maadi eats

 

A few days ago, I was on the phone with mom (hi mom!) and we were talking about Egyptian food and restaurants and stuff.  I was whining about how difficult it was going to be to find a steak dinner for around 8.00CDN when I get home.  Then she asked how often I eat out with Luther….

MAADI FOOD:

When you come home at 5-6:00pm after being at school all day since 6:30am, and being on a bus for 2 hours; you are in NO mood to cook. (Well, sometimes. But not often!)  Also, the veg here does not keep well (even in supermarkets), and normally you will spend a good amount of time just looking for something not-so-wilted/mushy/spoiled

It is MUCH easier to eat out, or ‘otlob’ (order online, www.otlob.com- its like a huge search engine of Egyptian food where you order and they deliver it)

Naturally, Luther and I have our ‘haunts’.  Here are some:

Egyptian McDonalds:  The taste is familiar and although there is no pork/sausage anything, there are tons of weird chicken/falafel stuff.  We eat here when our stomachs are sick from too much foreign foods. It is a ‘thing’ for expats that when we are ill from food here we know our tummys will enjoy the chemicals it was so used to in Winnipeg.  It works! No more pain! (This also goes for egypto-KFC and Egypto-pizza hut)

Starbucks on the corniche – have a latte and sit in the starbucks/Japanese embassy on the Nile corniche and watch the traffic go by with the Nile in the background. (p.s. no tea-infusions here. Weird…)

Gaya – Small locally-owned Korean restaurant 5 minutes from our house.  AWESOME food and the owners know and love us.  Luther also loves that they serve pork here. 



 

 

 

Luthers order: Miso soup, rice, spicy pork…but not too spicy

Me: Miso soup, beef kimbab (thank you folklorama for introducing me to this amazing dish)

 

Crave- one of my favorite restaurants.  It was introduced to us by some teachers and we went there like, 10 times in a row after we discovered it.  The food is cooked really well and just freaking delicious.

 

Dishes – Luther came here when he noticed that the screens outside showed UEFA football.  It was a ‘thing’ to come here and watch games.  I ALWAYS get the ‘shish tawook’ sandwich…ie: grilled chicken shish kabab on Kaiser buns with tomeya. One of the most amazing things I have discovered in Egypt is that I am able to eat outside without so much as a scarf.  No bugs, no wind, no cold breeze, A lot of fruity smelling shisha. :)

55 – Go-to place for shisha and music and a good atmosphere. A bit more expensive but it’s one of the best places to go for a younger, more local ‘hipper’ atmosphere.

 

Lucilles -  It was actually in TIME magazine as ‘best hamburger in the world’.  It’s a local place that capitalizes on expats and Egyptian-americans yearning for chunk of American cuisine.  They also serve chicken burgers J (yay for me)  Luther actually despises this place for its 'American-ness' but me- when i'm craving a good 'ol American chicken burger.... :D

Cairo Kitchen- This gem recently opened up in maadi on the corner near the supermarket.  It makes grocery shopping very difficult because for 10 bux you can get a whole chicken, soup, bread and 3 salads.  Luther gets chicken ‘mologheya’ (??) (mohl-oh-hey-yah) which is this green slimey soupy stuff that you eat with bread and chicken.  I get the random egyptian salads (eggplant, couscous, honeyed carrots, baba ganoush etc..)

So besides some random sushi dates, subway and Luthers favorite/maadis only mexican ‘gringos grill’- this is the extent of our ‘eating habits’.

DAAAAADDDDDDD!

BEACHBEACHBEACHBEACH

 

back-gammon'n'beers (n'toastiesn'savouries)

This was the last ‘regular’ weekend of school.  Although there are two weeks left of school, this is the last ‘children’ week.  So, to celebrate, 15 of us piled into a bus and went to the beach for the PE teachers (danielles) birthday/kitesurfing bonanza.

It was an awesome way to see everyone off in ‘non-teacher’ style.  There are a bunch of other things going on too but they are next week and I will post them later.

In the meantime, I go home on the 29^th and arrive in Winnipeg at 4pm

Also,

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Cool things my dad has done:

*sang ‘I’m flying’ from ‘peter pan’ (the 1950’s mary martin version!) while pushing me on the swings

*made magic toast and read Robert muncsh mini-books before dropping me off at daycare

*introduced me to Indiana jones, star trek, star wars and alien. At the mature age of like, 6.  Don’t mess with this girl.

*let me flood the sandbox in the summer and make a giant mess in the house

*Let me build life-threateningly deep snow forts in the winter...And coming inside and making a giant mess in the house.

*Let me have massive Halloween bashes…and making a giant mess in the house.

*Helping me with cleaning UP the messes. (all kinds.  Snow. Mud. Sand. Beer cans. Broken Glass. Fake spider web.)

*Helping with cleaning up the emotional messes. (no skeletons hiding in the closet in this family.  We prefer to proudly display them in our front yard on Halloween.) J

*taught me how to survive a vampire attack (but of course, we all know that they will not attack you- for you have to INVITE them inside before they can come near you)

*Given me the passion to teach, and teach with creativity and humor (with doses of sarcasm thrown here and there). 

*I will never stop doing this: say a line from a movie or book and then smirk and say ‘whats that from??’ ‘what movie is that from??’

*I would not play piano without my dad. Or be able to swim.  Or skate.

*Given me the gift of art.  From painting to doodling, I have never had to rely on someone else to ‘draw this for me’

*Given me the ability to participate in conversations that go along the lines of ‘The book was better than the movie because…’ – my dad read us the book, and THEN took us to the movies. (Pagemaster..hobbit..)

*My dad managed to have best jack-o-lanterns on the street. HANDS DOWN.

So, dad if you are reading this… (and I do mean ‘if’ because I find it miraculous that he even knew what a ‘blog’ was)- Thank you for all your hard work- and I REALLY hope you take this day to relax and do whatever it is you love to do.

 

dad is in the left-hand corner :)

 

 

 

ally-1...cockroach....0

How apt. 3 on road 221 deals with an unexpected visit from a cockroach..

So...its about 11pm...just about to fall asleep....and there it was.  A big DISGUSTING roach scuttling across the bedroom floor.

I start screaming and wailing like a manic banshee.

Luther tries to act brave (brave face! I totally saw the fear in his eyes)

I am utterly useless and stand on the bed screaming and pointing at it.

Luther grabs a mop and starts beating it senselessly. 

I am still screaming and pointing.

Luther takes the battered corpse and throws it in the mop bucket

I am still screaming

Luther pours bleach in the bucket.

Me...you guessed it.

Luther manages to put it in the trash and takes it outside.

Me...beginning to calm down.

I went to sleep feeling creepy crawlies up my legs all night.

EWWWWWWWW.

 

so...apparently egypt gets quite hot in june...

COUNTDOWN TO COMPLETION OF TERM 4: 11 DAYS!

COUNTDOWN TO LAST DAY OF SCHOOL(IE: LAST TEACHER DAY): 16 DAYS!!

COUNTDOWN TO CANADA!:  18 DAYS!!

OMIGOD! Is that for real? the last 2-3 months literally blew past.

I guess with all the travelling and spring break(s) school has been so busy you don't really notice the time fly.

That being said, i'm tryna get my last minute stuff done.  Most of the teachers have kinda packed it in for the year.  We're all busy trying to get our marks in and the stress level is high.

So is the temperature  In the past few weeks, due to extreme temperatures, an excessive amount of power in Egypt is being over-used and causing major long annoying power outages. (like, 2-4 hours)  Everytime we get home from work its like a gamble whether or not we will be making dinner in the dark.  This makes it incredible difficult to shop, cook, eat, watch tv, mark, input report cards, call family, turn on AC.. etc....

At school,  the AC(ta'keef) has blown and its +47 out.  The school is an open courtyard so even our attempt at 'indoor recess and lunch' is taking in blistering desert heat. By 10:45am it had already hit 36.  Our VP comes in at 1 and says 'pack it in, we're closing the school. Its too hot.'

ITS. TOO. HOT- so we are going home. (I never thought i'd say THAT) :)

I came home, stripped down, blasted the AC and lay like a starfish on the bed.  I called mom, and told her its so damn hot that school was cancelled and thank god the power hasn't gone out in maadi because I would absolutely die. BOOM. power out.

I just kinda lay there and went crazy and dillusional in the heat.

this was taken at 5-6. it was cooling down by this time...

So i'm pretty sure I experienced my personal hell.  +47. at work. no AC. hundreds of cranky children crammed inside the school to 'protect' them from the heat.

On that note, lotsa cool things going on at school. Flash dance mobs, speech contests, field trips, graduations and summer fun stuff :)

the DEAD sea.

DEAD SEA:

We woke up super early, had some shrak ( I will never get tired of saying that word) and headed off to the resort area of Jordan.  We twisted and turned around the Jordanian mountains and I freaked out while driving.  Matt (being from BC) took the wheel and us ‘prairie drivers’ opted for NOT driving but having small heart attacks from the backseat.  (we prefer our highways flat and with no high edges thank you very much)

Once we arrived, we settled in to a day pass at the holiday Inn Dead Sea resort.  First, we got really excited cause it was SUPER nice. THEN we got excited cause we could see Jerusalem from across the sea, THEN we got really excited cause there was a swim-up bar.

We ran down to the water where two large pails of ‘dead sea’ muck were placed.  The idea is to immerse yourself with these ‘minerals’ and then when its dry you go and wash it off into MORE stuff that’s good for your skin. 

So, of course, we did.

 

Let me tell you, the dead sea was AWESOME.  Its like floating on an invisible pool mat.  It’s impossible to sink. COMPLETELY impossible.  So impossible that I found myself floating up when I was only halfway in the water.  You can’t even swim in it. It actually takes a great amount of effort just to be upright.  You just kinda bob there.

(fyi: its due to the high sodium content in the water)

We barrel-rolled and ‘skydived’ and ‘starfished’ and then realized that any sort of blemish on your skin is going to begin to burn and we promptly booked it outta there and used the pool for the rest of the day.


Jordan:

Best bit: bobbing along in the sea
Worst part: stairs+ 45 degree heat = my personal hell
 Souvenirs: Bedouin jewellery for luther & 'landmark' for my skyline. Also, starbucks 'jordan' collectable mug




 

Jordan: PETRA AND THE DEAD SEA (OR...'INDIANNA JONES AND THE SEA OF UNSINKABLES!)

 

So, Kerry, Melanie and Matt (fellow teachers) and I decided to trek to the middle east (Jordan) and see what its like to visit these two places:

1.)    Petra: the site that always has a large prominent picture in travel-themed wall calendars entitled things like ‘things you must see before you die’ or ‘marvels around the world’  but is often overshadowed by  its popular Greek and Mayan ancient ruin counterparts…

 

2.)    The DEAD Sea: The sea with so much sodium its impossible to sink. ( I have to add- this was NOT a gimmick. I could NOT believe this until I realized I could ‘barrel-roll’ from one end of the swimming area to the other. Floating. On the water.

 

I went out for dinner for chicken shawerma with luther before leaving at a restaurant in maadi called ‘dishes’.  This restaurant knows us by now because luther always asks to watch UEFA on their tv.  We bid eachother adieu as he was writing his final exams the next day (he is officially DONE) and I had to catch a flight to ammon, Jordan at 11:15pm.

 

PETRA!

After we got there, we rented a car and Matt, Mel and I drove to Petra.  For those who do not know, petra is an ancient city that was used by Egyptians, Greeks, Asians etc. for trading.  It was built/carved into the red stone and although much of it is destroyed by water (once submerged by channels) its ruins are a large (expensive…75.00 cdn for a day pass!) and mysterious site to see.

(For more information: please consult your local dvd cabinet/torrent site/favorite 80’s youtube channel to check out petra. Its where they shot Indiana jones!)

transformers II too :)

epic.

 

 

Anyway, petra is HUGE.  We first saw it at night where they have this event called ‘petra at night’.  You walk down the path to the ‘treasury’ (most well-known building) and they have all these candles lit up in front of it. Its very beautiful (and impossible to take pictures in front of because cameras just don’t capture its mystery and beauty of the building behind the flames.  If you have ever attempted taking a picture in front of an awesome Halloween display you get what I’m saying. )

 

We walked back and called it a night only to arrive there early the next morning at 7am (hotel breakfast = shrak bread ie: Arabic bread and different spreads and such) Its like greek pita bread really.  Anyway, Petra was A LOT A LOT A LOT larger and spread out than I realized.  In fact, by the time I hit ‘the hill of sacrifice’ I was ready to take a nap.  Petra is the kind of place where its a lot of climbing and stairs.  Since the stairs are eroded and ancient they are not very levelled- so it takes quite an effort to climb around this place (also…whoever built petra must have really liked stairs and heights.  There was a TON of them.)

camels

for further info: google, 'married to a bedouin' -amazing lady who gave everything to live in the caves with her husband.Still lives there and I bought luther a ring from her. :)

 

Mel and I made it from 7am-2pm.  By then, we heard it was another ‘hour long walk’ mel decided to take a donkey. THEN we heard it was another hour long climb up to the monastery.  Factor in an hour walk down and an 1.5 hour trek back through the city to the entrance gates and mel and I decided to pack it in.  The others went ahead and we began the endless walk in the blazing hot sun back to the front gates.  We were both excruciatingly hot and tired.  My favorite conversation went something like this:

Me: omigod. I’m going to die.  I think I’m going to cry. I m actually going to cry

Mel: Oh- Go ahead, s’okay.  I already cried twice now.

 We also decided that perhaps mel wasn’t shedding tears, her eyeballs may have been sweating.

Anyway, after a long cold shower and some beloved Middle Eastern gummy worms, we decided that returning home early was the BEST DECISION OF LIFE.

The other teachers crawled in a few hours later.  Needless to say, we all went to bed early and walked and complained like old people for the rest of the trip.
 

the 'egyptian' way

So, our water heater in our kitchen crapped out on us a few weeks back.  After numerous attempts at trying to get it fixed through what the school labels as 'proper protocol' Luther finally had it and called our egypto-mom from down the hall. (the one with the dogs :) ) She managed to get someone to schedule a meeting.  So, 2 weeks go by with excuses from this company such as:
- 'illness'
- 'holiday' (ok that one was legit- it WAS the holiday of 'Sham el Nassim)
- 'holiday number 2' (not sure what that one was...)
- 'forgetfulness'

and just straight up, 'not today'.  So finally he comes by and looks at our water heater and leaves.  Turns out he can't do anything until he orders a new one.

Flash forward 1 more week when the water heater is 'in stock'

3 days later, someone comes in to install it.

They open the box, bang on our broken one a few times and leave after an hour.

Where did they go? I haven't a clue, but there is a broken water heater on my wall and a brand new one in an opened box. 

Let me irritate:

water heater broken.  2 weeks to get someone in.  1 week to order new heater.  3 days to have someone install it and one hour of banging around leaves me with an opened box in the middle of mu kitchen.

So my Egyptian mom comes by and just gives the guy hell.  Turns out he ordered the wrong one and totally got busted for trying to keep our money.  So...after an hour of yelling on the phone and at the repair guy we should have a new water heater tomorrow...

yup...

We were told after all this; that it is just the 'Egyptian way' and unfortunately, you have to fight like hell to get equality.  Westerner or not, most businesses will do absolutely nothing for you unless you scream blue murder at them.

(I should have known this after our internet and phone problems.)

but there you have it. 

And I STILL have no hot water in my kitchen. :P

p.s. the repair guy totally tried to steal luthers 'Egypt Exploration Society' pen.  Our bowab caught him.

p.s.s. luther and I went for a walk in another expat area called 'zamalek' (more crowded and closer to downtown- however this also means there is more to do and see)

I bought the coolest shoes of life. 

they ARE red. and yes, they ARE sparkly. and do you REALLY have to ask if I click my heels 3x and say....????

 

BEACHBEACHBEACHBEACHBEACH

El Ghouna – the PLAYA DEL CARMEN of Egypt.

 

So, Luther and I and a few staff members decided to spend a long weekend at the Red Sea.

Words cannot describe this place. AT ALL.

8 of us took an 8 hour bus ride down to a resort by the sea.  (which would have been an 'alright' bus ride except they decided to screen a loud obnoxious slutty Egyptian film WITHOUT the headphone alternative so the whole damn bus could hear it.  And the 'sluttiness' factor was borderline 'Canada-slutty' FYI.

Anyway, went to amazing restaurants, saw amazing million dollar boats, got really sun-burnt, watched phys.ed teacher kite-surf and finally enjoyed some much needed Egyptian sun. :)



view from our room

 

 

EGYPT XOXO

EGYPT-EY things I love:

Cheap veg. (3 LE for a head of lettuce.)  That’s like.. 20 cents.

Knock-off EVERYTHING (glasses, watches, bags, clothes, movies, electronics…)

Everything is shiny and bright.  If it isn’t that means its cheap and low quality.

My wadjit eye cloth in the bathroom.  Its waatttttcccchhhhinnnnng you….

Buying freshly peeled garlic on the street.

Foreign junk food. (Its from everywhere! China, Poland, india, Germany, italy…)

Egyptian radio: the reciting of the holy Koran. All day. Every day. On every station.

Egyptian versions of ethnic food: sushi, curry, burritos, chicken wings. MCDONALDS. pizza (they put wieners on it. And ketchup.)  Anyone who was my best friend in grade 8 will see the humor behind ‘weiner pizzas’

We don’t eat chips.  We eat chipsy.

On that note, I watched a pretty good movie called ‘cairo time’ (2009). Its really good and is pretty accurate of what life is like over here. (minus the whole expat love affair thing…although its not uncommon :P ) Check it out!

 

Luther got 'Al Jezeera' cable so he has been glued to the tv watching European football leagues.  We went to the Khan and he sent some poor shirt vendor on a wild goose chase looking for a Portuguese jersey.  The guy actually FOUND one.  He he is wearing it eating a gift from our neighbor.  Its Luthers favorite Egyptian food.

 

 

BIRTHDAY: EGYPT EDITION

My birthday:

So, I am officially 27.  I am not upset about this but I’m kind of weirded out because according to my students I’m ‘old’. (According to my students, 24 was old)

I remember being in grade 2 and 3 and thinking my teachers were old ladies already.  I feel like a ‘young’ teacher though.  I don’t remember having teachers as young as me.  They all had ‘woman’ haircuts and shoulder pads and fuchsia dress pants.  Does that make sense? (I guess it WAS the 90’s…)

I spent my birthday eve alone because my passport was still at the school having random passport renewals done to it (I still don’t understand the reasoning behind this) and I couldn’t get in to the ‘cool teacher club’ (ACE club in maadi. Google it :P  Its an expat bar/lounge) without it.  So I ordered mcds and watched TV which was almost better because it was a CRAZY long week full of subbing and no preps. 

I had flowers delivered to me.

 

 

I went to sleep and the next morning I woke up to a message from Luther on my ipod.  Attached to the message was a digital PEOPLE subscription!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I walked into the living room and had birthday decorations!  Then a cupcake delivery!  WOO-HOO!

Luther and I decided to go to Citystars mall because I can spend all day in there happy as a pig in mud.  We shopped (mostly at H&M) and saw a movie (the last exorcism…part TWO!!!) and had dinner.

Omigod.  Egyptians watching a movie about exorcism was ridiculous.  They laughed and screeched the whole time (Luther thinks its because they were uncomfortable) and they were talking and their phones were goin’ off and it is just a crazy gong show.

Then we went for dinner at Planet Africa (Egyptian version of ‘rainforest café’) because it was so damn good last time we went.  After dinner we tried to find the exit but accidently bumped into all the NICE FANCY restaurants the mall has.  So next time, we will try those.

 

We got home. Gobbled 2/6 cupcakes. I blew out ALL 27 candles. (TWICE. because the first time wasn’t videotaped lol) and watched ‘Ted’.

Mom got me a haircut for when I get back to Winnipeg in June and apple earrings (THANKS MOM!)

Luther got me a haircut for NOW because my hair has the look and consistency of french-fries and a facial and a massage at a spa recommended by the staff at the school. YEAH!

And he threw in a bathing suit too because we’re going to the beach this long weekend. DOUB LE YEAH!

However, my birthday is not the same without my friends and family.  I ALWAYS go to Boston Pizza at least some time in my birthday week.  So listen up BP, I want a 4-cheese ravioli waiting for me when I get back J  Thanks again for the Birthday wishes everyone!

 

(Fatima: Luther forwarded me your message! Thanks!)

Alisha! Got your picture! VERY excited!

springtime in egypt

Spring has NEVER been my favorite time of year.  There is Easter of course, and MY BIRTHDAY. But really, its just a big heap of messy weather and stressful students.

I always felt like mother nature used spring as a bit of a tease.  Right when we would go out and buy our fancy pale yellow and peppermint colored dresses for Easter and spring break- we would be bombarded with snowfall.  Not only that, but everyone's broke from Christmas and cramming for finals.  AWESOME month for a birthday. :p

Meanwhile...in EGYPT...mother nature does not f*** around.  Its more like, "K...SPRINGS HERE. ABORT LOCUST INVASION. INITIATE EXTREME HEAT.....THE BLOWING KIND!'

I felt like I woke up and just WHAM- heat wave!  I went to school in pants and a jacket and emerged drenched in sweat. (this was me and 11 other teachers on the bus. what a "fun" ride home)  So, temperatures here are in the mid-thirties and its not even considered 'summer heat' yet.  This is great an' all but the locals are warning us to stock up on water as there WILL be shortages. (There was when we first got here. you couldn't order a fountain drink at mcd's or find bottled water for quite some time)

Also, the use of electricity will skyrocket due to the use of air conditioners.  This is bound to cause power outages throughout the city (maadi is especially bad for it) so there is a good chance we will not have internet or electricity for a few days.  (ie: hard to get ahold of me)

Now that the nightmare of being a student is behind me, I am able to look at spring in another light.

MY BIRTHDAY!

EASTER!

SPRING BREAK!

30+ TEMPERATURES!

HOME STRETCH UNTIL SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMMMMMMMEERRRRRRR!!!!

On that note, we visited our neighbor the other day and I thought of monica because she has 2 adorable Pekingese.  BEST part about these guys is that you can tell them apart by one of them ALWAYS having an overbite, and the other one always has his tongue sticking out. SSSOOOOOO cute



Ganja and Mary-jane :)

 

 

dear luxor- i miss you.

 We stopped off at were the Ptolemaic temples which is what Luther has been studying for over 5 years.  To put it in simple terms, its when the Egyptians and the Greeks met and began to merge their cultures together. (There are A LOT of similarites between Greek gods and Egyptian gods and the temples exhibit a cool mixing of Greek and Egyptian painting, sculpture and architecture)  It was hard to peel him away from these places as we only had a small time slot to meet back up with the rest of the tour group.  We were always the last ones at the meeting point. :P  Luckily we know how, where and when to go back to these places so next time we visit we can allow more time.  Some people can easily walk through these places and ignore all the carvings and painting on the walls but it’s so awesome to have someone explain all the stories and myths and legends and rituals.

We were also informed that because most people cruise down the Nile and stay in their boats, the hotels in Aswan, Edfu and Luxor (main sites for ruins) are SUPER cheap.

The next day we woke up on Easter Sunday morning with a view of a bunch of holes in a mountain.  These were Noble Nubian Tombs! (No, there were no resurrections to be seen.)

For breakfast the boat had prepared many types of eggs and Mediterranean easter bread (sweet bread with an egg baked into it) as well as chocolate easter eggs for dessert. J 

Another negative for the boat was that it was docked REEEAAALLLLY far from luxor, which made us have to cater to the tour buses schedule.  On the last night we finally decided to pay for a cab to the city of luxor and try to catch the temples at sunset.  Now i realize the benefits of staying in luxor for a few nights- what a beautiful city!!  We found a really cool hotel/restaurant that had a rooftop patio overlooking EVERYTHING and enjoyed chicken shawerma, mollecheyyia (this goopy egyptian soup luther likes) and tahini. :)  PLUS for luxor.

( The 'Nerfertiti' hotel was unknowingly the same hotel and restaurant that my fellow staff members stayed at and RAVED about.

 

So, all in all, please come visit us and we will take you to luxor :)

The entrance to the nerfertiti hotel

rooftop patio shawerma time :)

 

valley of the kings. and heat.

Valley of the kings is interesting.  It is much more secure and organized than many of the sites i've visited.  Basically, you pay a ton of money to see a bunch of holes in the desert.  If you wish to see whats INSIDE the holes, you pay extra.  If you wish to see whats inside of IMPORTANT holes- you pay a little extra.  If you want to see the most IMPORTANT hole (king tut) you pay 10 bux american (65 LE. ALOT 'extra')

Of course, we did.

So i can say it.  I saw King tut.  He looked..well. shrivelly.  Remarkably good for being thousands of years old.  Kinda crispy.

look ma! luxor!

After that we visited Hatshepsuts temple which was amazing and cool and something i have always wanted to visit because its on every single 'egypt' themed calendar.

puurrrrdy.and bloody hot.

 

meanwhile...down the nile...

We got home from school/work on Thursday evening and quickly packed as our flight was at 5-something AM.  From cairo to luxor its only an hour so when we arrived in luxor we stayed on the boat until the ‘welcome dinner’ at 8.

The cruise itself was great.  Its not ‘Carnvial Cruise Line’ but it was super awesome for 2 people who have never set foot on a cruise boat before.  It was called the ‘Nile Goddess’ and was all-inclusive with a fancy looking interior, spacious cabins, a “pool” (small but good enough for most) and evening entertainment on 2 nights of the 3.  The majority of the time was spent sight-seeing and tanning on the sundeck J.  We were blessed with temperatures over 36 each day.  The heat isn’t unbearable as some people might think.  The only time it got really bad was the day we went to Valley of the Kings.  Its in the middle of the desert and we had spent a full day touring the day before so everyone was kinda zombie-ish already.

crying over comfort

 

 

 

BEST PART ABOUT BOAT: The luxury ‘titanic’ feel of it and the belly dancing shows!  Also, the breakfast buffets were awesome with every breakfast food you can imagine.  My go-to was fresh fruit with Kaiser-sesame sweet buns. The staff was also amazing.



whirling dirvish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORST PART ABOUT BOAT: This is what I DISLIKE about cruise ships.  We didn’t have much freedom.  Our boat was docked quite far from the cities so we found ourselves waiting around quite a bit for tours to start.  When we were finally on the tours, we only were out for a short amount of time before heading back to the boat.  So, Luther and I would love to explore the sites and cities on our own next time. 

breakfast buffet

bliss

 

The only time we “ditched” the boat was our last night in Luxor when we decided to just pay for the long cab ride into the city.  Probably the best idea EVER- I’ll explain more later.

The boat was filled with many interesting people as well.  It was mostly older people (40s-50s).There were TONS of Italians and Spanish people that gave life to the ship in the evenings.  A few Canadians living abroad and even an expat family originally from Winnipeg . J

So that was the boat.

KRISTOS-VOSKRES!

 

Happy Easter! Happy Spring Break (#1)!!!

 So, my posts have been lacking as of late because:

1.)    I’ve been so tired I don’t even have the energy to type

2.)    I am using my week off to recover from being so tired that I am too busy to type

 Right now, I have just spent my first day back in cairo after enjoying a cruise down the nile river for 4 days. (AMAZING)  And now, I am off to catch a quick cab ride (about 3 minutes) to ‘road nine’- the Osborne village of cairo- to meet up with luther and grab some pizza.  He did not have the pleasure of sleeping in today because he had a field trip to an archeological site with the AUC.  Our flight from luxor to cairo was quite late so we didn’t get to bed until 2:30am and he was up for 6am.  YEEK.

Apparently, the reason the flight was delayed was because cairo decided to 'dim' its electricity in order to conserve it.  This genius idea caused many problems in homes, retail stores, restaurants, anything with an internet connection and- airports.

Anyway, according to a text I received, he found something on the dig. More details after pizza.  J

Naturally, while in Luxor which is SO close to the holy lands, i kept the meaning of easter in my mind.
For your seasonal pleasure:

JEEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAHHHHHHSSSS!

my best 'carl anderson staring pentively into the sunset from tour bus' impression