I usually make a point of not posting when I have nothing interesting to say, but I didn't want to leave you all on my previous (cranky) note for days on end.
I feel a lot better. Yesterday was a fine day at work. Nothing in particular happened there at all. I left early because I had a follow-up doctor's appointment. Even though my eyes look a lot better, apparently they're not, so I have to keep at them for a while. After the doctor I met up with Anita and Omar, and after playing with Karim and Ramy* for a while, we all headed over to Omar's father's house for dinner. There we saw Sherine and Shaggy and Zak, and, of course, Omar's father.
Karim and Anita's maid, Sabah, both agreed that they liked my car.
*Karim, 4, and Ramy, 1, are Anita's kids and my playmates. Karim loves me, and asks his parents when Auntie Lisy is coming to play with him. We also have our own special language. Karim is quad-lingual. He speaks Arabic, English, German and Polish. He favours his Arabic heavily, and speaks it about 95% of the time that he's not at school (where he speaks only German). In an effort to help him learn English, Anita has convinced him that I don't understand Arabic, and he can only speak to me in English, which he does for the most part and can surprise even me with how much he knows. When he does get lazy or forgetful, and speaks to me in Arabic, I usually tell him to speak to me in English or just respond to his Arabic in English. Unfortunately for both of our linguistic development, however, sometimes we both get lazy and forgetful and revert to our own special arabic-english mix. (E.g. "Where's the tayara, Tauntie lisy?" "The tayara is stuck fil shagara, yaKoko".) Ramy and I also have our own language, but it mostly involves making 'geeeaaaaah' noises at each other, as he's not old enough to speak yet.
Wahied is coming home today! I'm pretty excited, because I've missed him a lot over the past THREE WEEKS, and can't wait to see him. Hopefully tomorrow will bring all of the progress and problem resolution that we need (gas company is coming, Wahied can duke it out with the parking guys, perhaps we can convince the doorman to clean up our hallway). In the meantime....breakfast.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A rant
Let me tell you about my day, anyone who dares to read.
If you don't want to read rambling ranting, I suggest you stop reading now.
I got to work early today. The client sent a ridiculous e-mail telling me how "Gravely disappointed" she was that I was unable to provide any analysis of the data at this point in the project. I tried to explain to her that there IS NO DATA at this point in the project, but that didn't make it less irritating. She also was sour that I hadn't gotten back to her yesterday (I wasn't in the office) even though she wasn't in the office yesterday either, and didnt check her e-mails until after noon today (well after I had sent her everything she needed that I could provide).
Anita and Omar did me a HUGE favour today, and drove 1/2 way across Cairo to sit and wait for the Gas company to come and install my boiler. They waited and waited and waited and the Gas company never came. They both wasted their entire day for me, and I still have NO HOT WATER. It's coming up on 2 months now, and this is the 3rd appointment the boiler company has missed. (Each time they claim that they came to the apartment, knocked, and no one was here. Riiiiight.)
I ordered a coffee at 9am sharp this morning. My co-workers arrived at 9:45. At 10am the office boy (who is female) brought 7 coffees---for my 7 co-workers---and then announced to me (I'm the only one who speaks any arabic, and she doesn't speak any english) that they ran out of milk, and she can't make me coffee until more comes. More came at 5:30pm.
It might have seemed strange to put coffee on someone's desk at 6pm, but I guess the office boy (girl) knew something I didn't---I was going to stay at the office until 9pm. I managed to mangle the codeframe I was working on (it was the first one I've ever done) and needed to re-start the whole process at about 3pm. Apparently I'm not so good at those.
I left the office just before 9pm, and much to my surprise, MY COMMUTE was the highlight of my day. In that it only took 45 minutes (to go 11 miles) and I only fought with one other driver.
Then I got to my parking spot. Except it wasn't my parking spot, because someone else had parked there. And my parking guy didn't have the keys. Or the keys to ANY OTHER CAR PARKED IN MY LOT. But he told me the guy was coming back in 5 minutes. So I waited, and then I waited 30 minutes more. Then I called the head parking guy, made a stink, and waited some more. After an hour (to the second) of waiting, I still hadn't parked. SO I ventured around to find a new spot. I parked my shiny new car in some much-too-small space in a heavily traversed alleyway, in front of a bakery.
Fair Enough, because now it was 10:40. 10:40, almost 2 hours after I had to put in more eye-medicine and they were THROBBING.
So I came into the building and tried my elevator. Stuck. I tried the second Elevator. Stuck. So I hoofed it up 6 flights of stairs, in heels. When I arrived at my hallway, I almost decided to hoof it back DOWN the stairs.
The cats have returned. They brought friends---a swarm of nasty (flying!) cockroaches. They also left me some really, really gross excrement-related presents on my doorstep. But I didn't flee. Instead I managed to step over the poo into my apartment without letting any flying cockroaches into my apartment. I let one flying creature, roughly the size of a dragonfly into my house (by accident) and it is buzzing and flying around like crazy. And making ME crazy.
By the time I got to put my first batch of medicine in, my eyes had all but crusted completely over. I had to scrub my eyes with warm water before I could even put the drops in. As soon as I finished that, I decided that I needed a little R+R. A Bubble bath was right out, as I have no hot water, so I decided to make a cup of tea and start dinner. But I had No matches. Not a single one. So I can't even light my stove.
So I put the heels back on, and hoofed it back out of the apartment, past the roaches and the poo, back down the stairs, across the street, bought some cheap little matches and hoofed it back up here.
Last night, after wahied managed to wrangle that woman into her ambulance, and he boarded a bus with his group, his saga continued. His bus broke down on the side of the highway towards Suez. Shortly before that he discovered that his wallet, ID and license were missing. He then got to stay up all night dealing with police (in relation to the bus incident).
Needless to say, he is a bit stressed out at the moment, and distinctly didn't want to hear about any more problems that he's unable to solve. But I have managed to convince myself that SOMEONE wants to hear about how bad my day was. Actually, I'm aware that no one wants to hear how bad my day was, but I feel a whole lot better now that I've written it.
Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going to go back to the doctor to get my eyes re-evaluated, then I'm going to relax, because tomorrow is Thursday. And we all know what "Thursday" means in Egypt. It means the same thing that "Friday" means wherever you all are. And it also means that I'm one day closer to seeing Wahied (Friday) the Gas company's next attempt (Saturday) and the beginning of another long work week (Sunday).
But now it's after 11pm, and I need to make and eat some food, un-goop my eyes, and go to bed. For those of you who have made it this far...thank you. I promise I'll be back to myself and out of rant-y mode next time. Cheers, Lisy.
If you don't want to read rambling ranting, I suggest you stop reading now.
I got to work early today. The client sent a ridiculous e-mail telling me how "Gravely disappointed" she was that I was unable to provide any analysis of the data at this point in the project. I tried to explain to her that there IS NO DATA at this point in the project, but that didn't make it less irritating. She also was sour that I hadn't gotten back to her yesterday (I wasn't in the office) even though she wasn't in the office yesterday either, and didnt check her e-mails until after noon today (well after I had sent her everything she needed that I could provide).
Anita and Omar did me a HUGE favour today, and drove 1/2 way across Cairo to sit and wait for the Gas company to come and install my boiler. They waited and waited and waited and the Gas company never came. They both wasted their entire day for me, and I still have NO HOT WATER. It's coming up on 2 months now, and this is the 3rd appointment the boiler company has missed. (Each time they claim that they came to the apartment, knocked, and no one was here. Riiiiight.)
I ordered a coffee at 9am sharp this morning. My co-workers arrived at 9:45. At 10am the office boy (who is female) brought 7 coffees---for my 7 co-workers---and then announced to me (I'm the only one who speaks any arabic, and she doesn't speak any english) that they ran out of milk, and she can't make me coffee until more comes. More came at 5:30pm.
It might have seemed strange to put coffee on someone's desk at 6pm, but I guess the office boy (girl) knew something I didn't---I was going to stay at the office until 9pm. I managed to mangle the codeframe I was working on (it was the first one I've ever done) and needed to re-start the whole process at about 3pm. Apparently I'm not so good at those.
I left the office just before 9pm, and much to my surprise, MY COMMUTE was the highlight of my day. In that it only took 45 minutes (to go 11 miles) and I only fought with one other driver.
Then I got to my parking spot. Except it wasn't my parking spot, because someone else had parked there. And my parking guy didn't have the keys. Or the keys to ANY OTHER CAR PARKED IN MY LOT. But he told me the guy was coming back in 5 minutes. So I waited, and then I waited 30 minutes more. Then I called the head parking guy, made a stink, and waited some more. After an hour (to the second) of waiting, I still hadn't parked. SO I ventured around to find a new spot. I parked my shiny new car in some much-too-small space in a heavily traversed alleyway, in front of a bakery.
Fair Enough, because now it was 10:40. 10:40, almost 2 hours after I had to put in more eye-medicine and they were THROBBING.
So I came into the building and tried my elevator. Stuck. I tried the second Elevator. Stuck. So I hoofed it up 6 flights of stairs, in heels. When I arrived at my hallway, I almost decided to hoof it back DOWN the stairs.
The cats have returned. They brought friends---a swarm of nasty (flying!) cockroaches. They also left me some really, really gross excrement-related presents on my doorstep. But I didn't flee. Instead I managed to step over the poo into my apartment without letting any flying cockroaches into my apartment. I let one flying creature, roughly the size of a dragonfly into my house (by accident) and it is buzzing and flying around like crazy. And making ME crazy.
By the time I got to put my first batch of medicine in, my eyes had all but crusted completely over. I had to scrub my eyes with warm water before I could even put the drops in. As soon as I finished that, I decided that I needed a little R+R. A Bubble bath was right out, as I have no hot water, so I decided to make a cup of tea and start dinner. But I had No matches. Not a single one. So I can't even light my stove.
So I put the heels back on, and hoofed it back out of the apartment, past the roaches and the poo, back down the stairs, across the street, bought some cheap little matches and hoofed it back up here.
Last night, after wahied managed to wrangle that woman into her ambulance, and he boarded a bus with his group, his saga continued. His bus broke down on the side of the highway towards Suez. Shortly before that he discovered that his wallet, ID and license were missing. He then got to stay up all night dealing with police (in relation to the bus incident).
Needless to say, he is a bit stressed out at the moment, and distinctly didn't want to hear about any more problems that he's unable to solve. But I have managed to convince myself that SOMEONE wants to hear about how bad my day was. Actually, I'm aware that no one wants to hear how bad my day was, but I feel a whole lot better now that I've written it.
Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going to go back to the doctor to get my eyes re-evaluated, then I'm going to relax, because tomorrow is Thursday. And we all know what "Thursday" means in Egypt. It means the same thing that "Friday" means wherever you all are. And it also means that I'm one day closer to seeing Wahied (Friday) the Gas company's next attempt (Saturday) and the beginning of another long work week (Sunday).
But now it's after 11pm, and I need to make and eat some food, un-goop my eyes, and go to bed. For those of you who have made it this far...thank you. I promise I'll be back to myself and out of rant-y mode next time. Cheers, Lisy.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
In my eyes...
...there are infections. That's right, both of those things are plural. I have both a bacterial and a viral infection in each of my eyes. Yum!
I won't go into details of my eye-infection saga because it's gross, boring and I'm not supposed to be using a computer. (I am typing this with sunglasses on, in a dark room, so it's all good). Let it suffice to say that I and my stubbornness were all parts of the problem, and Anita was part, if not all, of the solution. After inappropriately dealing with the problem all day, in a final act of desperation I called her and she fixed it.
There is nothing in the world quite as important as good friends, who are there for you in the most inconvenient (and disgusting) of times. I only hope that someday there is a way I can re-compensate her for what she did that doesn't include driving her and her oozing face halfway across Cairo on two minutes' notice during rush hour and back.
Needless to say, I didn't go to work today. The doctor was really really good, and whatever he gave me has been working miracles, but I still felt it was better to give myself some time. But without books, the internet, or going outside, things can be a bit slow. Luckily, food is still tasty.
Wahied is having a bit of trouble. One of his older tourists fainted while he was out in one of the Oases. She has been in the hospital for a couple of days now, and Wahied, who was working with them alone, has been trying desperately to manage all arrangements with the 17 people not in the hospital, without leaving the sick woman's side. While they all see a 'difficult situation being flawlessly handled by an attentive guide and tourist company' I see a scared, exhausted, 29 year old boy, desperately trying to handle an extremely difficult situation, who has only a mobile phone and no help from the company. After a full night of negotiating, which was his second night without a minute of sleep, Wahied managed to get the woman into an Ambulance to Cairo, and then promptly boarded a bus to go give a tour of some pyramids. Worried is not the right word for what i feel for him right now, but unfortunately the emotion I do have at the moment is not one that can be eloquently described in words. The closest I can come is "Gaaah!".
I'm going to go shut my eyes for a bit. I'll write more soon.
I won't go into details of my eye-infection saga because it's gross, boring and I'm not supposed to be using a computer. (I am typing this with sunglasses on, in a dark room, so it's all good). Let it suffice to say that I and my stubbornness were all parts of the problem, and Anita was part, if not all, of the solution. After inappropriately dealing with the problem all day, in a final act of desperation I called her and she fixed it.
There is nothing in the world quite as important as good friends, who are there for you in the most inconvenient (and disgusting) of times. I only hope that someday there is a way I can re-compensate her for what she did that doesn't include driving her and her oozing face halfway across Cairo on two minutes' notice during rush hour and back.
Needless to say, I didn't go to work today. The doctor was really really good, and whatever he gave me has been working miracles, but I still felt it was better to give myself some time. But without books, the internet, or going outside, things can be a bit slow. Luckily, food is still tasty.
Wahied is having a bit of trouble. One of his older tourists fainted while he was out in one of the Oases. She has been in the hospital for a couple of days now, and Wahied, who was working with them alone, has been trying desperately to manage all arrangements with the 17 people not in the hospital, without leaving the sick woman's side. While they all see a 'difficult situation being flawlessly handled by an attentive guide and tourist company' I see a scared, exhausted, 29 year old boy, desperately trying to handle an extremely difficult situation, who has only a mobile phone and no help from the company. After a full night of negotiating, which was his second night without a minute of sleep, Wahied managed to get the woman into an Ambulance to Cairo, and then promptly boarded a bus to go give a tour of some pyramids. Worried is not the right word for what i feel for him right now, but unfortunately the emotion I do have at the moment is not one that can be eloquently described in words. The closest I can come is "Gaaah!".
I'm going to go shut my eyes for a bit. I'll write more soon.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The best thing about living in Egypt..
...is that moment, just around noon on a Thursday, when you're sitting at work, rubbing your temples thinking "I'm not entirely sure I can make it through the next two days...there's no way I can come to work tomorrow...." when suddenly, like an out of control micro bus it hits you----I don't have to! (In Egypt, the weekends are Friday and Saturday).
After that point, you can spend the rest of your Thursday afternoon counting down until 6pm, making your shopping list, making your to-do list, making plans to go to the park with your friends' kids, and making plans to do things you know you won't actually do (like go to the gym, clean out your closets).
Alternatively, (one of) the worst thing(s) about living in Egypt is that moment, just around noon on a Saturday, when you haven't yet started tackling your hundreds of lists, drinking a coffee and still wearing pjs when you think "I don't need to get dressed right now, I have a whole day left to do my errands...." when you remember that, in just 20 hours you will be stuck in traffic on your way to work, nearly getting hit by far-less metaphorical micro buses.
But since Saturday is really really far away from now.....Happy Thursday everyone!
After that point, you can spend the rest of your Thursday afternoon counting down until 6pm, making your shopping list, making your to-do list, making plans to go to the park with your friends' kids, and making plans to do things you know you won't actually do (like go to the gym, clean out your closets).
Alternatively, (one of) the worst thing(s) about living in Egypt is that moment, just around noon on a Saturday, when you haven't yet started tackling your hundreds of lists, drinking a coffee and still wearing pjs when you think "I don't need to get dressed right now, I have a whole day left to do my errands...." when you remember that, in just 20 hours you will be stuck in traffic on your way to work, nearly getting hit by far-less metaphorical micro buses.
But since Saturday is really really far away from now.....Happy Thursday everyone!
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