Weird and Wonderful Egypt - pt.3

This was written on Facebook by my husband, David, and since it is so succinctly written I figured I'd repeat it here.

"Living in Egypt can be hard at times, but every now and again a suprise happens that makes living here enjoyable. Tonight, Michele, Zeke and I were waiting at a corner for a bus to go home at 9pm. A delivery driver for the Metro we were just shopping in, pulled up and gave us a ride home. Egyptian hospitality!"

One of the ubiquitous Metro supermarket delivery vans, nicknamed 'the Metro missile' by a neighbour of ours, because of the excessive speed with which they drive around our neighbourhood.

New Year, New Discovery

The new year has brought me a new culinary discovery - red carrots. I came across these courtesy of Emad, a private driver we hire occassionally (instead of a taxi). When driving me home recently, Emad stopped at a road side cart, and bought me a bag each of regular (orange) carrots and these amazing red carrots. Not exactly red, these unusual carrots are more of a purple, not unlike the colour of beets. They have a great flavour raw and are also fantastic roasted.

The red carrot - straight out of the ground

... and peeled

... and sliced.

First foods, first teeth and finding feet

Ezekiel has reached a couple of new developmental milestones recently. Firstly, he has started grabbing his feet and putting his toes into his mouth. I call this move the 'fergie', after the famous toe-sucking incident many years ago of Sarah Ferguson and the Texas oilman.

Zeke doing the 'fergie'

After about 2 months of drooling, the first of Zeke's little teeth finally broke through the gum on Sunday. It was a relatively painless affair, I think, as he fussed very little and had none of the usual 'symptoms' that I was expecting.

Last week we started Zeke on solids, if you can call them solid. So far he has tried rice cereal with apple, with banana, with carrots and with peas. He really seems to be enjoying everything so far.

Zeke loves his carrots!!

Australia trip - pt. 3

While we were in Australia, my niece, Tahlia, took some photos of Ezekiel. She has a great 'eye' and I think she really captured something here.

Tahlia even took one photo and created a piece that went into her portfolio application to AFTRS (www.aftrs.edu.au). This is the piece she created - I just love it.

Australia trip - pt. 2

While in Australia, Ezekiel and I had the chance to catch up with a few old friends. Two friends from Melbourne were very gracious and flew up to see us. Though truth be told, I think they really just came to see Zeke!!!

Top Trudy - an old friend from our Hong Kong days and Sharon (below) - one of my oldest Aussie friends; both flew up from Melbourne to see us.

Zeke also met another one of my oldest friends, Gai. I have known Gai and her mother for somewhere in the vicinity of 30 years. I just hope Zeke can grow up to have good friends like that.

Zeke had a wonderful afternoon with Gai and her family.

Wendy is another friend from our Hong Kong days. We had a great day at Bondi, checking out the 'Sculpture By The Sea' exhibition and a lovely lunch overlooking the beach.

Wendy with Zeke.

Sculpture By The Sea (http://sculpturebythesea.com) is an annual exhibition whereby the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk becomes a giant sculpture park. Over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and overseas took part. It's really worth checking out the exhibit while enjoying some of the gorgeous Aussie coastline. Some of the artworks left us wondering "why", like the giant watch and the shoes .....

while these flags, on the hilltop looking over Bondi Beach, were just beautiful.

One very strange piece, entitled morpheus, moved so beautifully in the wind that I just had to capture it on video. Enjoy.

Australia trip - pt. 1

It's hard for me to believe it's already 6 weeks since my last post. Six weeks ago, in late October, I was stressing about getting Ezekiel's visa so that he and I could head 'down under' to visit my family. Now here we are in early December, our trip to Oz behind us and just a few short weeks till Christmas.

Zeke's first peek at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Zeke and I had a great time in Australia, though the month just flew by. The main reason for our trip was to 'show off' Zeke to the Aussie family & friends, especially my mum. Mum is not in the best of health these days, so it was important we went ASAP.

With my sister and her family, and my mum.

With some of my cousins.

I must admit I was hoping for the best though prepared for the worst, for the plane trip, but our little man travelled well. My only real complaint for the trip out to Australia was that the rascal wouldn't sleep in the bassinette provided on the plane, so he was in my arms for the journey. The Singapore Airlines & Qantas employess were great though, and helped by holding him when I needed the bathroom. He was better on the return trip, using the bassinette and even sleeping most of the way from Singapore to Cairo. And Zeke managed to charm all and sundry on the flights with his wonderful smile and calm demeanour.

Ezekiel with one of the wonderful Qantas flight attendants.

One last hurdle

As with everything else in Cairo, getting Zeke's Egyptian visa was not as easy as it first appeared.

First I checked with the university office that helps us foreigners with local bureaucracy, asking specifically specifically what we needed to supply. The answer was 'just the passports' ie. mine, Dave's and Zeke's. I also double checked as to whether Dave would need to make and appearance at the government office, and was told 'no'. Dave took the passports in the very next day, and we also included his birth certificate and our marriage certificate, just for good measure. He was told it would take a week to 10 days.

A week goes by and I was wanting to book my tickets to Oz, but was concerned that we still didn't have the visa. Dave called the office and was told it wasn't ready because he needed to go to the government office!!!! Frustration level - about 5.

Dave does this on Tuesday, and they tell him it could be ready tomorrow. I call Thursday morning - not ready. Frustration level - 6, and rising. I stress that I'm wanting to get to Oz asap and I'm told to go ahead and book the ticket, and that proof of departure will speed up the process. Two hours later my tickets are booked for the following Monday and the proof of such is being faxed to wherever it needed to go. Knowing that the government office operates 6 days a week, it seemed a good bet it would be ready Saturday. Come Sunday morning and still no visa. Frustration level - 9 and I'm about ready to spit the dummy at someone.

A little while later Dave calls to tell me it will be ready after 2.30pm, but I have to go Downtown to pick it up, if I want it for our flight the next morning. So with less than 24 hours till our departure, Zeke and I are in Downtown Cairo, awaiting the all-important visa that will allow him to leave the country. Frustration level - 9.75. Finally the courier turns up. I do a quick check of the passport and see that AT LAST we have all that we need to depart as planned the next day.

Now all I had left to do was pack ........