My Aparment Entrance

This is the balcony of my apartment. I am on the second floor. It is the floor above the balcony with the planters on the railing.

There are two apartments per floor. Each apartment runs the entire length of the building and half the width. So my apartment has long halls with the entrance in the center of the building next to the elevator. Half my apartment goes toward the front of the building--the living and dining areas as well as the kitchen. The rest of the apartment is stretched along toward the back of the building--the three bedrooms, and bathrooms.

I get my exercise going from the living room in the very front with the balcony, to the back when I forget something in my bedroom--at the very back of the apartment.

Here is my address in both English, and Arabic--22 Cleopatra Street.

The street entrance to my building. You can see my balcony--second floor--second balcony up. There is no first floor. The lobby area is very tall and there is a bank right next door, so no first floor. The elevator begins at 2. There is underground parking for tenents with automobiles, but I think they pay extra to park inside.

Today I successfully got keys made at this little place. This was the only advertising. It was lucky I noticed the big key. I held up the number of fingers for the number of keys I wanted and was happily on my way in 10 minutes time. All the keys work beautifully.

Shopping during Ramadan

This is Spinneys. It is a supermarket, a hypermarket really, that has a beauty section, clothes, housewares, linens, a bakery, electronics, small appliances, etc, all at fairly reasonable prices. In this picture it does not look crowded because this was taken in the early part of the day. However yesterday, I went there and the place was a madhouse; an absolute madhouse. People were shopping for Ramadan. They were loading up on food, clothes, electronics; you name it they were buying. The store runs huge sales and also has foods especially for Ramadan, that are not carried in such quantity at other times of year, much like we see food in our grocery for the Christmas holidays that we do not see at other times of the year. I saw tables full of dates, and apricots, and other fruits.

It is customary to eat as well as one can during the Iftar--breaking of the fast--each night. These meals usually are large family affairs, with lots of sweets and special baked things, and candies. The confectioney section was doing a brisk business. Often new clothes are worn or given as gifts, especially to children, so that section was also packed. People are out buying. AND the store is open until 2:00 am during Ramadan--right!--2:00 in the morning.

I happened to buy a coverlet that did not fit the bed and had to return it. I went back at 11:00 pm. I am usually in bed by 11. I can't imaging how our students will keep their eyes open at school, even with a shortened day.

I will keep you posted.

Ramadan

Today is the first day of Ramadan, a very holy month for Muslims. During the day shops were 0pen, but closed for prayers then reopened. I was shopping for some needed things for my apartment, when I was asked to leave because the store was closing for an hour. I didn't go back. I will go another day, but I will remember that during Ramadan schedules change.

This evening, after sundown, the streets were massed with people. Restaurants were full to overflowing, cars were parked everywhere--places they normally are not and should not be now. I was on an outing with some of the new teachers and the busses carrying us got so muddled up in traffic and narrowed streets that we were stopped twice while two of the men got out and guided the bus through. We cleared the narrowed streets with less than an inch on each side. The bus driver was magnificent. Such is life in a Muslim country during Ramadan.

I must share this with you. Egypt went off daylight savings time yesterday, just in time for Ramadan.

I am Back On-Line

Meet my new best friend. His name is Wael Gergis. He is a computer wizzard. He and his brother have a small computer business, setting up computers for folks like me, and selling internet services. He was over to my new apartment this evening to set up the router and get the internet service established. Now this may not sound like it requires a guru to do these things. But you must remember this is Egypt and things are done a bit differently here. Besides Wael speaks very good English in addition to his native Arabic so he can interface with the internet company far better than I can--seeing as I only know what I call Taxi Arabic--go left, right, straight ahead, and stop here please. So Wael--pronounced like whale--was a very big help. He said he would call from time to time to see how things are working. I hope I don't need him to return, but it is nice to know he is available. He works with many of the folks at school and is a known quantity and trusted. I liked him.

Going Back to Cairo

I am returning to Cairo for another year. My mother laments this fact, as she was looking forward to having me around more and has some trouble understanding what facinates me about Cairo. My husband will be joining me later in the school year.

I am returning just in time to get my new apartment organized before school starts, as well as get a few things done before Ramadan begins on the 21st of August.

Ramadan will run from August 21, through Sept 19 this year. I was not at school last year for Ramadan so it will be interesting to see how school handles things like the lunch room. Not all our students are Muslim so the daylight fasting does not apply to everyone.

It will be interesting to see how Ramadan is celebrated in a Muslim country. The cloth in the picture is printed especially for this holiday, although it is used for celebrations at other times of the year as well.