A typical Sunday afternoon

We are still adjusting to the weekends in Cairo because Friday is church day.  We finish our working week on Thursday and before we know it we are travelling to the Cathedral early on Friday morning.  But there are occasions when it really does feel like a Sunday - when we can relax in the afternoon with a nice cup of coffee (we have finally found a shop that sells cafetieres and ground coffee), a Bach CD courtesy of BBC music magazine, and an old copy of the Sunday Times.  We have to haggle with the newspaper street vendors depending on the date of the newspaper, how many sections are missing and how dusty it is.  Today been especially dusty because of the khamaseen wind which carries sand and dust from the desert.  It means  the air quality is poorer than normal and visibility restricted which means the views of the skyscrapers are restricted.  So this afternoon is a perfect day to spend having a traditional Sunday afternoon although there is no log fire or roast beef dinner.    

Six Nations Champions

The old lady selling vegetables outside the metro station had a chuckle when I gave her my request.  I usually get confused when she tells me the final price which is normally said so quickly and with such a strong accent that I get the amount completely wrong.  But on this occasion after successfully ordering potatoes, onions, peas, chilli and courgettes I asked her for a kilo of shoes - gazar not gazma! 
The vegetable stew was especially good and as I am always willing to help Jane with her Arabic homework (you'll appreciate what a great help I can be) and because she has just got back from a girls weekend away I should now have enough brownie points to have an evening out next Saturday to watch England win the rugby Six Nations Grand Slam. Pete

Exploding Brains

We are starting to explore other places in which we could help.   One such place is the Diocese of Egypt Deaf Unit in Old Cairo, where we will be able to use TESOL training in a new environment.
The Unit includes a school for about 80 children aged from 5 years old.  It is amazing how much of communication is non-verbal, a deaf Egyptian child can find many ways to communicate with a British adult with little Arabic and no sign language.  The most uplifting part of the morning is the warm handshake and smile from each of the children. 
Our overstretched brains are going to have to find room for not only Arabic but also sign language for English letters - Arabic sign language would probably cause our heads to explode with too much information.

New Year Doughnut Celebrations

The beginning of January marks the first anniversary of our time in Egypt - although during the summer there was a break in the UK.  After a busy Christmas Eve (peeling vegetables) and Christmas dinner (44 people) we have had a quieter New Year.  We didn't know what to expect on New Year's Eve, so after watching the Aussie New Year on BBC World we decided to walk the streets to see what was happening - nothing much.  It seemed like any other evening so we decided to celebrate at a cafe which we had discovered during our ramblings.  We pondered those things that you miss when you're away from home as we settled into our seats at the 'House of Donuts' (US spelling) licking our lips in anticipation of our raspberry jam doughnuts (sounds more traditional than 'sugar raspberry fill') - they were very good.  So now we know where to go for the next special occasion, maybe even a chocolate eclair for a very special occasion. PS No receipt photos in the next blog.

Christmas Shopping

We left wet Somerset 7 weeks ago and we're gradually settling into dry and dusty Cairo.  Even though we were here for 5 months at the beginning of the year, we have still taken a while to adjust - especially Peter's stomach.  We are grateful to the staff at the language school and the Cathedral congregation who have made us feel very welcome.  Last night we got into the Christmas spirit by going to a candlelit service at a small local church, and next week we'll be going to the Christmas Eve & Christmas Day services at the Cathedral.  Our most recent 'Christmas' shopping trip has been for urgent supplies from a local western style supermarket.  The supplies of certain goods can be sporadic, which means that if you find a desired item it is advisable to grab as many as possible because you may never see them there again.  We have a shelf full of Jordan's muesli which has now disappeared from the supermarket shelves.  So on our last trip when jars of Coleman's mustard, Weetabix and Kellogg's All Bran (for Peter's stomach) were on sale we snapped them up - the jar of Coleman's mustard will fit into Peter's Christmas stocking but a box of All Bran may be a squeeze.  We also managed to find a copy of the Christmas edition of the BBC Music magazine which had a free copy of a collection of Christmas choral music  - now we're really getting into the Christmas spirit.

The Full Crate

Since booking our flight to Egypt we have had the pleasure to share a number of meals with family and friends.  Where possible we have chosen the tradition option such as roast venison, cottage pie, pigeon casserole, Marmite sandwiches and grilled gammon.  We will also keep up the tradition of our last fish 'n' chip meal at Heathrow before we fly away. 
As well as the pleasant task of sharing meals we have been repacking some of our belongings.  BA have kindly increased their charity flight allowance which means that Peter's guitar has been rescued from the dark recesses of our storage crate (no. 322) to be replaced with some of the things we have collected from our recent travels. As you can see all our belongings fill our crate so it's only possible to put something in when something comes out.

Not News

Our blog has recently been living up to its name of 'NOTT News' as there has been no news.  We have been waiting for the opportunity to share some exciting news but things have been very quiet on the visa front.  We have completed our church visits/home leave and we are now awaiting news from Is/Pal about our visa applications.  We have previously been able to enter Israel on a tourist visa and then change it in the country but this procedure has now stopped and long term visas have to be obtained before entering.  Amending a visa from within the country was hard enough but at least you could visit the government offices in person. 
During our home leave we have been able to spend some quality time with family and friends including a 'farm-sit' for Peter's sister and brother-in-law.  It was a time when Peter could be a real cowboy.