One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to get out and explore Cairo more. Every time I live abroad, I always get close to leaving wherever I am and realize there is still so much I want to do. So to avoid having that happen here, I decided to be more proactive about seeing Cairo. I have been doing something each weekend for the past few weeks, and this week decided to go to the Fish Gardens, located nearby in Zamalek. Despite the confusing title, the Fish Gardens is supposed to be a nice park near the Corniche on the Nile, as well as Cairo's aquarium.
It was the worst aquarium I have been to, ever. First, there were almost no fish. OK, there were two that were alive. The rest were dead and preserved in oversized test tubes. Not kidding. Basically, the park has a series of man-made caves that have aquariums set into the rock. Almost all of the aquariums were empty -- some had water but no fish, others had no water or fish. Some just had garbage at the bottom, leading N to remark that one particular tank must contain the "crumpled-up chip bag species" of fish. In fact, we found one tank with two large, ugly fish, and another with four turtles. That was it. Then at the end, we found that a number of the tanks contained oversized plastic test tubes with the perfectly preserved remains of the rest of the fish in the "aquarium." Some tanks had like 7-8 kinds of dead fish in them. It was really depressing.
The only bright spot here was that N heard the caves also had bats. Sure enough, standing in the middle of one of the larger, fish-less caves, we did hear the squeaking of many bats up above. Some of them swooped occasionally. We didn't stay too long because none of us wanted to get pooped on.
Luckily, the gardens part of the Fish Gardens was lovely. We brought along some books/magazines/newspapers and spent a nice afternoon sitting in the grass reading, napping, chatting, etc. It was an unusually warm winter weekend here (even in the midst of what everyone is calling the mildest winter in Cairo ever, thanks Global Warming!), so it was great to go out in t-shirts and sit in the sun for a bit.
There is a zoo in Giza that I would like to go to eventually (it's on my list of things to do), but after the disappointment of the Fish Gardens I think I should wait a while before attempting more animals.
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
and now for a weather report
I am in love with my space heater. It keeps my room warm and toasty and makes comforting noises and everyone is jealous. Winter in Cairo is not really so bad, especially compared to Chicago. On a good day I can still wear flip-flops, and on a windy day a fleece and scarf are a good idea. But no extra-puffy down jackets, no snow (not even any rain, so far), and definitely no below-zero temperatures (even in Celsius!).
The main problem I guess is that because the winters are mild, almost no buildings are heated. That might not seem like such a big deal, but it essentially means that the temperatures outside stays the same inside. So if it's a cold day (or more likely, a cold night), there isn't really anywhere to go and warm up. In Chicago it was freezing outside, but when you came inside it would be nice and warm and you could start shedding layers. But in Cairo, if it's cold outside then it's cold inside also. My apartment's large living room/dining room/reception area gets particularly chilly -- we have been wrapping ourselves in blankets while watching TV. And so that is why I love my space heater -- just when I think I can't escape the cold, I just crawl into bed directly in front of the heater. Glorious.
In other appliance news, A1 brought a George Foreman grill for us back from the US. Extremely exciting. I have made grilled cheese several times already. We still don't have a microwave, but small steps. We've survived without one until now, but who knows -- it could still happen.
The main problem I guess is that because the winters are mild, almost no buildings are heated. That might not seem like such a big deal, but it essentially means that the temperatures outside stays the same inside. So if it's a cold day (or more likely, a cold night), there isn't really anywhere to go and warm up. In Chicago it was freezing outside, but when you came inside it would be nice and warm and you could start shedding layers. But in Cairo, if it's cold outside then it's cold inside also. My apartment's large living room/dining room/reception area gets particularly chilly -- we have been wrapping ourselves in blankets while watching TV. And so that is why I love my space heater -- just when I think I can't escape the cold, I just crawl into bed directly in front of the heater. Glorious.
In other appliance news, A1 brought a George Foreman grill for us back from the US. Extremely exciting. I have made grilled cheese several times already. We still don't have a microwave, but small steps. We've survived without one until now, but who knows -- it could still happen.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
but i still want to see HSM3
It rained this weekend! It was on Friday morning so obvs I was asleep, but still: rain! I have not seen rain in four months, which is really weird to think about sometimes. Of course, there is no drainage system whatsoever in this country, so all the rain creates giant puddles/lakes in all the streets and tons of cars stall out after driving directly through them. At one point we passed streets with, like, post-Katrina New Orleans levels of flooding. From like one hour of rain. It's just that bad.
The rest of the weekend was good. I went to City Stars for a movie and Mexican food with N and S3 (S3 is the Egyptian friend who lives in Alexandria where I stayed last month). I seriously miss Mexican food. Whether it's one of the really good places near 26th and Cal where I went with Team Thomas, or Tacos del Lago in Evanston, or even Chipotle (don't judge me!), good Mexican food is just lacking in Cairo. So we ate at On The Border instead. (Again: don't judge me!) And then we saw Burn After Reading, which I thought was funny. I was pushing for High School Musical 3, but was outvoted. No worries, I'll get 'em next time.
On Saturday night I went to a little gathering for the Jews in Cairo, which we started talking about doing on Yom Kippur. There ended up being like maybe 25-ish people there, which was pretty nice turnout I think. We had Goldstar (!), Israeli wine (!!), kosher food (read: vegetarian), and plenty of nice Jews from America, Canada and Israel. Some of us are working in Cairo, others are students at AUC or elsewhere, others have grants or fellowships, or are just learning Arabic, so we made for a pretty varied group I think. We had a good time and exchanged many numbers, so I am hopeful that we will do something like that again.
The entire evening made me want to sing that old camp standby, "Wherever You Go (There's Always Someone Jewish)" and you can watch adorable children singing it here.
Also, the absentee ballot mystery was solved. It turns out that it went to my home in America instead of coming to Egypt, still not entirely sure why -- my best guess is that I did not format my address correctly, or the international zip code was not recognized or was incomplete, or some other small detail. Who knows for sure. But in any case, my parents were nice enough to ship it express, I filled it out, and it is back en route to NJ right now. Great success!
The rest of the weekend was good. I went to City Stars for a movie and Mexican food with N and S3 (S3 is the Egyptian friend who lives in Alexandria where I stayed last month). I seriously miss Mexican food. Whether it's one of the really good places near 26th and Cal where I went with Team Thomas, or Tacos del Lago in Evanston, or even Chipotle (don't judge me!), good Mexican food is just lacking in Cairo. So we ate at On The Border instead. (Again: don't judge me!) And then we saw Burn After Reading, which I thought was funny. I was pushing for High School Musical 3, but was outvoted. No worries, I'll get 'em next time.
On Saturday night I went to a little gathering for the Jews in Cairo, which we started talking about doing on Yom Kippur. There ended up being like maybe 25-ish people there, which was pretty nice turnout I think. We had Goldstar (!), Israeli wine (!!), kosher food (read: vegetarian), and plenty of nice Jews from America, Canada and Israel. Some of us are working in Cairo, others are students at AUC or elsewhere, others have grants or fellowships, or are just learning Arabic, so we made for a pretty varied group I think. We had a good time and exchanged many numbers, so I am hopeful that we will do something like that again.
The entire evening made me want to sing that old camp standby, "Wherever You Go (There's Always Someone Jewish)" and you can watch adorable children singing it here.
Also, the absentee ballot mystery was solved. It turns out that it went to my home in America instead of coming to Egypt, still not entirely sure why -- my best guess is that I did not format my address correctly, or the international zip code was not recognized or was incomplete, or some other small detail. Who knows for sure. But in any case, my parents were nice enough to ship it express, I filled it out, and it is back en route to NJ right now. Great success!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
feeling breezy
Last night I went to a good-bye dinner for my friend W, who has gone to work in Switzerland. We had dinner at this Korean restaurant, and while I am now familiar with several of the dishes on the menu (thanks to Jaye for that one!), I have to wonder if it's really possible to find authentic Korean food in Cairo. I'm guessing probably not, though it was still good. Afterwards I went over to my friend N's to hang out and watch movies -- have successfully gotten her hooked on V Mars, so obviously this is excellent.
As we were walking over to N's apartment for said movie night, we realized that we were experiencing something all too rare in Cairo summers: a breeze! I mean sure, sometimes I get hit with a blast of delightfully smoggy air when I ride in taxis with all the windows down, but it's hardly the same thing. In Chicago I was a chronic weather-checker (this is most definitely the fault of my mother, who considers the Weather Channel legitimate entertainment. Hi Mommy!), but there is no real point in that when I live in the desert in the summer. Every day is the same: ridiculously hot and very sunny. One morning it was cloudy when I woke up and I almost went into shock, but it was all cleared up by the time I left for work. It is not scheduled to rain until late October, maybe November. Still, last night it was around 85 degrees (that's about 27 Celsius for those keeping track), and with a nice, cool breeze that made it downright comfortable outside. Exciting!
Kind of a lazy weekend, though we all wanted to go out as much as possible in preparation for a month of not going out at all. Even though some places are still open (like the always-awesome, expat-filled British Club), enough people in my extended group of friends are Muslim that we want to be respectful. Plus, who knows if I will ever be in the Middle East again during Ramadan? It will be cool to get the authentic experience. Anyway, we went out Thursday and Friday nights, including my first-ever trip to After 8, this really cool place downtown. It's rather smoky with a small dance floor, and they often have DJs or some variety of live music. It was a lot of fun, though the DJ was kind of weird -- odd combos of techno, hip hop and baladi music.
Baladi is kind of all-purpose adjective to describe something typically Egyptian. Literally, it means "national," (balad = country), but people use it to describe anything. For example, the little grocery stalls all over are "baladi grocery stores," and when I stopped buying Herbal Essences shampoo (so freaking expensive) in favor of the cheap Egyptian brand, I could justify it as "baladi cosmetics." And so on.
Also, Egypt starts daylight savings time early, so we in Cairo have already fallen back one hour. Yes, I did enjoy my extra hour of sleep, thanks! So this means that until you slackers in America catch up, there is a 6-hour time difference instead of a 7-hour one (for the East Coast -- people on Central now have 7 hours instead of 8, etc.). This might make it a bit easier for you to catch me, at least temporarily.
As we were walking over to N's apartment for said movie night, we realized that we were experiencing something all too rare in Cairo summers: a breeze! I mean sure, sometimes I get hit with a blast of delightfully smoggy air when I ride in taxis with all the windows down, but it's hardly the same thing. In Chicago I was a chronic weather-checker (this is most definitely the fault of my mother, who considers the Weather Channel legitimate entertainment. Hi Mommy!), but there is no real point in that when I live in the desert in the summer. Every day is the same: ridiculously hot and very sunny. One morning it was cloudy when I woke up and I almost went into shock, but it was all cleared up by the time I left for work. It is not scheduled to rain until late October, maybe November. Still, last night it was around 85 degrees (that's about 27 Celsius for those keeping track), and with a nice, cool breeze that made it downright comfortable outside. Exciting!
Kind of a lazy weekend, though we all wanted to go out as much as possible in preparation for a month of not going out at all. Even though some places are still open (like the always-awesome, expat-filled British Club), enough people in my extended group of friends are Muslim that we want to be respectful. Plus, who knows if I will ever be in the Middle East again during Ramadan? It will be cool to get the authentic experience. Anyway, we went out Thursday and Friday nights, including my first-ever trip to After 8, this really cool place downtown. It's rather smoky with a small dance floor, and they often have DJs or some variety of live music. It was a lot of fun, though the DJ was kind of weird -- odd combos of techno, hip hop and baladi music.
Baladi is kind of all-purpose adjective to describe something typically Egyptian. Literally, it means "national," (balad = country), but people use it to describe anything. For example, the little grocery stalls all over are "baladi grocery stores," and when I stopped buying Herbal Essences shampoo (so freaking expensive) in favor of the cheap Egyptian brand, I could justify it as "baladi cosmetics." And so on.
Also, Egypt starts daylight savings time early, so we in Cairo have already fallen back one hour. Yes, I did enjoy my extra hour of sleep, thanks! So this means that until you slackers in America catch up, there is a 6-hour time difference instead of a 7-hour one (for the East Coast -- people on Central now have 7 hours instead of 8, etc.). This might make it a bit easier for you to catch me, at least temporarily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
