tahrir-craziness

It has been quite a long time since I’ve written.  I’m sitting in ‘Costa Coffee’ which some will recognize as a European franchise similar to starbucks.  Its close to where Luther is tutoring so I’m killing some time here before heading home.  He put a whole chicken out to thaw but at 7:30-8 when I get home theres no WAY I’m cooking that entire thing lol.

I felt compelled to write even though things have been quite busy.  Things in Ciaro (specifically, tahrir square) have gotten kind of crazy.  So just so everyone knows, most locals don’t venture near  tahrir square on protest days because everyone knows that it is the extremists who cause the trouble for everyone.  So unless you feel like getting into a fight for no reason, people just carry on with their lives outside of the square. Luther and I have no reason to go down there and its about a 40 minute drive from where we live.  Normally we pass through when going to tutor in Dokki but we have been going around it lately just to be safe.  On Wednesday I took a cab through it and it was kind of cool to see.  Lots of burning flags and yelling but most people were grabbing koshari and shawarma (awesome Egyptian fast food) Clearly, one cannot protest on an empty belly!  My cab driver was explaining to me that its harmless right now because the people who are peaceful choose to protest early in the evening and the extremists come out at night.

Nothing out of the ordinary has happened. On thursday, a few kids were absent but it was more because of the traffic that protest days cause (most main streets in cairo run through tahrir)- the kids would end up being an hour or more late for school.

Today the entire faculty was called down and reminded about safety/seclusion procedures and evacuation instructions.  The returning teachers tell me its nothing to worry about and just make sure you have some water and canned stuff just in case.  They also said its not uncommon to cancel school on days because the commute could be another 2 hours longer than it has to.  So that being said, school is cancelled on tuesday afternoon! :) 

Luther and i are going to go to egyptian wal-mart tomorrow (carrefour) and stock up on stuff...plus we have no groceries and having been living on OTLOB for a few days now (some of the things we have ordered...indian...korean...japanese...subway...hardees...- its a terrible addiction! but an incredibly convenient and cost effective addiction!)

hmm...what else...

OH- there was 2 flaming cars on the cornishe (road that runs along the nile) on the bus ride home on thursday.  That’s it.  I don’t even know if it had to do with the protests or if it was just…crazy cairo traffic lol

p.s. that reminds me…on Thursday- our bus HIT someone. He was OK..but not such a pleasant sound to hear..

cairo-ed out :P

Winnipeg is expecting 15-30 cm. of snow this weekend.

I wish i was there. :( OK- when i tuned into the radio and heard what a skating rink the roads are i felt a bit better.  Driving down pembina at 7 in the morning on a bed of ice was not my idea of a good time.

Not such a great couple of days.  Its been wicked awful because of luthers mid-terms, reports being due and 4 'late-bus' days in row where i don't get home until 6.

On a lighter note, the school held its annual egypt cultural day.  The field was set up and the arabic teachers hosted a large concert with the kids singing, dancing and parading around the field dressed in egyptian attire (gallabeias, pharoahs, bedouins etc..)  I even decked out in a jangle dress.  Luther came to visit as well.  It was the first time he saw the school.

Check it out on Heritage International Schools 'FACEBOOK' page:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Heritage-Canadian-International-School-Egypt/218640688193402?fref=ts


I'm kinda missing home right now.  The thought of peering outside and seeing a blanket of white would be amazing.  Not to mention, its hard to think of getting into the christmas spirit when:

1.) christmas isn't such a big deal here (y'know...with the whole 97% muslim population an'all)
2.) view outside in july: sunny and hot with lots of sand...view outside in december: sunny and hot with lots of sand

So i'm thinking of what to put on my bulletin board at school that doesn't have any type of blatent christmas-ey theme (even though the school celebrates christmas. I'm simply anticipating my laziness for AFTER christmas when i can still get away with a 'winter' theme for a few more months before i have to change it again.)  So...winterey-not-religeous-yet-seasonal..= PENGUINS! :)

MAYBE some snowmen thrown in there. we'll see ;)

On that note, i'm going to start thinking of christmas gifts. please send your requests my way. 

No requests for magic lamps with genies though.  Those are hard to find. :) Ditto with magic carpets.




 

Halloween in cairo

Well, Halloween in Egypt has OFFICIALLY passed. (although tonight, many embassies are holding their Halloween parties.  I know a few staff members who claim the Swiss embassy holds the best Halloween party in all of Cairo and will be going tonight.  Last night was my “BIG” night out- and I got home in somewhat of a panic of how I was going to manage a good costume with NOTHING on hand.  I didn’t wanna do my school-teacher ‘snow queen’ costume with snowflakes pinned to my white skirt.  Its Halloween!  I mean, I’m used to having props, costumes, and professional grade make-up and prosthetics at my disposal.  So I pulled out my street make-up, went into the kitchen and started scavenging.

The result:

shoot zombies in the head to kill them

My eyes have never seen so much sephora make-up in their lives, my face was pale with white ‘highlighting’ shimmer powder and baking flour and the best part: my blood!! (Or should I say: crystal light mix and dish soap) I was so pleased with the result. I consider myself a ‘hallo-genius’ Not many people could have thought of this master idea.  And trust me, ketchup is NEVER the answer for a quick fake blood recipe. It just looks like you attacked a sloppy joe.

Oh, in case you didn’t know, we went as the sheriff and zombie from HBOs ‘walking dead’ series

We were supposed to attend the CDN embassy Halloween party but by the time we got ready it was too long of a cab ride and I was not planning on setting foot on the metro looking like that (let us not forget, most Egyptians do not celebrate Halloween, and even if they did, the walking dead on the metro near tahrir square does not sit well with me..) 

I should add, many egyptians have adopted the traditions of the holiday and on halloween night we saw many masked faces and devil horns walking around the neighbourhood.  Not trick-or-treating, just scaring people, having fun and yelling 'hahhhpee halloweeeeeen!' in naturally awesome egyptian accents.

In 6th of october, where my school is- halloween is celebrated with trick or treating because the area is so heavily populated with western expats with children and Egyptians and their children. 

ANYWAY, We decided to go to the ACE club in Maadi which is about a 4 minute walk from our apartment.  Luther and I met up with some friends we have made around the neighborhood and made our way to the ACE (Association of Cairo Expatriates)

The place was just FILLED with all sorts of costumes, from jesus to a rubix cube. 

I would have to say, I have happily gotten Halloween out of my system.  I am okay with not going ‘all out’ because I got to carve a pumpkin (which we made a delicious stew with), decorate my school and ended up having an awesome costume that a lot of people recognized and I got to party with awesome friends from all over the world.

fellow teacher creatures :)

happy halloween everyone!

My gift to Luther: 2 bags. one says 'trick' and one says 'treat' - you had to pick ONE.  So he picked 'trick' and found a box of his favourite western cereal- 'trix' .  I let him open the other bag (treat) because it was BACON. Something you cannot find so easily in Cairo...

my gift was trick-or treating in our apt.!! I  got good chocolate like twix and dairymilk!! And tickets to Cairo Operas production of the Magic Flute in November!!