Ok. I know. My title is too long and it's like an outline, but what do you want?
Anyway, something I've learned in the past few weeks is that in Egypt people don't sleep (well... not literally, but enough). After a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long work day everyone goes out until about 3 or 4 in the morning... EVERY NIGHT. Even I'm tired. So just about every night, I'll go out with Sama or another friend of mine and play darts or hang out or even - God forbid - sing karaoke.
In any case, I am sick of the pubs here. So yesterday I decided to open a bar. I don't think it would be hard to get the capital through partners and financing (at that point) should be relatively easy. I could also quite possibly get a bank loan. But anyway, that is too far ahead. Here is the plan:
-a fairly swanky and posh 20s inspired jazz club.
-dark blue walls, red pseudo-velvety upholstery on dark wood 1920s really ornate furniture.
-low side tables, also with the ornate 20s style.
-Tiffanys inspired lamps on the tables, very low light, blah blah blah.
-raised dance floor and separate area for the band (live music every night).
-Huge gilt mirrors (you know what I'm talking about... the really ornate gold ones)
-20s Deco style artwork and track lighting.
-20s Deco style bar and bar stools.
Let me know what you think. Anyway, I started to plan that because I'm sick of the pubs here. They're all the same crap and I want something really nice, kind-of underground. Help me think of a name for it.
Ok, now to the beach. This past Friday, Sama and I decided to go to Ain Sokhna. It's an area on the Red Sea that is about one hour and a half from Cairo. We got up at like 9 am and got there around 11.30. It was great... freaking HOT (43 dC... which I think is about 110 dF) with a nice breeze and almost no humidity-- I think the humidity was around 9%. Anyway, after checking on Tante Samia's apartment we headed out to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL as you can see from the picture and I was loving it. I forgot how much I love the beach and how much I love the sea because it's CLEAN (well, cleaner than the Jersey shore) and BLUE :) It was awesome. Unfortunately because of the breeze there wasn't really a way to feel the heat. So in the water out of the water in the water out of the water... and a few hours later (about 3) I'm thinking, you know... I can kinda feel the sun burning my skin. So I said to Sama that whenever she wanted to go I was ready. She had just been thinking that it was a good time, so we left. the car ride home was an interesting one, because both our sunburns started to show. Let me just tell you... I couldn't sit properly for three days... and in fact there are parts that still hurt. So I was a tomato and now I'm a peeling tomato. You can see the burn best in the birthday shots... and that was a few days later.
BUT I HAD FUN! :D:D
The night after the beach, I wanted to go out, but Sama had Leila so she couldn't. No one was around to pick me up, so I got the name of the intersection I wanted to go to and decided to take a taxi. I got in the taxi and told him where to go. The ride started out normally, he was going the right way, talking on the phone, the whole shebang. No problem. However when we got to batal Ahmed Abd el Aziz, he didn't stop. Well we were talking, so it took me a minute to notice that he hadn't stopped at the intersection I wanted. So I told him stop- you took me the wrong way. Well his English wasn't that good so I called Sama and put her on the phone with him. Thank God she was awake and thank God she wasn't angry with me for calling lol... the cab driver (Ali) was very nice and took me to exactly where I needed to go without further ado. For my first solo taxi ride I thought I did ok... LOL.... but it totally could have been worse. Additionally, I learned some valuable information... PAY ATTENTION WHILE IN A CAB. lol
So yesterday I went to get my new birth certificate so that I could get my national ID card. They don't accept that old handwritten one I've got so I had to get the new typewritten one. Anyway, Hussein took my old birth certificate and made the new one. I just had to pick it up from the office. Well I got there and it looked right to me (everything except that my mom's name was Margaret Jimy Harti instead of James Harvie). But here, and take no offense to this mom, the mother's name doesn't really matter because the child takes the fathers name. So anyway, Sama and I are in the car getting ready to go when I take mine out and see that not only is mom marked Christian, but me and dad are too. Now, you all know I don't really care, however the laws are different here for Christians versus Muslims (in banking and lots of different things) so it could potentially cause a major problem for me. So, I have to go and fix it tomorrow and then go to get my national ID. I'm also going to get the new and VERY UGLY passport soon too. It's smaller and also not hand-written.
Oh and Sunday was Naidm's 18th birthday. Now he's a man LOL.
Well, I felt like those stories were a lot more than they actually were... and a lot more interesting lol... but there you have it. That's what you get. I hope you were at least slightly entertained. :)
