Jenna's Egypt

yoga playlist

2011-05-31T08:05:00.003-04:00

Hey there, here is my latest playlist for my yoga classes, enjoy!

Kick Drum Heart The Avett Brothers
Folding Chair Regina Spektor
Crazy In Love Beyonce
forget you Cee Lo Green
Relator Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Mushaboom Feist
Mr. Tough Yo La Tengo
From My Heart To Yours Laura Izibor
Lotus Flower Radiohead
The Go Getter The Black Keys
Black Mud The Black Keys
Mr Medicine Eliza Doolittle
Let the Record Go The Mynabirds
Lover Devendra Banhart
Goin' Back Devendra Banhart
Steady Pull Jonatha Brooke
Rock & Roll Eric Hutchinson
Food Chain Eric Hutchinson
Ok, It's Alright With Me Eric Hutchinson
Live High Jason Mraz
Love Matt Morris
You Are The Best Thing Ray LaMontagne
Move By Yourself Donavon Frankenreiter
Somewhere Over The Rainbow Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Brand New Day Joshua Radin
Flashdance Hollywood, Mon Amour ft Yael Naim

It's been a while, how are ya?

2011-05-11T14:08:00.000-04:00

{whoooosh} that's the sound of be blowing the dust off of this blog. My oh my, it's been a while. So here's what happened, in a nutshell;

~I threw a birthday party for my sweet baby girl. It was a lot of work, there were 40+ people, Ramona was perfect and sweet and covered in her Brown Bear, Brown Bear cake.

~My cousin Liz came to visit!

~We had some other visitors, and before you I knew it, it was time to go home again

~Home

~Home

~Merry Christmas!

~In January, near the end of our trip, I started to see some things online that were making me a little nervous about heading back. But, not wanting to be the nervous nelly who was just being paranoid, we left on schedule and arrived in Cairo on January 24th. Yeah.

~Now, another time I will detail the whole experience for you, I promise. The truth is, I'm still toying with the idea of trying to publish something. One way or another, you'll hear about it.

~So we were back for 2 weeks, and then on a plane(s) again heading home. We spent 2 weeks there. And made the best of our time. Happy that Ramona got one more dose of grandparent love...

~Getting back and getting settled was not for the faint of heart. It took a couple of months for things to truly go back to normal. We took a fun trip to the sea with some good friends. They were the friends we were holed up with during the revolution, so there was something cathartic about being together again under much sweeter circumstances.

~Now that we're in a bit of a routine, we're rolling into summer and ready for action. We're going to Cyprus in a few weeks, and have some Red Sea trips planned for later in the summer. This will be the first time we're spending the summer here and not going home. Yikes. But, Ramona and I will be back in the fall for 2 months so I can watch some dear friends get hitched. FALL! I'll be home for the Fall!

~Of course there have been numerous sewing projects and recipes, I'll do my best to recap those soon...

What lies beneath

2010-10-18T08:40:00.003-04:00

Well, after a lovely trip I came home to find out my Google account had been hacked, which meant I couldn't post to the blog until it was resolved. Such a bummer! I was so excited to tell you about the week! Oh well, a little delayed, but here it is...

It was quite a contrast from the last time we were there 2 years ago. A little one changes the rhythm of a vacation! Thankfully, Ira would get up with her in the morning and they would have some daddy/daughter time and go for walks while Mama caught up on some sleep. Most days we had a family breakfast and then either headed for the pool or the beach, depending on the water. The first couple days, the sea was really choppy and not good for snorkeling. I was out at one point and actually felt a little panicked when a wave crashed over my snorkel. I swam for shore and cut my foot on some coral! But the last few days it was really calm, the last day it was almost like a lake. So we would hang out at Eel Garden where we could drink lemon juice and take turns going out to snorkel while the other one played with Ramona on shore. When you're snorkeling, if you've never been, it's a bit like taking a long walk by yourself. You have a lot of time to think. Since we've moved away from my beloved East Coast of the U.S., I have often complained (sometimes loudly) that there isn't any "nature" here. I was often met with "oh, but the desert is so beautiful!" or "the trees bloom here year round!" but I had a hard time appreciating it. I love color and life and things around me can sometimes feel sparse. Even as we were packing for our trip there was a part of me that was wishing I was folding up sweaters and jeans for a camping trip instead of tossing in my swimsuit and sunscreen. But as I was marveling at the periwinkle coral and the cobalt blue fish, and the crystal clear water, I realized that there is a lot of beauty and color in this country, most of it is just underwater! I'll spare you the obvious "sometimes you have to look under the surface to find what you're looking for" analogy, but let's just say I was able to relax and enjoy myself more once I was enjoying what was in front of me instead of missing what wasn't.

My birthday was glorious, and I truly have the best husband in the world. I woke up (or, Ramona woke me up, more accurately) to a brand new digital SLR camera, which I'm sure you'll be seeing the fruits of very soon. I did some yoga in the amazing yoga shala at the hotel. I went for a snorkel, of course. AND Ira set me up with a massage! It was awesome and she worked out all of my knots resulting from carrying around my little sack of potatoes all the time : ) I even got to talk to both of my parents, which they were very excited about. I don't think the day would have been the same if I didn't get to hear them sing to me.

So now that we're back, the days are filled with preparations for another birthday in the family! I've been making decorations, testing out icing ideas, makings lists, reworking recipes, and anticipating the 50 people we're having over on Saturday. I didn't know that we KNEW 50 people in Cairo! But all of them want to come and celebrate with our little girl, how exciting! I will be sure to post all of the details, complete with pictures from the new camera. Now if only I wasn't afraid to use it!

I'm swamped

2010-10-05T06:57:00.002-04:00

Hey there, sorry I've been missing lately. My yoga teacher, Bobbi, is coming tonight and staying for a few days while she teaches a workshop at The Breathing Room. I'm very excited for her to get here, but not at all prepared. It's hard to straighten up when there is a curly headed tornado following behind me! And then, after Bobbi leaves; Ira, Ramona and I are going to Dahab for the week (and to celebrate my birthday!) So chances are, you won't see me for a little bit. But I'll be back with Red Sea pictures, and stories of planning Ramona's birthday party...among other things. Have a great week!!

A Sewing Tutorial!

2010-09-28T07:09:00.008-04:00

As a sewist who is constantly trolling the internet for free patterns, it's about time I give back! I once bought a pair of earrings in Doylestown and they came in a cute little fabric envelope. For a long time I wanted to make something similar, but on a larger scale. My friend Emily had a birthday the other day and it seemed like the perfect occasion to create it. Emily has flawless taste and has that "modern vintage" look down. I tried to choose fabric that she would like, but that would also match the only wide ribbon I have. Working from the same stash for 4 months can be a challenge. When working this pattern, it's best to not think about it. If you're like me, the folding and flipping will mess with your mind. Just follow directions, people.

Fabric Envelope
you will need...

one piece of fabric 6 1/2 x 20 inches (roughly. you could certainly go larger or smaller, but this is what I have pictured here)
one piece fusible webbing in corresponding dimensions
5 inches of ribbon (or enough to span the width of the envelope) I used about an inch wide ribbon here, but that can also be adjusted to your liking
coordinating thread
straight pins
coordinating thread
sewing machine
iron

1. Fuse the webbing to the wrong side of the fabric (see the packaging on the webbing for instruction).
2. Sew the raw edges under on the short sides of the fabric. And don't make fun of my ironing board, I got it here!

3. Pin the ribbon about an inch or so from one of the short edges.

4. Fold the short edges in, leaving about an inch of space in the middle. Pin.

It should look like this after you sew it and turn it right side out...

And this when you fold it in half and flip the ribbon around both sides!

Then of course, I had to wrap it!

I know it kind of looks like a Valentine, but again, you work with what you have. I actually got the card stock here, surprisingly cheap. But the ribbon came from home. All I did here, was stitch 2 sheets together, trim about 3 inches off the top sheet (so the other one could fold down) Then, I stitched the top flap and tied it with ribbon.

And here's the birthday girl with her cake that her husband magically made appear at the end of dinner. This may be the cradle of civilization, but the cake situation is usually pretty dire. But this one was great! Happy Birthday, Emily!

~Maadi Moments~

2010-09-27T04:58:00.005-04:00

So here is my other new feature of the week, a profile of my favorite places in Maadi. This week, I chose a new place to me. La Gourmandise!

I heard about it before we came back from the States last month. It's everything I dreamed it would be. Pink. Marble. Sweet...

The staff is helpful and competent, the treats are divine, and if I close my eyes I don't feel like I'm on Rd. 9 in Egypt, but on a Boulevard in Paris. My favorite items are the macrons (different from a macarOOn) these are less coconut and more a divine meringue sandwich in colors like green, pink, and yellow. The flavor I love at the moment? Earl Grey. Wow.

They also have ice cream! We don't get much ice cream here, at least not any that is worth mentioning. This is gelato quality. We had blueberry, yum! They package everything in pink and brown wrappings, which if you know me, delights me most of all. I am amassing a stash of pink and brown bags and boxes for who knows what. But I can't get rid of them! They're too pretty!

So now when I visit my favorite veggie guy on Rd 9, I can also pick up a sweet treat to enjoy with my afternoon tea. Heaven.

Snack Sunday

2010-09-26T04:17:00.002-04:00

I'm hoping to make this a weekly post, my favorite snack of the week!

This week, crusty bread with cream cheese and a fresh fig all smooshed on top...

Stay tuned this week for a new "about town" feature AND my first pattern!

Yoga and Cookies

2010-09-25T05:05:00.003-04:00

Who says they don't go together? On thursday, I had some of friends/yoga students come over for some tea, cookies, and other assorted baked goods. We had a lovely chat about yoga, Cairo and travel, among other things. It was a wonderful morning spent on the semi renovated balcony. And after everyone had a belly full of sugar we decided to try some yoga tricks. Always a good idea...

I made some maple leaf cookies for the gathering. Still inspired by Fall, even though it was at least 90 degrees out on the balcony that morning.

They went a little some thing like this...

Maple Leaf Cookies with Maple Nutmeg Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape(like a maple leaf!), place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack.

After cookies have cooled, blend 1/2 cup of very soft butter with 2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons milk until icing spreads smoothly. After frosting the cookies, I sprinkled a combination of sugar and nutmeg over each cookie.

All hail the pomegranate

2010-09-22T13:22:00.004-04:00

It's officially Autumn, and in some ways, the hardest time for me to be away from home. I am a Fall girl, I love it all, the sweaters, the cider, the leaves, the school supplies. Now that Ramona is here, I am trying incorporate Egyptian "Fall" things, as well as decorate and discuss what Fall means at home, too. This time of year, we are blessed with the pomegranate.

By the way, I can never spell that properly. It always ends up looking like pommegranite?, pomegranete? Anyway, thanks to spell check, I don't have to embarrass myself. The "poms" here are wonderful, giant and pink and juicy. A fairly decent substitute for apples, I think. We like to just eat the seeds, but I made a couscous salad with them that I thought I'd pass along.

PomPistach Couscous

2 Cups couscous
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
drizzle olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare couscous according to box. Allow to cool slightly. Toss together with other ingredients. We enjoyed it just as it is, but it would also be lovely on a bed of lettuce.

Happy Autumn!!

If you come to visit...

2010-09-21T07:36:00.003-04:00

You will likely be sleeping on these!

They are Guest Room Pillows from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. At first I was scared, but they turned out to be easy.

Surely they are worth a plane ticket to Cairo, no?

What I've been making...

2010-09-18T14:29:00.006-04:00

So I'll keep the words to a minimum and focus on some pictures for a change...

Ramona's birthday quilt (finished a month and a half early!) I'm calling it "Girl in Africa" for the animal theme fabric and well,
because she is a girl in Africa!

Spelt pizza

Throw pillows for the deck to go with our lovely new plants!!

I'm so excited about the Indian Jasmine!

I've also been testing recipes for Ramona's party, trying to spread the sugary treats across several weeks. So far, I've attempted Fleur de Sel Caramels, they were really good, but not firm enough. And I also made Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese frosting just for fun. And then, of course scones and chai for any friends or visitors.

And lastly, here's an "update" of sorts. Remember these pants?? Well, here they are being worn by the little legs they were made for! She's finally big enough to wear them, although, if I make them again, I'm going to leave much more room for the cloth diaper butt...

jet lag and jet fuel

2010-09-01T19:53:00.003-04:00

One of the major downsides to living abroad is the inevitable jet lag you have at least once a year when you go home. For those of you who are not world travelers (I myself was not one until I embarked on this crazy adventure!) it goes like this; traveling west, you just go to bed early and wake up early. Traveling east, you can try to go to bed at a normal/late-ish time, but you wake up at like 2 or 3 or 4am (notice the time on this post) and then you want to sleep and nap all day. Super. Now, that is all well and NOT good. But when you have an infant who is also jet lagged, it's pretty much the worst. I wouldn't be surprised if wars, divorces, and famines happened because of this very thing. So Ramona has been taking normal naps, going to bed at her normal time (maybe a little early) and then waking up ready to play at like 1am. I have been so tired and grouchy this week! I wish I had some advice, but I'm still working it out in my head. Time zone math, and all other math, is not my strong suit. It's like "if a train is traveling at 60 miles an hour..." kind of stuff and I can't do it. However, I will say, that it seems like keeping her up as late as possible is the way to go. And not letting her sleep too late during her afternoon nap, but that's kind of a no brainer. Tonight was pretty good, she went down around 8:30 and slept til midnight, was awake for maybe a half hour (big improvement over 2 or 3 hours) and then went back down. She's fussed a few times since then, but it seems that she's doing better. So how am I getting through the days on not enough sleep? Well. Let me tell you about a tragedy first. Right before we left, I broke the french press. My only link to good coffee, shattered on the kitchen floor. I brought back some yummy pumpkin spice and snickerdoodle, but alas, unless I want to eat it out of the bag (and I've thought about it) I have to wait until I have the energy to go shopping for a new one. So, I've been drinking this amazing tea instead. I love tea, but normally it doesn't give me the jolt I need. It's more of a relaxing, end of the night kind of thing for me. But Chai usually works. So, I've tried lots of different things, brewing it in the milk, brewing it water and adding milk, but it never has that, please forgive me, Starbucks kind of taste. It's never thick enough or something. I had read about this "chai concentrate" on a few different blogs last spring and I thought it sounded interesting, but I didn't have access to some of the spices so I bookmarked it for another time. Well, before I left the U.S. I wisely looked up some recipes I had been wanting to try and gathered the ingredients I needed. So the stuff works like this, you make a batch of the concentrate, throw it in the fridge, and then it's good for 6 months. And it's enough for 28 cups! I had bought some cinnamon tea at One Good Woman and it seemed like the perfect match. Oh yes. It was. This is what has been getting me through the week people.

Chai Concentrate

Makes about 1 1/2 cups (enough for 28 cups of chai)

Ingredients

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Empty condensed milk into a jar or plastic container with tight-fitting lid. Stir in the sugar*, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Store in refrigerator.

To use: Brew a cup of strong black tea, then add two heaping teaspoons of concentrate or more to taste. Stir well until concentrate has fully melted.

To give: Pour into small jars with lids and tie with an attractive bow, or wrap the jar first. Attach a tag with instructions to keep the mix refrigerated and how to use it.

To keep: Store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

*I thought it was pretty sweet and I think I'll leave out the sugar next time...

Round 3

2010-08-30T04:32:00.003-04:00

I can't believe we're beginning our 3rd year in Cairo! The summer was fantastic of course, expensive, but fantastic. Ramona charmed her way from Harrisburg to Philly to Seattle to West Virginia. We had a bad health scare with her, and she was actually hospitalized, but she's ok now and hopefully that's the last time we ever have to deal with anything like that. The flight back the other day was pretty rough. The bigger she gets, the harder it is to hold her. She doesn't fit across our laps anymore and so we have to have her straddle us and lay against our chests when she's sleeping. And then when she's awake, she's a squirmy worm and it's also pretty difficult. I can't imagine what it'll be like in December when she can walk! Also, I have an undying respect for all my friends here who have more than one (sometimes more than 2!) children and do that trip. It's not easy, but it's worth it to see how happy she makes her grandparents...

So what do we have on tap for the fall?? Well, Ira is on a "pre-tenure leave" this semester, which means he'll be working on his next book and won't be teaching classes. We have high hopes that this will mean more family time, since he'll be writing all day and then be home with us in the evenings without having to do grading/class prep, etc. I will be teaching yoga 3 nights a week to start, depending on how things go, I may add more. My yoga teacher, Bobbi, is coming again in October to teach a workshop and we plan on going to Dahab for a few days while she's here. We also have a big FIRST birthday coming up! Baby Ramona will be Toddler Ramona in a couple months. VERY hard to believe. I wish there was some non-cliche way of saying "I can't believe how big she's getting/how time flies/it seems like yesterday that she was born" but there really isn't. Other than that, I'll just be cooking, baking, sewing, and crafting with all the fun books and supplies I brought back with me. Can't wait to see what the next few months have in store, I'm sure there will be new friends, adventures, and Egypt-ness as always. Stay tuned...

Limbo

2010-06-16T05:20:00.003-04:00

These few days, the days before leaving for the summer, can be the hardest for me here in Egypt. My mind is already in Pennsylvania and there is still so much to do here. Normally, Ira is done going to campus by now, but because he was Chair of the department this year, he is still tying up loose ends, and has to attend both the undergraduate and graduate graduations this week as well. This leaves me with a lot of Ramona time. Which I adore! However, it means that all the packing, gift/souvenir buying, preparing food/baby stuff/entertainment for a day's worth of travel, last minute get togethers, and prepping the flat for our 2 month absence are going to have to wait until the day before and the day we leave. Sigh. So I'm all geared up for these things, but I don't have the time or the chance to do them with a baby, 100 degree weather, and a broken (!) stroller. So I am trying to stay in the moment with my little girl and enjoy our last few days of "just the two of us" before the grandparents take over. Although, this mama will welcome the break!

Maadi Moments

2010-06-05T15:59:00.006-04:00

Maadi, for those who don't know, is name the name of our neighborhood in Cairo. I often tell people it's like living in Brooklyn; tree lined, pretty, and there are a lot of strollers. Here are some photos from our weekend wanderings...

The Indian Jasmine trees on our street (my favorite in all of Egypt, I believe)

I love morning walks where you can still see the moon. It's there, very tiny in the middle.

I captured these on my way to grab coffee and meet Amanda and Gordana for a little "yard sailing"and breakfast at Cuba Cabana.

Ramona and Veli playing at a yoga garden party...

Poolside...

I think some of the kids call this a "fairy tree"

I love this villa

Where did you wander this weekend?

A yoga article, by me!

2010-06-01T05:56:00.003-04:00

So here is the big announcement I alluded to the other day...
I have an article in the Rhythm of the Home Summer edition! It's on how to develop a home yoga practice that works for you. I won't share too much more because I want you to go over there and check it out. And all the other great stuff! I haven't even had a chance to look at everything yet because I'm too excited! haha And I have to give a shout out to my friend Pete who took all the pictures. Yay Pete!

Home

2010-05-31T17:41:00.003-04:00

Heather, Lauren, and Andi after watching the first Sex and the City movie...

I'm having a late night screening of the first "Sex and the City" movie. It came out 2 years ago, a few weeks after I got married, a few months before I left for Cairo. No matter how many times I watch it (read: a lot) all those emotions come to the surface for some reason. I know that most people feel that movies mirror their lives in some way, or that we can all say we're a "Carrie" or a "Charlotte," but man! This one rang true. I can still remember sitting in the theater watching it with my girlfriends, thinking about the broken heart they helped me mend, and how I would likely be breaking theirs when I left them at the end of the summer. Sigh. Of course, there are all the funny moments and the fashion moments to ease the pain a bit. But in some ways, those parts make it that much harder. Because those are the moments that you live your friendships. The day to day. The "guess what song is on the radio right now?" phone calls. While I have as much contact with my friends as I could ever hope to have considering that they are an ocean and a continent away, it's the day to day that I truly miss. And knowing that the sequel to this silly movie that somehow defined that time in my life came out this weekend, well, I think that just brings it all back up again.
But don't worry ladies, I'll be home in 19 days.
Love you.
p.s. My 100th post! Kind of lame that it took me almost 2 years to get to this point, but hey, it's still worth celebrating...

Whatcha makin'?

2010-05-30T16:21:00.006-04:00

All sorts of things! I'm feeling very productive this weekend. Oh how I love when Ira turns in his grades! In the past 2 days I've made Peach Basil Cobbler, a headband, a skirt, chocolate peanut butter milkshakes, lentil burgers, mended a few things, worked on a summer sweater for Ramona (who else?) But my favorite are these...

Sorry about the blurry foot, but this shot was the best of the lot... I don't really have a pattern, I kind of just modeled them after some of her other pants. This is the 2nd pair I've made. I promise next time I'll pay more attention to yardage and such.

And just one more. Because those cheeks might be the best thing I've ever made from scratch.

What are you making this holiday weekend??

Miracle bottle

2010-05-28T04:30:00.003-04:00

No, not THAT kind of miracle bottle. I'm talking about GSE, or Grapefruit Seed Extract. About a year and a half ago I went to Vermont to study with Christine Hoar at Bristol Yoga. While she has a wealth of yoga knowledge she is also an Ayurvedic practitioner and advises me on health issues. When I last saw her, I had only been living in Egypt for about 4 months so I hadn't really gotten a handle on how to treat "Mummy Tummy", as we delicately call it. Those that have traveled south of the border may refer to it as "Montezuma's Revenge"? You get the idea. Christine has traveled to India several times and she suggested GSE. I couldn't believe that no one was using it in Egypt! It's not that the water here is dirty, on the contrary, it's so heavily chlorinated and chemically treated to take OUT all the bad stuff, that it's bad for you in other ways, but it doesn't make you sick. So why do we get sick? Well, the fruits and vegetables are fertilized a little differently than they are in the States. They often times use human fertilizer instead of animal. I know, gross. Although, I have to say I'm kind of starting to get over it. I mean, poop is poop, right? Well, except that I guess this kind can make you a lot sicker. This is where the GSE comes in. This is what we use to wash all of our produce. It's highly concentrated and we just add several drops to a big bowlful of water and let things soak for about 20 minutes or so. It works really well and I think I can confidently say that we haven't gotten sick since we've used this method. So there's the fertilizer issue and then there's the 3rd world country issue. There isn't a board of health going around to inspect all the restaurants to make sure they're clean or that their workers are practicing proper hygiene while preparing and serving the food. I know you are all buying your tickets to Egypt right now, aren't you?! There's just no way to avoid the possibility that you might get sick. Eating at a "good" restaurant doesn't make you immune. There is a tragic story about the juice bar at the Four Seasons that infected dozens of innocent brunch goers. So we can either never go out to eat, or just accept that this is where we live and this sometimes happens. I had that attitude until the other day when I got so sick I was sure I'd never get better. I was worried about taking antibiotics, being a breastfeeding mama. What could I have eaten?! This is the game that you play, you think about everything you've eaten and everything you've come in contact with in the past 2 weeks. THEN I started thinking about all the kids MY kid has come in contact with and where THOSE kids have had their little fingers. Forget it. It's a germ spiral that never ends. So I made myself a little tummy tonic that did the trick.

Tummy Tonic
glass of sparkling water
1 tablespoon grated ginger
5 drops GSE

I had 2 glasses over a 4 or 5 hour time period and felt all better. No drugs! Yay! The armfuls of gladiolas that Ira brought me didn't hurt either...

New Beginnings

2010-05-27T04:03:00.010-04:00

I'm not even going to make excuses for my absence this time. I'm pretty sure this was my longest hiatus from the blog. Yes, there has been a lot going on, but there's always a lot going on. But it dawned on me the other day that if you are taking the time to read my blog, then I should be taking the time to write it.
So what HAS been going on??
Well. Since I last wrote, (I'm not going to mention the date, even though you can scroll down and look for yourself. Ouch.)
Ramona got 2 teeth and one sassy personality...
We went to Hurghada
One of my best friends came to visit
I've had lots of fun with friends
I taught a partner yoga workshop
We went to Ain Sukhna
I've done a good bit of sewing We MOVED. Just up 2 floors, but it was kind of sad. Mostly because the reason the space became available was that our good friends Yasir and Sufia moved to Doha.
As sad as I was when we first moved into that place, so many happy things have happened since then. We've done a lot of living! We brought our baby girl home to that flat
And let's not forget the mural
It was sad to leave the mural
But Mama has already promised another one...
So the most exciting news came in the form of an "acceptance" email of sorts. More on that in a few days...
So I'm back. Although, we are leaving for home (yippie) in a few weeks so I can't promise for how long. But in the meantime, here's a sunset from our new porch...

Food

2010-03-08T15:40:00.003-05:00

I think by now everyone knows that I like to cook and bake. I love sharing recipes with you, it's what I would do if you were actually here sharing a meal with me. I may even write them on one of these cards
So here it is, another recipe post...
We had a sandwich night a couple of weeks ago and instead of making something we always have I used some toasted Roggan Bread from Fino and made a white bean mash, topped it with long thin strips of cucumbers and shaved Petit Cantal Cheese. It looked promising, but begging for a colorful side dish. Enter the apple slaw...

Neither Ira nor I are fans of overly creamy slaw and, truth be told, I would rather use a dollop of sour cream than mayo, but the market was on a sour cream drought that week so mayo was what I had to work with. The whole thing really came about from what we had on hand. The best kind of recipe, I think! It was a perfect, crunchy companion to the sandwich. And I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. Sorry, Ira!

Apple Slaw

half a head of purple cabbage, thinly sliced
one apple, thinly sliced
one handful chopped cilantro
1 tbs. mayo (or sour cream!)
2 tsp. celery seed
black pepper and salt to taste

Toss the cabbage, apple, and cilantro with the mayo and celery seed. Season with salt and pepper.

stockpile

2010-03-06T07:57:00.006-05:00

In the past week I have had at least a half a dozen ideas for blog posts. I spent half the week writing them in my head, and the other half deciding which one to write first. Now it's a week later and I didn't post any! So I'm just going to pick one and go for it. We went to Memphis and Saqqara 2 weeks ago on a trip with AUC. As I think I've said before, one of the perks of Ira working there is they schedule these days trips and weekend excursions each semester. This one was nice, it was hot but not unbearable. It was our first time taking Ramona on one of these adventures and she did pretty well! Mama was super freaked out about the sun and loaded her up with sunscreen, a hat, long sleeves and pants. I am somehow convinced that this little angel is going to leave Egypt one day looking like a vintage leather handbag. Anyway, we loaded up the diaper bag and off we went. Our first stop was Memphis. Yes, I made tons of Elvis and Graceland jokes. I was also the only one laughing at them. It's kind of a sparse site, with a few nicely preserved column bases, statues, and a sphinx. I don't know how many of these trips I have to go on before I figure out that there are thousands and thousands of pieces of thousands of artifacts and all the sites kind of look the same. This one was a little different because there is a pristine Colossus of Ramsesses II, it looks as if they dug it up yesterday. There was a crew filming there, which was kind of interesting. They were NOT happy about the tourists interfering with their shot. Maybe next time they won't shoot in the middle of the day on a Saturday! It was nice that they had all their big fancy lights set up because it made my pictures really nice! We didn't spend too much time there before we were off to Saaqara. We arrived and were about to go underground into a well preserved Old Kingdom tomb when Ramona started fussing. I was hoping I could wait until we were on the way home, or better yet all the way home, before I had to feed her. But apparently that wasn't going to happen. So I asked Louise (the woman who organizes all the tours) if I could hop back on the bus and feed her. I could tell she was overheated and hungry. I decided to unbutton her shirt a little bit to let her cool off. She was really fussing at this point and in my haste I accidentally pinched the skin of her neck. I have never heard a scream like that in my life. Not at birth, not the when she was up all night with tummy troubles. Never. It almost made me cry. And then there was the bus driver. The well meaning, but really annoying bus driver. He kept coming back and asking "can you help me?" (translation: can I help you?) At first I was so frazzled and overheated myself that I was thinking "what the heck does he need help with and why is he asking me now??!" It was sweet of him to want to help, but at that point it was just making things worse because I couldn't give her my full attention and by now I know she was starting to feel my tension as well. So I had her lying on the seat next to me, I drank a little water and started over. I picked her back up and she was able to nurse a little bit and calm down. Of course by the time Ira and the rest of the group came back, she was back to her smiling self. I'm sure I looked like a bad version of a Cathy cartoon. Ira carried her the rest of the time, we got some fun pictures of her and got to see some wonderful stone buildings. The first in the world, in fact! I hope you enjoy the pictures...

2010-02-26T11:46:00.004-05:00

Upon my daily visit to SouleMama, I discovered that she is doing a new feature on Fridays called {This Moment} She describes it as; "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."
Sounds good to me!

yoga, scones, and headbands

2010-02-22T02:13:00.002-05:00

If I were to fill out a questionnaire and it asked for "hobbies" I would say; crafting, baking, and yoga. Although, yoga is a little deeper than a hobby...but that's a whole other blog entry. Anyway, those are the things that, when I do them, I feel peaceful, happy, energized, and maybe even like I'm contributing something. I strive to do at least one of these things everyday. It's been harder since I am on a 4 month old's schedule now (yes, she's FOUR MONTHS!) but I try. It's been good lately though. She's on a good sleep schedule for now and I've been able to do "me" things a bit more often.
Last night I made these scones. Oh. my. stars. Stop reading this blog and make them RIGHT NOW! They were phenomenal. That may be a bit dramatic when I'm talking about baked goods. But wow. They were so light. And that's not very scone-like behavior. I used some of the last of the dried cranberries we brought back last month from the States, I also added a good bit of lemon zest. They were gone in less than 24 hours.
I wake up early most mornings, and then my amazing husband takes the baby for a few hours until he has to leave around 9:30. I typically spend that time sleeping. Either because I was up late, or because I have a full day of mama-ing ahead of me and I want to rest up. But this morning I was awake around 6:30 or so and I stayed up. I could have gone back to bed, but I decided to get in a quick yoga practice in before Ira had to leave. It was pretty brief, but it felt great. It's taken me a while to get back in my yoga grove since the baby was born. Fatigue, travel, irregular schedules, etc. make it difficult to find time for anything consistent. But today I decided to forget about that and just practice.
After that, I sat down at the sewing machine and made 2 headbands that I had been thinking about doing for weeks. One was using material I had from an Amy Butler fat quarter bundle I got at Spool in Philly last month. Kinda cute, right? And the other was 2 toddler headbands from the Gap that I chopped up and sewed back together so Ramona and I can, well, match. She has a dress in the same material. I promise, I'll only torture her until she's like 2.
I went on to have a really great day, and even banged out some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies during afternoon nap! Not all days are like this, but the ones that are are pretty great.

Breakfast, lately

2010-02-05T06:43:00.005-05:00

The jet lag is finally wearing off after our trip home to the States. It was a good week or so of the baby and I having a "who can sleep more" contest. She won. So in an effort to get back to "normal" I'm trying out some new recipes. As usual, I have to modify them for what is available here, something I think I'm finally used to. Although I've been making things for meals throughout the day, here's what breakfast has looked like lately...
Strawberry season is in full swing so here are some strawberry muffins (and some One Good Woman coffee)
Next up are Mushroom and Cheddar Frittata Cups with home fries... Now for the recipes...

Strawberry Muffins
I used this one to start but the batter was too thick and I wanted to make a few changes...

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 to 1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

1tsp lemon zest
3 tsps sugar
1 tbs cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries and lemon zest.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes.

Makes one dozen muffins.

As for the frittata cups, they were an early morning idea I had while lying in bed. I've seen similar recipes (South Beach, maybe?) but this one is all my own.

Mushroom and Cheddar Fritatta Cups

I only have a 6 muffin tin, but you could easily double this for a bigger pan. I could see this being an easy brunch dish!

7 eggs
1/4 cup milk
handful sliced mushrooms
handful grated cheddar
butter for the pan
salt and pepper to taste

pre heat oven to 350
grease the muffin pan
in a bowl whisk together the eggs and the milk
gently pour the egg mixture into the individual muffin cups
evenly divide the cheddar and the mushrooms between each cup and sprinkle each over top
salt and pepper each cup
Bake for about 20 minutes or until brown on top

Consider these recipes a make up kiss for not blogging enough. I'll try to not stay away so long next time... : )

the 10lb life changer

2009-12-07T08:15:00.003-05:00

I'm guessing on the weight since it's been a few weeks since the last weigh in, but here she is!

Ramona Sabine Wray Dworkin was born on Ocotber 25th at 9:25pm. It was quite an ordeal, which I won't go into here (visit the baby blog for that saga) but I'll just say that it was 2 days of waiting, contracting, and screaming for drugs. Here are some "Egyptian" details from the experience...
*Ira had to go to the hospital and reserve a room the day before (I was induced)
*we stayed in a suite where they brought a fruit bowl each day
*nurses that don't speak English
*baby girls get their ears pierced at birth, therefore everyone thought she was a boy (and still do)
*you have to pay for all the services up front
I'm sure there are other things that I'm either forgetting or blocking out, but those are some highlights. It was really fine all around. She's perfect and lovely and we are loving every minute of parenthood.
That being said, please forgive my long absence from the blogs and thank you (most of you) for not harassing me too much about it. I am back! I can't promise regular postings, but when I get a moment where there's a nap that I'm not participating in, I'll be posting. Although, as promised when I found out I was pregnant, all baby blabber will be reserved for the other blog. Also, I'm planning on posting crafting, knitting, and sewing on that blog. So if that's your thing, check it out.
We leave in 2 weeks for our trip home for the holidays, can't wait!

Jenna and the Giant Peach

2009-09-03T03:52:00.003-04:00

Ok, I know this is a lame blog post, and I've been a slacker AGAIN. But Ira brought home the biggest peach I've ever seen and I had to share! This also leads me to talk about how OBESESSED I am with the juicer and the blender/food processor we bought a couple weeks ago. I am pulverizing anything I can these days. Here are some of the fun things I've been making; smoothies made from everything from Mango to Peach to Guava, Homemade salsa, pear ginger juice, orange juice, plum apple juice, pommegrante/apple/pear juice...but I would say the crowning glory would have to be the watermelon mint granita we had with dinner the other night. Just watermelon, mint, and ice, yum!

Our week in Paris

2009-08-21T05:18:00.004-04:00

Ira and I spent a week in Paris en route back to Cairo. Although we had both been there before, I thought we managed to find a balance and do lots of things we hadn't done before...
DISCLAIMER: My French spelling sucks and I am too lazy to look it up or ask my fluent husband. We landed early in the morning on monday and made our way to the hotel by bus. We stayed at the Edouard IV in Montparnasse. We couldn't check in right away, so we had a little bite to eat at one of the cafes next door. After getting up to our room (small but very clean) I needed a shower and a nap. Ira pretended that he didn't need a nap, but cut to 4 hours later when we were both waking up from some much needed rest. After that, we went to the Pompidu Center. I had never been there before, it was great. And the view was not to be believed. After that we had a lovely little dinner right across the street from the museum. We then made our way to another little spot for some dessert.
The next day we went to the Musee D'Orsay, one of my favorite places on earth. I love the old converted train station, it's just a magnificent space. We then walked to the St. Germain area for a late lunch. We took the metro back to the hotel because my pregnant feet couldn't take any more walking at that point. We stopped at the cafe for some ice cream for me and a beer for Ira. We had an early night, I'm pretty sure the pregnant mama was asleep by 9pm.
Wednesday we went to one of my OTHER favorite places on earth, the Rodin Museum and gardens. I had special memories of this spot when I was there with my Aunt Barb several years ago. We got there too late to go in the museum but had a wonderful couple of hours in the rain exploring the gardens and dreaming on the benches. Ira and I were lucky enough to go inside and it was just as spectacular as I imagined it would be all those years ago. I think I took more pictures in there than any other place we visited. It was a bright and sunny day this time, I can't decide if maybe I liked it more in the rain...I didn't want to leave, but eventually my hunger won out and we had a fabulous lunch, probably my favorite of the trip. I ate a huge cheese plate that I'm still thinking about weeks later. After lunch we walked down the street to the Quai Branley Museum. It was a very interesting space. It had a lot of great pieces of African art and Ira wanted to go there to see a Tarzan exhibit. He was less than thrilled with it, but we were glad we went anyway. Next, we were off to the Eifel Tower. We had intended to go up but the lines were so long! So we settled for admiring it from below and taking pictures. It was kind of funny, most days we ate lunch so late that we didn't even need dinner. But I always needed dessert!
For our last full day we went to the Musee Dans La Rue, a modern gallery space. Ira was way into the graffiti exhibit they had. It was very...thorough. Let's just say that I spent a good part of 3 or 4 hours sitting on a bench while my darling husband soaked it all in. : ) Don't get me wrong, it was a great exhibit, I just got the general idea and then I was ready to move on. But Ira loved it and I'm glad we went. Next, more cheese for mama! I made my way through another massive cheese plate (with some help from Ira) I spotted a pastry shop right next to the cafe so of course we had to stop in. We left with 3 kinds; apple, apricot, and peach. We walked along the Seine and looked at all the strange and interesting things the booksellers were shilling. We stopped in a little shop where I wanted to buy everything : ) It was lovely making our way past all the bridges. Where were we heading?? The ferris wheel!! I know it's cheesy and the French hate it, but we were so excited to go up in that thing. Ira was filming a movie for the baby. We got in and then once we got up towards the top we both started freaking out a little bit. I'm pretty sure at one point I looked over and Ira had his eyes closed, haha. It was so high! And you're in this rinky dink little thing that doesn't really have sides to it or anything. But we survived. And I ate apple pastry while looking down on the Louvre and the Eifel Tower, it doesn't get much better than that. After we safely disembarked the big scary ferris wheel, we got some churros. I know. We are ugly Americans. But they smelled sooooo good! And I'm pregnant so I get an ugly American free pass. After gorging ourselves on fried dough, we sat on chairs in the jardin tulleries and looked up into the trees, one of my favorite things to do. We walked towards the L'Arc du Triomph. We got someone to take our picture but you can't really make it out in the back round very well. Anyway, it was a perfect last evening in Paris. The next morning we had one last lovely breakfast (I am still wishing for the fresh squeezed orange juice, and the grapefruit for that matter) and then it was off to the airport. We can't wait to go back someday with the baby!
The slide show is coming, as usual be patient.

I'm back, baby!

2009-08-17T06:59:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone! How are you? I know, I know, I have been a baaaaad blogger. But here's the thing. I figure that you all knew I was having a wonderful time at home in the States and I didn't feel the need to tell you about all the ice cream and sushi I was eating. I had a fabulous summer. Spent lots of time with family and friends and saw 8 movies! I just can't get enough of the coke slushies.
So, back in Cairo. It's really hot. I've been staying in because after two long flights and a week in Paris walking everywhere, I was very swollen in my ankles, feet and hands. I decided I needed a couple days to shrink back to normal and hydrate. Not to mention, scrub the flat. The dust and sand infiltrated while we were gone. I'm trying to attack it slowly but surely. So now I'm just waiting for all of our friends to get back. We are really the only ones who are back. Unless people have kids (they started school this week) it's really best to stay away from the heat as long as possible. But since I'm going to have this baby in 8 weeks (!), I needed to get back earlier than we would have liked. I did have lunch with Gordana and Veli yesterday, and then baby sat Veli, which involved watching Mary Poppins and eating organic lollipops I brought back for the boys!
Alright, that's all for now. Look forward to more regular updates, at least until Baby Dworkin shows up!

*first picture is the "Bickhart Beach Babes" girls weekend for my grandmother's 80th birthday
*second picture is of my baby shower thrown by my best friends
*third picture is of my brother Connor and me on the haunted mansion ride in Rehoboth Beach.

week one

2009-06-24T13:39:00.003-04:00

I've been home a little over a week and apart from missing Ira all the way in the Congo, it's gone by really fast. The flights were hard and it took my pregnant body almost a week to recover. I had swelling in my legs and feet, some sort of weird pain in my knee that didn't go away for a few days, and a twinge in my hip that I'm still dealing with. I have to say thank you to the Air France guy who let me have my own row on the way from Paris to Dulles, even though the rest of the plane was packed. I can't imagine what kind of shape I would be in if I wouldn't have been able to put my feet up for 8 hours. But I arrived in one piece, stayed at Kelly and Andy's the first night, went to breakfast with Kelly and Laurie the next morning (Lox, bagel, and cream cheese!) then Kelly drove me halfway and we met my dad in Maryland. The rest of the week was filled with dinners and lunches catching up with friends and relatives. Then, this past weekend, I went to Rehoboth Beach with my mom, grandmother, Aunt Nancy, and cousins Elizabeth and Sarah to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. It was 3 days of shopping, eating, beaching (when the weather would cooperate), and lots and lots of giggling. I don't miss Egypt yet, other than Amanda and all my friends. Maybe in a few more weeks...

Bye-ro Cairo

2009-06-13T02:56:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I''m weird and bye-ro isn't a word but it rhymes so I'm going with it. This is the last post from Cairo for at least a couple of months. I will still post from the States, for there will be lots going on and fun pictures for you to look at I'm sure! So let's see...
Suitcases? Barely started packing.
Flat? A mess.
Gifts? Not done getting them yet.
Why am I blogging instead of doing these things? Good question.

Eggs? No, figs!

2009-06-10T07:42:00.005-04:00

Today we had a good bye lunch with the Westmorelands. Gordana and the boys are off to Serbia and various other parts of Europe and Mark will be joining them as well as doing some research in Lebanon. After lunch we walking and I spotted some cherries at one of the fruit stands! Yay! So I bought a half kilo, although I have a feeling they'll be gone by the end of the day. I was really looking for figs because Amanda and Pete had told me they bought some and the word is they are in season now. Plus, I had an idea to make fig bars for the airplane. I asked if they had them and he said "how many?" I asked if I could see them and he proceeds to walk me 3 doors down to a little grocery store. There, the shop keeper pulled out some eggs. "Eggs?" he asked. "No, fiiiiiiiiiiigs" I replied. It was all very funny. Or at least Ira thought so. In the end they didn't have any, but the other fruit stand (my favorite one) had both green and black figs. The man there proceeded to break one of each in half and hand them to Ira and me to try. They were both amazing but I thought the black ones would be better for cooking. So we got a kilo for about $3. I don't even want to think about how much they would be in the States! I had to resist buying tons of other fruit that looked delicious; mangoes, melons, peaches...we're leaving in a few days and although I could probably eat it all, I wouldn't want any to go to waste. There are some figs on the stove right now cooking down to be made into bars. If they are any good, I'll post my recipe!

Swine Flu

2009-06-08T14:58:00.003-04:00

Oh yes, just what I wanted to hear 5 days before leaving. The Swine Flu is here and it has hit close to home (sort of). 2 AUC students who arrived from America last week have it, and it's suspected that at least one other student has it as well. The good news is, Amanda has the week off so I'll get to see a lot of her before I leave (and spend extra time at the pool, which my ever swelling feet can use). The bad news is that Ira isn't allowed on campus which means some unresolved insurance issues before we leave as well as inconveniences like not being able to print things, go to the bank, and get my brother an AUC t-shirt : ) Oh well...I'm happy that Ira and I will get to spend extra time together since we won't see each other for a month after Saturday :( But that means that I am less motivated than I already am to start packing and organizing the flat! I shouldn't be complaining when the poor AUC kids are quarantined in their dorm! I just hope it was an isolated incident and everyone is ok...

duh

2009-06-03T04:42:00.002-04:00

So, having 2 blogs is not usually an issue but today I accidentally posted something on the baby blog that I meant to post on this one. So if you don't mind, you can go over to that one and see some pictures of the Maadi House I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused your fingers, extra clicking is SO annoying!

Just plain crazy

2009-06-02T08:19:00.002-04:00

Alright, so my everyday blogging idea has not worked out so well. I admit. Things are getting ready to burst around here. I can feel the tension and energy from everyone around me. We're all ready to leave. But with that comes the work of leaving. It's not just packing a suitcase and saying "have a good summer". We have to make sure the apartment is sealed up, cover furniture and electronics to protect it from the dust, suspend or cancel things like internet service, I think we probably have to pay the doorman for the summer, I still have gifts to buy for some friends and family, Ira is still finishing up things on campus, I'm still teaching yoga, oh and we have a house guest (a lovely house guest but still a house guest) until Monday. Ira and I have some fantasy that we're going to have some semblance of alone time before we depart. Since he's going to do research in Congo for a month, I'm not going to see him for the first month that I'm in the States. And then there are the things that I'm trying to plan from here for when I will be in the States. We normally make a trip up to New York to visit friends, but it doesn't look like we'll have time for that this time around so I'm trying to coordinate some meet ups in Philly (a much shorter train ride for me). But it seems so funny to me to send an email asking someone if they are free on July 31st! But this is my life, everything needs to be planned that far in advance or someone will get left out and I'll be sad. And then as I mentioned in another posts, there are the impromptu parties and get-togethers that will go on here until every last one of us is on our way somewhere. Not that I'm complaining about that part, or any of it really. It's just a lot. So forgive me, loyal bloggers. I'll try to be better...

Corn

2009-05-25T05:56:00.004-04:00

We were told when we moved here that the corn wasn't good. It didn't really matter since we could never find any anyway. Until now. I saw some in the market about a week ago and it looked really good. I couldn't resist. So I bought some, brought it home, and cooked it. I was awesome! Just as good as any of the corn I eat at home during peak season. Although it's better on the grill at my mom's house...but I digress. So I went back to the market and there wasn't any corn! I was bummed. But then. A few days later. There was more. So I bought it again and made a big meal for Ira and me. You would think that would be enough. But I went back again. This time with the intention of freezing it, which is my new plan for preserving all the yummy fruits and veggies here. So I brought it home, boiled it and it took all my will power not to eat it before I cut it off the cob and put it in the freezer! Last night I went to the market because I knew that corn was waiting in the freezer (so much for saving it!) and I knew I could make corn chowder with a few more ingredients. But who wants to eat corn chowder when it's 100 degrees?? And then, I saw it. More corn! Hmm...I could save the corn in the freezer and buy some fresh corn and make something ELSE! So that's what I did. And here is the fruit of my obsession...

Summer Orzo Salad

You could really use any combination of veggies in this and I've made a similar Greek version. This is what looked good and fresh yesterday...

1 box Orzo, boiled and drained
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped (although I prefer a few small pickling cucumbers)
1 cup sliced olives
2 ears of corn, boiled, sliced off the cob
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp. olive oil

Prepare the orzo and set aside. Toss together the veggies with the orzo, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature (if you can wait that long), or refrigerate overnight for a cold salad.

Ana and Peter

2009-05-21T20:43:00.003-04:00

I was telling my bf Lauren the other day (on g-chat, our main form of communication) that this is a weird life. I mean, life is weird in general but this life that Ira and I are leading is particularly weird. Not because we live here but the way that we live here. Hmm...I'm not explaining myself well...probably because I'm trying to explain several things at once. And because it's 4am and I can't sleep. Anyway, let me try again. So the first thing that is strange about the way we live our lives is that we're always saying good bye to someone. Now up until tonight that meant "See you in 4 months!" If we were in the States. Or "See you in 2 months!" if we were in Egypt. I knew the good byes we said tonight would be different, and I've known since August that they were coming, but it didn't make it any easier.
Peter was the wise cracking European guy at orientation. He actually missed the first morning of orientation because, well, no one told him about it. He always had a funny remark or random question for the presenters, and kept all of our spirits up when we didn't think we could take one more presentation about health insurance or why we couldn't get mail here. And then there was Ana. Before we even moved here, Ira sent me some info on her. While he was in Miami he followed one of her pieces she wrote for the Miami Herald. She also wrote this and this and this. Anyway, she was here in Egypt as a Fullbright in the Journalism Department. I just adored her right away. She was so fun and laid back and easy to get along with. She had been all over the world and lived abroad many times, but she just seemed so down to earth. She and Peter were the romance of our "Freshman Class", as I like to call this year's newcomers. An unlikely couple (or so we thought at first) but they truly complimented each other and now it's hard to remember a time when they weren't together. Ana took my yoga classes and she was a great student, although I could never get her to try a headstand, grrr...They were always a lot of fun on our ill fated AUC trips and we still laugh about the long bus rides, day long dusty tours, bad hotels, and the "death marches" (as Ana called them) with no food. So I knew they were leaving at the "end of the year" but I guess it still hasn't hit me that that's what this is. We all knew that Peter, not being the biggest fan of Egypt, would be out on the first plane after his last class. But I was hoping that Ana would stick around a little longer. And she was planning to. Until a pot hole had better plans and caused her to break her foot last week. She couldn't get around by herself and had to make the decision to leave early. There was a little party at Peter's last weekend. But I knew that tonight would be the real good bye. "The Fuuls" were playing at the Maadi House and Ana and Peter were going to stop by before the car came to take them to the airport. It was just sad. And it's made me realize that sooner or later I'm going to have to say good bye to ALL the friends that I've made here. Whether they're leaving, or we're leaving, it's going to happen eventually. I guess you could make some sort of philosophical argument that we have to say good bye to everyone in our lives, but save it! It just makes it all feel temporary to me. So the best I can do is stay in the moment and enjoy the life that we have chosen and love the friends that we have made.
Good luck in Amsterdam, Ana and Peter! We'll miss you...

Goodbye Guruji

2009-05-18T17:41:00.003-04:00

Today the beloved Sri K. Pattabhi Jois passed away. "Guruji" as he was called by his students, was 94 years old. In his long, amazing, productive life he taught the Ashtanga series to millions, either himself or through the teachers he blessed. Although I had always dreamed of going to India, and still do, I never made it there to study with him. However, I have been blessed to study with a very select few that he did bless and I always felt I was in a direct line to his wisdom and light. He was, for lack of a better word, the "founder" of Ashtanga yoga. Before I came to Egypt, one of my teachers, Christine Hoar said "you'll teach yoga when you get there". And knowing that Guruji had told her the same thing, that she should teach, made me feel I was in good company. And so I do teach the series to anyone who wants to learn, to anyone who wants to follow the path that he has so carefully and specifically laid out for us. Although his presence will be missed all over the world, he has truly left a legacy greater than any one person could dream to create.
Namaste,
Jenna

my least favorite number...

2009-05-17T07:26:00.004-04:00

100. That would be how hot it is today. We've been getting little tastes of this weather for a week or so, but I think it means business now. It was this hot yesterday, and it doesn't seem like it's going to stop. And being pregnant does not make it any easier. I have to walk a little slower these days and I'm used to rushing as fast as I can into the AC. I was at the pool yesterday with Amanda and it was all we could do to sit there for more than 15 minutes without having to get in the water (which was like a bath) So, as if there was any doubt, if there isn't AC or a body of non-Nile water around, you won't find me! Ugh. 27 days...

Barefoot and Pregnant

2009-05-12T14:08:00.002-04:00

That's me! Still cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Today it was lentil soup and then later peach cobbler for dessert. I had intended to make some tomato sauce as well but some knitting got in the way of that...I will post the recipes soon, since they're all in my head (and truth be told, different each time) I want to make sure you get the best version. Maybe tomorrow...

A lovely evening

2009-05-11T05:49:00.005-04:00

We spent our first anniversary making homemade pizzas on Egyptian flat bread. The fresh basil was the best part! After dinner we watched the wedding video and I got very teary, especially watching my friends and family. Oh, and this is the book that Ira gave to me, can't wait to dive in!

2009-05-10T05:16:00.005-04:00

Today is a big day times three. First of all, it’s my mom’s birthday. I won’t tell you how old she is for fear of being disowned, but she’s old enough to have a 31 year old daughter and a second grandchild on the way, yet I am always met with disbelief that she’s old enough to be either. She teaches pilates and “Body Flow” (cross between pilates, tai chi, and yoga) and has private clients as well. She is fun, energetic, and always up for a party or a night on the town. When I was living in the states we would talk 5 times a day, usually the conversations would start with “You know that guy who’s on that show you like? Who is he married to again?” And somehow I know the “guy” and the “show” that she’s talking about. Now that we can’t have those conversations much anymore, they have turned into marathon Skype sessions. She has been so helpful and comforting during this pregnancy, especially in the beginning when I was worried about everything. I know she’ll do something fun and fabulous for her birthday. Have a great one, mom. Love you!

And then mom gets a double whammy (which she hates) because it's also Mother's Day. I guess she likes to have the two spread out to enjoy both. Anyway, this year I was at a loss for what to do about gifts. Not what to get, she's pretty easy in that department, but how to get it to her. You can't send packages from Egypt (or get them). So my first idea was to send something from Greece, I thought that would be fun. But then I had an even better, and more economicial, idea. While Laurie was here back in March we did a lot of shopping. So on our outings I kept my eye out for a birthday present and a mother's day present that she could take back with her, hand off to my dad, and then my dad could get it to my mom. Whew! And he did! Thanks Dad (and Laurie!) Since she already sent me an email thanking me for the gifts, I can tell you what I got her. For Mother's Day, I found this really cool candle holder, it's a brushed silver and looks like a bowl and there are tiny holes punched in it the whole way around. When lit, it has an amazing effect. And then for her birthday, I found a beautiful scarf that I know she loves, and a gold cuff bracelet that looks very "Egyptian". She seems to like everything and I can't wait to Skype later today and see them modeled! So there are many other women in my life that deserve honoring on this day. My sweet friend Kelly, because this is her first Mother's Day. My Aunt Barb, because she's always been like a 2nd mom to me. And Harriet, my mother in law, for being a great mother and raising my favorite guy. Which brings me to the third special thing about this day...

One year ago today I married the man of my dreams. We had the most perfect, simple, handmade wedding overlooking the river and mountains. My friend Heather and I spent months making tablecloths, blankets for the kids at the wedding to sit in the grass, handmade invitations, not to mention scouring craft stores and anywhere else we could think of to find fun unique touches to make this the best day of our lives. And it was. We had friends and loved ones come from 17 different states (and Japan!) we wrote the whole ceremony ourselves. We obtained a self uniting license, which meant we could have anyone marry us. So we decided to have Ira's sister Jodi, and my brother Connor (who was 13 at the time and did an AWESOME job) We had friends and family read parts of the ceremony and participate as much as possible. The food was awesome, catered from different places, including a Moroccan restaurant that we love. And there were cupcakes of course! We danced to "Knocks Me Off My Feet" by Stevie Wonder. My "best women" gave incredible speeches. Because the park would only let us stay until 8:00, and we knew we had to keep the party going, we moved on to our suite at the Hilton and danced, drank, and some even played cards, until the wee hours. So that was the wedding, but how is the marriage?? haha Even better. This has been a whirlwind year for both of us, but through the moving, the travel, the adjustments, there has been love, and happiness, and light, always. I love you Ira, and next year at this time we'll be celebrating with the new love of our lives. I can't wait.

Here are some pictures from our magical day. 1) The ceremony 2) singing to each other during our first dance 3) breaking it down! :)

More food...

2009-05-07T04:49:00.004-04:00

In addition to making that salad yesterday, I had an urge to make something banana as well. It was actually less of an "urge" and more of a need to get rid of the rotting bananas on the counter! There is a, ahem, banana overbuying problem in this house. Someone gets excited when they go to the fruit stand and the guy cuts them off the stem for him. Anyway, I guess if it results in banana muffins it's not all bad...
I adapted this recipe from Martha, but I put marscapone in it which I think is super fun. I almost put some peaches in them, but that would have meant I wouldn't have been be able to eat the peaches all by themselves and that was not an option.

Makes 12 Muffins or 36 Minimuffins

4 (1 1/2 to 2 pounds) ripe bananas, plus 1 for garnish (more if making mini muffins)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup marscapone cheese
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan, regular or mini, with paper liners.
Peel four bananas, and place them in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until mashed, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar, oil, and egg; beat until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Add flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; beat until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat until combined.
Fill muffin liners three-quarters full. Slice remaining banana into 1/8-inch-thick rounds; place a slice on each muffin. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes for regular muffins and 20 for mini, rotating pan halfway through. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Summer Salad

2009-05-06T11:08:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe and if you people want these posts to be about anything other than my lack of sleep (although it went better last night!) you are probably going to see more of these in the next month...
So those of you who have eaten with me in restaurants know that if there is a beet salad on the menu, I am there. In fact, if there's a choice, I would rather eat a beet salad and some yummy dessert than an entree. Anyway, I love beets. I know a lot of people hate beets. But I think that most of those judgments are made on pickled beets. I love those too, don't get me wrong! But they do have a strong taste and beets when they're naked and very mild and even sweet. I took a beet salad to a New Year's party this year and I had 3 beet converts! So if it's been a while since you've had beets, try them again, I bet you'll love them.

Beet and Orange Salad with Mint and Goat Cheese
2 small oranges, cut into one inch segments
3 medium cooked beets, diced
1/2 cup goat cheese (or half a "log"), crumbled. You could probably substitute feta as well.
2 tbs. chopped fresh mint
sea salt to taste

Cut the oranges and place them in a bowl. Chop the mint and toss with the oranges. Dice the beets and toss with oranges and mint. Crumble the goat cheese and lightly toss. Sprinkle with salt if desired.
*if you are preparing this salad ahead of time, but it's going to be couple of hours before you serve it, or if you are traveling with it, you may want to wait to assemble it until just before serving.

Still no sleep...

2009-05-05T05:18:00.004-04:00

So this is a picture of my eye. My eye after a night sleep that went like this; going to "bed" at 11:00...gettitng up at 12:00...trying to go back to sleep at 3:00...getting up at 4:00...going back to bed at 4:45...falling asleep sometime after 5:00 (no thanks to an extra long call to prayer "remix" of some kind)...waking up at 8:00, hungry...back to bed at 9:00...back up at 11:00. That was my last 12 hours! And of course the day that I'm wiped out and grumpy the sky actually doesn't look like the apocalypse. It was bluer and less smoggy early this morning but it still looks nice. Oh well, maybe if I feel a little better after some lunch I'll head out...
p.s. for those of you that read Ira's blog, that's the lamp in the backround that he talks about in todays' post! I didn't even do that on purpose!

A new day

2009-05-04T06:49:00.005-04:00

First of all, you may have noticed that I went back to my old layout for the blog. I know it's not as pretty but I felt like the other one was kind of...distracting. I plan on adding photos more frequently (more on that in a minute) and I don't want the bright colors and design to take away from that.
So I'm still not going outside. Now it's less about the allergies and more about the sandstorms! Today is the 3rd day. You know when you heat up the oven and then open it to put something in? That's what I feels like when you walk outside. You open the door and it's like opening the door to an oven. And then once you're outside, even if the wind isn't blowing there is a fine silt in the air. At night, you can see it in the beams of the headlights of cars. It gets in your teeth, your eyes, your hair. It's gross. So since I'm not teaching today I'm going to stay in and hope it's better tomorrow. No one seems to know how long this will last. We were warned about this, but we were told that it would happen in late winter or early spring. Oh well.
My latest obsession has been the blog www.soulemama.com. When I was doing my baby registry I found a book about having a creative family and it looked so great. Then Heather told me that the author had a blog, that she got started doing a blog and then wrote the book. So I checked it out, and a week later I am now reading all the archived blogs from as far back as 2005! So in addition to inspiring me to make baby clothes, and learn more about Waldorf education, she has made me want to be a better blogger. This woman has 4 kids and she manages to blog pretty much daily AND post lots of great pictures. So since it's only been May for a few days, I'm going to try and post everyday or at least every other day for the rest of the month. We'll see how it works out!

The Great ? Outdoors

2009-05-01T09:54:00.003-04:00

I am sad to say that outdoors is not my favorite place to be right now. I have been plagued with nasty headaches that I assume are pregnancy related, but are exacerbated by Spring (and the usual dust and pollution) in Cairo. As simple walk to the yoga studio or the market can make the entire right side of my skull tender to the touch. It's so unfortunate because the weather and the trees and flowers are truly lovely right now. I was especially excited to see the Indian Jasmine blooming on the median at the end of the street. I want to be out in the sun before it becomes brutally hot and I won't want to leave the AC!
In other news, Spring has given us some great fruit. I am gorging myself on peaches, and 2 different kinds of melon. They are very small and I assume they are cantelope and honeydew, based on the color. But they are much sweeter than the melon I've had in the states. There is also a curious little fruit called loquat that we actually had for the first time in Greece and now we are getting them here as well. The are small, orange, oval shaped fruits with a thick skin. The taste can be slightly acidic, but when they are truly ripe they are very sweet. It reminds me of a cross between a kiwi and an apple, maybe with a little starfruit thrown in...

The Calm Before the Storm

2009-04-26T07:48:00.003-04:00

Well, here's the lowdown. Greece was spectacular. I didn't want to come back at all. It was relaxing and perfect and we had the best time. We've been back a week and I still have a half unpacked suitcase in the hall. My allergies have been awful since we've been back and I can't wait to go to the doctor tomorrow and find what I can take while I'm pregnant. It's miserable.
So things are back to normal...for now. I think this is the calm before the storm. We're back in our routines for now but all of that is going to change soon. We have visitors coming in a couple of weeks, and they will be in Egypt for 3 weeks. They'll be traveling all over the country but this will be there home base. The semester will be over in a month, that means all of the normal end of semester things, but it also means that there are people who are leaving Cairo because they are only here for a year. And then there are people who are coming back next year, who we aren't going to see for 2 months, maybe more in some cases. So, I feel there are going to be a lot of parties, dinners, coffees, and "one last" this or that. And then of course there will be all the last minute preparations for leaving the flat for 2 months. Don't get me wrong, the countdown will begin soon and I can't wait to get home, but there are still things to take care of here. It's amazing that we've only been here a few short months, in the grand scheme of things, and I've already grown so attached so many people here. I am really going to miss them and it's going to be strange to be away for so long. But this is the life!

a much needed break

2009-04-09T07:23:00.003-04:00

Tonight we leave for a 10 day trip to Greece. It couldn't come at a better time as I am starting to get a little crabby with Cairo. You know when you spend too much time with a friend in close quarters that you normally like but after a while you start to think about ways you could murder them so they would shut up? That may be a bit extreme and, truth be told, I've never wanted to do that to any of my friends, but you can understand the sentiment. I'm tired of the noise; the cars, the yelling, the constant construction, the dogs, even the sweet birds are getting to me. Now there are a few explanations for this. First, I always get more antsy after I buy my ticket home. The same thing happened before Christmas. And yes, I have bought my ticket home and I'll be arriving on June 14th for those who don't already know. It's almost like as soon as I know the exact date, I think of everything else in terms of that. If we're planning something in May I'll think, "that's one month before I leave" it makes time kind of drag. The other big excuse that I'm becoming VERY fond of is, I'm pregnant. This is the ultimate Get Out Of Jail Free card although I think this time it is legit. My patience has officially bottomed out. I am tired of being tolerant of every little odd thing that goes on here. I know that's not very open and understanding of me but I'm trying to be honest and I think that's one of the things this baby is doing for me is making my ability to bullshit almost non-existent. I also think that you can just get sick of looking at the same stuff all the time. It happens to everyone. It could be your dream city, there are things that are going to start to wear you down after a while. So here's the plan, 2 days in Athens, and then 7 days in Hydra which is one of the Saronic Islands that has NO MOTORIZED TRANSPORT! That's right, no noise or pollution or honking! By the way, I've been counting and I've heard 23 honks just since I started this post. Hang on, make that 27. 32. Ok, I'll stop now. Anyway, we are very excited to eat some good food, breathe some fresh air and read books instead of computer screens. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a fantastic slide show and many wonderful stories. Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Orthodox Easter, and there's an Egyptian holiday next monday that translates to "smell the spring" day. So happy Smell the Spring Day, too!

The First Visitor

2009-03-30T19:13:00.005-04:00

Well, being a tour guide sure is exhausting! My first visitor just left yesterday. Laurie is one of my oldest friends and her trip was kind of last minute which made it fun. I've known for about a month that she was coming. She arrived last monday late at night. We spent the week, shopping, eating, pyramiding, felluca riding, antiquities exploring, mummy gazing, traffic dodging, Opera and Ballet watching, sunbathing (intentional and unintentional), birthday bashing, knitting, lounging, and movie making. I'm sure I'm forgetting things but you check out her blog, maybe she'll fill in the gaps...
In other news Ira has been away all week in Germany giving a paper at a conference. He gets home tonight and I'm very excited to see him. We leave for Greece next week!

Indiana Jones and Lost

2009-03-09T14:22:00.004-04:00

We went on an AUC trip to some archeological sites on Saturday. They were pretty great, the best part was one of the statues was on Lost this week!! I had heard that this season was going to have lots of Ancient Egypt references, but this is great! Also we heard a story about a man named Horace in ancient Egypt. If you don't watch Lost, sorry, but if you do how cool is that?! AND remember Hurley was doing a watercolor of the Sphinx and the pyramids last week?? I've got all the ins and outs! Oh, and the place where we were was the place where Indiana Jones discovered the Lost Ark in the movie. Not as exciting to me, sorry. Enjoy the slideshow! It's probably best viewed at a larger size, there are lots of great details that are missed in the small version.

I did it

2009-03-08T11:17:00.003-04:00

I have established the dreaded Mommy Blog. For my fun single friends who think I have gone over the deep end, DON'T JUST STAND THERE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, COME HELP ME! And for the parents and future grandparents, I know this is the stuff that you guys live for. Enjoy!
www.cairoyogibaby.blogspot.com

Drama, Drama, Drama

2009-03-06T11:13:00.004-05:00

It's been quite a scene around here the past couple of days. WARNING: This is a "Dear Egypt, I may love you but I don't have to like you right now" kind of entry. So if you're already down on Egypt, or you would rather think of me over here dancing around the pyramids all day, this might not be the entry for you. However, if you are interested in "The way things really are" come on down!
I know that America is not perfect. There are dozens, probably hundreds of things I dislike about America. But when things happen here in Egypt that are out of my control and seem to be highly unnecessary, my first instinct is to say "This would never happen in America" and most of the time, I'm right. Sorry Ira, but you know it's true! For example, last weekend our neighbors Villy and Baher were getting married. Our other neighbors Yasir and Sufia wisely booked an AUC van for the four of us and two additional couples, all AUC faculty. The van was supposed to pick us up at 1:30. Sufia had sent several emails confirming the time. All was in order. So last Friday we met Yasir and Sufia upstairs at their flat. Sufia called to make sure the van was coming on time. The woman in charge, said yes, the van will be there at 3:30. Um, no. Since the wedding started at 2:30 that was not going to be OK. So we called the driver (who sounded like he just woke up) and he said he would come in 20 minutes. 20 minutes, no driver. At this point the BRIDE is calling asking where we are. This calling the driver and having him say he'll be there in 20 minutes went on and on until we gave up, went downstairs and got a black and white cab (they can be very run down and unreliable, not something you want to ride in for 40 minutes in wedding clothes) We arrived at the wedding almost a hour late. It was very disappointing and we were embarrassed and felt terrible. Yasir sent the person in charge of transportation at AUC a scathing but awesome email where he insisted that they email the bride and groom and apologize. I've yet to hear if he's received a reply. So could this happen in the states? Of course. However, the U.S. has become such a quality control machine that if something like this happened, there would have been not only consequences for the person who screwed up, but there would have been some ass kissing for the people who didn't receive the service they had reserved and for which they were willing to pay good money. That's all I'm saying. Which brings me to my next story...
I woke up Wednesday with morning sickness so bad I couldn't get out of bed. I stayed in bed most of the day and Ira was so sweet bringing me food or whatever I needed. Around 11am I noticed a funny smell coming from the stairwell. It smelled like glue or varnish. It was starting to take over the whole flat. We put something under the front door and opened all the windows. I stayed in the bedroom because I was afraid to breathe the fumes, especially being pregnant. It was like this all day and didn't go away until overnight at some point. Ira went down to talk to our sweet, well-meaning (but not always the best at understanding us) doorman. He assured Ira that the workers were done and would not be back tomorrow. This is the same guy who, when Ira told him it was my birthday, spread a rumor through the whole building that I was pregnant. Sigh, anyway, I didn't sleep at all that night (not because of the fumes for some other dumb, unidentified reason) I woke up Thursday morning feeling sick again and I had to teach. After feeling like I was going to barf on them I eventually had to stop giving adjustments and sit on my mat drinking ginger tea and cuing the class from there. I got home and I was so excited to just relax and take a nap. And then, I smelled it. Again. Only this time it took minutes for it to spread back the hallway. Once again, I holed up in the bedroom and put a towel under the door to keep the nastiness from coming in. I tried to take a nap but about an hour after I laid down, I woke up to the smell. I knew I had to do something. I tried to go out to the living room to call Ira. I opened the door to the bedroom, took about 2 steps and then felt so lightheaded that I had to go back in the room and shut the door. Luckily, I had my computer in there. I started messaging Amanda and she called Ira for me. He called the Housing Office (AKA a joke, keep reading) Then she told me that I had to get out and that she would call Gordana to see if I could go over there. So I had to get dressed, and then I got a hand towel to cover my mouth and ran down the stairs. I went over to their place and we hung out for a little while with the boys, took them to Tae Kwon Do, etc. Ira called a little before 5:00 and said they were finishing soon and they have been instructed to open all the doors and put fans out to ventilate. Around 6:30 Gordana suggested we go over to the flat and see if it was still bad and if it was I could get my stuff to stay over. So, we could smell it before we even got in the building. Nothing was open and there were no fans. It was so bad in the stairwell again, then it was better in the apartment but you could still smell it. I was like "Oh it's not that bad, I'm just going to stay". Gordana was like "um, no". She's very sweet and polite but she totally put her foot down and brought up the point that just because I couldn't smell it as much didn't mean that it wasn't still toxic and in the air supply in the flat. Point well taken. So, I packed a bag and went back to her place and Ira and I stayed there last night. He left early this morning to see if it was OK over here, and then gave me the go ahead to come back. What a freaking nightmare. I felt like I was evacuated! And once again, what was the consequence? No one is going to get in trouble and no one is going to apologize to the pregnant woman and her husband who were forced to leave their home. Could this happen in the states? Of course. But typically if there are going to be toxic fumes/paint, etc. the landlord will at least send a letter letting you know that the work is going to take place. I get this "oh well" vibe from people here. Like this is the price I'm paying for living here. Chaos and inefficiency. And danger, quite frankly. Well, it makes me really mad. And unless these offices and or people in "charge" want to see the wrath of an angry pregnant woman, they better clean up their act and get it together.

Here I am!

2009-02-28T10:52:00.003-05:00

Yes, yes, I know. Almost a month, I know. Well, I'm back and with a darn good explanation of why I've been a blog slacker. There has been something else VERY important taking up my brain space (Among other things) Something teeny tiny and enormous at the same time. Something that is making me sleepy, hungry, grumpy, queasy, panicked, happy, scared, delighted, and a little...chubby. Ok, if you haven't figured it out by now you either need a good nights sleep or an anvil to drop on your head Bugs Bunny style. I'M PREGNANT! About 8 weeks. I've been pretty preoccupied and to be honest writing about anything else would have made me feel like a faker. This is the most important thing to happen, probably since we've moved here and I couldn't very well act like nothing was going on. I'm just not built that way. Yes, I feel ok. Like I said tired and queasy from time to time but I know a lot of women have it way worse than I do so I don't feel right about complaining, not yet anyway. We went to the doctor this week for a 2nd ultrasound (first one showed the sac but no baby) this one was far more exciting! We saw the baby (Ira already says it looks like him) and we saw the heartbeat. Just a little teeny flashlight but it was still pretty awesome. I know inquiring minds want to know things so here it goes
I am due Ocotber 13th, my birthday
I'm not showing yet, but my pants don't fit
Yes, I will be having the baby in Egypt
Yes, they have real doctors and hospitals here
Yes, I will still be coming home this summer (beginning of June through the beginning of August)
Those are all the pressing things I can think of right now. If there are other questions I will do my best to answer. As I've said before, this WILL NOT become a baby blog, however, I will be writing from time to time about the pregnancy here in Egypt because I know it is a different experience and I want everyone to know that I am safe and well looked after (especially by Ira) My doctor's name is Mai Hobrok. She is Egyptian and very proper. I like her a lot and she seems to be pretty attached to us already.
In other news...my friend Laurie is coming! In three weeks! She'll be here for a week at the end of March and I can't wait. We have lots of great things planned...stay tuned.
We're still planning the Greece trip. The plane tickets are purchased but we've hit a little snag with the apartment rental. The trip is scheduled for the 10th-20th of April.
We had dinner at the Dean's house on thursday night and went to our first Egyptian wedding yesterday. Although, we were told repeatedly by other (Egyptian) guests that it wasn't a "real" Egyptian wedding. I guess because it was during the day and it was (what I would consider) and nice sort of American wedding. It was lovely no matter what you called it!
Ira went on a palace tour downtown, I had to skip it because I made the mistake of taking my prenatal vitamin right before we had to go and I got sick. Ira said it was nice, I'm sure he'll blog about it eventually...Not much planned for this week, just teaching which is going well. My Sunday/Tuesday class is getting very big. It's a lot of fun. Well, I hope this super long update makes everyone happy for a little while. I'll do my best to be more consistent. Have a good week!

Back in the Saddle

2009-02-07T10:40:00.007-05:00

We went to our first party since we've been back and now it really feels like we're back. It made me realize how the people we've chosen (and who have chosen us!) to surround oursleves with are pretty damn awesome. It was a lot of fun to catch up and find out what everyone did over break. After Mark and Gordana's, Amy, Jaimee, Amanda, Ira, and I made our way to the Maadi House for a little dance party...

Road 9

2009-02-04T07:44:00.003-05:00

Road 9 is a street in Maadi that is as close to downtown as you can get out here in "the burbs" (I am laughing as I type that, I know there are people here who think that Maadi is the burbs but it's just not I'm sorry) It's a couple of miles from here, usually ok to walk there but if you make purchases it's a little too far to lug everything and it's only a 5 pound cab ride back. Anyway, I met Gordana there this morning. She and Mark are having a party tomorrow and she needed a few things. I haven't spent nearly enough time on Road 9 so I was happy to join her. We started out kind of wandering. I got another headband, I've been wearing my other two out as you may have noticed in all the pictures from the last 5 months! Especially Turkey, you can tell I just got them before we left and still had a crush on them. I found some hooks for the bathroom, a great find and something we've needed for a while. And a muffin pan. We took a break for a little lunch at Cilantro. I had a blue cheese, walnut, and cucumber sanwich on brown bread and a lime soda. Then we chatted over lattes for a while. The produce stand was super awesome, cherry tomatoes, concord grapes, red lettuce, bibb lettuce, and the sweetest fresh mint all for about 4 dollars. But the best find was the glasses. Ira found these great handblown glasses for like a dollar each while he was still here and I was in the states. They are this great colbalt blue color. So, cut to us being back for a week and we're down 2 glasses. Apparently the "dishwasher" didn't realize how "fragile" they are. Ahem. I set out to replace them. I asked him where the shop was and he said that "I wouldn't be able to find it unless I was looking for it" Wrong! While it did take us a few times up and down the street but we found it! I found 2 to replace them, they are a lighter blue but I love them. Another great day in Maadi!

Baby Rocco

2009-02-03T10:21:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of my new nephew, Rocco Valentino Wray. He was born on January 28th at 5:50 pm weighing 7lbs. 5oz. and measuring 21 inches long. Welcome to the family!

Oh Happy Day!

2009-02-03T01:49:00.004-05:00

What a lovely morning! I have figured out the secret (after 6 months) to having a happy errand running experience in Maadi. The early bird gets the worm, and the nice weather! I left the house at 8 am, I normally wait until 10 to go anywhere since most things don't even open before then. But today I was craving an apple donut from Fino (the bakery) and I wanted to eat it for breakfast. So, I headed out with my Ipod playing Tristan Prettyman, it's warm enough that I was just wearing a hoodie and a light scarf. The weather right now feels a bit like April at home. Once I arrived at Fino and ordered my donut, I couldn't resist the mincemeat pastries. I forgot about them while we were gone and man they looked good! I couldn't decide between the oatmeal and the whole wheat bread so I got both. Eh, they're small loaves and one doesn't usually last more than a day in this house anyway. From there, I walked a few more blocks to Seoudi to pick up a few groceries. I had a good feeling before I even got in the door. There were moutians of produce outside waiting to be stocked. I navigated my way around the oranges, herbs, and leeks and found a cart. As I approached the produce section I saw a man stocking crates of strawberries, there must have been a dozen or so. I took a big package right from his hand and made my way through the store. I grabbed some ginger and by the time I got to the vegetables (only a few steps) I realized there was no one in the store! Well, a few people but not the usual insane mobs that I have to deal with in there. Typically, I can't even walk in that store let alone push the cart through! And then I noticed something even more glorious, Seoudi was completely stocked! The yogurt! The juice! Everything that I normally have to dig through to find the brands and flavors that we like were in neat rows. Neat rows! It was like, dare I say, an American grocery store! That's when I vowed to make my Seoudi trips at 8 am from now on!

Groundhog Day

2009-02-02T00:38:00.003-05:00

It just dawned on me while I was lying in bed this morning that today is Groundhog Day! I just associate this day with cold and ice, but here it is 8am and it's already 60 degrees. Weird. So, to all of my Pennsylvania people who are tuned in to Punxatawney Phil, I hope that spring is close and you soon see daffodils. And watch the movie with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell! I'm downloading it as I type...along with all the Oscar movies, but I'll save that for the next post.

How I spent my winter vacation

2009-01-29T00:11:00.005-05:00

Long plane ride. Got caught in the rain in NYC with 3 suitcases, no umbrella, no coat, and no clue what I was doing. 3 hour train ride in wet clothes. Dad, Lauren, and Heather at the train station. Pep Grill is closed, what?! Pizza at Heather's. Stayed at Dad's. Great sleep. Breakfast with Heather and Lauren. Starbucks. Yarn Garden with Heather. Knit Ira's holiday gifts so he'd be warm. Manicure and Pedicure to get the Cairo off my feet. Connor's new school. Dinner with Kate. Pep with Kate, Heather, and Walter. Heather and the Mad Elf AKA the one night stand that went horribly wrong : ). Shopped. Met Jack. Fell in love with Jack. Missed Ira. LuLu Mae. Starbucks. Had a blast with Kelly and Laurie in D.C. Drove in the snow. And drove. And drove. Drove 3,000 miles in 6 weeks. Happy to be back to yoga class. Ira came back, finally. Heather's it'snotapartyit'sjustdinner. Traditional giving of the gifts at Bangkok Wok with Lauren. Annual Christmas Eve lunch with Kelly at Confit. Gingerbread house with Connor and Ira. CHRISTMAS! Paul's breakfast. Aunt Barb's brunch. Nap. Uncle Dan's. Charades. D.C. for the Nutcracker, yay Laurie. Philly. "Hairspray". Eagles start winning because we're in the country. Facial. Made great food with my new Organic cookbook. Took the food to Ralph and Brandi's New Year's Eve party. Got two people to like beets who said they hated beets. Champagne of beers not so festive the next day. Saurkraut and mashed potatoes at mom's. Football. Brooklyn. Cara and Qui Que's. That freaking turtle. Happy Birthday Ira. Pillow for breakfast. Coffee with Chris. Ira's grandma passed away. Milk (Hello Oscar!!). Taco Crawl for Ira's birthday. Sushi and movie with Liz. Natalie. Philly. Funeral. Shiva. Jodi, Geoff, and Stuart. "Uncle WhyWah and Aunt Jenna". Golden Globes with Heather. Starbucks. Vermont. Inn at Baldwin Creek. Fireplaces. Breakfast. Cream of Garlic soup. Heaven. Yoga. More Shopping. Middlebury. Yoga. Christine. Yoga. Sore. Sore. Sore. Claw foot bathtub. Lavender bath syrup. powder blue down comforter. "Happy Go Lucky". -18. Snow. Drove. Threw frozen wine out the window. Missed Ira. What? We're leaving in a week? How did THAT happen? Slept in 7 different beds in six weeks. KOP Doylestown with Kate and Heather. Still more shopping. Domani Star. Missed Ira. Broad Street Market/Cornerstone with Kate. Sushi, movies, shopping, drinks, Obama concert with Laurie. Busboys and Poets. INAUGURATION!!! frozen feet. Ate a hot dog. Ira came back, finally. One last bash with the crew, one last Mad Elf. Macaroni and Cheese with Connor. Cried on the way home. Breakfast with dad and Heather. Cried a little on the train. I hate my luggage. I actually slept for more than 5 minutes on the plane. Happy to be staying in one place for a little while.

The weather outside? SO not frightful in my opinion!

2008-12-17T09:50:00.003-05:00

It SNOWED yesterday! So Santa must be reading my blog...I was down in D.C. visiting Kelly and Laurie when both of my parents started calling me to tell me that it was snowing and I should hurry home. I guess I am 16 again. The visit with the ladies (and the new little man!) was great, we ate and shopped and had a wonderful time. I headed home around 2:00, missed the GW Parkway turn (typical), took a ride around the Washington Monument (Look kids! Big Ben!) and then got back on the road home. It was fine at first, the roads were dry and then they got wet and then they got icy. I was fine, just stayed in my lane. But I did see a few cars that had run off the road! I came home to the winter wonderland that I've been dreaming about for the past few months. The trees are white and icy and beautiful. Kids got to go to school late and I am writing to you from the Panera Bread in Camp Hill, Pa where I am happily nestled in an armchair with a mug of coffee next to a fireplace. I have a pedicure in a couple of hours that will hopefully undo what four months of Cairo has done to my feet. I am a happy girl. But I miss Ira! Hurry home, husband!

"Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jig"

2008-12-14T22:40:00.002-05:00

That's what my dad would say after we arrived home from a long car ride somewhere. I don't know what to say after a long plane/bus/cab/train/car ride! I will give more details soon, I just wanted everyone to know I am safe and sound in my little hometown. Things are exactly the same and completely different all at the same time. Like I said, I'll write more soon. Off to meet the new baby tomorrow!! Pictures to follow...

Dear Santa

2008-12-09T04:56:00.003-05:00

Santa,

I have been very good this year. I hope that I'm still on the Nice list. My list is kind of long this year, but hey, it can't hurt to ask, right?? Oh, and a BIG thanks for taking care of the "Make Obama president" item on my list from last year!

1. World Peace (no, I'm not sucking up)

2. A safe flight home

3. Decorate the Christmas Tree with Connor

4. yarn

5. sit by the fire with Ira

6. sushi

7. cupcakes

8. Tea

9. Coffee

10. a new yoga mat

11. a Domani Star dinner (maybe 2?)

12. lots and lots of time with my family

13. lots and lots of laughs with my friends

14. fresh air

15. SNOW!!

Al-Azhar Park

2008-12-06T04:00:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Ira and I went on a date to Al-Azhar Park. It's a green space that sits high above the city. It's landscaped beautifully with trees, flowers, and fountians. There are many walking paths, a theater, and a few cafes. We sat on a blanket and played cards until it got dark and then we made our way to one of the cafes for dinner. The food was good and the view of the Citadel was lovely. It was nice to feel like we were away from the city for a few hours. Enjoy some pictures!

T-Minus one week...whatever T-Minus means

2008-12-04T05:18:00.005-05:00

A week from today I'll be in the air heading west...I think, maybe we go north first I'm not sure. Anyway, I'll be crossing the Atlantic in a mere TWELVE hours. Twelve hours! What the HECK am I going to do for 12 hours? Now, I know there people who would kill to have 12 hours to themselves to read or listen to music. But I have to say, it makes me twitch a little. From the time I was kid, I would pack all of these things to do a read and I would never touch any of it. It always happens. I'm only a 1/4 of the way through Orhan Pamuk's Snow, I could finish that. I do have a few Fresh Air episodes downloaded as well as over a week's worth of Rachel Maddow's two shows. But I have to say most of the time when I'm on a plane, I end up staring at the back of the seat in front of me. I don't know why! I can't sleep, I can't read, when I'm not staring at the seat back, I'm annoying Ira and he's not going to be there. Sigh. And it doesn't help that I am SO EXCITED to get there. That's going to make the time go even slower. I know there are going to be some folks on the ground that are anxiously waiting my safe arrival as well. And then I have to get through customs (see previous posts) Stay tuned for a list of the things I am most looking forward to when I get home...

I love Egypt!

2008-11-29T12:51:00.004-05:00

Who would have thought?! haha I spent most of the day holiday shopping at the Khan with Amanda and Amy. We had a great time! We all accomplished our missions (which, as you know, is the marker of a successful shopping trip) I can't tell you what we got, obviously! You'll have to wait until "Santa" (otherwise known as me) flys across the ocean in the sleigh pulled by...jet fuel with her red sacks (otherwise known as Ralph Lauren luggage)

p.s. the picture is of the tea the awesome jewelry guy got for us while we were hanging out in his shop. Yay Ahmed!!

Fayoum Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T04:58:00.004-05:00

We got back from our two day trip to the Fayoum Governate last night. We left early Thursday morning. REALLY early. We caught the bus at 6:45, drove downtown to pick up the rest of the group and then we were off. The Fayoum is an area southwest of Cairo, the main reason people travel to this area is the lake, but there are also dozens of historic sites both Egyptian and Greco-Roman. Once we were outside the city, we had to hook up with our police escort. Before entering the Fayoum, tourists have to have a police escort. So, a truck full of officers accompanied us the rest of the way. Our first stop was at the ruins of an ancient city. We were able to see a temple and a few remaining structures in addition to some etchings. We then made our way to the Harawa Pyramid. I guess now would be a good time to tell you about the whole pyramid thing. So, how many people thought there were 3 pyramids in Egypt? The ones we see in all the pictures and all the movies? I don't know about you, but I'm raising my hand right now! It turns out there are about 180 pyramids in Egypt. And those are just the ones that have survived! So, back to the Harawa pyramid, it's not pointy like the Giza pyramids, it kind of looks more like a mound. There were also the remnants of a labyrinth and a Greco-Roman cemetery. From there we went to Lahun pyramid. This one was more impressive to me, it sat up high on a hill and could be seen for miles around. After excavating the tombs around the pyramid, there were jewels discovered which are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and known as the "Princess Collection". We also literally drove over a vast 13th century wall that was part of an artificial reservoir that fed water into the Fayoum. We were totally exhausted after all of this and most of us fell asleep on the bus on the way to the hotel. The Panorama Hotel was right on the lake. It had amazing views of the lake and had basil growing all over the grounds which gave off a beautiful scent. The accommodations were less than thrilling, but we were luckier than most of our traveling companions. We heard stories of not so clean room and linens as well as LOTS of mosquitoes. I thought we were in the clear, but last night I discovered about a dozen bites on my leg. In the morning, we went for a short walk and had some breakfast. We boarded the buses and made our way to Wadi El-Hitan. We stopped right outside entrance to the Wadi and we waited for the police to tell us that we could proceed. We waited. And waited. Finally, Louise (one of our trip organizers) gave us the bad news that we weren't going to be able to see the Wadi, which included whale fossils (with feet!!), because the bus drivers were refusing to drive the 34 kilometers to get there. The good news is we got to get off the bus and play in the dessert a little bit. Which actually ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. After that, we went to Wadi El-Rayan which is a lake with 3 small waterfalls. It was very pretty and I went wading with Belle and Amy! From there we went to the Temple of Sobek. Very cool, lots of little rooms and crypts to explore. We also climbed to the top of the temple, the views were beautiful. We then made our way back to Cairo, tired and a little sunburned, but that's ok!

My TV habit

2008-11-20T08:59:00.003-05:00

Before we moved I would say I watched about 8 hours of TV a week. I know it sounds crazy, but I was a purposeful TV watcher. I would only turn it on to watch something specific. I didn't have cable, so I wasn't a mindless channel flipper. TV was also a social event for me, Lauren and I would watch our favorite shows together whenever we could. I've also done my best to get Ira into the shows the I like, because let's face it, TV is more fun when you can say "I can't believe she just died!" or "Man, I love her lip gloss" When we first got here, I wasn't so sure about Egyptian TV, which isn't really Egyptian since most of it comes from somewhere else, like Dubai. I would say that 80% of the shows are American, they are reruns from at least a year ago. So what has ended up happening is I've gotten into shows that I never watched in the states, including Desperate Housewives. Ugh. it's like eating old Halloween candy. It seems like a good idea but the afterwards, you're like "did I just do that?!" Anyway, so far I've only talked about the actual TV set, I haven't talked about the TV that lives in my laptop.
As I mentioned in a previous post or two, Ira installed something in my computer that makes it think it's in the U.S. This is great because up until then, we would get some annoying message that said "Only viewers in the U.S. can watch full episodes" blah, blah. But now, we can! So how does this work? Well, I can't watch the shows live because they aren't broadcasted live and even if they were, the time difference would make it the middle of the night here. So I end up watching them the day after. It's great! I don't have to worry about missing shows because I have a life! Now some shows are up right away and other ones I have to wait for, and it's usually the ones that I'm most excited to see that take forever to stream. So what do I watch? Now before I tell you, I would like to say that we shouldn't judge people based on their pop culture addictions and I'm sure you all have some weird TV tastes (I know for a FACT some of you do!) So on Tuesday, I watch Monday night's "Dancing with the Stars"Although sometimes it's not up until Wednesday but that's ok, because then I have the instant gratification of watching it and then checking online to see who got kicked off! On Thursday I watch Wednesday night's "Private Practice". Friday, and or, Saturday is the mother load. I watch Grey's Anatomy, The Office, and ER (a classic example of a show I stopped watching years ago in the states, but now I can't miss). I guess this is what it's like for people with DVR or TiVo, being able to watch things whenever you want. I have to say that it makes me feel connected, like I haven't completely lost touch with all things American. Now if only I could get cupcakes through the computer...

Private

2008-11-19T09:27:00.003-05:00

So, I got a call today from one of my yoga students and she asked me about teaching some private classes for a friend of hers! It seems like it's going to work well. They live in some big villa in Maadi, right around the corner. Now I just have to make it work with my schedule and theirs. I think it will be a good experience for me and I look forward to it!

Random update

2008-11-18T04:33:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't been writing about Egypt very much lately. Although, I like to think that all of my posts are about Egypt since I'm living in Egypt and all of my experiences are a direct result of me living here. It's like the other night when I told Lauren we were waiting for "Egyptian food" to be delivered and she said "isn't that just food? Isn't all the food you eat in Egypt Egyptian food?" I decided that was an annoying "If a tree falls in the forest..." kind of question and I told her to knock it off. I have no patience for those kinds of philosophical debates, especially when I'm hungry. Anyway, the point is I haven't been writing about Egypt because I've been doing the same sorts of things that you guys all do at home, or I'm doing the things that I've already been writing about for the last (almost) 4 months. Although, we did go to the ballet the other night and that was awesome. We fell in love with the Opera House and plan on going there more often. But rest assured, we are going on a trip to the Fayoum Governate in the coming weeks and I am planning on going to the Khan al-Khalili soon to do some holiday shopping. Hopefully that will satisfy every one's Egyptian wonder for now.
In other news...I am still nervous about going home. I know the TSA stuff is silly, but I have other issues as well. Shocking, I know! Not to be dramatic, but imagine trying to pack to go somewhere for 6 weeks. Now imagine trying to do all your holiday shopping for everyone you know and love by Dec. 10th and then packing all of that as well. It's a little easier than packing to come to Egypt, at least I'll be able to run to Target to pick up whatever I forgot. But it's still taking over my thoughts. Lately I've been picturing my suitcases and imagining how and where it's all going to fit. Little does Ira know, he's going to take on the overflow!
I also have this weird anxiety about the time that I'm going to spend at home. I have a lot of people that I love and want to spend as much time with them as possible. I feel this sort of pressure like every moment and every thing I do is going to have to be special because I'm not going to see everyone for another 4 months once I leave. In some ways I think it will enable me to live in the moment and appreciate each time I get to see my friends and family. But, I have to say, I really feel that's something I have always done. Even before I knew we were moving and I was eating every sushi roll like it was my last, I've always been aware of how I was lucky to surround myself with such special, fun, interesting, talented people. So what's the big lesson here?! Just keep doing that?! As if I didn't already know that going to the movies with my little brother was special? Now I have to appreciate it even MORE? I feel like I'm missing something here. If I already understood all of this, where do the people who DON'T understand it have to move in order to get perspective??!!

Who's Afraid of the TSA?

2008-11-15T05:26:00.004-05:00

I leave for the States in 25 days. But who's counting? I never thought I would be nervous about going home, but I am. Why, you may ask? Well, I have to honest, the whole flying 12 hours on a plane and going through customs in the states without my trusty Ira (he's sticking around to finish up end of the semester stuff) is a little unnerving. He IS my entertainment/airport and customs navigator/International Man of Mystery! Plus, I feel like I'm guilty of something and I haven't even packed yet! As I mentioned in a previous post, I've seen too many bad movies. I'm going to be Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace and someone will put hash in my carry on when I'm not looking. I just know it. Or I'll go to the Khan (market) to buy some Christmas presents and find out that I purchased a relic that the Egyptian government has been looking for for centuries and I get put in the clink for that. I can't imagine that the holding cells at JFK are where I want to spend the holidays. Mostly I'm just afraid that I'm going to be the dumb novice traveler girl that, as she's having her bags searched, says "Nope, no drugs in here!" "No illegal purchases of any kind!" and then end up getting strip searched because I can't keep my mouth shut. Sigh. I'm sure that once that phase of the trip is over, and I figure out how to get on and off the LIRR and make it to Penn Station, I'll be fine. I'm super excited to have dinner with my ultra hip Brooklyn friends Shara and Dave (and maybe Moustafa?!) little do they know I have 3 huge suitcases that preclude us from eating anywhere but a hot dog stand.

Auntie Jenna

2008-11-10T02:13:00.004-05:00

What a week! Well, I never thought that the election of Barack Obama would be trumped as the most exciting thing to happen last week. On friday at 8:16 pm, my best friend Kelly had her baby boy! 5 lbs. and 1oz., His name is John "Jack" Hendry Myers. He was 3 weeks early but seems to be doing just fine. I haven't really been able to talk to her yet, we had some phone issues last night and I got cut off about 90 seconds into our conversation. I'll try her again today. I am so excited for her and Andy. It's very hard for me to not be there. I always pictured being the first one to arrive at the hospital, well, maybe tied with her mom. It's killing me to look at the pictures of him and not be able to kiss him and tell him how wonderful his mommy is. But at least I'll be able to spend some time getting to know him when I'm home (A MONTH FROM TODAY!) until then, I have a baby blanket to finish!

OOOOOOObama!

2008-11-02T07:14:00.003-05:00

So here we are. 2 days before the biggest (not even a SLIGHT exaggeration) election of certainly my life and probably my parents and grandparents as well. Yesterday, Ira and I attended a conference on the U.S. Elections. The most enlightened observations came from Nabil Fahmy, Egypt's ambassador to the United States. He knows both candidates personally and has spoken to both of them about their foreign policy ideas and agendas. Here are some of the things that really stuck with me from the day:
*The "Age of Regan" (1981-2008) is over. This is a watershed/Realignment election. There will be major change.
*94 Million voted in 1996, 120 Million in 2000, 124 Million in 2004, this year 130 Million people are expected to vote. 13.5% of those voters are African American who will turn out at the level of between 95-98%, not other category of voter will turn out at that level. Research has shown that people vote 50% on the issues and 50% on the temperament of the candidate.
*Republicans were in power long enough to see the financial crisis coming. The "October Surprise" came a month early and the incumbent party is going to suffer.
*America is the only country that has a leader that "comes from somewhere else". There really aren't any other countries who have leaders that are not native to the country they lead. McCain and Obama may have been born in American territory, but their ancestors came from somewhere else.
*America will always have an interest in Egypt because 1/4 of the Mid-East population lives here.
*America is not a "Super Power" but a Global Power. Foreign policy must be presented to Americans as an American interest, as something that will better America, not as a War on Terror.
*"The War on Terror" is like the "War on Drugs" or the "War on Crime", it's not something that anyone can win.
*Obama's experience abroad is with his family and as a school boy. McCain's experience is as a soldier, fighting an enemy.Therefore, McCain bases his foreign policy on fighting an enemy (Vietnam, Cold War/Russia) he will always look for someone to fight. His vision of the future is to work together to fight a threat. Obama is more inclusive of both friends and adversaries. He doesn't have the Cold War mentality. McCain will always look to the past. Because Obama doesn't have that baggage, he will always look to the future.
So now we have to wait. I've already voted so the fun is over for me. However, after careful considerations of time zones and voting returns, I've decided that staying up all night is the only option for a news junkie like myself. I'm too afraid I'm going to miss something. Ira is undecided. He might stay up, but he might get up really early, we'll see. Some of our friends might even come over in their jammies! I'll be wearing blue.

Tamatim

2008-10-29T11:58:00.007-04:00

Or...tomato! All summer, we've had access to lots of tomatoes. They're starting to dwindle, but I'm still buying them while they're looking good. The only problem is that Ira is not a fan of uncooked tomatoes. Even if I saute them, I think they're still not mushy enough for him. So in an effort to make both of us happy, I bought about 10 romas the other day with the intention of roasting them. It's something I've always wanted to try. After doing some research online on my favorite food blogs, I came up with a plan. Today I prepped the firm red wonders and threw them in the oven. You can see the before and after pictures above. I haven't decided if I'm going to turn them into a sauce, or a soup. I'll let you know...

Roasted Tomatoes

about a dozen (or less) small tomatoes sliced lengthwise

olive oil

6 or 7 cloves of garlic

herbs of your choice (I used basil, but marjoram or oregano would be lovely)

salt and pepper

Grease the pan or shallow baking dish with some olive oil. After slicing the tomatoes, place them skin side down on the pan. Nestle the garlic in between the tomatoes and spread the herbs on top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can blend and add stock to make soup, or toss together with pasta, or something else even more exciting!

Harvest

2008-10-29T10:54:00.004-04:00

When I think of harvest images of pumpkins, apples, and gourds come to mind. We can find those things here, but they are mostly imported and just not the same. What we DO have are dates. Brown ones, red ones, and yellow ones. And they're EVERYWHERE. All over the market. So, being a "eat with the season" kind of girl, I bought them up. But now what? You can only have so many date snacks. So, I came up with an idea today. It's not new, lots of people have stuffed dates before, but I think that this recipe is pretty good. Ira agrees...I haven't specified quantity because sometimes the goat cheese comes in small packages. Improvise, people! I think they would be great little party treats, we're just snacking on them...

Dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds

Slice dates lengthwise and remove pits (if necessary). Spoon a half teaspoon of goat cheese in each date. Place one almond on top. Refrigerate after assembling. Oh, and try not to eat them all beofre serving.

Up late...again...

2008-10-28T20:10:00.003-04:00

I have never in my life had a hard time falling asleep. I can sleep anywhere, anytime. In college, I bought a special watch with an alarm so I could sleep between classes, in public! I didn't care. I have always been able to nod off as soon as my head hit the pillow, or my book bag, whatever the case may be. Now of course I've had the occasional too-late-espresso or first-day-at-a-new-job nerves that have kept me up, but something about Egypt...I just can't get to sleep before 2 or 3 am no matter how hard I try. I very rarely drink caffeine anymore, I exercise, the bed is increasingly comfortable (thanks to some purchases at & Co.) but I just can't sleep! We live on a fairly quiet street, but you can still hear strange noises like dogs barking at weird hours and airplanes (lots of flights land late at night here) not to mention the honking horns and occasional yelling. And although I've gotten used to the call to prayer throughout the day it never fails to jolt me from sleep. I should probably start going to bed earlier, but I don't get home from teaching yoga until after 9:00 and we try to have some semblance of a dinner and hang out for a little bit. Not to mention it's a good time to chat with friends and family in the States. So what's a girl to do??? No seriously, I'm asking. If ANYONE has an advice, please, I'd love to hear it. The silver lining in all of this? I won't have any trouble staying up to watch OBAMA make his victory speech a week from now!! The rest of the week will be a disaster, but that's ok, I'll lose sleep so my grandkids can have a good story.

Food

2008-10-25T06:15:00.003-04:00

I promised some recipes a few days ago, so here it goes. The first one has been the staple snack in the Dworkin household for a few weeks now. The last time we went to Carrefour (Egyptian wal-mart, as you may recall), I bought some popcorn kernels. I could see the skepticism on Ira's face. "What are you going to do with those?" he was thinking. That night I made my first attempt at the spicy popcorn to which we are now addicted. It was pretty good, a little burnt and I overshot the spices a little bit. I made it again a few nights later and this time it was a little too salty. The night of my birthday party (or the morning after my birthday party, depending on how you look at it) I made some for the lingering guests. It was very popular. The next time Amanda came over for knitting night, I made some for her, and the Ira and I had some last night while we watched "Burn After Reading". It's so simple and it tastes so good, it really makes me wonder why we ever made popcorn in the microwave...
Cajun Popcorn
first, you need a medium sized pot with a tight fitting lid
about 3 tbs. olive oil
about 1/2 cup kernels
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
salt
coat the bottom of the pan with the oil. Sprinkle the Old Bay on top. Dump the kernels in the pan. Over med-high heat, let them do their thing! It only takes about 3 or 4 minutes. I shake the pan every minute or so to make sure they're all getting a turn. You can experiment with different spices and herbs. This just happens to be the one that we like the best. After you hear the popping slow down, take it off the heat and place in a big bowl, salt to taste. However, a good movie or some bad reality TV are required to make this recipe taste its best.
And speaking of TV, one of good things about Egyptian TV is, well, European TV. I love watching all the British fashion shows and the BBC news, of course. But the cooking shows are by far the best. I know that the food network in the states has both Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, but over here they each have like 5 shows. So the other day I was watching Nigella and she was making something with glass noodles (rice noodles or vermicelli) and shrimp. I thought to myself "I know I can find both glass noodles AND shrimp at the market!" So off I went. Not only did I find those two ingredients, but I found basil for the first time. I bought two bunches because I couldn't resist. Cleaning the prawns was a huge (and smelly) pain, but the resulting meal was delicious, and there was a enough for leftovers which almost never happens around here. While at the market, there weren't any veggies that looked exciting to me, you could add some snap peas or green beans and I'm sure it would be great.
Super Fragrant Noodles with Shrimp
one package vermicelli noodles
1 lb. shrimp (preferably fresh)
big handful chopped basil
big handful chopped cilantro
for the sauce:
1 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs. minced ginger
2 tbs. minced scallions
2 tbs. peanut butter
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sesame oil (plus a little more to saute the shrimp)
one sliced chili pepper for garnish
Because you have a few things going at once here, I would make the sauce first. Place the garlic, ginger, scallions, peanut butter, soy sauce, and oil in a bowl and whisk together. This is the ratio that tasted good to me, but you can adjust it if you need to. Set the sauce aside. Next, boil the water for the noodles. While that's heating up, clean the shrimp (or have the dude at the store do it, which is what I should have done!) Saute with the sesame oil over medium heat until pink. Remove from the heat. Once the water has come to a boil, turn off the heat and drop in the noodles. Only leave them in for a minute or two and then drain. Toss together the shrimp, noodles, basil, and cilantro. Place in bowls and top with sauce and chili peppers. It's also good cold the next day!

I missed you, too

2008-10-22T07:52:00.002-04:00

Ok, I know have been the WORST blogger ever! I was extremely frustrated with not being able to post pictures. It was making me not want to be on the site at all! Ira and I disagree on this, but I think this crazy thing that he downloaded is to blame. Now, let me first say that I love him for downloading this thing that will make watching movies and tv shows easier, he's awesome. The resulting slowness and inability to upload pictures to my blog and to Facebook, not so awesome. Now, like I said, we disagree about whether this downloaded thing is to blame, but I just think it's too much of a coincidence that everything went wonky as soon as he did it. Ok, now that the annoying stuff is out of the way...the birthday was lovely. We went on a felluca ride down the Nile. The party a few days later was a lot of fun. Of course, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say how MUCH I missed my family and friends. It was sad at times to think about you guys, but all and all it was really nice. And I love Ira so much for making it special. Yoga is going well. My classes are getting bigger each week and I think my students are really catching on and learning the series. In other news...I got my ticket to come home!! I'll be back on December 11th, I'm very excited and it's just around the corner. Plans are already being made! I have to say though, ever since we bought the ticket, the days have been dragging. Figures. I've been making some fun dinners lately, so I'm going to post some recipes later today or tomorrow. I hope Fall is treating everyone well!

"Post" Birthday

2008-10-15T08:06:00.002-04:00

My birthday was on Monday and while it may be tempting for me to go on and on about how much my life has changed in a year, blah, blah, I will spare all of you. Ira gave me a lovely Egyptian birthday complete with a champagne cruise down the Nile. While we were on the magical ride, he gave me all of the cards that everyone had sent from the states. I tearfully read all of them (I know there are some that haven't arrived yet, and I'll be just as excited to read those!) and here are some highlights...
"Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you always know they're there!", "You need to find a Stallions-esque place to go wild dancing", "Scribble, Scribble, Scribble" (that was little Stuart), "You live your life so fully and everyone around you gets to enjoy!", "May flowers always bloom in your garden"
So now we're just getting the flat (and our livers) ready for the party tomorrow night! I have a new dress and there's a fridge full of beer and 2 bottles of Turkish gin. A recipe for disaster, or the best party ever?? You'll have to wait til Friday to find out...

These are a few...

2008-10-09T19:09:00.003-04:00

...of my favorite things. I was inspired to make a list of "Things I like" by my old college pal, Nicole. Her blog puts mine to shame, and in one of her latest posts she said that when she's feeling grumpy or "squinky" as I like to call it, she makes a list of the things she likes and that sort of sets her straight. I'm not feeling particularly squinky these days, but I DO have a birthday coming up in a few and I don't think it would hurt to jot down some of the things that make me want to turn 31 with a little grace and humor. Feel free to follow suit! What do you like???
yarn, smooth wooden knitting needles, when Ira laughs so hard that he doesn't make any sound but his whole body shakes, when Lauren and I laugh and then look at each other and laugh again because our laughs are the same, getting so deep in a yoga posture that I could stay there all day, watching one of my students get so deep in a yoga posture they could stay there all day, champagne, fresh basil, pedicures, One Good Woman, Phillies games, LuLu Mae, cupcakes, New York City when it's cold, my goofy embroidered Ugg boots, New England when it's hot, the beds at the Waldorf Astoria, Istanbul, quilts, when Heather sends me blogs I might like, Christmas movies, sparkly things, the way books smell both old and new, little dresses, dancing, Domani Star pasta, Domani Star anything, movie theater popcorn and a disgustingly syrupy coke slushie, putting my feet up, Kate Spade, the woods, campfire, crunchy snow, cold cheeks, clean sheets, when Ira does the dishes (which he always does), entertaining, reading, writing, cooking, tea, coffee, when Laurie and I plan craft projects, talking on the phone with my mom, dancing with my dad, endless shopping/eating trips with Kelly, Carmel apples, mac and cheese (homemade and from a box, for different reasons), driving north, putting the ipod on shuffle and all of my favorite songs come on right in a row, concerts with my friends, knitting/beer drinking night with Amanda, talking to little Stuart on Skype, when my little brother tells me he loves school, over sized wine glasses, over sized coffee mugs, the perfect pillow, the way I feel after being on the beach all day, the promise of a garden, jeans, And Co., Maadi House pool, red wine, thinking about our wedding day, our wedding pictures, Ira's friends, a girl who can sing, Obama on a roll, crying at a movie preview and knowing that Heather probably cried when she saw it even though she hates crying in public, Doylestown, taking the train, the way a yarn store smells, walking past stores in Maadi and wondering when I'll go inside, tea on the ferry in Turkey, when I sort of understand the Arabic on TV, watching Friends with Arabic subtitles, every single thing about Kauai, Ira in a suit, rain, Friday New York Times, my ceramic measuring spoons, flea markets, poolside with Lauren, organic facials, spicy candles, pictures of my grandparents, Cafe Fresco, Gaya, a nice big bag, the kittens in front of our building, the trees in Maadi with the pink flowers, the trees in Maadi with the orange flowers, jammie bottoms, clean feet, a new journal, sleeping in, waking up early to travel somewhere, playing cards, Dimitri Martin, finding long lost friends on facebook, Tina Fey, the perfect yoga playlist, fruit, farms, carnivals, muffin tops...

The Ira Photo Caption Contest

2008-10-06T05:58:00.007-04:00

While we were in Turkey, I managed to somehow take two of the funniest pictures of Ira. I've decided to have a photo caption contest. If you win, you will have the disticintion of being the wittiest person who reads this blog. Now if that isn't motivating, I don't know what is! Here are some of the entries so far...

Picture One "Please. My hat is way cooler than his."- Lauren

" If you think he looks cranky now, wait until he realizes where my other hand is!"- Heather

"Ah Ha! Now I know what I want to be when I grow up!"-Laurie

Picture Two "So this is what I get for 40 Lira? Talk about inflation!"- Dad (Bob)

" I turned my head for only a second! These Turkish cats are out of control - and we thought the Egyptian felines were spoiled!"- Heather

Turkey Trot

2008-10-05T08:28:00.011-04:00

Boy, did we ever trot!! I'm going to warn you in advance that this is going to be a long one. 5 jam-packed days makes for one jam-packed blog entry! So I would get a snack or a drink or something and settle in (bathroom breaks are allowed)...
Night One We arrived late on Monday night. The flight was fine, just a little over 2 hours. And they still serve food on foreign flights, so we had a little early dinner, too. The customs process was very smooth, although I'm not a seasoned traveller (yet) I have to say that when we entered both Amsterdam and Istanbul the guys stamping our passports have been so nice and maybe even a little flirtatious! haha The hotel shuttle picked us up and got us to the Stone Hotel in one piece. We went up to our room, which was a little on the small side, but very nice and clean. We were very excited to go up on to the rooftop, as the "Garden Terrace" was one of the selling points for us in choosing this hotel. We were on the top floor, so we walked up one flight to find that the terrace was going to be closed for renovations all week! We were very disappointed. I think we both had images of relaxing up there and enjoying the view with a glass of Turkish wine or a book, or both! A little defeated and a little hungry, we went out to get a bite to eat. Just around the corner from the hotel was a quintessential Turkish restaurant called "ozgur hedef". We had a nice meal, the salad was really good. Almost all the salads we had there had purple cabbage on them and it was always kind of salty and vinegary and I really liked it. I just bought some cabbage at the store so i can try and replicate it. The tomato soup was good, also a Turkish staple. It's simple but with a little mild shredded cheese on top. The dessert was Turkish baklava, even better than Greek baklava in my opinion, it has more honey and less nuts (insert joke here). The hostess was very sweet and gave us a brochure when we left, even though we already had one. When we got back to the hotel we looked at it and this is what is says on the back. No, I have not made any typing or grammatical errors: "From the grandfather immature meat and roasted sausage and a fish and rich variety the our work. 46. The meat kinds which we made to reproduce in our year to cook enjoyment is to the you we are leaving." Whatever. It was good.
Day One Our first stop was downstairs in the garden of the hotel for breakfast. It was pretty simple and very European. Most days I ate some bread (which I swear to God tasted exactly like the Italian bread from Giant!) with a little jam, a couple of hard boiled egg whites (sorry mom, I hate those yokes and you weren't there to eat them for me), some really good honeydew and watermelon, and some half decent coffee. So after that we made our way to the Blue Mosque which was right up the hill from our hotel. It's pretty impressive even from the outside. The inside is beautiful, and mostly blue, duh. It is kind of funny to be in such a big crowd while everyone has their shoes off, you can always tell the people who didn't plan ahead for that! I know this is a cop-out but I'm just going to let you look at the slide show to see what is was like, in order to cut down on this already wordy entry! After we left the mosque, we walked around the courtyard between the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya. There were lots of food peddlers selling all sorts of yummy things. On the recommendation of one of Ira's friends from home, we tried this thing that sort of looked like a soft pretzel with sesame seeds. She said it was one of her favorite foods in Turkey. We must have gotten a bad one. It tasted like a stale bagel to me. Oh well. There were men all over the city selling roasted chestnuts and I couldn't resist. The smell reminded me of when my dad used to roast them around the holidays. So I bought a small green and white striped bag, and they were delicious! And they were hot which was perfect on the cool fall day. We walked around Ayasofya because it was closed for the first day of the Eid, as was the palace. It was fine, it gave us a chance to get our bearings a little bit and do some window shopping. We also stumbled upon an art gallery that had some wonderful pieces. But on our first day we weren't in much of a buying mood yet. After a walk through a lovely park and along the waterfront, we made our way back to Sultanhamet, which is the neighborhood where our hotel was located. We were in need of some lunch a this point, and as we were walking we were enticed by one cafe in particular that had very big white cushions on the chairs and bright gerbera daisies on the tables. We sat down and I had a glass of wine and bowl of lentil soup, another staple in Turkey. I think i tried the lentil soup at a half dozen places but this one was the best, It was lemony and had a lot of black pepper. This was also the cafe where we fell in love with apple tea. It's served in dainty glasses with ornate coasters and tiny silver spoons. It's pretty close to hot apple cider, but it's a little lighter and sweeter. We drank our weight in apple tea over the course of the week! We sat for quite a while until I noticed my dining companion was nodding off in the comfy chairs. So, we headed up the hill to the hotel for a little rest before taking on the Istanbul nightlife. Our evening was spent in Bayone. After walking around a bit, we decided on a little sidewalk cafe. It was cool because it was a white tablecloth kind of place, but there was graffiti on the walls. We ordered a bottle of wine, Turkish wine is really good. I am officially a fan. We shared a few mezes (small plates) we ordered things like green beans, yogurt dip with dill and mint, eggplant, and we also got a small fish platter with octopus, shrimp, prawns, and calamari. It was all to die for, especially the fish. We walked around a bit more and then took a cab back across the bridge.
Day Two I woke up with a cold on Wednesday. I guess my sinuses were not happy with the very sudden 25 degree shift in temperature. Although the rest of me loved it! We started the day at Ayasofya which I found far more impressive than the Blue Mosque. Even though we saw them in reverse order from when they were built, I'm glad we saw them in the order that we did. It was stunning. I was silenced as I stood there and looked up, slacked jawed, haha. They've been doing work on it for something like 50 years so there was scaffolding everywhere but it didn't really take any of the splendor away for me. I was thinking about my aunt Barb the whole time because of the era of the building and the mosaics, it would have been all very interesting for her. It also reminded me of being in all of those Paris churches with her, too. So, I tried to take lots of pictures to do her proud! My head cold was getting the better of me after we left Ayasofya so we went back to the hotel to get some rest. While we were there, we heard lots of banging and drilling over our heads. Remember the renovations?? Well, not only were we not enjoying the rooftop views, we were now having to endure the sound of crumbling plaster, wondering if someone or something was going to fall through the ceiling at any moment. So, Ira, being the best husband in the world that he is, went down to the front desk and politely asked when the demolition crew would be finished for the day. They assured him no more than 30 minutes. 45 minutes later...they assured him no more than 30 minutes. 30 minutes later... we were looking at switching hotels. After not having much luck with that, he went down one more time and told them that we were going to check out. He came back up and said "Pack up, they're moving us into a suite with a jacuzzi! Oh, and try to act really sick when you go down there, I've played up that angle a lot" I've never packed so fast in my life. I gave a few half-hearted coughs on my way past the desk, and then we were all smiles once we were in there! It was so nice. After that, we went to the world famous "Pudding Shop" the food was great and Ira had rice pudding and I had chocolate, both were heavenly.
Day Three We spent a good portion of the day at Topkapi Palace, the one that was closed on our first day. The grounds are huge, well, the palace is huge too. Anyway, we started in one of the many galleries. The lines were really long, the crowds were pushy, and it was hot in most of the rooms. It was hard because you basically had about 3 seconds to look at everything and then keep moving down the line. Not my idea of fun. The first few ones we went into were mostly the jewels of one sultan or another, honestly not that exciting. But we did see some more interesting things as we went along. Morbid as it was, we saw St. John the Baptist's skull and arm bone. And the beard and teeth of Mohammad. Who knew such things were still around?! Oh! And Moses' staff. The harem was pretty, all of the mosaics all over the palace were so cool. The views from every room were breathtaking. We ate lunch at a cafe right on the palace grounds, the view was perfect and the food was good too. We even met some people from Pa! Next came one of my favorite parts of the trip. The Istanbul Modern. It's a modern art museum right on the water in a very industrial part of town. I loved it, it was one of, if not the best museum I've even seen. The design and layout was perfect. It was not to big, not too small. And I loved virtually every piece of art I saw. The film installations were also wonderful. We had a drink on the terrace overlooking the water. It was very peaceful and I got some great pictures, too. That night we went up to Bayone again. This time we ate on a rooftop, overlooking the city and the sea. We had some not so typical Turkish food: pizza, fries, and tortellini! But it was good. We asked for the check and he looked at us and asked "one or two?" We thought it was odd that he was asking us about separate checks, but we said "one" and then to our surprise he brought out one cup of tea! We looked in our Turkey book and it turns out that the Turkish word for tea is "Cay" but it's pronounced with a "ch" sound. Haha! So we drank the tea and had a little laugh at our expense.
Day Four Friday we went on a ferry ride to the Prince's Islands which are right near Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara. The ferry was very crowded but we were pleasantly surprised to see them selling tea in glass cups right on the ferry. And they were only 50 YTL, about 50 cents. The first island was crowded, and we weren't that impressed. It was nice, and fairly quaint, but we were anxious to see the next one. It wasn't as crowded, and a little nicer, but still not what I was expecting. However, we did play cards and suck back the apple tea at a really sweet little tea place. Our waiter was amused by us for some reason and the view over the water was spectacular. Ira beat me at rummy though, as usual...We took the ferry back and headed to Bayone one more time for a "traditional Turkish meal" (according to our Turkish friend Aras) It's been in business since 1888. It was so good! I drank black grape juice! We had a pickle plate with beets, cucumbers. peppers, olives...yum. And an artichoke plate which had peas, potatoes, and carrots. It was also sort of pickled. My main course was a veggie saute' of sorts, it was seasoned perfectly and the eggplant was some of the best I've ever had. And then. Dessert. This place is known for its fruit desserts and we had a hard time deciding. I had a milk pudding with blackberry and Ira went with a mixed fruit compote. We've still debating the contents. We're pretty sure there were cherries, grapes, apricot, pear, and quince. On a sugar high, we walked for a little bit but the crowds were really overwhelming for me after being around so many people all week, so we got a cab home.
Day Five We slept in a little bit and then had our last breakfast out on the patio. Then, we made our way to the Grand Bazaar. It was a lot of fun and we came away with a few treasures like a handmade table runner, a tablecloth for the outside table, a tea set, a silk scarf, and a few other treasures that will have to wait for December to be revealed...The big "score" for me was stumbling upon a yarn shop. I was, at first, unimpressed because it wasn't very nice to touch and it all seemed a little...processed. But then. I found. The mother load. A pile, literally, a pile of hand-dyed yarn. The stuff that I covet in the states. And get this. You paid for it by weight. I got two arms full of hand-dyed yarn for about 4 dollars. One skein of it would have cost over 20 dollars at home. Amazing. I'm thinking about making a blanket, but I haven't decided yet. We also found our way to the Basilica Cistern which is this incredible underground structure with columns and about a foot of underground water, with fish in it! There were these 2 Medusa heads at the bottom of two of the columns that looked so strangely out of place but so interesting. When we walked down there, it was like there was a whole other world down there. Amazing. We relaxed a played some more cards for a while at the Green Cafe', it was very calming and I wanted to take a nap there on the comfy sofas! We walked a little more and then made our way to our last dinner in Istanbul. Pomegranate juice, salad, and tomato soup for me. Pomegranate juice, and Turkish ravioli for Ira. It was perfect. We had a wonderful time. I'm really starting to get a taste for international travel! We're talking about Germany and Greece in the spring...we'll see. For now, it's back to reality and making a life for ourselves here in Cairo.

"Istanbul not Constantinople"

2008-09-29T06:16:00.002-04:00

Sorry, that corny song has been going through my head all day! I have to admit, the only reason I know that song is because it's in the movie "Mona Lisa Smile". It's also referenced on a Gilmore Girls episode. Lauren? Heather? Who can tell me which one?? Anyway, we leave for Turkey in about an hour or so. So, I won't be blogging for about a week. Try to hold back the tears. Besides, it's Autumn, stop checking my blog and go for a walk! And have a good week...

Islamic Cairo

2008-09-27T17:59:00.005-04:00

Today we went on a walking tour of Islamic Cairo. As my friend Ralph said "what do you mean? Isn't all of Cairo Islamic??" Well, sort of...the area where we were today refers more to "Old Cairo" in terms of architecture and culture. So there are many markets and street vendors. Our tour guide from the university is amazing. It's the same woman who took us to the pyramids and she is just so full of knowledge and information. She felt that in order for us to get a true sense of the different types of architecture, we should visit many different types of buildings. We went to a Al-Azhar Mosque, Madrassa and Mausoleum of Barquq (school), an old merchant hotel, a sabil-kuttab (public drinking fountian and Quranic school) , and Beit el-Suhayami which was a traditional family mansion. They were all lovely and everyone kept remarking how much the new campus has been modeled after this type of architecture. It was another hot day, and we were pooped by the end for sure, but it was a great outing. As usual, I think the pictures speak for themselves...

We're headed back out there tomorrow night since it's our last chance to experience Islamic Cairo at night during Ramadan. It ends on Tuesday and we'll be in Turkey!

Domestic Diva-wannabe

2008-09-26T11:19:00.007-04:00

Before I tell you about my domestic divaness, I'll give you a recap of the past few days...We had a meeting for The Breathing Room to talk about the October schedule and also about what we are going to charge the students now that the "introductory" month is over. As I mentioned before, my schedule was really wiping me out. So I was hoping to get an all evening schedule and I did! I will now be teaching sun-wed night. I think it's going to be so much better for me as well as my students who are trying to learn Primary Series and need to do it as much as they can. Amanda and I had our usual "Knitting Knight", but it took a downward spiral and we ended up drinking beer and watching SNL videos on the NBC site. Oh! That's the other big news! Ira, in his infinite wisdom, spent an entire afternoon setting up some thing that makes our computer think that it's in the U.S. and lets us watch all our shows!! Yay!! Up until now, we would get a message saying that "this is only available to viewers in the U.S." or something dumb like that. So this morning I watched the season premiere of the Office and Grey's Anatomy! Which also means I'll be able to watch the debate. Well, that is, unless SOMEONE chickens out! haha So, anyway, after Amanda and I hung out, Ira and I went upstairs for a Sohour. This is the meal that is typically eaten before dawn during Ramadan, but most people now eat it before bed because it's less disruptive. So we went upstairs at 10:30 and probably didn't eat until about 11:30. It was so much fun! And there was SO much food! Everything was delicious and we got to chat with a lot of nice people. We didn't get to bed til about 2:30. So yesterday I slept in knowing that I had a busy day of domesticity ahead of me. I shopped, cleaned, and cooked my way to our first dinner party and happy hour here in Cairo. Actually, I think it was the first dinner party and happy hour we've ever hosted as a couple! Anyway, Ira was on campus all day yesterday so I went to Seoudi and picked up some last minute ingredients and then came home to sweep the patio. This may sound like a quick and easy task, but it took me an hour and the dust pan was FULL of a lovely black silt, which I can only assume is not only coating our patio but also our lungs and nasal passages. Sigh. It looks great out there now though! Anyway, I made these awesome lentil burgers http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/vegetarian-lentil-burgers-recipe.html topped with feta cheese and some orzo with tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. Ira also made his soon to be famous rice pudding with coconut, pistachios, and raisins. We had Amy and Aras over to tell us what to do in Turkey (Aras is Turkish) we got enough info to stay for at least a month! They brought a good Turkish wine (who knew such a thing existed?!) And now I'm excited to bring some back to Cairo, and home if I can wait to drink it til then. : ) After dinner, we had the Maadi crew come over for happy hour. We decided that we would all take turns hosting happy hour on Thursday nights and Ira and I volunteered to host first. It was so much fun! We had lots of good snacks and everyone brought beer and wine. It was great. I slept in late today and I've been doing laundry ever since, with our new washing machine! (See Ira's blog for a picture and more gushing) Ira is going to a concert tonight, but I'm going to pass because I'm wiped out from yesterday and we have a walking tour of Islamic Cairo in the morning. I'm also trying to get things in order before we leave for Turkey on Monday. I'll try to get another entry in before we leave because it'll be another week before I'm on again!

2008-09-22T19:56:00.003-04:00

I can't sleep so it seems like a good time to do a blog entry. I've been having some random bouts of insomnia lately. I think my weird yoga schedule may have something to do with it. I think the fact that somedays I teach in the mornings and sometimes I teach at night is kind of screwing with my energy levels and my sleeping and eating patterns. Which, by the way, were not exactly firmed up before I started this whole yoga adventure! I think I had finally moved past the jet lag and the upset stomachs and now I'm all messed up again. Sigh. Hopefully I'm going to start teaching more in the evenings and maybe that will help...
I've made a decision to join the Maadi House. I've talked about it a little bit on here. It's a sort of country club that's somehow affiliated with the U.S. Embassy (although no one seems to know how or why exactly) It's open to U.S. citizens and you have to join for a year. It's quite lovely there. There are lots of trees and grass and although it's in the middle of Maadi, the air seems a little different and it's more quiet for sure. They have a pool, bar, resturant, playground, and lots of other activities. A lot of people go there when Cairo becomes a little overwhelming, as it can be from time to time. So far my experiences there have been at night for parties or BBQs, but today I went to the pool for the first time. That's right, the first day of Fall and I was sweating poolside. Actually, it was cute, there was a lifeguard who was Egyptian and probably about 19 who came over to Amanda and me and said in broken English "The seasons, Spring, Summer, Winter, and one more?" Amanda and I looked at each other, trying to figure out where he was going with this, and said "Fall?" He kind of looked at us funny. So we said it again "Fall?" And he said "A-U-T..." and we finished "U-M-N" he smiled and said "Right! First day!" and walked away. We laughed, it was very sweet. I am normally SO excited for the first day of Fall. I guess it kind of slips your mind here since the seasons don't change, at least not for a while. I did see some clouds today for the first time since I've been here, that was exciting!
Other than that, we're getting ready for our trip to Turkey on Monday. Which means everyone should be getting ready for another slide show!

Shopping

2008-09-20T11:28:00.003-04:00

I'm starting to get the hang of shopping here in Cairo. I know there are some of you who can't believe it took me this long. I should say that I haven't come CLOSE to getting the hang of haggling. So for those of you picturing me in a "Souk" (marketplace) talking some shopkeeper into giving me a pashmina for 10 LE instead of 20, think again. My shopping has, most often, taken place in stores with price tags. I wish I could say that the places I'm most fond of are truly Egyptian, but they're honestly more American with a little Egypt thrown in. There's "& Co.", which is a store that specializes in Egyptian cotton and handmade soaps and pottery. They have the most amazing sheets, towels, pajamas, and comfy clothes, as well as soaps, shampoo, jewelry...basically everything I like. I've been getting a few things for the flat to make it a little more homey. The prices are comparable to what we would pay in the States for those items. The sheets and towels are of especially good quality and would probably actually cost more at home. They have a store in Connecticut, I can only imagine what they charge for this stuff there! The other shop I like is a bookstore called Al Kotob Khan which means "bookstore", haha. It's very cool, it reminds me of a New York bookstore. They have a lot of English and Arabic titles and lots of very unique journals, cards, etc. My reading list is huge these days, thanks mostly to the "Visual Bookshelf" application on Facebook. My friends Shara and Kendra have been reading way to many interesting books! So I worked my way through the list just to see what they did have, I would say about half of the titles were available and I'm sure I could get the rest if I ordered them. They are A LOT more expensive though. I bought the "Omnivore's Dilema" and it was 112LE which is about $20.50. According to the back of the book it would have cost $16.00 in the States. Where as Ira bought a book on the History of Maadi that was only 55LE, about $10. But that book was published in Egypt. So unless it's printed here, I think I'll be stocking up on books while I'm at home, but the shop does have a lovely little cafe and the staff are very nice and welcoming. And the other items in the store will make great gifts!
http://www.kotobkhan.com/
http://www.andcompanyonline.com/

Homesick

2008-09-16T06:56:00.008-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen. I honestly can't believe this is only my first entry on the subject! it's been almost exactly 6 weeks since we've been here. Everything is still very new and exciting, we're making friends and finding our favorite places, but honestly, the excitment is starting to wear off a little. I really miss my friends and family. This picture above was taken at one of our "men suck" nights. After one of us would go through a bad break up, we would all go out for dinner and drinks and hope someone better was on the horizon. That's Heather, Kate, Me, Lauren, and Michelle. I know everyone thinks they have the best friends in the world, but I really do. These women are my rock. They are my cure for everything. Any mundane little outing would always turn into something fun and amazing. From giggle fits in dressing rooms, cupcake cravings, yoga class, camping, moving days, dancing, job drama, they've been there for it all.

And then there is my crazy, fun family. My dad who is always there with a joke or a little bit of wisdom. My mom, who is my medical counselor and my gossip buddy, we can chat for days! And my step dad Paul who not only puts my bed together every time I move, but is such a part of our family it feels like he's been around forever. This is my brother Connor, we are like a weird combination of sister-brother/mother-son/movie buddies/gross joke loving pair. He is the smartest, funniest, sweetest kid I know. I miss seeing him every week and watching him grow right before my eyes. I'm afraid I won't recognize him at Christmas!

Here are my "Best Women" at my wedding. Well, this was taken at the rehearsal dinner. That's Rachel, Lauren, and Kelly. Rachel and Kelly have been my friends since high school (Rachel even longer) We've truly grown up together, although I still think of us as kids going to concerts and having sleepovers. Lauren is my "grown up friend", meaning I met her as a grown up (not that we're grown up, because we're not! haha). "Of all the yoga classes in all of the world, she had to walk into mine... "

Here is a picture of us on a random summer day by her parent's pool. It's funny how days that you think are just simple and ordinary, turn into memories. That day turned into one of the few days that we spent together just the two of us this summer. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it, we just hung out by the pool, ate some food and maybe watched some Gilmore Girls. But now it's etched in my mind for some reason. I guess it exemplified so many other days that we've spent like that. I think that, to me, is the true marker of an amazing friendship, or a best friend. There are friends that you have to have "plans" there have to be tickets invloved, or reservations, or evites, and those are great friends. But when you have a best friend, it means they come and visit you in the hospital and it's fun for some reason, or you come over and hang out with them while they do laundry and you have the best time ever. Or even if you don't, you just love being around each other. That's what I have. That's what I miss.

Adventures in Cooking in Two Acts

2008-09-15T08:34:00.005-04:00

I have been wanting to write an entry about cooking but I've been putting it off because it's not as exciting as the Pyramids or anything. So if you're not into cooking, this might not be the blog for you today!

ACT I The Market As I have mentioned before, going to the market can be quite a circus. I seem to either be frustrated or excited every time I leave. The great thing is, it's really close. (Sorry to those non-central Pa people, but I'm going to use Camp Hill landmarks here to show you how close) It would be like me walking from my old apartment, out to Market St., and up to that gas station that sits there on the corner, maybe not even that far. The point is, it's easy for us to get there and grab a few things when we need to. Which is pretty much everyday. You know when you go to the store and you do a big trip, like a weeks worth of groceries and if you're really on top of it, maybe even some things that you haven't run out of, but you think you're going to soon? I love that kind of shopping trip. I love knowing that if I want to cook and make something fun, I have lots of ingredients on hand. I love knowing that there are lots of options for quick meals or snacks, and plenty of household supplies. I love the kind of trip where you know for a fact that you haven't forgotten anything. I have not had the pleasure of that experience here in Cairo. Here's a good example, Early last week I thought I would make a nice big pot of soup (you can take the girl away from Fall, but you can't take the Fall out of the girl) So I went to the store looking for things to make stock like carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, parsley, garlic. I found onions. That's it. Ok, so no soup. So I rearranged things in my head and tried to get some things that would make a few meals, which worked out ok, but left me feeling like I hadn't accomplished my goal. I did however go to the market a few days later and found garlic, parsley, and carrots. Which brings me to my next point...just when you think you won't find something here in Cairo, it will (sometimes) magically appear on the shelf. In the states we take for granted that things will be in stock. It's pretty simple, you bought ginger ale at the store last week, you run out, you go back to the store the next week, they have the ginger ale. There may be the rare "out of stock" sign on something but you can just get some other kind of ginger ale, and it's fine. We were buying ginger ale here almost everyday for the first two weeks we were here. Cut to a month later and we haven't seen it since. And then, this week, there was some random "White Rock" ginger ale on the shelf and a week later I'm still seeing it! I don't get it. Ok, so I get some ingredients that I can make some semblence of a recipe out of...now what?

ACT II The Kitchen The second act is always shorter, right?? All I can think about is what my friends would do. Kelly and Heather would be fine, I think. Lauren, I'm sorry to say would probably have been able to write "the Cairo resturant Guide" by now. I'm starting to realize that you have to have some cooking backround before you get here, or it will be very difficult to figure out once you're here. Even following a recipie isn't enough, they might not have the indredients! (see above) All of that being said, I have managed to make some pretty good meals in the past week or so. The best was probably an Eggplant Caponata of sorts. A sort of rustic Italian stir fry. That's what the picture is by the way, in the early stages, anyway. I have discovered that Egyptian olive oil is some of the best olive oil I have ever had. I know this sounds strange, but it doesn't even taste like oil. It has so much flavor and it makes the food taste awesome. And the balsalmic vinegar is also outstanding. Ok, back to the caponata...so what I had on hand were eggplants, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms. I thought about doing a pasta thing, but then I decided that the veggies could stand on their own. I put the recipie below...enjoy!

Cairo Caponata

2 small eggplant, peeled and cubed

2 small red onion, sliced

one container musrooms (whatever looks good), sliced

2 or 3 small tomatoes, diced hapazardly, the chunkier the better

Tbs. fresh rosemary (you could also try basil or oregano)

Olive Oil

Balsalmic Vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Coat the bottom of a medium skillet with olive oil. Place all the vegetable in the skillet. season with salt and a little bit of pepper. You may need to be generous with the salt in order to break down the eggplant. You really want them to cook down and get soft so give them a toss every few minutes, but for the most part just let them hang out together in there. When they start to look pretty mushy and the eggplant has softened, toss in the fresh herbs. Then, transfer to the serving bowl, toss with the vinegar. You can serve it with crusty bread, pasta, rice, or as a side dish, but it is delightful on its own...and even better the next day for lunch!

Pyramids-Take 2!

2008-09-13T09:31:00.004-04:00

Well, today was our second trip to the pyramids. It was a totally different experience this time. First of all, I have never been so beat upon by the sun in my entire life. How those guys managed to stack all those limestone boulders on top on one another in this heat is truly one of the greatest feats in history. It was a lot of fun. As you can see from my slide show (I'm sorry, but I continue to impress myself) Amanda, Ira, and I had a blast taking lots of silly pictures. The Solar Boat Museum was pretty amazing. I don't think I knew that such a thing even existed. There were lots of tourists of course, we were all wondering how much longer we have to be here in Egypt before we can start busting on the tourists. We were doing it already anyway. I'm sorry, but if you're going to wear a tube top to the pyramids, you're asking for it. That, and a sunburn. There's really not much else I can say, the pictures really say it all. When we were pulling out of Giza I said jokingly to the bus "you know we're going to have to come here with everyone who ever comes to visit us" and everyone kind of groaned. But then I started thinking, I'm going to get to come here with everyone who comes to visit us!! I can't wait!

On the Town

2008-09-12T06:57:00.008-04:00

Although that IS the title of my favorite Gene Kelly movie, that's not the subject of this post. ; ) Last night was the first AUC Happy Hour of the year. It was at a hotel in Zamalek called Longchamps (pronounced Long-Shaamps) They have a rooftop terrace type thing and we all had a few Stellas and some fun conversation. Then we all made our way to Tabasco's. South Mex?? Alas, no. More like random Egyptian food, pizza, and pasta, which is what a lot of places serve for some reason. And, like most places, you're never really sure what you're going to get. I ordered a lemon mint juice and what I got was some sort of toxic green color. And then I ordered a tomato and cheese sanwich off of the "sandwich" part of the menu. I was served a cheese dip of some sort with pita chips and topped with chopped tomato. Huh. Ok! It was good, don't get me wrong, it's just funny watching a table of 10 people gambling on the their food order. I did eat some of the best pickles ever off of Ira's and Amanda's plates. Yum! By far the funniest part of the night was when we were trying to figure out how to divide up the group by neighborhoods to get cabs back to Maadi. A station wagon cab pulled up and ALL NINE of us got in! I swear, that thing must have been dragging on the ground. Ira and I sat in the front seat next to the driver and I have a bruise from where the window-roll-down-thingy was jamming into my hip. There were 4 people in the backseat and then 3 in the seat in the waaay back. It was quite hilarious.

Today Amanda and I are going to get pedicures and then we have a BBQ at the Maadi House. Tomorrow is another trip to the Pyramids! This time we're going during the day and I don't think the Sphinx will be doing any narrating. I will do my best to get the pictures up in a timely manner!

The Breathing Room

2008-09-08T12:33:00.005-04:00

Here it is! As I mentioned in earlier posts, there are some women in Maadi who were eager to start a yoga space, or "co-op" as they've been calling it. It's been wonderful, everyone has different talents and interests and we each bring something to the space. Gordana has been so great about the admin. side of things. Everything from making sign-in sheets, to crunching the numbers, she's been working hard. We had our first meeting on Saturday and talked about things like keys and money and all the boring stuff, and then I gave everyone a class. From a teaching perspective, it was very easy because all of them had experience. Last night I taught the first "real" class. That was a lot of fun! Mark, Amanda, and Ira came out and then there were a couple of the women from Saturday as well as some new faces. I did a led primary class and it was great, a lot of work, but great. Everyone was VERY sweaty, which is the whole point! I was very impressed with the whole group, there was a lot of "I haven't done it forever...blah, blah" but they were wonderful, and followed the cues perfectly. This morning was a much smaller class (although, I think this time slot will grow to be one of my biggest classes) there were only 3. Belle, who is also a newbie to Maadi, Wendy, who I met on Saturday, and Alice, who was new to me but not new to the space from last year. This was more of a Mysore class. They didn't need me to cue very much so I focused on assisting and "encouragement", haha. It was a different feel. They were still sweaty (it is Cairo) but I felt that the energy was a little less exciting than it was the night before. That could just be because there were less people, it was early, etc. So it's been a great experience so far. I have another class tomorrow night, and then another on wed. morning.

Ira and I have been eating in a lot. I've been too tempted by the veggies at the market so I've been making some stir fry and some pasta dishes. Although tonight I'm a little pooped so I think we're going to get some yummy La Rosa pizza delivered!

a plug for ira...

2008-09-05T08:28:00.003-04:00

Check out Ira's blog if you want to see pictures of the new campus!

Make new friends

2008-09-05T08:07:00.003-04:00

So, last night Amanada and I were supposed to go get beers. I arrived at Hubbly Bubbly a little bit before she did. I noticed that the clientele was a little...young. Not in the "I'm 30 and these 21 year olds look so young" way, more in the "my 13 year old brother Connor would fit right in here" way. It was tween central. Then Amanda walked in and said "why is everyone 12?" Then she went up and asked if they serve beer (I'm sticking with this girl). And they said no. They probably could have been rude and said "look around, you American idiot!" So then we were stuck with what to do. We could go to Shanghai and have beer there, but it seems weird to go to a Chinese place and just have beer. So we decided to just go back to my place and sit out on the deck. It was so much fun! I miss my girls so much and it was really good for me to have some fun girl talk and relax. Amanda is great, she's funny and smart and reminds me a lot of home. We talked about Cairo, and boys, and what stores they are rumored to have at the big mall in Heliopolis (so far the word on the street is Banana Republic, H&M, and Sephora!) This was after we got done talking about politics, literature, and avant garde cinema, of course : ) I guess I knew I would make friends here, but that's really hard to think about when you're still saying good bye to your old ones. Not that you guys are old! But I didn't want to think about all the new people I would meet, or how cool they would be. I know that's bratty of me, but it's true. But now I see that this place isn't so bad, and there are lots of great strangers that could be friends.

One of the seven wonders of the world...or Epcot Center?

2008-09-04T06:10:00.007-04:00

We went to the pyramid light show last night! It was a trip. We were warned that it was going to be cheesy, but I had no idea. Now, any of you who have been to Disney World or even a planitarium when you were a kid will have the general idea. First of all, the whole thing is narrated by the Sphinx! So he's like "I have seen so many walk through this desert!" and "I'm so tired after sitting in the sand all these years!" "Cleopatra was so pretty!" And it's Omar Sherrif's voice! I'm not making this up! And the best part was after the Sphinx said something dramatic, like someone died or something, the music would go "BUM BUM BUUUUUUM" really loud. It was a riot. Little Velimeir and Vojo loved it. Veli was sitting behind me and he kept going "oh wow!" it was cute. And it was another cool night, a great breeze, I could get used to this. Ok, now all that being said, the pyramids themselves are amazing of course. We were walking over towards them and I just caught a glimpse of one and it was just so exciting! And then you're sitting there and they're right there looking at you! I know I sound like a nut, but it's weird. You see them in books and movies your entire life and then you sit in front of them and you still think it's a movie set. They looked too real! We were on the Sphinx side so we weren't able to get up close to them, but since we live about 30 minutes away I'm pretty sure we can go back another time. Even lit up with the lasers they were awesome. As you can see by my other cool slide show!! haha This one only took me about 45 minutes instead of all day.
So, tonight I have plans with Amanda and we're going to the "Hubbly Bubbly", a neighborhood bar, although we like to call it the "Hobbly Wobbly". It looks like a bar at home! I'll take pictures!

yoga playlists

2008-09-02T09:04:00.004-04:00

I start teaching yoga next week! I'll be teaching four classes a week, Sunday and Tuesday night and then monday and wednesday morning. I am a big fan of playing music during yoga. I know feelings are mixed about this in the yoga community among teachers as well as students. I don't even know how my students here are going to feel about it, but I hope they'll keep an open mind. It's a challenge for me to make really good playlists. There's nothing worse than holding a pose that's not your favorite while listening to a song you can't stand. But there's also something to be said for being able to block things out while you practice. And it's a good tool for the teacher to see if she can hear your breathing over the music. If your not a yoga student, you might find my lists unconventional. But I would rather practice in silence than listen to "yoga music". All the chanting and bells really gets to me after a while! haha So instead I go for strong beats in the begining of class at least through standing poses, then I take it down a notch for seated poses and closing, finally, I play tracks that very little or no words for savasana (relaxation). I try to stay away from anything cheesy, or too lovey-dovey, or anything too obvious...like songs that talk about breathing and relaxing a lot. Anyway, if anyone is interested, here are the 2 lists that I've put together so far...Even if you're not into yoga, maybe you'll find something new to listen to!
Cairo Yoga Mix 1
15 Steps-Radiohead
7/4 (Shoreline)- Broken Social Scene
Bodysnatchers- Radiohead
By Your Side (Cottonbelly's Fola Mix)- Sade
Jigsaw Falling Into Place-Radiohead
Bend And Break- Keane
Move By Yourself- Donavon Frankenreiter
Like a Feather- Nikka Costa
Brighter Than Sunshine -Aqualung
Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight- Amos Lee
Chasing Pavements- ADELE
I'm Yours-Jason Mraz
Island in the Sun- Weezer
Put Your Records On- Corinne Bailey Rae
Better Together- Jack Johnson
Half Acre- Hem
Say-John Mayer
Speak Into The Microphone- The Dining Rooms
M.Dupont-The Dining Rooms
Walnut- Moby
The Blue Terror of Lawns-Moby
Love Song for my Mom- Moby

Cairo Yoga Mix 2
Going On- Gnarls Barkley
Flight in Dub- Wax Poetic
I Feel It All-Feist
Maybe Tonight-Nicole Atkins
Somewhere Only We Know-Keane
My Little Corner Of The World- Yo La Tengo
Let Go- Frou Frou
Video-India.Arie
A Long Walk-Jill Scott
(Nice Dream)-Radiohead
Endless Song Of Hapiness- Yael Naïm
Idle (The Rabbit Song)- Hem
1234- Feist
Breakdown -Jack Johnson
Bottom Of The Barrel- Amos Lee
Blackbird- The Beatles
Love Like Laughter-Beth Orton
We Are One- Kelly Sweet
Breathe Me-Sia
Three Little Birds- Bob Marley & The Wailers
Dunia-Bliss
False Start- The Dining Rooms
Chorus Of Flames- The Dining Rooms
Cosi Ti Amo-The Dining Rooms
Verso Il Sole-The Dining Rooms
Namaste-Beastie Boys
Burying Song- Hem

The Garden Party

2008-08-31T03:59:00.005-04:00

Hey, this will be a quick one I just wanted to put up a picture of the garden party from last night. It was incredible! We pulled up to the house and it looked like they were set up for a wedding or something in the backyard! There were at least a dozen tables set up with white tablecloths, waiters walking around with trays of food and drinks, and there was a big beautiful buffet set up in the corner of the garden. The property was amazing. The house was pretty, but the grounds! Maadi is a very green neighborhood, but this place made the rest of it seem barren! We sat with Behar, Villi, Amy, Leonard, Amy, Aras, and Katrina who we met last night. The food was awesome, and I even had some half decent wine, which I thought I would have to wait to have til we got back to the States. It was the coolest night that we've had so far, breezy and lovely. And being in that garden made the night seem almost magical. It was the perfect way to end our week of orientation.

The Shipment is Here!!!!!

2008-08-30T11:08:00.004-04:00

It's here! It's here! It came around 2:00 this afternoon. All 19 boxes arrived (relatively) safe and sound. The boxes were pretty messed up and couple of Ira's books were damaged, but other than that everything was fine. I have to say, it was a little less exciting than I thought it would be. I don't know what I thought I packed! haha I really should have packed more, oh well. So now that it's here, what am I most excited to have??? Here's the top 10 list...

10. shoes, the ones I have here are getting really dusty and gross

9. candles

8. clothes, I was really getting sick of the stuff I've been wearing for a month now

7. spices, especially chili powder

6. the wedding picture proofs

5. razors

4. Sex and the City DVDs

3. yoga books

2. My cookbooks, especially the Giada DeLaurentis ones

1. My quilt!

So now we have figure out where everything goes. Or agree on where everything goes! And then we have to figure out what we still need. We were kind of waiting for the shipment before we went on the Carrfour trip to get the iron, vacuum cleaner, etc. We have to take a break right now though because we have to get ready for the garden party at the Provost's house this evening. Pictures to follow!

Obama in Cairo

2008-08-30T04:14:00.005-04:00

I know that most of you are reading Ira's blog too, but just in case you're not I'm going to re-tell a story he has on there about our trip back from Dahab...we were at the airport trying to get through security to get on our return flight, when a guard (with a big gun, they all have guns and supposedly they're not loaded but it still scares me) asks for our passports. This also still scares me a little because I've seen too many bad movies where innocent people are accused of crimes they did not commit in forigen countries. So, he looks at our passports and then back at us and says "America?" and we both nod "yes", and then as he's handing back the passports he smiles a little bit and asks hopefully "Obama?" And we both say yes with huge smiles on our faces. And then he says "Not Bush" and we just laugh and say "not Bush" back at him. So we walked away thinking that was one of the coolest interactions we've had with any Egyptian person since we've been here. Until, we had to hand over the passports again, and the same exact thing happened! Almost as if they are reading from a script! I swear, there are people here that get by with very little English, please, thank you, yes, no, but they can say "Obama"! Now, I guess he is on the news and all of that, but I just think that it's probably been a long time since someone just running for president has made it into the daily vernacular of the average Egyptian citizen. And I'm sure it's not just Egypt!
So, as many of you know, I've been pretty psyched about Obama since he came on the scene. I remember hearing his name when he won his first senate race and thinking "Well, that's a weird name to have in politics!" And I also remember the late Tim Russert saying at that time "this guy is going to be one to watch". And I did! And then when he stole the show at the 2004 convention, I was hooked. I wanted him to run so much, but in the back of my mind I thought it was too good to be true, but on the other side of the back of my mind (there's a lot of room back there) I also thought that it was exactly the time for him. So, cut to this convention, last thursday. I was frantic. I was watching CNN and BBC and Al Jezeera all day trying to figure out when they were going to broadcast his speech. I was also trying to figure out what the hell GMT is and what it had to do with me. Poor Ira was sick in bed all day but that didn't stop me from running back there every hour or so and loudly wispering things like "Psst! Hey! Do you think they're going to show his speech live here, or should I try and watch it online?!" So what I finally figured out was that it was going to be on here at 4:00am. So the plan was to set the alarm and watch it then. And it didn't help that we were setting the clocks back an hour that night so I was worried that we were going to miss it. So, I set the alarm, woke up instantly, and bounced down the hall to the TV. I turned it on just as he was coming onstage and I got goosebumps! I know this is all very corny, but it was like this crazy dream I had years ago had come true. And the speech was perfect. I loved all of it. I didn't want it to end. I wanted to stay up all night watching commentaries and replays but I figured I could do that tomorrow. Little did I know that Insane McCain was going to trot out his little gun toting PTA mom and ruin it for me...grr... Oh well. When you have nothing but an iffy war record to run on, strategically placed manuvers are all you have I guess.

I am so very oriented...

2008-08-28T13:41:00.005-04:00

This week brought the official orientation given by AUC. Whew! It wiped both of us out, and everyone else we know. It started on Monday, we met at the Midan Victoria and caught the bus out to the new campus. There were some familiar faces, Mark and Gordana, Brandon, Malek, Steve and Stephanie, Hanan. And then we met LOTS of new people! Getting to know them has probably been my favorite part of the week. There's Amanda from Atlanta, she's going to be a librarian. She's super fun and I can tell we're going to be buds. Ana is a Fullbright here from Miami, she writes for the Herald (as well as having written a couple of best sellers!) and is going to be in the Journalism dept. Amy and Leonard both do Middle East Studies, Amy is in Ira's dept, Leonard is in Philosophy. There lots of others, but I guess I ended up connecting with them the most. So we made our way to the new campus. I'm sad to say that my camera battery died, I guess after all those pics in Dahab! So I don't have anything to show, yet. But it is amazing, an architectual feat to say the least. All the way out in the desert, a beautiful, sprawling structure with shade and light, green and sand. Although, it's not finished! There were dudes in hard hats everywhere and I would say that the overall theme of the orientation was "patience". I don't know how many times someone would ask a question like "when will we have computers?" "when can we get into our offices?" "Where can I print out my syllabus?" and they were met with "We don't know" I really feel for all of the new faculty. I can't imagine starting a job and not knowing where you're going to have classes, or how you're going to prepare for them. But everyone is taking it in stride, for the most part. So, the first day we heard from the provost and the president of the university. They were very enthusiastic and hopeful for the new campus and the new faculty. Then, we all stood up and introduced ourselves. I normally don't have any issues with speaking in public, but I have to say I was nervous. Especially when everyone that went before me had these amazing resumes. Even the interns are from Stanford, Columbia, Hopkins, Harvard....! So I it was finally my turn and I said that I worked with autistic children in the states and that I was hoping to fill the yoga void in our neighborhood by teaching. Well. Who would have thought that would have illicited such a response! Afterwards, I had few women some up to me and asked me to keep them informed if I find a place to teach. THEN, a guy named Jonah came over and told me that his wife is starting a "yoga co-op". I talked to her that night and basically what she's doing is renting a space where she's not charging the students very much but the teachers would still make more than they would other places because there's no middle man! Perfect! We're having our first meeting on saturday and it looks like I'll be teaching up to 4 classes a week! And then the president's wife came over and asked me if I could help out in the daycare if they ever have any special needs children. Ira was like "Did you know that was the president's wife?!" haha I have to say it felt good to have people talk to me about something other than Egypt for the first time all summer! The rest of the day was filled with (rather boring for non-faculty) tours and talks. And there was a nice lunch on the president's terrace. Nice, but a little hot baking in the 105 degree heat! We were all so tired at the end of the day that I can't believe the bus home wasn't full of nappers!
Day 2 was a little better. The bus came later and we were at the old campus. Not as hot, and we had some really useful presentations on health and safety in Cairo, and we had an Arabic lesson! Not easy, let me tell you. I don't know if it's my music backround, but it bothers me that I can hear the instructor saying it one way and then it doesn't sound like that when I say it. I guess I'm being too perfectionist about it...Later that night a bunch of Maadi people met up for Chinese and we had a blast. More and more people kept coming and we took over the place eventually. At one point, Mark and Gordana's boys were playing under the table and all of the sudden they each plunked a full beer can down on the table! We have no idea where they came from! Under the table, obviously, but we have no idea how they got there! It was hilarious to say the least. It's really great to be able to laugh again. Not that Ira and I haven't had our moments, but to laugh really loud in group of people like that, it was awesome.
Day 3 was great for Gordana and me! We skipped out at 10:30 after Arabic lessons! We met up with Kathleen and baby Andy for lunch and did a little shopping. We even went to the 2.5 pounds store! Like the dollar store! Well, the 46 cent store...anyway, it was just like it is in the states. I even saw a gift bag with a veiled Barbie on it! Last night we babysat the Wetmoreland boys, and had our "Ramadan Beer" delivered. Since they don't sell booze during Ramadan (which starts monday) we thought we better stock up. And just like almost everything else, we had it delivered!
And today, the last day, we had our last "Survival Arabic" class (we're both signing up for tutoring in the coming weeks) and then we had a lunch where they also had tables set up with different leisure activities in and around Cairo. Ira is sick now, I think he might be dehydrated. The heat is really bad but he's been resting all day (sleeping actually) and drinking lots of water. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow because tomorrow night we have a ride on a felluca! AUC has chartered a bunch to float down the Nile while we have dinner! I can't wait. And then Saturday we have a garden party at the Provost's house. I promise I'll be better about posting...and I'll charge the camera batteries!