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Monday, December 15, 2008
some pictures for you
posting these seems to be a major pain in the arse at the moment but don't worry, i'm persevering.
Easy everyone, though there is only five of you at the moment. That must change!! Anyway to give you the latest update i've just got back from a short holiday in Alexandria. In case you dont know its a city on the mediterranean coast here. Very cool place, a lot more chilled out than Cairo. me and my two friends(candian and Swedish) stayed at a dirt cheap hotel that ended up having the most amazing view of the ocean(pictures included). it worked out to £2.50 for one night!! Anyway first thing we did was hit a seafood restaurant and gorged ourselves on about 50 shrimps and other sea faring creatures. we did the usual tourist shit, checked out the fort, presidents palace and all that crap. they have a policy here where the egyptians pay 2le(egyptian pounds)to enter the fort and the foreigners pay 25le. in a way its bullshit but its up to them i suppose. anyway with my facial features i fancied my chances of getting in on the egyptian price. i strolled up and handed over the money, it looked like it was going to work but unfortunately she asked me if i had any change and instead of just shaking my head like i should have done i opened my fucking mouth and replied in my obvious foreigner speaking arabic tongue. anyway, that was it, the chance was gone and it was the full price for me. oh well, fuck it next time eh! The other thing we did that i thought i should mention is we drove a speedboat around the bay for a while. Now this, is a seriously fuckin wicked thing to do, though typically i got told off for trying to turn it around at too higher speed.Alas we had to go back and on Sunday I strolled back into work which is very much a mixed bag in terms of enjoyment at the moment. Dont get me wrong i'm still loving it but some seriously annoying aspects are starting to fuck me off. I love my classes, the kids are still cool and i am really well liked by the egyptian staff even if i do say so myself. BUT......... the administrative side is seriously starting to fuck me off proper. we have to present our lesson plans and homework plans every sunday morning. as some of you no doubt know my personality does lean towards a lazy approach from time to time so invariably come sunday morning i'm in the shit. cue me spending my morning hiding away in the library away from these beraucratic wankers, they barely even look at the fucking things anway. once i get in the classroom though i love it. there is something extremely satisfying and rewarding having 25 eyes all looking towards you and hanging on your every word. which happens about 10% of the lesson but its still cool. i have to say one of the kids is a total stalker, he follows me everywhere and even waits for me outside the staffroom at the breaks and at the end of school. hes the one you might recall who told his mum to cut his hair like mine! another one saw that i had injured my hand and got me a big chocolate the next morning, that put a smile on my face!You might remember that i told you i have an adult stalker there as well. anyway thats still a problem, but i have been so blunt with her everytime she speaks to me that she might be getting the message finally. why can't the really hot ones stalk me??anyway away from work i finally showed the egyptians exactly how i play football when im at my best, the first three times my fitness was a joke it has to be said but i was totally on it last night though im still getting in trouble with fouling. as i said physical contact seems to be outlawed in egyptian football but i will not conform. i told them to watch a premiership game and watch how someone like rooney plays. they'll get used to it and to be fair i got tripped a few times in the last game so maybe the egyptians are uprising against the british way again, 50 years on from the first time!
Anyway i figure i've talked egypt up quite a lot so in my posts so its only fair i comment on some of the things about this place that do piss me off.
1-The rubbish
seriously the word recycle must be a less common phrase here than 'keep the change'. but that aint even the main problem. the biggest thing is that it really is universally acceptable to dump your rubbish in the street. it seems that rubbish trucks actually have a policy of just that. in some places i literally have walked over a road of rubbish to get to my location. i've also been in houses where people chuck their rubbish out of the window. many times i've been walking down the street only to see a water bottle or a packet of cigarettes land right in front of me, all because some wanker can't be bothered to walk the 4 yards to his bin on the 9th floor. it really is beyond a joke, now i know we are not whiter than white when it comes to dispensing our waste but i'd like to think 90%(too high?) of the time we would find a bin before we got rid of a bottle or newspaper or something. but it just dont happen here and i really do hate it.
2-unfinished buildings
what the fuck is this about. as i look out of the window of this internet cafe i can see two examples of this, it seems to be all the craze in egypt. someone buys a plot of land, builds the shell of about 5 storeys, then just seems to say fuck it. i wouldn't mind but 6 months later someone buys the plot of land next to it and does exactly the same thing. either these building companies have the worst accountants and budgeters in the world or they just get bored really quickly. anyway the result is in some places it looks like a half finished city.
anyway that is my rant over and i've probably exhausted your patience a little bit, the good news is i'm speaking more and more and understanding some words of what people are saying a little bit. believe me this is serious progress. a few weeks ago all i could here was noise comin from their mouths. so hopefully by the time you guys(whoever that might be) come out here i will be able to be a proper guide for you and not be embarassed to chat this language in front of you. So thats it i think. if you've managed to get this far i'm impressed and i've enclosed some pictures as a reward for your patience.
Take care everyone and as is becoming my catchphrase...... wrap up warm ; )
ma'asaalama
give me some comments, i know you're all to lazy but i would like to hear a little bit about whats goin on in your neck of the woods wherever that might be.
Anyway i figure i've talked egypt up quite a lot so in my posts so its only fair i comment on some of the things about this place that do piss me off.
1-The rubbish
seriously the word recycle must be a less common phrase here than 'keep the change'. but that aint even the main problem. the biggest thing is that it really is universally acceptable to dump your rubbish in the street. it seems that rubbish trucks actually have a policy of just that. in some places i literally have walked over a road of rubbish to get to my location. i've also been in houses where people chuck their rubbish out of the window. many times i've been walking down the street only to see a water bottle or a packet of cigarettes land right in front of me, all because some wanker can't be bothered to walk the 4 yards to his bin on the 9th floor. it really is beyond a joke, now i know we are not whiter than white when it comes to dispensing our waste but i'd like to think 90%(too high?) of the time we would find a bin before we got rid of a bottle or newspaper or something. but it just dont happen here and i really do hate it.
2-unfinished buildings
what the fuck is this about. as i look out of the window of this internet cafe i can see two examples of this, it seems to be all the craze in egypt. someone buys a plot of land, builds the shell of about 5 storeys, then just seems to say fuck it. i wouldn't mind but 6 months later someone buys the plot of land next to it and does exactly the same thing. either these building companies have the worst accountants and budgeters in the world or they just get bored really quickly. anyway the result is in some places it looks like a half finished city.
anyway that is my rant over and i've probably exhausted your patience a little bit, the good news is i'm speaking more and more and understanding some words of what people are saying a little bit. believe me this is serious progress. a few weeks ago all i could here was noise comin from their mouths. so hopefully by the time you guys(whoever that might be) come out here i will be able to be a proper guide for you and not be embarassed to chat this language in front of you. So thats it i think. if you've managed to get this far i'm impressed and i've enclosed some pictures as a reward for your patience.
Take care everyone and as is becoming my catchphrase...... wrap up warm ; )
ma'asaalama
give me some comments, i know you're all to lazy but i would like to hear a little bit about whats goin on in your neck of the woods wherever that might be.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Introduction
Hello everyone, I've decided that instead of posting you all emails on the advice of a good friend in London i'm gonna start my own blog. I hope i'm gonna update it once a week. I'm sure this will happen if i get into it and get decent internet connection, But anyways this will be a sample of life in Egypt from a young single ex-pat point of view. I'm sure i'll have many publishing offers but for now i'm in it for the love. Enjoy, my first full post will be in the next few days Insha'allah.
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