Uniforms and power

All tied up...

Yesterday I got a new accessory ( - and a fitting blouse, yay - ) for my uniform  which I had to wear to a hotel this morning.
Check out this:

Isn't that the most ugly tie you've ever seen? Looks suspiciously like clown's wear. And I had to wear it - in public too, to make it even worse.


Picture of proof:

 1000 thanks to my ney collegue Hamdi from Luxor. He saved me some serious embarassment and did the knok ast night - after I had failed to notice that the tie isn't one of those already tied ones - because I wouldn't have had the slightest idea what to do with it myself. Thanks Hamdi, I owe you!

Please excuse the slightly shiny look I have on those photos. I took them after first walking about 20 minutes to the hotel and then sitting in the lobby for 3 1/2 hours when the AC had stopped only minutes after my arrival due to yet another power blackout (which lasted until I left at 1:30pm). And that at 32 to 34°C with 60% humidity outside and what felt like 40 to 45°C inside with zero air movement or oxygen. At times I seriously felt like I was not getting any oxygen at all and dangerously close to fainting.
And of course - no guests. 3,5 hours sitting, smiling at noone in particular, sweating and suffocating in a clown's costume. Great start for a day. 

In the afternoon I was supposed to be at the office. I went early to escape the lack of power (and thus lack of  AC and running water at my room). Only to fnid out that the office had been affected by the blackout as well (which is not always the case). But after a few minutes power came back on - for a while. After the power (and all our computers) had gone out another 6 or seven times by about 4:30pm we stopped counting. 
And when does such thing occur? Sure, on the busiest day of the week when everyone's coming in for the weekly settlement day when the whole week's worth of work is accounted for. Fun...

Worst day concerning power so far. 

Greetings from HRG,


Anne

Senzo Mall

More shopping:

last night after work I finally managed to get to famous Senzo Mall.

After everything I had heared about it I was expectinng great things - and was a bit disappointed by the reality. There is a big supermarket (Spinney`s),

a small book store, several shops for cloths and some for accessories. There's also a small food court with a variety of fast food available and a cinema. And some cafés similar to Starbucks. My all time favourite, plain coffee with ice, looks like this here:

Only slightly cooler than room temperature and a lot of foam. I had to ask twice that there really is no milk in there, as such thing as lactose-free milk or even soy milk seems unhearea of in Egyptian coffee shops. No milk in there though. And it was relly good, yum. Later before leaving the mall I had to return for another one.

So, I went to the big supermarket and got all this:

As you can see the main themes to my purchases turned out to be:

cleaning,

washing,

the attempt to get through the day without smelling as sweaty and gross as you feel,

skin care,
(the choice of sunblock was astonishingly limited)

 and snack foods and containers for taking lunch to the office.

And of course:

 some more jewellery. 2 rings and a bracelet. 

(But that's not from Spinney`s of course.)

Many of the shops at Senso Mall were either closed or under construction which was a little disappointing. But I think, either way I managed to spend enough money for a day there. Because on top of all my purchases I had to pay for the cab back to Medinat Makadi. 60LE! From downtown Hurghada I paid 70LE the other night, - and that`s 10 minutes further away...

And least but not least - or rather most important: 
I finally got this:

 

an internet stick!

(which is why I`m able to post on my day off - which is today, yay) 

Stay tuned for more! ;)

XOXO

Anne

Hurghada downtown

Hurghada downtown


So, sometime last week ( - the heat seems to melt away what little sense of time I`ve had - ) my new collegue and I decited we had to get out of Madinat Makadi aka tourist town and visit the "real world" for once.
So we took the shuttle bus to Hurghada after work.

Can anyone say "tourist trap"?

We were dropped off on the main road with two hours to spend before returning to Makadi. Turned out the main road consists of shops selling t-shirts, perfume, cheap jewellery and/or other souvenirs specially designed for tourists only intermitted by several pharmacies...


There was a highlight though. Check out the amazing trees we found by the roadside:

 

 100% plastic, I promise.

But al least we were "successful". My bounty:

 

a pretty bracelet

(Black of course. Really, what have you expected?)

some mango tea 

(I have yet to try it, but I was told it`s made of the leaves of mango trees and it smells fantastic)

2 pieces of purmice 

(for cosmetic reasons only girls can understand)

 a shoulder bag 

(which has an amazing purple colour)

and something I was told is rosemary`

(You`re supposed to put it into a bowl of water to scent the room. And while it does smell really nice, it doesn`t look or smell like any rosemary I have ever known.)

Ok, enough about Hurghada.

See you later, bye bye.

Anne

HEAT!

There`s a number of things Egypt is currently short of:

      - petrol / diesel

- water in general

- bottled water (see my last posts)

- electricity

Since I don`t have a car I am personally only concerned with the water and power issues.

It`s a common occurrence that the power suddenly wavers or goes out altogether a couple of times a day. All you can do is hope to be quick enough to hit the “save” button bevore the computer is off. But right now I`m sitting in the office and the AC broke down hours ago (probably due to said ups and downs in power which are hard on any type of machines and gadgets connected to it).

The window is open so we have some movement of the air and not only the sun shining through but it`s still HOT, SERIOUSLY HOT!

BBC weather says:

temperature: 38°C

wind: 40km/h 25mph Northerly

Humidity: 41%

Observed at 16:00, Thursday 26 JulyObservation station: HURGHADA INTERNATIONAL

I am melting!

Sweaty greetings,

Anne

Water

I have water again!


Apparently last afternoon there was a delivery of water - finally. So when I went to the shop after work expecting to be told water would arrive "2 hours later" there was water. We have water again. At least for the moment. I hope my writing it hasn`t somehow jinxed it now.


Anyway, I stocked up on water so I am prepared if / when water runs out again:

XOXO

Anne

Water is an issue!

Water...

40°C and more outside and Egypt is running out of drinking water.
I will have to go to the (small and way overpriced) tourist supermarket after work in hope of getting a refill for my empty fridge. My usual shop hasn`t had water for days and even the cafeteria in the office building I work in has only a few more small bottles.
Apparently some dangerous bacteria or other has been found in bottled water by several big brands lately which as a result had to shut down.
Thus: no water for Egypt; - none you can drink anyway.

Greetings,

Anne

Egyptian lifestyle

Egyptian Lifestyle 101:
 
The IBM-Rule:
I-nsha'allah (as God wills / maybe)
B-ukra (tomorrow)
M-alesh (don’t worry / doesn’t matter/ 

               you’re welcome / shit happens)

Found it while looking for Egyptian proverbs for the new TUI bookmark. Quite fitting.  

So is this:

Allah (God) has given us time,
he hasn’t said anything about haste.

XOXO 

Anne