an interesting flight

So on my flight back from Algeria to Egypt i found some sports team on my flight who looked like they just came out of an addidas ad.
So i asked one of them:
me: so what team are you?
him:zamalek
me: so you play football
him:yes
me: really? which team?
him: we are the main team
me: you mean the one we see on TV
him: yes
me: oh - so did you win?
him: yes
me: good for you

I am sure the guy thought i was from mars since i didn't recognize any of them.

The pilot decided to start take off a little earlier than he should have and had to stop in the middle and the plane swirled from side to side giving us all a scare - thankfully everything went ok after that.. it's good Egypt Air didn't crash the plane with the whole zamalek team on them - otherwise they would have been in quite a pickle!

How Haraam is the Pig?

So i was reading this blog post - and it reminded me of a curious question i had.

In my ever growing addicion of Gray's Anatomy i came across an episode where an orthodox jewish girl was supposed to have heart surgery and replace something called a valve. The spare part would come from a pig.
Now the girl - being quite religious - rejected to put a non-kosher thing in her body.

So i am curious - does that mean that here in egypt and in the muslim countries they do not perform this operation?

Any doctor out there?

a much needed reality check

So my boss gave me this book called "Taxi" by Ahmed Al-Khamisi, which is an arabic book about the experiences that the author had with Taxi dirvers in Cairo.
We all share a common dislike for Cairo Taxi drivers since they a) ask for a lot of money b) never stop for you c) feel free to pleasure themselves while looking at you in the mirror d) do i really need a d?!
This book shows a side of the poverty stricken population of Egypt that it leaves you confused.
You cannot excuse their bad behaviours (nothing is an excuse for sexual harrassment) but you get to see the other side of the coin.

I think the book is a marvelous read - good realitiy check, good time to think about how lucky you are and what you want your role in society to be; it's also funny and interesting, gives you a great insight on the egyptian citizen and what goes through his/her mind.

I wish there was a translated version for all international readers, i would translate it myself if it weren't illegal.

If you can read arabic, i advise you to check it out...

Cairo-Algiers-Addis Ababa-Cairo-Rabat-Casablanca-Stockholm-Gothenburg-Frankfurt-Cairo

This is my life for the next 3 weeks
I am all packed up and ready to go - i miss Egypt already and i haven't even left.

Exciting thing?! Meeting some nomads, thea the malteser in Algeria, Suzanne and reda in Morocco, and maybe jingwei in Stockholm (if she replies to my comment on her blog)

From chokingly hot, to beautiful and breezy, to down-right-ass freezing here i go

what a week

What a fabulous week!
Jen was here since tuesday and since then it has been non-stop fun. From khan-el-khalili, to Odeon, to Horreya, to Maadi, to Carrefour of death, to chillin at tom's and andrew's to my very apparent road rage it was a hell of a week!

It was great catchin up with Jencp - she's one hell of a girl! next time - New York New York!

V for Vendetta?

oh no, it's valentine's day! Hooray! (insert sarcasm here)
I will spare everyone the typical rant about the commercialism of this day and what it stands for since it will only highlight my growing frustration from being single for the last 24th years!
I started my day by my newly acquired bed-mate's alarm and doing breathing exercises to hold it in till the bathroom's empty!
Then i hovered around the house and inspected how badly my cleaning lady cleans, joined Facebook - and got my new water heater installed.
Sadly the new one is not bigger than the old one, so our hopes of showering straight after each other has been desroyed.
I guess we could keep showering together then... haha

Kait's here

The weather is great!

The weather in Cairo was G R E A T today - it was so good it had a positive effect on my mood.

I escaped the office for a long lunch/trip to the bank and got a chance to enjoy the sun for a good 30 minutes!
If this weather stays the same, then Wedensday i will spend my day on the balcony with some lemonade...............and of course my laptop :)

I can Skate!!!!!

After much hesitation I decided to bring it on and try skating for the first time ever!
I was a little worried since I am a little too old and too unfit (now that’s a euphemism) to be doing that, but being kick-ass in rollerblades encouraged me to try!


It was A W E S O M E! Unlike all those little kids around me I did not fall once – mind you I was a tad less adventurous than they were.
I picked up fast and within 20 minutes I was skating around the ring with little problems. It’s exactly like rollerblading except a whole lot more slippery. It was not hard at all, which was a surprise. I thought I would make a complete fool of myself, but I recon in one week I could be pretty sleek and smooth.



If it weren’t for every single muscle in my leg and foot cramping I would have had a much more difficult time letting them go. Maybe the size was too small?!



It was a true Borås, Sweden experience! Except for the skating shoes which were made in china – haha.