Rene's visit to Egypt

Sorry for my long absence...

Rene came to visit at the beginning of February. Unfortunately, things got off to a rough start because of an incompetent airline (United), who had continuous delays without any bad weather conditions and caused Rene to arrive in Cairo a day late, after being on the road (so to speak) for nearly two days. However, things improved from there.

I whisked the dazed traveler off on the next available flight to Aswan, where I had planned some work and some vacationing for us. We stayed in the a cheap but nice budget hotel called Keylany, from which we did not have a Nile view, but nice staff, a clean and quiet room, and a fun roof terrace. Besides, Rene doesn't need a Nile view to take dozens of photographs.

It is amazing what he can do for an old, fabric flower on the breakfast table or a hotel hallway with that camera .

Later that day, we headed out in search of the taftish (local SCA office), before doing a little sightseeing. More later...

Cairo Rain

It is the rainy season here in Cairo (if you can call a centimeter of rain in a month "rainy"). We had a particularly rainy day last week, and only now are the bigger puddles disappearing, since there is no street drainage installed.



Every other place I have lived, rain was a nuisance if you had to walk in it, but at least it would clean your car and perhaps the sidewalk a bit. However, this is certainly not the situation here. The rain actually makes things more dirty more dirty because it brings down part of the ominous brownish-black cloud of pollution that hangs over the city. Urban legends abound (at least among the expat community) about it running clothes and burning or stinging one's skin, and I was surprised and somewhat mortified to see men standing out on the sidewalks like they do any other day, as if nothing was different about the weather that evening. As for me, I ran to and from taxis and doors as fast as possible, with my scarf wrapped around my head. I survived, but evidence remained in the form of sooty, black spots from where the ran had managed to land on clothes or on my face (extra yucky).

New Apartment

OK, so I've been really bad about posting on my blog. I intent to change that now.

I moved into my new apartment less than a week ago and have settled in pretty well now. It's a nice, three-bedroom place in Zamalek, near 26th of July Street. Although it is a bit further from the grocery stores and such that I like to frequent, it is closer to some other things, such as the Netherlands-Flemish Institute, which has an Egyptological library. The apartment was recently renovated and looks new and fresh, with lots of light and some nice views.


Here are a few shots I took from my bedroom window early this morning.

I will include pictures of the inside of the apartment in a later post.