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Posts Tagged ‘yearabroad’

  1. Exchange

    January 22, 2007 by dafyd

    Flashback to a month ago…

    When I was packing, ready to leave Alexandria, I knew I had too much luggage. It always happens. The fact that I couldn’t actually lift one of the bags suggested that it was far too heavy. But anyhoo… these Egyptians are lax about the rules, I’m sure they’ll let me get away with it.

    I got to the airport (such as it is), and it turns out the baggage allowance I had was one bag, weighing 23kg. I had two bags, one of which weighed 32kg. Oh well… I have to get it home somehow. Out comes the credit card.

    It took them a while to sort out the payment (the computer wasn’t working, or something), but by the time I’d got onto the plane I assumed everything was sorted and I was £100 lighter.

    This morning, five weeks later, I discovered on my credit card statement that British Airways hadn’t actually charged my card until last week, which meant that because the exchange rate had changed a fair bit (there were 10 Egyptian pounds to the sterling when I left, now there are 11), I’d been charged about £10 less than I was expecting. Which was nice.

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  2. Laser Vision

    December 15, 2006 by dafyd

    In Smouha, on the road from Alex to the Green Plaza mall, next to Barclays Bank, is a building calling itself the Laser Vision Center.

    I don’t know what it does, but I would love laser vision.

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  3. Water, water everywhere…

    December 14, 2006 by dafyd

    The water in Egypt is, contrary to warnings, safe to drink. Generally. Over the last few years the Egyptian government, using lots and lots of money from USAID, has pumped the cities’ water supplies full of chemicals, getting rid of most of the really horrible stuff.

    So the water is safe. But the chemicals give the water a taste that could politely be described as, umm, disgusting. So most Egyptians tend to drink bottled water. You can buy water practically everywhere – every street has at least one shop selling it. A 1.5-litre bottle tends to cost between LE 1.50 and LE 2 – or about 15 to 20 pence.

    There is quite a range of brands, including offerings from the usual suspects: Coke has its Dasani brand (the one withdrawn from sale in the UK), Pepsi has AquaFina, and Nestle has PureLife. Local brands include Baraka, Siwa, and Aqua, of which Baraka is the best known – its quality is “controlled by Vittel” and it recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. All the water is, basically, exactly the same. Some are “sourced from a deep well”, some are treated tap water.

    The thing that surprises me is that none of the companies sell a more expensive version of the same water. Coke should sell their Dasanti at 5 LE a bottle, say, to appeal to tourists, expats and the rich Egyptians who buy the most expensive product whenever they can. Sure, they wouldn’t sell as much, but at practically 100% profit, who cares?

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  4. Almost Done

    December 10, 2006 by dafyd

    In 6 days I’ll be home in Nottingham. Woo!

    I have quite a bit to write about here, most of which I have, in fact, written… but it’s all on my laptop, which I can’t connect to the internets. Typical – should have thought of that first, really. Anyhoo, I’ll do my best to get it all online soon.

    Over the next week I have exams to prove that I’ve actually learnt something – but as they count for absolutely nothing at Durham, I’m not too worried. Thursday, I think, there’s a party at the centre – we’ve already had a few “unofficial” end-of-term parties elsewhere.

    Then Saturday morning, bright and early, is the flight home. It looks like there’s a few of us from the course on the same flight, which should be good. Battling Heathrow will be fun…

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  5. Anecdotes

    December 6, 2006 by dafyd

    Just a couple of things that happened this week that made me laugh…

    Our translation teacher, Dr Ahmed Showki (an absolute legend – he has a street named after him in Alexandria… well, either that or he’s named after the street. I prefer to think it’s the former.) told us to “stop polluting my English with your made-up words”. He realised (well before some of the English students in the group… but they’re from Manchester, so it’s understandable) that there is no such word as “dividitude”, “hugeosity” or “congestionisation”. He’s convinced, though, that “oftenly” is a word and that we really do still use “forsooth” in everyday speech.

    Meanwhile, in our Aamiya (Egyptian colloquial Arabic) class, the Arabic word “sheek” came up – it means, surprisingly enough, “chic”. One of the Manchester students who had been daydreaming / asleep / dead asked what it meant, and the teacher replied, naturally enough, that it’s the same in English. At lunchtime, walking down the street outside the university, we spotted said student trying to buy a chicken kebab thingy… and the kebabist (for that is what they are called) trying to understand what he meant by “kebab a la mode”… Oh, the laughs.

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  6. Posts…

    December 3, 2006 by dafyd

    … coming soon.

    Tomorrow, probably.

    An Egyptian Tomorrow, that is.

    Which means sometime before Christmas.

    Insh’allah.

    Sorry, did I say Christmas? I meant Easter.

    Easter 2009.

    bukra, f’il mishmish, as these Arab chappies say. Tomorrow, in the apricot season.

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  7. Photos

    November 10, 2006 by dafyd

    Ooh… I’ve uploaded lots and lots of photos to Flickr.

    They’re all from the last month or so – including Luxor and Thebes, a brief return to Cairo, and the Pyramids… and camels!

    Camels at the Pyramids
    Pyramid-y Camels on Flickr

    Enjoy.

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  8. Ringtonage

    November 5, 2006 by dafyd

    The mobile phone market in Egypt is as big as in any European country, from the looks of things. And the same seems to be true for ringtones.

    Our bawaab (appartment chappy) is always trying to get us to listen to his newest tone. We try to ignore him.

    But the fun thing is that a lot of people have decided that one of the default ringtones on their phone is pretty funky, and have started using that. They don’t realise (and why should they?) that it’s We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Much fun.

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  9. Where Up is Down

    October 29, 2006 by dafyd

    I’ve spent much of the last week in Upper Egypt which, confusingly, is in the south of Egypt. As it was Eid on Tuesday (or Wednesday, or Thursday, or thereabouts, anyway), we had a week’s holiday, which was nice. We seem to be spending more time not working than working at the moment… but it seems that it’s the same for those lucky chappies doing less exotic languages who are working as assistants in Spain or Germany. In fact, it seems the UK is the only country where we don’t get a week off in October…!

    So… I headed off down south on Sunday evening, taking the overnight sleeper to Luxor, where I spent a few days admiring the stunning temples, tombs and monuments and trying to avoid the heat (very, very difficult). I have lots and lots of photos – but if you think of every picture of Ancient Egypt you might have seen (except the pyramids and camels), then you’ll get an idea of what you’ll find in Luxor. Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, The Mummy… they don’t even come close!

    Then on Wednesday evening I got the train back up to Cairo (not a sleeper this time, but a ridiculously comfortable night train), and met Yvonne in Cairo, where we spent a couple of days sightseeing: the Egyptian Museum – home to so many antiquities that even the curators aren’t sure quite what’s in there – and various other touristy bits around town, including, bizarrely, the Hard Rock Cafe (‘cos we were bored and hungry). Then yesterday afternoon, the train back up to Alex, ready for classes to start again on Monday.

    As I say, I have many many photos – which I will upload as soon as I have a chance.

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  10. Ramadan Watching

    October 12, 2006 by dafyd

    I may have given the impression in previous posts that I am not a fan of Ramadan. This is not quite true. Sure, it’s an inconvenience, but it’s also a fairly unique cultural phenomenon, and I’m really glad to get the opportunity to witness it first hand.

    Also, MBC2, one of the TV channels that we can actually receive on our fairly rubbish set, seems to be spending Ramadan screening movies. And only movies.

    Now, 80% of these movies are fairly rubbish, cheap, made-for-TV, run-of-the-mill American fayre. But every so often, a gem crops up. Or, on Tuesday, a whole day’s worth… something, followed by War Games (which really hasn’t aged well), followed by the truly fantastic IQ (which is, in my opinion, incredibly underrated). Then, to top it all off, the evening finished with the awesome A Few Good Men. Can’t beat it.

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