Two weeks in Maadi

Tomorrow will be two weeks that we've been in Maadi. It seems strange still because we spent four months thinking about living here and now we are really living here. The sad news today is that we might not get the beautiful house we wanted as the owners might sell it instead of renting. Dave is unhappy; we both could see ourselves living there. I will start looking again tomorrow and might have to settle on a place that needs a bit of remodeling, even though I don't want to. Helene is showing me a house tomorrow morning and I am optimistic. 

I had a really good day today because I exercised for the first time since June. I had breast surgery in late June and could not exercise for 6 weeks. Funny how 6 weeks can turn into four months. I went to a spinning class taught by a delightful young lady named Astrid and lasted 30 minutes. That's OK because I felt great all day because of it. I then played bunco with a new group of women, walked to a new market called Miriam to see how it might differ from the others, and then to Cairo Kitchen for a roasted chicken and a side dish. Tomorrow is also busy: going to look at another house with Helene; meeting with the Apache nurse to talk about living in Egypt; and an Apache driver is going to take me to the Carrefour so I can shop for house things like garbage cans, plastic bins, and vegetable peelers.

Dave and I--against the advice of everyone--went to Carrefour on Friday because I needed a vacuum cleaner and we didn't have anything else to do. This photo is of Starbucks in the mall that also has the Carrefour. Carrefour is huge, like a giant Walmart. We were told to never go there on the weekends because it is mobbed. We got to Carrefour around 1:00 and I said, "this isn't too bad" and by 2:00 we couldn't take a step. I am not kidding. I have never been packed in so with so many people shopping. I got my vacuum cleaner though. I am going back on Monday to shop at a slower pace.

Dave went on a mountain bike ride to the Wadi on Saturday morning. The Wadi is a dry river bed with a lot of topography. He said it was so beautiful. I am looking forward to going there with a group of women who walk their dogs in the morning.

This is on the road to Carrefour (and Katameya) with pretty typical sights of apartments and sand and piles of stuff. Most Cairenes live in apartment buildings and I would say these are some of the nicer ones. I hate driving on this road; it is scary as h-e-doublesticks, especially when the traffic thins out and people drive faster.

I wanted to show the blowing sand of the desert on the highway. I think it gets swept up from time to time. And those are people on the side of the road waiting for a taxi or bus to stop and pick them up. The taxis and buses will also stop quite unexpectedly to drop people off too! It's dangerous to drive in the slow lane because of this. And dangerous in the fast lane.



I was wandering the streets today and found this shop named the Bedouin Bazaar (I think). I can't wait to go in there. See the horse on the right side of the window? I think that is going to belong to Sylvia.

And this might belong to Sylvia also!!! I just love it!

I went into my first Egyptian store today and this is the owner, Fathy Otalfy. He was delightful and I bought the beautiful shawl pictured below. I paid 450 LE for it and have no idea if the price is appropriate. But I liked it and I liked him.