Around Maadi

Just some pictures from walking around Maadi the past couple of weeks.


Ramadan starts next month and people are starting to put out their lamps. I'll take more pictures and do more explaining next month because I've never experienced it before. So far it reminds me of Christmas because the stores have Ramadan themed foods on display. We went to Carrefour the other day and it was (not unlike any other time, but this one deserves mention) a mad house. People were buying up the entire store. 

Men with these types of carts come by our street selling juice at least twice a day. It must be a Summer thing here because they didn't come by in the Spring.  He's actually right outside my window as I'm typing this! 

The juice is made from tamarinds.  It's very refreshing and really helps cool you off on a hot day.

I've already written about the Egyptians love of children. This little girl lives across the street. She was very proud to show us her new bike. She also kept offering Benny a bite of her sandwich (egg as far as I could tell)

This is common to see right now as well. I haven't tried one yet, but have heard they're similar to a guava.

We usually go to the gelatto shop every weekend (salted caramel gelatto is amazing) and took a turn down a street to explore. You never know what you're going to find. This place reminded me of my Uncle Frank and his love of going junking...

I quickly breezed through this shop.  It was really cool and had a lot of hand made puppets and things for kids.  I'll have to come back when I don't have a toddler who is apt to grab and destory all in his path.

We really need to talk to our neighbor about parking his donkey in our driveway...

Our family paver

I left my job at the Houston Food Bank back in March. I had made several lateral moves from one program to another, but in one capacity or another I stayed pretty close to The Backpack Buddy Club. My last year there was spent solely working with the BBC. I loved it. It's very difficult going back to work after you have had a baby, but what made it easier was how much I loved my job and working for the Houston Food Bank.

I'm so pleased to have something permanent attached to not only the HFB but also to Houston.  Houston is Benjamin's home town (although he is a Saints and not a Texan) and the place we grew to love and call home.  HFB was an amazing place to work.  I wish everyone could be so lucky.

 

This is one thing in life that I've come to know for sure.  It's something we will make sure Benjamin knows as well.

What cha doin?

I'd be curious if someone I knew was living in another country that was the total opposite of my own....or is it?  I'd wonder what they do all day, what do they eat, what do they do for fun, why we are here, etc.

So, that's what this is about.

Why are you in Egypt?
We are here because of Seth's job.  There was an opening here doing what he did in Houston, and we jumped at the chance to move to another country.  We always hoped that would be an option when he first started with his company.  We should be here at least 2 years if not more. 

Where do you live?
We live in an area of Cairo called Maadi.  Maadi is a suburb south of Cairo.  Most (but far from all) of Egypt's expats live here.  We live on a very quiet street and apartment building.  It's very easy to walk to different shops, grocery store, where I get my hair done, where Benjamin will to daycare (in September, part time) and to other friend's homes.  It's easy, but especially right now, not always doable because of the heat.

Maadi suits us very well.  Seth's work is very close and he could walk to it if he couldn't drive.

It's also full of trees- especially mango trees!  We have one in our backyard (pardon, our garden)...it's a little rough looking because nobody watered it when the apartment was vacant.  We're working on getting it back to normal.

What do you do all day?

Seth goes to work because he's awesome.  The great part about his work is that he goes to the BP morning meeting at 8:30, so he has some time in the morning to enjoy his coffee and play with Benny before heading out the door.

For Benjamin and myself it depends on the day.  Benjamin and I go to a pool on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  We are not able to be members of Maadi House (a private club for American Diplomats or Embassy related workers), but we have a couple of friends who are kind enough to invite us as their guests. 

We have a playgroup with other toddlers on Wednesday mornings.  The location rotates from different mom and tot's homes each week.  I've met so many great women from this group.  It's a nice support system and a mix of new arrivals (us) and people who have been here for up to 12+ years.

Bennet and Benjamin at Maadi House.  "Men-nen-net" is Benjamin's best bud in Egypt.

Afternoons are either spent playing at a friends house, having someone over here or running errands.  Pretty typical stuff, same as what I would do if I was a stay at home mom in the US. 

Do you have to "cover up"?
You don't have to dress in any particular way.  This, as I'm told by expats and locals, "isn't Saudi". I am not expected to wear a hijab or a chador.  Egypt, compared to other Islamic countries, is pretty liberal when it comes to women's dress. 

Some Muslim women wear a very colorful hijab (and the way they wear them is pretty cool looking- very intricate), some wear burkas (pretty rare, but common enough), and some don't cover their heads at all. 

There are some women (most if not all expats) who wear very short skirts/skimpy tops/all of the above.  They're allowed to wear whatever they want.  However, you couldn't pay me to wear that in public here.  1.  Because, however I personally feel about the subject, I still appreciate the culture and the Islamic faith.  I wouldn't want to offend anyone and 2.  You will get all kinds of unwanted (and gross) attention.  I already get the occasional rude gesture, so I can't imagine what these women get.  No thanks.

I typically wear linen pants, a tank top and then either a long sleeved shirt or a cover up (for lack of a better word) type thing.  I wear light weight dresses, longer skirts and comfortable shoes.  I never wear skirts or shorts that are above my knee, and I don't wear tank tops in public unless I have something over it to cover my upper arms.

Seth isn't totally off the hook (well, okay he is), but in keeping with the typical norm he wears long pants if we go out in public.  The only men we have seen wearing shorts are expats or younger Egyptians. 

What do you eat?
Typically the same things that we did back home.  I packed up all my one day BFF's cookbooks, so I make a lot of her stuff.  I also love Food Network's Quick Recipe Finder (scroll down to the bottom of the page) because I'll have a couple of ingredients that are about to go bad and need a fun way to make them.  I cook a lot of Italian meals lately.  I think it has a lot to do with the large amounts of awesome Italian imports that are in the grocery stores.  No complaining from me! 

Benjamin eating Polenta

We don't eat a lot of pork because it's expensive.  It's definitely available to purchase.  We can even have it delivered!  We do eat a lot of chicken because I've found that the local chicken is just like what we're accostomed to eating back home.  Local beef is another story- it's gritty, fatty and really tough.  There is a great place called Gourmet Egypt where you can buy (and get it delivered!) Austrailian beef.  We've been once and stocked up. 

I'm not a full fledged domestic goddess though.  We do order out about once a week.  Pizza here is excellent.  We found a great Italian place after my bright idea to walk to our favorite gelatto shop in 100 deg weather.  I stopped in (ran in) for a bottle of water and noticed a man kneading pizza dough.  I knew it was a start of a beautiful relationship.

Kushari-a mix of rice, pasta, chick peas and lentils.  Topped with a tomato sauce.  So good, so cheap and Benny loves it

Fresh juices are very popular here.  Benny is enjoying a Mango Juice

This is another local favorite- fresh lemon juice.  Sounds really sour, but it's amazing. 
Don't be fooled by Benny's expression- he loves this stuff.

Red Snapper dinner that Seth and I had on a restaurant on The Nile

Pigeon is also a local favorite. 

For Benjamin and Seth

Benjamin and Bennett

You know Benny, when I come to the pool I like to lay back and chill.

 

Yea, just chill....try it

 

What?  Like this?  Am I missing something here...

 

I'll help.  You chill?
Yea, I'm chill

 

 

Things we are loving about Egypt

I didn't put these in any specific order due to, well let's be honest here, total laziness.

1. Otlob.com . Everyone here delivers, but a lot of times it's difficult to express either what you want to order or where you live. You play a lot of "Who's on First?" with the poor soul trying to take your order. It's frustrating and amusing. Typical orders goes as follows

I place the order
Restaurant: Road? (he's asking for our address)

Me: 81

Restaurant: Building?

Me: 49

Restaurant: 81?

Me: No, 49

Restaurant: Building 41, Road 89

Me: siiiiiiiiigh, No Building 49 Road 81

Restaurant: Flat? (he's asking what apartment we're in)

Me: 2

Restaurant: 2?

Me: Si, two (because when all else fails, when you're lost in translation, be sure to bring in another
language in the mix to confuse everyone)

Restaurant: Six?

Me: (realizing my mistake and where this conversation is leading) Sara, can you tell this guy where we live?

Sara: (spends a second telling the guy where we live in Arabic. All is well in the world of home delivery)
Ordering from Otlob can make all that go away with the click of a mouse.

2. The fresh produce. It's amazing! I was strawberry spoiled as a child because my Godmother's family had a strawberry field behind their home. Many spring afternoons were spent picking (and mostly eating) the delicious fresh strawberries. Not to forget the flats and flats of strawberries for sale on Airline Highway by my parent's home. So, sorry Houston, since moving to Texas I've been discouraged in having to buy the watery and flavorless strawberries in grocery stores there. Till I moved here! Strawberries are amazing, peaches are awesome, lemons are just picked from the tree and mango's...well, I'm trying to find the good ones. So far it's been trial and error.

3. Our apartment (our flat). It's bigger than our house-hopefully soon to be our former house. We were getting suffocated with all of our newly acquired baby must have and then the boxes when we started to pack. We also didn't have a very open floor plan at our old house. We definitely do here. It is so nice to have space here for Benjamin to walk around.

Benny's play area which is right next to the couch and kitchen, so he can play while we can (sometimes) do our own thing too.

4. Staying at home with Benjamin. He's awesome and a really good side kick, so most of our days are adventure filled. I do miss working and feeling like I'm making a difference in the world (at least outside of my home), but I am really loving my new job in the field of Raising a Good Human Being.

5. The expat community in Cairo. I didn't know what to expect being that this is our first time living overseas. I am so pleased to report that everyone we've met has been nothing but helpful, friendly and giving of their time and input. It's how you wish High School would be like for Freshman. It's like a Freshman year in your 30's when everyone is adult and mature.

Benny playing at the kiddie pool at Maadi House.  We have several awesome friends who are members and are really generous with inviting us to play. 

What a morning of playing on the Maadi House playground and pool leads to...ahhhhh, lovely!

6. Have i mentioned everyone delivers? Grocery stores, produce stands, and even bookshops deliver.


7. The Egyptian attitude to children, especially babies/toddlers. Back home you would maybe get a nod from someone, a smile as you push your child past in the stroller but here is the total opposite. Grown men, teenagers, other kids, etc will stop what they're doing and talk to Benjamin. People working the check out, the garbage collectors, taxi drivers, etc. It doesn't matter what they're doing right before they see Benjamin because they're going to stop everything and talk to him. "Hi, what is your name? what is your name? hi" Sometimes he replies back in his usual "HI!" and they get very excited he answered back.

Benny and Michael our tour guide. 

Seth and Benny at the Pyramids.  Notice the hand reaching out to hold Benny...and how my child is totally willing to go with a total stranger

8. Our house is clean every single day. I'm able to run errands without schlepping a toddler around in 100 deg heat. All thanks to Sara, our awesome housekeeper. Benjamin loves "Ser" and we do too. Benny also says certain words like her such as "wooh-tah" (water) and "mahn-go" (mango). He gets very excited when she's opening the door each morning (Sunday-Thursday) and sad when she leaves. This gives me such piece of mind knowing that I can run to the CSA library or go to a Pilate's class without worry.
Having a lot of help (housekeeper, bawab, driver) is a huge perk here, and we are very grateful to have that opportunity.  A lot of the mom's here talk about going back to the real world one day and how we will miss it so much


9. Exploring our new city. We hit the ground running when we first made it here. Benjamin can add The Giza Pyramids, The Citadel and The Alabaster Mosque to his been there, done that list. We have also been to Ain Soukna (see post directly below). Seth has been to Sakarah with his cycling group. We are so excited to have our good friends and Benny's Godfather Jeremy and Allison come to visit at the end of July because we will also add CopticCairo and Khan el-Khalili to our list.

Family picture at the Giza Pyramids- the big one

Benny and I outside the Alabaster Mosque

Ain Sukhna

Posted July 11, 2011

We were able to get away for the weekend and take the hour drive to the Egyptian coast. We went to Ain Sukhna at the Movenpick Hotel enjoyed the beach and the pool. We couldn't help but quote The Ten Commandments on the way there. Well, it was more just talking in a deep voice and putting "Lo" and "Behold" before everything you say. Throw in a "so let it be written, so let it be done" and you're good to go.

Movenpick at night

The drive there is the calmest drives we've had in a long time. There is nothing for miles and miles and plenty of desert to keep your attention. The road is freshly paved, there are 0 potholes AND hardly any cars on the road. That was a vacation in itself. As you approach the coast you notice the terrain becoming more rugged and you see the mountains ahead. The mountains that border the Red Sea (in our case the Gulf of Suez) are very rocky and rugged.

Attempting to take pics while Seth was driving

Is that a themed Ocean Gingham outfit?  Oh you know it is..

We like to rock an Ocean Gingham outfit any chance we get.

Rest Stop?

Hugging the coast, water to the left and cliffs to the right

Benjamin enjoyed the sand. At first that's really all he wanted to do. The first couple tries to get him in the water were unsuccessful. We had to get resourceful for fear of a water-less trip to this beautiful coast line. We discovered his ultra hatred of floaters for one. Can't stand them at all, but he doesn't mind his (best way I can describe it) raft. He sits in the middle and has a blast. Once in awhile we would hear his little "get doww", but a quick disappearance under the water by Seth followed by a rising up and laughing had Benny laughing again. We spent a lot of time in the pool because sand in a toddlers diaper or sand in a toddlers mouth isn't fun to deal with.

Really calm water, excellent for a toddler

Mom forgot a change of pants, Benny had to go white trash in a shirt and diaper.  He didn't seem to mind.

Seth in his new role as Sherpa Dad

What would of been the raddest pic if it wasn't for my shadow. Curse you shadow!

Discovery on Day #2- the enemy to all beach lovers.  Boo to you jelly fish

We let the boy play with it anyway.  What's a little sting going to hurt?

Just kidding to the Granny's and Mimi's reading this...we, after much debate and experaments, found that these particular Jellies didn't sting. 

Did Benny enjoy relaxing in the water, maybe laying low in a chair?  No, as anyone who has met the child knows, he is going to walk and walk and walk and walk...and walk

But after some bribery he was able to chill for about, maybe, 10 minutes or so.

"Hey, you with the camera...you know what would be super great? Some chicken.  You wanna make that happen pretty soon?"

The (in his 30's, so not "old")Man (and boy) and the Sea

The beach is very quiet and almost like a lake. There are not any waves which we loved because that made it much easier to get Benny to enjoy the water. We were so excited to see a lot of dolphins in the water. This wasn't like the dolphins you see when you drink your morning coffee in Destin- where you see a flutter in the water and the occasional fin pop out. These were legit. They did flips out of the water and were amazing to see. We also saw a sting ray. Hopefully next time we go we can snorkel and enjoy the world's best deep sea sights. It's impossible to do that with a little guy in tow.

If I had good camera skills this would be the most epic dolphin picture ever.  Ah well, that's his splash.

Our room and the accommodations at the hotel were all very nice. They offer breakfast and dinner with your room. Breakfast had a lot of local favorites like fuul and assorted yogurts (or yoguhurt in this part of the world). Dinner was excellent with fresh locally caught fish, a grill station with kofta and shawarma. Benny enjoyed eating cereal in the morning and all kinds of things at night.
The hotel occupants were mostly local families with a couple of foreigners in the mix. I was hesitant to swim at first because a lot of the women were fully covered in their hijabs and either sat on the sidelines or wore a burkini. I got over it as the day grew hot. Plus once the other foreign people started to show up I figured I was okay. Seth pointed out how on the rules for the beach that were posted by the lifeguard station said what i was wearing was totally appropriate. I doubt I'll feel inhibited next visit- it just took a little coaxing. And several Euro women wearing next to nothing.
We had a great time at Ain Sukhna! I'd like to go to El Gouna for our next weekend outing, Inshaa'Allaah

Benny and El Mono are all partied out



Hey, How y'all been?

I find this site more user friendly than the other one we were using.  I'm going to cut/paste what we have written there and post it here. 

This was posted on June 16, 2011...

We just recently had internet installed in our apartment (sorry, our “flat”), so aside from the pictures on Facebook and the brief Skype visits with family, we haven’t been able to really communicate with everyone.

It seems like forever since Benjamin and I crossed the Atlantic to move to Egypt. We left April 11^th from New Orleans and arrived the next day in Cairo. He and I were both tired, dirty and really over the Pairs Airport. Sara, my awesome co-pilot and best ever sister in law, came with us. It was great having the extra person to help me wrangle and lasso a 16 month old.

Overall the trip wasn’t too bad considering the circumstances. I was very sad to leave and anxious about the 20+ hour journey into the unknown. Benjamin was just happy to tell everyone “hi” a bunch of times and point out birds to everyone. The trip from New Orleans to Atlanta was well past naptime, so you can imagine how awesome that was. I ended up holding him in the back of the plane until he went to sleep… for the remaining 10 minutes of the flight. The time in ATL was fine. We waited until the last minute to board the plane so that the novelty of it all was brand new to Benny for at least an hour. God above too pity on us and the rest of the passengers by making sure we got the only seat on the plane that didn’t have anyone in front or in back of Benjamin. He could remove his remote control and beat the hell out of the seat in front of him and nobody cared. Benny finally conked out and slept for maybe 2 hours. It was when he almost fell out of the chair for the third time when I sadly realized “I’m not going to get any sleep on this trip.” I never knew how much I loved sleeping until I had a child. Realizing how much you love it comes to you when you’re on Day 3 of your new life with baby, and you come to the sobering conclusion that you’ll probably never get as much sleep as you’d like for a very very long time. I had a flashback of Day 3 on that Air France flight.

Using the tv remote as a beat stick.  Thankfully nobody was in front of him, so Benny got to beat all flight long.

Maybe one day that tv will come in handy as entertainment.  The only use it served this time was a target to hit his remote with.

Sock on his hand was to cover his bandage from his burn.  Benny vs my Chi 0-1. 

We arrived in Paris and made our way to our gate. Great thing too because had we not rushed we wouldn’t of been able to fully enjoy the full five hour delay at the gate. No child, no problem. With child- with a newly walking toddler drunk with the power of his new stride-big problem. Sara and I took turns walking with him around and around the terminal. And I mean around and around. You would think if you had slept all crooked on a bumpy flight you’d want to kick back and relax. Drink some apple juice or something. Eat a baguette. Not Benjamin House, the little man my dad so aptly named “The Demolisher”. Sitting was not an option. Luckily he fell asleep again….with 10 minutes to go before we boarded the plane.

The payoff for walking around and around our gate at CDG with Benny.  It lasted all of 10 minutes...

He actually slept from Paris to Cairo. The Flight Attendant sent from Heaven gave us some milk and he conked out. I woke up as they turned the lights on the plane and thought “You just fed us. Sleep > eating some crap cantaloupe and frozen bread.” But it was actually about an hour before we landed so I realized we actually slept for a good bit.

Seth arranged for a man to meet us right as we exited the plane. He took our passports and got us our entry visas. It was really nice having that. He also helped us get our bags.

Then- the moment I couldn’t wait for all trip. Seeing Seth was great, and seeing him see us (especially Benny) was amazing. He was so glad we were finally there. Benjamin reached out for him and we were a family again.

We arrived at our apartment, showered and dove into bed. We woke up around noon the next day. We here = Sara and myself. Benny woke up who knows when. He stirred and Seth got him. I awoke feeling like all people who have crossed several time zones- like someone hit you upside the head with a shovel or you just ended a Fight Club session. We went and had lunch and really took it easy.

So, that’s our journey here. Overall it was okay. I think the walking to the Non Duty shop for the billionth time really did me in. One can take avoiding having your toddler knock over displays of Swiss chocolates and Absolute Vodka so many times.

We’re pretty settled now. I take Benny to a playgroup every Wednesday. I’ve met some great mom’s there from all over. Benny now says water like a little kid from London, but then he also says light like he’s from the woodiest part of Alabama so I don’t know what’s going on with his accent. 

Seth is enjoying work. We love that he doesn’t have to be at the BP morning meeting until 8:30 (as opposed to 7:00 like in Houston). We love that he can come home for lunch and gets home around 4:30. No fighting for your life on Katy Freeway, no Merges of Death on 59. It’s simplified, and that’s wonderful.

So far really enjoying it here in Cairo. There are up’s and down’s (more on that later), but we like it. The Honeymoon phase is dwindling and we are starting to really miss home. Really miss it! Two years here- time will fly! In the meantime we will enjoy trips to the Red Sea, Sinai and (hopefully) a trip to the UK in October.

Love everyone, miss all of you!