, breakfast of a cappuccino or espresso and a pastry is nearly always taken standing.  Many of the cafes we visited would actually charge you more if you wanted to take a seat.  Why can't we implement something like that?  Seat tax?

I've also tried standing on a tour bus, standing while watching a TV show, and standing at a visit to the dentist.  Okay, not that last one.  Just checking if you were still reading or if you had fallen asleep in your chair.  While we're on the subject, I've noticed that if I'm sitting down and there is something that I need to get to, I'm 50% less likely to get to it than if I'm standing.  If you're standing, you're already halfway there.  Getting up from a comfy chair is a major deterrent to taking action.  Word?

Well, until you are ready for the more advanced maneuvers like standing awkwardly beside a group of seated diners, pacing by the bus stop or pulling yoga poses in a board meeting, here are some practical standing opportunities that you can try right now:

1. Coffee walks versus coffee sits.  The next time you are meeting a friend for coffee, why not get your drinks to go?  You can enjoy a short walk together and a change of scenery while still catching up.  Best bit: if your coffee buddy gets a bit too chatty, you can always increase the pace until they get short of breath, or you can try and lose them at the next left turn.

2. Food truck lunches.  Standing up with your food in a sit-down restaurant?  Weird.  Standing up with a hot dog or burrito from a road side stand? No problemo!

3. Cocktail parties versus dinner parties.  If you stand up to eat at a dinner party, you may not get a repeat invitation.  Even if you brought the best side salad ever.  If you stand up while circulating the room at a cocktail hour, you just may find yourself being the life of the party!

4. Computer pose.  How about the 'leaning crane' or the 'downward dip'?  If you have a laptop, there is no reason that you need to sit in a chair with your computer on a table in front of you.  In fact, if you have to support yourself, it might actually cause you to move around more and maybe take a much needed computer break.

Speaking of which: step away from the computer.  Today's rant is done.  I would like to conclude with the thought provoking and elegant words of  Eminem: "Please stand up; please stand up!"

Party Like it's 1999 (if you were born in 1919)

Okay.  Much awaited IDEA #1: Party like a senior.  I am not talking about a 12th grade student.  Those young hooligans have way too much thirst for trouble and keep the most ridiculous hours... No, I am talking about the wise, experienced folks living in their golden years.  Specifically, I am talking about their sleeping schedule.  Assuming you buy into the stereotype that seniors fall asleep at 8 pm and awake to the first cock's crow.  For the purposes of this upcoming rant, let's say you do.

With the current curfew in Cairo (you must be in your home by 9:00 pm every day, except Friday when the curfew is 7:00 pm), this was a prime time to try out the "early to bed, early to rise" approach to scheduling.  Conclusion: awesome.

The premise is that absolutely nothing productive is accomplished after 9:00 pm.  Unless you are a supplier of snack foods, have advertising on facebook, or own a share in netflicks, you may come to agree that the witching hours of 9:00 pm to midnight are best used by the unconscious folks.  While the seniors and Shannon Lee are fast asleep, recharging their batteries for the full and productive coming day, the rest of the world is social media-izing, binge-watching a TV series, pouring themselves a drink or two, and grabbing a pudding cup.  Well, maybe that last one was just me... Side note: chocolate pudding cup; kept in the freezer; microwave 15 seconds; prepare to be addicted.

On the other side of the fence are the people who may have a social life and may spend some evenings out or in their homes entertaining.  That's fine!  That doesn't mean you can't try this experiment too!  Just come to Cairo while the curfew is still in place.  Can't make the trip out just yet?  Still fine!  Become a hermit.  Or, try and convince your buddies to get in on the experiment with you.

From recent experience, day time parties are great!  With your newly productive early mornings (more on that shortly), you can relax and enjoy a Saturday afternoon BBQ or even a daytime cocktail party.  Best bit: if you have a set curfew of 9:00 pm, even the stragglers hit the road in a timely manner.  That leaves you a few minutes to tidy up and STILL get to sleep before 10 pm.  You party animal you.

Don't have a curfew in your area?  No problem.  You can still get people out of your house early by sending your party invites out with a start AND end time, or tell them you are trying "this great new schedule thing", or have your mom Skype you at 8:50 pm with some fictional crisis that will quickly clear the room.

If you are attending someone else's function, you can arrive right at the start time rather than fashionably late, work the room, and then pull the pin at your self-prescribed curfew.  You'll eat and drink less, not waste any part of the following day in bed, and get to be entertained later on by the tales of those who stayed on "past their bedtimes".

Now about this "morning productivity" stuff.  It is a revelation!  I am telling you: as much as the 9:00 pm to midnight timeslot gets you nowhere, the 5:30 to 8:00 am shift gets you all kinds of good places.  Maybe you think you are not a morning person, but a week of going to bed at 9:00 pm may just convert you.

The secret for me to maximizing the morning is to just put one foot in front of the other.  I used to wake up by sitting on the couch and watching a show.  Why?  What am I resting up from?  I was just asleep all night!  No, I recommend standing.  This is foreshadowing to my next and equally riveting IDEA #2 blog post by the way.  Empty the dishwasher, take out the garbage, tidy up the living room, walk the dog.  The idea is to do something that doesn't involve thinking or talking but does get you moving.  Step 2: coffee.  A huge part of why I am excited to wake up every morning!  If you love something else, that's cool too.  But something that puts you in a good mood and makes you eager to start your day is just the ticket.

After coffee and a delicious breakfast, my brain starts ticking.  I am at my best to reply to work e-mails, make class plans, write down inane ideas that I will later blog-on about, you name it.  This is when things get DUN SON.  That leaves me feeling pretty darn good about myself and kind of fired up, which leads to the other key part of this experiment: exercise.  I have definitely read that getting in some exercise in the morning is the best thing.  According to such notable experts as ME, I would tend to agree.  With exercise done before heading out to face your day, there is less chance of something else coming up and derailing a workout and there is 100% chance of you strutting out the front door feeling like a million bucks.

Really, really try this people.  9:00 pm is the new midnight.  It is hip to be square and it is always okay to be awesome.  Now go get some sleep!

Breaking the Seal

Clearly the maintenance of this blog has been a much neglected pursuit.  The chick (Me) does continue to cross the road, and her life in Cairo goes on.  Despite the lack of written evidence, lots of stuff has happened.

The reason for breaking the crater-esk radio silence is not to talk about the coup/non-coup that we witnessed in Egypt, or even to blather about the ways the fallout has effected our privileged lives here.  Nor is it to document the awesome trips that my husband, Scott, and I have had in the last year... though once I get back into the flow of blogging, I do hope to include that stuff again too.

No.  I actually needed to "get my blog on"  because I have had more ideas lately than you can shake a stick at; or keep track of in the various scattered paper notebooks I jot in; or than I can possibly trap my poor fella into feigning an interest in.  One can only listen to so many sentences per day that start with "I have a theory that _" or "I think I just invented something where _" or "what people should try is _"... yeah, poor Scott.

So to you, my non-captive audience: be prepared to be dazzled, moderately amused, or perhaps just led to question what kind of air this girl is breathing anyway.

Stay tuned.

Ahhh-Malfi

On June 24th  Scott and I rented a little white Smart Car from Rome and drove south to the Amalfi Coast for what we anticipated to be a relaxing, visually stunning week-long vacation.  It was beautiful, there were moments of relaxing, but the absolutely crazy and constant twists and turns in every bewildering road journey that we took around the area made for some rather car-sick days and some reasonable doubts as to the accuracy/usefulness of our car's GPS.

First stop: Naples.  Here we shall try the World's-Greatest-Pizza!!  ...Naples...the streets lined with garbage, the unsavory looking characters walking the streets, the crumbling and in-need-of-paint buildings (I don't mean spray-paint because clearly the locals had that part covered), the impatient drivers and scary intersections...we're not loving Naples.

Ever hopeful about our upcoming euphoric pizza lunch experience, we followed our guidebook to the top 10 pizza places in Naples and found several in close proximity. The number 1 pick was closed since it was a Sunday, but number 2 had a promising description and a local walking by assured us that it was "fine".   So in we go to this authentic pizzeria that has been kicking since 1923.

Trianon Pizzeria in Naples

The wood burning stove (where the magic happens)

Yea...We each got our own. What?!

 Okay, it was pretty high up on the yummy scale.  It was decent.  We ate eat and liked it.  But there was no soundtrack that started playing, no clouds parting, no spontaneous group dance of any sort.  It was in the end "just pizza".  Shucks.

So, bellies full, pizza dreams slightly dampened, we headed on south to Amalfi.  We got to the village of Furore where we would be spending a week in a small bed and breakfast that was owned by a kindly, burly man named Pino.  His father was a chef in the attached restaurant, his cousin owned the small hotel down the street, his other cousin cycled around the town, and most every other man we encountered was also named Pino.  It seemed to be a very homey, non-touristy village where everyone knew everyone else and they had all always lived there.

The views from our hotel window, from our car, from any street we walked down, basically any time our eyes were open were just as beautiful as we had hoped.  We got extremely trigger happy with our cameras.  Here are two from the hundreds upon hundreds of rather similar images we took.

Our first day out we tried some hiking.  The maps did not really help us, our bed and breakfast guy's instructions did not really help us, our GPS really didn't help us... but somehow we managed to find one of several apparently famous trails.  If they're so famous how about some decent signage and maybe a hiking map?  Just saying.

We ended up walking into a private cliff-side vineyard which was totally beautiful but not actually where we wanted to be headed. Also, there was way more "nature" than we expected to encounter on our nature walk. We had a life-threatening encounter with a super fast black snake. Found out from our bed and breakfast guy later that they're not dangerous but at the time we were certain that we were doomed.  When he had safely zipped passed us, as if being pulled quickly by an invisible string up some steep steps, Scott managed to get a photo.  Not sure how because he was pretty shaky.  That guy does not like snakes!

Another scary thing we kept encountering were lizards.  I mean these things were everywhere.  The part that made them scary was that whenever you were approaching them they would jump straight up in the air.  All the more scary when you don't know that you are approaching them!  For any of you "Annie" fans out there I think this must be where the term "leaping lizards" came from.  Before being orphaned and taking up performing heartwarming song and dance numbers Annie had obviously done a fair amount of hiking along the Amalfi Coast.

After about 2.5 hours of hiking upward we found the sign pointing to the hiking trail that we had read about. Well we did not feel like "beginning" our hike at this point, especially after running into a similarly lost couple who had just come from the trail in question and indicated that it had taken them 3 hours. We are recreational hikers. Plus we're on VACATION. Plus it was HOT.  So that was not happening.

We decided to turn around and begin our descent. They have lizards...and cactus...we were hot...there was no way that we were walking three more hours in the wrong direction from home okay? 

We still managed to see this view during our misguided travels. Yea. Worth it!

That afternoon we decided to visit the only local winery and vineyard in the small area we were staying.  It was owned and operated by a couple  and their children and was a wedding present from the husband to the wife...Scott all I got was a diamond ring...

The had actually dug a cave into the cliff-side to store and age their wine and it was pretty awesome in there.  Though they did not offer tasting we made out with a couple of bottles and some photographic evidence of our visit.

The following day we scouted out the surrounding area and collected brochures for ideas on what kinds of things we might get up to doing during our visit.  We settled on a boat tour that would take us to the island of Capri (yes the place for which those not quite pants, not quite shorts were named and also the Capri Sun fruit beverage where you poke the straw through the metal baggie thing.  You know the ones...)

It was a great day on the water and we were on a boat with a young Australian couple, a young Italian couple, and a group of Brits who had visited the place some 30 years ago and wanted to see what was new.  Besides those short pants and juice baggies I mean.

We stopped several times for people to swim along the way but decided we wanted to look glamorous and dry for our big Capri debut.

In the meantime, we enjoyed the amazing views of the cliff side towns that we passed and greatly enjoyed seeing the sights without having to drive around the crazy cliff side roads.

To celebrate not having to drive on this wonderful boat tour day, we arrived in Capri and decided to drive. This is not as illogical as it sounds because obviously a scooter is way cooler than a Smart Car right?  Way cooler.

Don't worry all ye who know of my awesome driving skills: I am merely posing in a parking lot for this picture and actually just road on the back of Scott's scooter.  Oh yeah, he wore a helmet when he drove for real too (just posing in the parking lot also).  Anyway, fedora versus helmet = way cooler.

Other than that we shopped around Capri and ate some pasta.  Besides the very strict parking laws and overcrowded beaches, we liked this island very much.

Additional days of eating, driving, sightseeing, and ooo-ing/aahing followed.  Probably our favorite day on the Amalfi coast was the day we rented our very own boat.  Boating license? Nah.  Sufficient training to be let loose with our own boat for the day? Nope.  Makings of an awesome day of danger and freedom? You betcha.

So we go to a boat rental booth and ask to rent a boat for the day.  They happily take our money and say a guy will bring a boat around for us in half an hour.  Enough time to buy a water and a sandwich and hope that Scott remembers what it was like when he drove a boat 13 years ago.  Like riding a bike right?

We hop aboard the boat and the guy shows Scott how to go forward and how to reverse, then as we are passing another boat he says "okay bye" and jumps aboard another boat his friend was on. So hopefully 20 seconds was all the review time needed. Yup. Scott can confirm that it is indeed just like riding a bike.

We puttered around for several hours, jumped out and swam a few times, and Scott even let me try driving too! It was sort of fun/scary until I came across the waves from another boat at full speed and nearly pitched my dearly beloved overboard. Ahk! End of lesson.

 



Last Visit to Italy

For 9 days in June I attended a "Dance Retreat" in Tuscany.  It was a dance camp for adults that also included cooking lessons and italian lessons.  I was massively excited because here was an experience to combine all of my interest - dancing, Italy, eating, and talking.  Yep: a dream come true!

Well it was a great time though not exactly what I expected.  I was amping myself up for 6 hrs of solid dancing every day and it ended up being a lot more laid back then that.  Some days we just enjoyed socializing and a single class or two and rather than leaving the lean-mean fighting machine that I had hoped, I ended up leaving with good friends and a belly full.

We did get to try yoga outdoors, interpretive dance in public spaces, modern, ballet, old school jazz, step dance, musical theatre, and lyrical jazz.  This sounds like rather a lot of dancing but it was more of a sampler platter rather than a full out buffet.  That's talking about the dancing.  The eating was a full out buffet for sure!  Food and wine were beautifully priced in the town of Livorno where we stayed and I enjoyed my fair share and then some.  Our cooking classes consisted of a wee bit of cooking (I love the simplicity of italian cuisine) and a whole lot of eating.  I have already tried making a cannellini bean recipe that we learned and it is scrumptious (and easy!).  I am happy to pass on the recipe to anyone who wants.

Our fun week ended with getting to perform in a local dance school's recital.  We learned a piece on a Tuesday and Wednesday morning, cleaned it up on Thursday, and performed it that night.  It was quite a treat to get to dance on stage and something I would absolutely enjoy doing again.  Dance camps and recitals are not just for kids.  As a matter of fact I think we could all benefit from revisiting a lot of things we enjoyed as children.  As a matter of face, right now I am currently yearning for a good game of tag.  Or red rover.  How will I find anyone to play with me?!

Okay, off topic...so following the dance retreat, I took a train down to Rome to meet up with Scott.  We had a real surefire plan in which we would just "meet up somewhere in the train station".  Okay fine except upon arrival each of us separately discovered that a) the place was huge, b) the place was full of thousands of people.  So imagine each of our surprise when we did in fact find each other after not too much looking at all.  Ah the good fortune that follows the naive and uninformed.  This appears to be a common theme in my life thankfully!

We had two great days in Rome wherein Scott got to eat the best pork products known to man apparently and I of course got to once again enjoy more cheese, pasta and wine than is sensible.  We did our own "best of" tour according to our guide book meaning we tried the best gelato, best cappuccino, best outdoor market, best coffee, etc.  We also did a little shopping and visited a Leonardo exhibit but for the most part we just walked around took hundreds of pictures.

San Daniele.  Best pork product ever.  I hear.

Roaming Rome.



Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit.  This is a Tank!

Best Espresso in Rome.  Yup good.

"enjoying" a Summer Spritzer at the outdoor market in Rome.  Actually just posing.  It was gross.

 From Rome we rented a car and drove to the Amalfi Coast.  But that is another story and another post.  Stay tuned!

A Year in Cairo

So Scott and I have lived in Egypt for nearly a year now!  July 15th will mark the day that we moved here and spent our very first evening in Cairo locked on our little apartment balcony and wondering what we had signed on for.

What a year it has turned out to be!  A year of great new friends, of witnessing political history in the making, of making some travel dreams come true, and of daily surprises/lessons/adventures.

We are now the "Old Crew" as we have seen wonderful friends moving back to Canada at the end of their postings and a new roster of people are just now beginning to move in.  It is fun to think back to how strange and different everything seemed to us when we first got here ourselves.  While we now have a certain comfort level in our own day to day routine, there is still a lot that will probably always seem quite strange and different to us.  Perhaps at the end of our time here we will be a little stranger and different ourselves...

As for the pivitol political year, we have sat on the edge of our seats waiting to see what direction the country would go following the revolution and most especially waiting to see if people would be happy in the chosen direction.  After surviving the election of a new president this past week, now we can finally look to see what changes will begin to come about and hopefully the first steps will be encouraging and promising ones.

Travel has been a massive perk for this gig thus far and in 2011 we got to go to Rome for our anniversary and Tuscany, Florence and Venice for Christmas and New Years.  Conclusion: we love Italy as much as we always thought we would!  In 2012 we got to see Paris in February which was a dream come true and we left with a long list of things we would like to see and do there again if we get to return; and most recently we went to Rome (again!) and south of Naples to the Amalfi Coast.  We just returned three days ago so once we sort through our pictures I plan to post on that as well.  Stay tuned.

As for local travel, we have been able to go snorkling in the red sea, had an amazing close encounter with dolphins while paddle boating, gone camping in the dessert, sand boarded like champs (like snow boarding but on sand dunes), visited pyramids and ancient ruins, and we have only scratched the surface of all the local must-sees thus far.

Lessons from this year: patience is necessary for survival; sometimes the most logical solution to me is not the go-to approach for others; the sense of community and genuine openness of strangers is a welcome and wonderful change and something that I hope to take home with me; learning Arabic is real hard and my charades skills need work.

With that very brief and vague recap of my missed months of blogging:  G'bye for now.  Stay tuned for more routine entries (hopefully...) as I have the whole summer off!

My Little World Keeps on Ticking

Since Cairo is being featured in the news a fair amount lately I wanted to give a quick update on how Scott and I are doing during the protests.

Well for starters, Scott is doing pretty well since he is spending the week in Berlin for a conference.  He was reluctant to go since the protesting seems to be building up and he didn't want to leave his coworker (or his wife) in the lurch.  Back in a few days, it is not clear yet what sort of scenario he will be greeted with.

I've been carrying on with my regular routine as have most of the people around me.  Our little island is quite normal with all the shops and restaurants remaining open.  Other than the traffic seeming somewhat subdued and a few more people walking around during the day, it is all pretty usual.

I have still been going to Maadi to teach dance and nearly all the students are still attending.  Some of the schools are ending early and some businesses are sending staff home early to avoid being out in the afternoon/evening.

The only real "excitement" that I have seen was on Tuesday afternoon when I left home and had to stop by Scott's work (which is about a 3 minute drive to Tahrir Square).  We saw small groups of people walking away from the square with paper medical masks slung around their necks.  Some also had bandaged heads.  A little further along the cab driver and I started to feel teargas in our throats so we rolled up the windows. We saw slightly bigger numbers of people with masks on, bleary eyes, etc leaving the square.

Then we began safely heading away South and towards Maadi and encountered a group of about 600 people marching in the opposite direction.  Our traffic was still flowing pretty well and the marchers were walking mostly on the sidewalk.  There were drums and people fist pumping and chanting.  Not sure what they were saying - we haven't covered that in my Arabic lessons yet but it definitely wasn't "my pencil in on my desk" or "the teacher is at the front of the class", or any other phrase that I have been working on.

The march was peaceful and had very diverse attendance - young men in their twenties in jeans and tee-shirts, older men in business attire, young ladies with their heads covered, ageless ladies in full burkas.

Talking with a few others I have heard that college students have been returning to the square each afternoon, sometimes bringing their parents!  Expats are even going down to see what's up.  Men, women, and youth.  Egyptian and foreign.  Everyone waiting to see what happens next.  Well so am I, but I'll just watch from a safe distance on the news.

Gluttony, Reverence, and Chilly Awesomeness

On October 20th to 23rd, Scott and I joined a group of people from his work as well as representatives from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and Italy (to name a few) to attend a World War II memorial service.

We took a 3ish hour drive to northern Egypt to a small town on the Mediterranean coast called El Alamein.  Now if you are better informed about our history (which assuming you are a 4th grader or more, you most likely are), perhaps you already know all about this place.

Just in case, here's the lowdown:  Commonwealth Forces (and a couple others) fought German and Italian Forces there between 1940 and 1942.  Winston Churchill has an allegedly famous (I'd never heard it before...) quote about the battles fought there: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat." Well, many people on both sides were killed so there is a war cemetery there as well as memorials for the Commonwealth, the Germans, and the Italians.  There are 37 Canadians buried at the Al Alemein War Cemetery where we went to attend the service.

Before tending to the solemn purpose of our trip, we were treated to a wonderful, marvelous hotel stay.  A rather grand hotel that literally stepped out onto the beach.  Being that it was the ONLY hotel open around (everything else was closed for the winter - yes, apparently even in the dessert this happens), we were awfully lucky that it was so great.

Neither Scott nor I had ever visited the Mediterranean before and truly it was spectacular.  White sand, turquoise waters.  Here is a view from our balcony.  Though the evenings are cooling off a bit, we were able to sleep with our patio door open and fall asleep to the sound of the crashing waves.  Yes, you should definitely feel sorry for us and the time we are having here.

We were actually treated to lots of free time and Scott was needed for only a small part of our time there.  We lounged and walked by the sea, played Phase 10 (it's a fun card game!), chatted with friends, and ate our FACES OFF.  That's right we're talkin' three buffets a day, each and every day.  There were so many salads and desserts that I rarely made it to the hot entrees.  But melon sculptures and banana swans just keep calling me back up for seconds and thirds.

Despite all the eating, when we finally gave swimming in the sea a try, we did indeed still float.  It was freezing, but the blue water and rockless bottom was amazing!  We bobbed in the waves and even did a bit of official swimming to work up an appetite.  Bring on the next buffet...

Staying at the hotel with us were people from all the other countries involved.  It was really pretty neat to see and meet the others and especially good to see people from the historically opposing sides all eating and enjoying the beach together.  What a difference 69 years makes.

On Saturday Scott and another co-worker went to set up for the memorial service while the rest of us lounged a little more.  In the afternoon we visited the El Alamein War Museum that had information and various articles from the war displayed.  Then off to the Commonwealth Memorial site.

The space was pristine and maintained year round by a team of gardeners.  There were pale tomb stones as far as the eye could see, several monuments and a huge archway watched by Egyptian soldiers.  A few other quick facts:  there are 7,367 buried in this cemetery and 821 of those are unidentified personnel.



The service was much like a remembrance day ceremony in Canada with a few hymns, the laying of the wreaths, the moment of silence.  And yet it was quite different because we were actually in the region where the people we were remembering fought and died.  The other major difference was that it was not just the Canadians we were remembering - there were people in uniform from so many countries there to pay their respects and represent their country - Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Kenya were all in the rows right near me for example.  It was a pretty special experience that I shan't sully here with my "deep thoughts" - just that I pondered that the world is a fair bit smaller than I  thought before and that it was encouraging to gather here with this diverse group and remember our common need for peace.  Shoot - I just "thought deeply" didn't I?

It could not be helped...  I must also mention that I was very proud to be there Scott.  A handsome young man in his uniform that came to represent Canada and to remember. 

I Got Dizzy Just Watching...

In a city where you can't always walk down the street without someone trying to sell you something, we recently got to enjoy a refreshingly FREE experience.  In fact, our entire evening was choc full of delightful new discoveries in Cairo.

The social coordinator at Scott's work organized a fantastic night for us which included visiting Al Azhar Park, eating some superfly Egyptian food, and watching a whirling dervish show (which was FREE.  I know!  I love free).

First of all, walking around Cairo, one comes to accept a certain amount of physical obstacles.  I am talking about animal poo, sandy dirt, and bits of garbage.  Thus our trip to Al Azhar Park was a lovely brief respite of cleanliness.  The ability to walk in a straight line without having to dart around illegally parked cars and the possibility of keeping your eyes on the sights rather than continually looking down to check for poo were both such welcome treats.

The park was built on a rubbish dump site in the 1980s.  When they built it they excavated tons of debris and discovered an ancient wall and other cool things like stones with hieroglyphics.  It is beautiful, lush, green; has amazing views of the city; and did I mention it is impeccably clean.  There is a lot of neat information about it here:

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/azharpark.htm

After walking around the park, we went to a rather fancy restaurant within the grounds where we ate delicious egyptian food and watched the sunset over the Mohammed Ali mosque.

We then went on a "20 minute walk" to the theatre for the whirling dervish show.  Our friends who guided us were 7 feet tall marathon speed walkers (I may exagerate here slightly, but honestly they walked really fast) so it really did take only about 20 minutes, but if it had just been Scott and I it would have been pretty near 45 minutes (and/or we would have caved and hailed a cab).

 The theatre where the show was held probably has some cool historical story too because it looked really old and was located in the Khan El Khallili market.  I unfortunately don't know the story so feel free to be less lazy than me and google away.  It was a very old stone building with 4 walls but no top.  For some reason they give the tickets to everyone for free.  Yes, I think I mentioned that.

The show began with fantastic musicians playing traditional instruments with great gusto, huge smiles, and cantagious dancing about.

Then came the whirlers.  Some of them wearing as many as 3 or 4 skirts and twirling for an unreasonable length of time.

It was a feast for the eyes and ears and a must-do for anyone that ever comes to visit me.  Seriously guys, get over here!

Pretty much the best trip EVER

Somebody has to call 15 yr old Shannon and let her know I am finally addressing her list of hopes and dreams.  That's right.  I'm talking about Italy:  Been there; done some of that; bought the coffeetable book.

For our 10th wedding anniversary Scott and I visited ROME!  Really and truly, it was all that we ever hoped it would be:  narrow alleys, cobblestone streets, sun soaked beauty and to quote one of our new friends - "a bunch of really old stuff".

We stayed in a boutique hotel that was a converted defense tower built in 1247 and was called Rezidenza Torre Colonna:  http://www.torrecolonna.com/ .  Since we were staying right in ancient Rome we did a lotta lotta walkin'.  Good thing because this was accompanied by a lotta lotta eatin'.

Though there were more quaint little restaurants along the cobble stone streets than any one city should rightly contain, we still managed to visit the same place twice in our four short days there.  Scott was having an affair with the ham they had there which apparently "really does melt in your mouth".   I was content to drown myself in cheese.  Mmm cheese.

We also found it incredibly cool that there was free access to clean, cold drinking water everywhere from fountains all over town. A refreshing change from Cairo where drinking water off the streets is not necessarily a good idea and where restaurants serve only bottled water which is certainly not free.

We truly wanted to have a relaxing couple of days and tried hard not to overwhelm ourselves with too many touristy activities.  Half the time we did not totally know what we were seeing, just that it was beautiful and a whole lot older than a whole lot of other stuff.  One of our two truly touristy ventures was touring the Vatican - namely the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum, and St Peter's Basilica.  We did the whole bit - tour guide, headsets, hundreds of pictures.  We even got to dress as Roman soldiers where we purchased tickets.  No dignity spared here folks.





That said, a person HAS to be a tourist in Rome.  Everything really does deserve a history lesson and a good handful of pictures.  Scott even nabbed a few in the Sistine Chapel which was strictly forbidden... So of course I can't show them here!

The second full out touring adventure was to the Colosseum. Did I mention we had a view of it from the rooftop jacuzzi at our medieval tower hotel? That's right. Whose life am I living?!

Anyway Scott was all 'touristed-out' by then so I got the headset guided tour while he relied solely on all the information he had learned while watching the movie Gladiator.  Upon comparing notes we discovered the movie yielded about the same information as the audio tour (which lost points due to the decided lack of Russell Crowe appeal... movie wins).

Speaking of movies, we got to put our hand in that face thing like that couple did that time in that movie.  You know the one...  It was actually rather anticlimactic and fairly unromantic compared to Roman Holiday (and later "Only You" for all you non-movie buffs).  The experience consisted of waiting in a 15 minute single file line, snapping one photo each, making sure your hand wasn't lopped off, and exiting immediately.  Checkout the legend for yourself at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocca_della_Verit%C3%A0

 And speaking of legends, we also visited the Trevi fountain and each threw a coin in.  The word is that those who toss a coin in the fountain will someday return to Rome.  I really, really hope it's true.

Ciao!

Ain Suhkna

Our second little escape, about two weeks ago, was also to a red sea beach resort, this one a mere 1.5 hr dessert drive away.  http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ainsoukhna.htm

We went with our buds Gerry and Randy and their pup Bacus.  Scott rented a van and drove us.  He did a great job!  Getting to the highway is the hardest part and he managed well, honking to let cars in from know he was coming, averting near collisions, and remaining (at least on the surface) quite calm.  Once on the open road, it was like another planet.  Both in terms of traffic (none) and landscape (think moon or mars-ish appearance).  Nothing but brown as far as the eye could see.

We arrived at the resort and we're greeted by the gatekeeper who went to summon "The General" for us.  A friend of a friend who had set up this booking for us.  A very jovial, little-bit-o-English speaking fella came around to take us into what appeared to be a desserted ghost town.  Very pretty grounds with nice flowers and three pools, but dude where were the people?

It turns out that if peace and quiet are what you are after, this is the perfect weekend to get away (all the local kids were getting ready to go back to school for the year).

Well most of the massive resort settlement was privately owned townhome-style units, we stayed in the same villa rental section.  As far as we could tell, we were one of maybe two groups staying there.  We had to head back into the town itself for supper and enjoyed some delicious Egyptian cuisine.  We were probably the only tourists there at all!

We got up for breakfast the next morning and went to the small restaurant building on the grounds.  There was one other group in the place!  Our free breakfast included 6 rather unusual courses with no options to order, just received as they are placed before you:  1. wine glass of mango tang; 2. basket of toasted hamburger buns; 3. plate with 3 kinds of sliced cheese, sliced spam, and a wee bit of tomato and cucumber;  4. bowl of milk and cornflakes;  5. plain fried egg (scrambled); 6. bowl of fool (beans).  It was extremely filling and rather endearing actually.

Our short two days were leisurely and fun!  Again, the pools were not heated, but we braved them and had fun.  There was one desserted pool right by our place where we had a few races, there was another pool by the beach that we never entered, and then there was the PARTY POOL.  At 11:00 am, whether anyone was there or not, a bartender would come hangout at the swim up bar and crank (really, really) the tunes.  We could not resist and decided to have an early afternoon beer to give the guy some business.  Though we did ask him to TURN DOWN THE MUSIC.  PLEASE.

We also headed into town for supper again (this time Kazzu and her man drove down to join us.  We went to Chilis.  Not as good as back home.  Margaritas with no tequila.  Isn't that just a slurpie?  Salad with dirt in it.  Sometimes crunchy isn't a good thing.  After supper we headed into the mall nearby and enjoyed some of their marketing tactics like "healthy" cookies.  Only if you don't eat 'em.  We didn't eat them but did have three kinds of chocolate bars.  They weren't marked as healthy but they were delish!

I managed to fit in copious amounts of beach combing on this trip - two bags full of shells and rocks to take home as treasures.  There was tons of pieces of coral too!  Now I need to think of a craft project to use them up.  I welcome your thoughts...