I'm having a "Cairo day"

I got a welcome package from the community center and one of the things that they try to prepare you for is what I will call a "Cairo day." I can't find the paper now to quote from it but essentially it says to be prepared for days when you will get only one-third of your projects completed because of the way things just happen, or don't happen, in Egypt. I remember reading that to Dave and thinking that was funny. Well today it happened to me.

• I had a much-needed massage scheduled at 10 am at the community center. The masseuse never showed up and while waiting for the masseuse that didn't show up, I witnessed a sad exchange between some lady (expat? employee?) who marched out of a room and said "f___ you" to someone in the room she was leaving. Wow. Seconds later the woman who had been cursed came out crying and asked if I had heard what she said. I didn't know what to do and was afraid of getting in the middle of something crazy but I nodded my head yes. She then called a manager and told her that the lady had cursed at her and used the eff word and said I was a witness. I was sitting on a couch looking dumbfounded and they all looked at me. They left and I got up and started looking for someone to help me get my massage. The same lady who had been cursed --her name is Delia and she is so nice-- helped me and because I had to rebook the appointment she reduced my fee to 200 LE ($28) instead of 300 LE ($43). I'm booked for tomorrow with another masseuse.
• I then had an appointment at 1:00 pm to look at more houses with a different realtor. They do not have an MLS system here and every realtor will have some different properties to show. I know it was scheduled for 1:00 because of my massage. She called me at 10:30 and said she would pick me up at 11:00. I said I thought it was 1:00 and she said, no, 11:00. I showered quickly and just thought of it as being in Egypt. Then my stomach started feeling funny.
• I had asked to see villas, not apartments, and lo and behold I was shown mostly apartments. Not what I wanted at all and some I had even seen before. This realtor was not very nice and her driver was fast and jerky. The other realtor (Helene, a lovely French woman) we used had a driver she called "the turtle" because she MADE him drive slowly. With each house we toured I became sicker and sicker because it was not only the driving but the fast touring pace of each apartment that contributed to my motion sickness. One apartment we went to had yellow windows--I can't explain it but the windows had a sickly yellow tint. It will make you psychotic, I'm quite certain of that. I had told her earlier about the yellow windows I had seen and didn't like. So we go to the house and it had yellow windows. I told her that I don't care for the house because it had yellow windows and I couldn't live there. She made me go through it anyway, 3 floors looking into every single room. I do not know how to deal with pushy Egyptian realtors; had David been with me I would have made him do the dirty work and say no. But that is how the Egyptians do it, they show you every room and you are expected to look into them and even walk into them or they will be offended. You also must like everything or they will be offended. I was very unhappy at this point and also very sick. After 5 stops I told her that I was sick and had to go home. She was not happy with me. Nor I with her.

One of the ground floor apartments I was shown today. Apartments are like houses--they are huge. Five bedrooms, several sitting areas, huge dining room, this one had a magnificent kitchen (unlike some homes where the kitchen is for the staff and located in the basement and crummy). There was a small yard surrounding half of the apartment. Security is tight: ornamental metal bars on all windows and large metal gate to get in. Never unlocked. They love white marble floors and this one had an exceptional marble staircase. I can't take white floors; like yellow tinted windows it would most likely lead to psychosis...

• I got home around 1:30 and had to sit for several hours to settle my stomach. Then Dave sends me an email saying that the landlines and Internet might be off for a few days beginning tomorrow because of work the telephone company is doing. That's when I knew I had enough for a blog story. Lucky for me I think my iphone will be OK because it's a different company.

The good news is that there is a house that we like very much that we found with Helene. We are going to see it again tomorrow. We are waiting to hear if the landlord will allow us a 6-month lease instead of a 1-year's lease. If we get a yes I will post photos. It's truly the most beautiful house we've seen and worth the extra money.