acceptable outdoors-iness

I am now back at work after Eid vacation, which was pretty excellent. The place we stayed, El Hammra Eco-Lodge, was nice and relaxing, with the just the right amount of "roughing it." On the Aliza Scale of Acceptable Outdoors-iness, for example, there were mosquitoes and huts (roughing it!), but still indoor bathrooms with hot water and plenty of electricity (not roughing it, thank god).

Eighteen of us left Cairo in a caravan of four cars and a taxi, armed with plenty of bug spray, bottled water, speakers, and other essentials. The huts had room for 2-6 people in each, though sleeping arrangements varied. For example, some people claimed nice beds with mosquito nets, others got these kind of narrow cots, and others piled together a bunch of floor cushions and just kind of crashed. I was lucky enough to score a bed, which was awesome, though it did not have a mosquito net, which I now regret. We designated one hut as the "hanging-out" area, which was a nice place to set up camp. Two other friends joined later in the weekend, so we were a total of 20 people. There were other guests at the lodge, but we were definitely the biggest (and probably loudest) faction. It was actually kind of fun to take over the place for a few days.

Our stay also included three meals a day (though most of us managed to sleep through breakfast nearly every day). The meals were traditional Egyptian food and were generally pretty good, and were served in the main house of the lodge in an area fondly called the "restaurant" (though there were no menus and no one paid until the end of the weekend). The schedule was something like breakfast at 10, lunch at 4, dinner at 9. And whenever the meal was ready they would ring a bell; we were always hungry by the time mealtime rolled around, so there were plenty of good-natured jokes about our developing Pavlovian response to the food bell.

There were also some fields (grass! So exciting!), a pool, hammocks, three dogs running around, and some Egyptian-style gazebos with floor cushions for lounging. The whole place is run by a former police officer everyone calls "The General," who seems to spend most of his time wearing large hats, overseeing the cooking, and taking mildly creepy photos of guests by the pool. We spent plenty of time chilling in the hang-out hut, sitting by the pool reading and talking (a huge number of us were reading books on Middle Eastern politics -- imagine that. My reading list has just doubled), and just overall enjoying the "countryside" and being out of the city. The air was so clear, smog-free and breatheable, the skies were beautiful and we could see the stars, and it was overall just really lovely.

(Side note about the reading: I spent the weekend reading Thomas Friedman's latest book, "Hot, Flat and Crowded," which is about globalization, America's loss of purpose since 9/11, and the need for a "green revolution" and renewable energy. I am a big fan of his and mostly enjoyed the book, but part of it was kind of meta. The "crowded" in the title refers to overpopulation, and Friedman spends quite a bit of time talking about overcrowded mega-cities in developing countries. As I was reading about these cities, I could not help but reflect on Cairo, my current home, with its very definite overcrowding and population of approximately 20 million people. Weird to be reading about this phenomenon when right now, I am kind of a part of it...)

Anyway, the whole thing reminded me a lot of camp (in a really good way): late nights spent talking and bonding, meals as an event served at certain times during the day, sleeping in communal huts/bunks, spending so much time outdoors, just the overall feeling of relaxation, and of course, the mosquitos. (Hilariously spent 15 minutes pantomiming killing bugs in Metro since I could not figure out how to say "bug spray," only to have the guy finally go... "You want Off?" I was like... gah, I actually knew that one. But they ended up being out of it, so I bought the Egyptian brand, which judging by the number of bug bites I have does not appear to have worked.)

Though we were sad to leave, it was also really nice to come back to my NEW APARTMENT in Cairo. A1 and I are moved in now, and it is excellent. We still need to decorate, but we got all our stuff moved in before Eid, and that was enough of an ordeal.

Basically, to get from my old apartment to my new one, I had to walk all the way down a pretty major street called Ismail Mohamed. So after packing up everything from the old place, I divided it up into three trips. Cabs in Cairo are pretty cheap, but still, they all add up, and I am trying to save money. So I got my first load of stuff down the stairs (third floor, no elevator) and into a cab, brought it into new apartment (14th floor, multiple elevators, phew!). Then I walked all the way back down Ismail Mohamed to save cab fare. I grabbed the next load, hailed another cab, unloaded, and walked all the way back. At this point I was kind of exhausted, and the only stuff I had left was my two huge suitcases, which there was just no way I could attempt on my own. My bowab (doorman) was conveniently absent just then (I am convinced he saw me moving my stuff and decided to go elsewhere before he could be coerced into helping), so I was kind of stymied as to how I was going to move the heavy stuff.

I was standing around in the lobby trying to figure out what to do when one of the construction workers asked what was wrong. (In my old building the lobby was under construction, and since this was during Ramadan people mostly worked at night when they could eat, drink and smoke.) I asked if he had seen the bowab, and he said he not but asked if there was anything he could do. I told him I had two big, heavy bags and needed some help, and he said he would do it. He grabbed a friend and they did the heavy lifting for me, including heaving both bags onto a taxi's roof-rack (no trunk space). Trust me, that was one nerve-wracking ride, I just kept waiting for one of them to fall off in the middle of Ismail Mohamed. In any event, I tried to tip them but they wouldn't accept, so it was just two nice guys helping out, which I really appreciated.

So in short, everything is in the new apartment. It is nice and classy and clean, and has no cat hair (Pookie: adorable cat, lots of shedding). Will update when we have decorated and found another roommate so we don't go broke paying rent.

On the job front, the first issue that I was mostly in charge of came out this week, and I am really proud of the way it turned out. Everyone in the office has been telling me how nice it looks, so overall I am just really pleased. Here's hoping the next one is just as good!