Life in Egypt has started .. de nouveau

De nouveau .. i like that phrase in French; it has been a while since i spoke French! :) But, luckily my friend from Belgium is coming to see me in December - she speaks French, although we always communicate in English.

So, back to Egypt back to life (?); Bronwyn got back from Malta last Sunday, so we went over to say a belated happy birthday. We got her white lillies and made a special cake for her (name not to be mentioned here). She brought back goodies in different forms and a beautiful ring for each of us ; i shud post a picture of it soon.

We've been living at her flat for the first week as there was no running water at our place plus it was very dusty, as it hasnt been cleaned the whole summer.

Anyways, nice "rencontre"(French again - just because i cannot find the word in English.

Ramadan Kareem/Karim!!

Well, not so kareem to me ....!
It is that time of the year when all the Muslims fast for 40 days ... hats off to them! In the business of getting ready for the school year to start, i hardly noticed that Ramadan has started (apart from yesterday when Kristen went to the shop and came back saying it was closed for iftar).
I left school late today, around 5 o'clock - half an hour before iftar (breaking of fast); i had an apple and i took two bites. I started walking home (i hardly ever walk, i usually take a taxi) ... well, as i was walking on the side of the road and there was a traffic jam, the drivers have noticed the apple i was holding in my hand... So, one man started shouting and cursing me for eating during the fast, another one shouted something, another one passed by saying "Haram!", and another one on whose face i could read anger apart from his voice....
That is when i decided that walking was not such a good idea and i got into a taxi!

Free jokes in KG

Now, most of us go to see stand up comedies and other things like that when we want a good laugh ... Well, i get it for free! LOL You might ask how is that possible ...
When you teach 5 year olds, believe me you will laugh a million times a day!!!
This is a fresh story .... as i was trying to explain the classroom rules with rewards and consequences i had to talk about the headmaster - so, i basically told them that if they do not listen to the teacher and they get constant warnings, and end up on red (on our traffic light) they are going to the headmaster's office. As most of them have English as their second language, i wanted to make sure they know what is a headmaster (and what i am talking about) Can you say headmaster?, i asked .... They go: HeadMonster!!!!
:)))))))))))))

Funny story

I cannot remember if i have put this story on the blog or not; i saw somebody who reminded me as i almost forgot about it.
This is from last year - in one of my very private conversations with my pupils (we got loads of those - from why i am not married, to i should get married, to do i have a baby in my tummy, to how babies are born but most of them about my personal and not so private life - since i am sharing it with everybody)... one of them suggested that if i cannot find a man, i should marry a woman! My response: I will think about it!
We didnt get that 2 years ago in schools!! :) Children are more and more up to date nowadays!
It made me smile!!

Ahelen Wasahelen to Masr!!!!

My Arabic is still rubbish, if you think i can speak it (dont be misled by the title)...
After a trip that took around 8 hrs (usually a flight from Bucharest to Cairo shouldnt take more than 2 and a half hrs) i arrived back to Egypt! Thank you Alitalia for the flight! They seem to have the cheapest flights, although i hated the food ... they are bankrupt after all!
Thank God John came to fetch me at the airport! it was good to see him and talk to him, from a Romanian to an Egyptian! By the way, our cultures do have a lot in common! I should write a post one day about this... this would be an interesting topic!
So, the first thing people ask me when i tell them i live in Egypt is something to do with the weather. They ask if it hot... Well, to be honest now, we had hotter days this summer in Romania than i've experienced so far in Egypt; of course that has to do with the fact that Romania's climate is humid, whereas Egypt's is dry.
But this summer, once i've arrived i was pleasantly surprised by the weather ... it was just perfect; still hot, but bearable! hamdulilah!
I remember last year when i got in it seemed so hot!!! Now i sleep without my AC on, and even during the day i feel that i need to switch the AC off if i am indoors; it gets too cold!
Once again i am happy to be back ... i managed to catch up with some friends, at least to see them and say hello; i am still waiting to catch up with a few who are either away or sick.

While in Rome ...

I never considered myself as having great taste in Art, but while i was waiting for my flight from Rome to Cairo i came across this beautiful fountain. I absolutely love it!

It was donated by the airport in Casablanca, Marocco to the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome, Italy in 1992 as a sign of friendship between the two countries.

Meet Mohammed!

I promised myself i will do this a long time ago ...

So, this is Mohammed, our cleaner! He comes every two weeks, or now every Monday and spends the whole day cleaning!!!

He is very good... he cleans the balconies (covered in dust) and hte shutters, although he often forgets to do the surfaces in my room and i get annoyed with that!

He was such a blessing to us, because when both me and Nichole returned to Cairo, our house was just covered in dust; we called him... he came over one evening just to see us, while i was cleaning the bathroom. After a long chat with Nichole, he decided to join in and help, although we asked him to come next day.

Anyway, next morning he went to the flat - we had left a key for him. At 4 when we got home, he was still there and disapointed, as there was no running water at our place... actually just a few drops coming out... poor thing!!! He;s been trying to clean the whole day! I ended up in tears that day, as there was so much to do at school and then coming home to a flat that was still dirty ... I left to Bronwyn's house with Nichole and left Mohammed there. He stayed until 10 pm and returned next morning to finish off...

Now our house is clean and we managed to do the groceries!!!!

Mohammed is so funny!!! His English is limited to a vocabulary related to cleaning (coz that is what he does) and he always feels like he needs to show us what he did; so he goes, with his funny accent: "Zis: Clean! Zis: Clean!""Too much dust here!"

We always laugh when he says: "it's ok"coz of his accent!!! Such a shame that cannot be written down!!