I am, sadly, going on a business trip tomorrow. I am going to Sudan for 5.5 days... I am sad. I am going to miss my girlie Maya, and Mike of course. I should still have internet access while I'm there, so I might blog a little (about missing Maya, of course, since I don't blog about my job).
I miss her already! But I am going to have four days in a row off after I get back. So I am at least looking forward to that!!
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
Leaf Garden...
Here is a recent conversation with Maya, in the pool, under the (leafy) trees:
Maya: Mommy, Leaf Garden say no running.
Me: Huh?
Maya: Leaf Garden blow whistle. Say no running.
Me: Uh. You mean the lifeguard?
Maya: Yes! Leaf Garden! He say no running!
Another conversation... We are playing with Maya's doctor kit:
Maya: Mommy, you have ouchy. I gonna shock you.
Me: Shock me?
Maya (pulling out the shot): Yes, I gonna shock your ouchy!
Me: Oh, you're going to give me a shot?
Maya: Yes, shock you!
Maya: Mommy, Leaf Garden say no running.
Me: Huh?
Maya: Leaf Garden blow whistle. Say no running.
Me: Uh. You mean the lifeguard?
Maya: Yes! Leaf Garden! He say no running!
Another conversation... We are playing with Maya's doctor kit:
Maya: Mommy, you have ouchy. I gonna shock you.
Me: Shock me?
Maya (pulling out the shot): Yes, I gonna shock your ouchy!
Me: Oh, you're going to give me a shot?
Maya: Yes, shock you!
Friday, 23 May 2008
Life in our neighborhood
We have really enjoyed living in our new neighbourhood, which is much more family friendly than our previous neighborhood closer to downtown. My daily commute is about 30-40 minutes, compared to 10-40 minutes previously (due to traffic the commute was unpredictable). So the commute is a bit of a drag but our life is terrific.
First of all, Maya's preschool is literally a 2-minute walk from our place. Literally, we walk to the corner, turn right, then walk to next corner and turn left and we're basically there. So I've been walking her to preschool two mornings a week before work, which we have both really enjoyed. Mike is coming with most days too. I wish we could pick her up from school too, as I think we could have more opportunity to talk to the teachers about her day. But so far so good.
Our club, with a playground, restaurant and super nice pool, is about a 10-minute walk in the opposite direction. So we spend our weekends swimming in the pool, then lounging at the outdoor restaurant at the club and hanging with our friends while Maya plays on the playground. Sometimes, people rent bouncy castles for the club for birthday parties and Maya gets to jump on them. Fortunately, most people seem to have an open door policy that since they're having the party in a semi-public place all the kids present are allowed to use the bouncy, and not just the kids at the party.
Maya has also finally started taking swimming lessons at the club, which is fantastic. They are private lessons as they don't seem to offer group lessons anywhere in Egypt. But I don't mind as she's still pretty young and the lessons are not really that expensive. I think she'll basically take lessons twice a week all summer long. So she'll have a pretty nice schedule of half-day preschool twice a week and swimming lessons twice a week, and the rest of the time with Tibby.
In the fall, we're planning to sign her up for "pre ballet" classes to replace swimming, or at least some kind of dance and movement classes that are on offer at a local expat community center that is about a 7-minute walk from our house (right near our club). And right next door to the comunity center is a place that offers art/movement/play classes on a drop-in basis. So basically we are just living it up in Little Amreeka, as none of this type of high quality kid stuff was available in Zamalek. Well, we did have some classes that Maya took, but they were like a 25-30 minute walk in the heat so it was not as nice. And there was the Gazeera Club, with a huge playground, but that will not let kids do any type of classes until they are 3-1/2 or 4. So we are happy, happy, happy here!
We also discovered that there is a neighbourhood nearby that we think is basically the Asian equivalent of Little Amreeka. Some of our friends live there. There is a fabulous Korean restaurant there that we ate in once, and a terrific Chinese restaurant. I mean, normally the kind of Chinese food you get in Cairo is not that great and not that authentic. But this place is fabulous. Totally non-pretentious and with really good food. Anyway, there is also a Chinese hair salon there and basically lots of stuff catering to Asian expats, and a handful of restaurants. We are definitely going to have to explore that area more!! It's so nice to discover new things in Cairo, and it's so strange how you can live in a city for so long and have no idea that a place exists because it's outside your realm. This happens a lot in Cairo, and so much stuff is just found on word of mouth. Like I know there is an Ethiopian store somewhere near where we live, but I'm not sure precisely where.
Back to other stuff. Since we are now in a neighbourhood with more American expats, as opposed to Zamalek which had more Europeans, products that I craved and thought were non-existent in Egypt have started appearing. For example, we found marshmallows, Craisins, Fig Newtons, microwaveable burritos, kool-aid freezy pops, and one package of chocolate chips -- wow!!! We are in American food heaven! And all this is available at several little grocery stores that dot our neighborhood and are just minutes from our house by foot. Oh yeah, in Zamalek we had to drive to the store...
We also found a store that sells overstock clothes products destined for American stores like Gap and Old Navy that are produced in Egyptian textile factories. The selection was pretty slim, but I did find a striped Old Navy T-shirt for Maya for about $2, and a pair of stretchy shorts. We have been having a problem finding clothes for Maya this season as it seems that people either put their preschool daughters in long pants or miniskirts -- two ends of the cultural extreme I guess. Personally, I don't see the logic of putting a kid in pants during a hot Egyptian summer, even lightweight ones. But at the same time, a miniskirt -- no way! Plus it seems that even though Egypt is world renowned for its high quality cotton, most of the clothes made for sale here are cheap synthetics. So it was cool to find the overstock store, even if we only found one pair of shorts to buy there.
So basically, we are happy in our new little neighborhood. Our life is comfortable and easy here. Maya is happy. Our friends are nearby. What could be better!
First of all, Maya's preschool is literally a 2-minute walk from our place. Literally, we walk to the corner, turn right, then walk to next corner and turn left and we're basically there. So I've been walking her to preschool two mornings a week before work, which we have both really enjoyed. Mike is coming with most days too. I wish we could pick her up from school too, as I think we could have more opportunity to talk to the teachers about her day. But so far so good.
Our club, with a playground, restaurant and super nice pool, is about a 10-minute walk in the opposite direction. So we spend our weekends swimming in the pool, then lounging at the outdoor restaurant at the club and hanging with our friends while Maya plays on the playground. Sometimes, people rent bouncy castles for the club for birthday parties and Maya gets to jump on them. Fortunately, most people seem to have an open door policy that since they're having the party in a semi-public place all the kids present are allowed to use the bouncy, and not just the kids at the party.
Maya has also finally started taking swimming lessons at the club, which is fantastic. They are private lessons as they don't seem to offer group lessons anywhere in Egypt. But I don't mind as she's still pretty young and the lessons are not really that expensive. I think she'll basically take lessons twice a week all summer long. So she'll have a pretty nice schedule of half-day preschool twice a week and swimming lessons twice a week, and the rest of the time with Tibby.
In the fall, we're planning to sign her up for "pre ballet" classes to replace swimming, or at least some kind of dance and movement classes that are on offer at a local expat community center that is about a 7-minute walk from our house (right near our club). And right next door to the comunity center is a place that offers art/movement/play classes on a drop-in basis. So basically we are just living it up in Little Amreeka, as none of this type of high quality kid stuff was available in Zamalek. Well, we did have some classes that Maya took, but they were like a 25-30 minute walk in the heat so it was not as nice. And there was the Gazeera Club, with a huge playground, but that will not let kids do any type of classes until they are 3-1/2 or 4. So we are happy, happy, happy here!
We also discovered that there is a neighbourhood nearby that we think is basically the Asian equivalent of Little Amreeka. Some of our friends live there. There is a fabulous Korean restaurant there that we ate in once, and a terrific Chinese restaurant. I mean, normally the kind of Chinese food you get in Cairo is not that great and not that authentic. But this place is fabulous. Totally non-pretentious and with really good food. Anyway, there is also a Chinese hair salon there and basically lots of stuff catering to Asian expats, and a handful of restaurants. We are definitely going to have to explore that area more!! It's so nice to discover new things in Cairo, and it's so strange how you can live in a city for so long and have no idea that a place exists because it's outside your realm. This happens a lot in Cairo, and so much stuff is just found on word of mouth. Like I know there is an Ethiopian store somewhere near where we live, but I'm not sure precisely where.
Back to other stuff. Since we are now in a neighbourhood with more American expats, as opposed to Zamalek which had more Europeans, products that I craved and thought were non-existent in Egypt have started appearing. For example, we found marshmallows, Craisins, Fig Newtons, microwaveable burritos, kool-aid freezy pops, and one package of chocolate chips -- wow!!! We are in American food heaven! And all this is available at several little grocery stores that dot our neighborhood and are just minutes from our house by foot. Oh yeah, in Zamalek we had to drive to the store...
We also found a store that sells overstock clothes products destined for American stores like Gap and Old Navy that are produced in Egyptian textile factories. The selection was pretty slim, but I did find a striped Old Navy T-shirt for Maya for about $2, and a pair of stretchy shorts. We have been having a problem finding clothes for Maya this season as it seems that people either put their preschool daughters in long pants or miniskirts -- two ends of the cultural extreme I guess. Personally, I don't see the logic of putting a kid in pants during a hot Egyptian summer, even lightweight ones. But at the same time, a miniskirt -- no way! Plus it seems that even though Egypt is world renowned for its high quality cotton, most of the clothes made for sale here are cheap synthetics. So it was cool to find the overstock store, even if we only found one pair of shorts to buy there.
So basically, we are happy in our new little neighborhood. Our life is comfortable and easy here. Maya is happy. Our friends are nearby. What could be better!
Sleeping through the night (in her own bed)
Do you all remember when Maya gave up her crib way back when? How she just one day decided that she was never ever going to set foot in a crib again, and screamed and screamed until she was put into her bed? Well, the same abrupt change has happened once again! Maya has decided, at the ripe old age of 2-1/2, that she is going to sleep through the night, in her own bed.
She has been a nighttime visitor for us every night since about age 1, when she moved out of her crib and into her bed. She would go to sleep in her own bed, then wake up around midnight and demand to sleep with us. Since we didn't want to fight a sleep battle in the middle of the night when we were already sleep deprived, we consented. We had a nice happy nighttime relationship that we were all satisfied with. Maya could be with her parents, and if she woke up at night, she wouldn't be frightened, and more importantly we wouldn't have to get out of bed in a semi-conscious state to put her back to sleep. I did have to put up with being constantly kicked in the ribs, as she's a bit of a nighttime wiggler, but oh well...
But all of a sudden Maya has decided to change the arrangement. She is sleeping all night long in her own bed, with no middle of the night wakings. In the morning, she sits in her bed until someone comes to get her. And when she sees one of us in the morning, she gets a sneaky little grin on her face that is saying: Look what I did!
I think she has the idea that one morning she is going to sneak up on us when we are still asleep and wake us up. But she hasn't gotten up the courage to actually do that yet.
I think it definitely helped that we are now in a one-story apartment rather than a duplex. Maya never really liked the idea that after she went to bed upstairs, that we would go back downstairs. She is pretty happy with the current arrangement, as are we.
Now, if she would just make a similar decision to be consistent about potty training...
She has been a nighttime visitor for us every night since about age 1, when she moved out of her crib and into her bed. She would go to sleep in her own bed, then wake up around midnight and demand to sleep with us. Since we didn't want to fight a sleep battle in the middle of the night when we were already sleep deprived, we consented. We had a nice happy nighttime relationship that we were all satisfied with. Maya could be with her parents, and if she woke up at night, she wouldn't be frightened, and more importantly we wouldn't have to get out of bed in a semi-conscious state to put her back to sleep. I did have to put up with being constantly kicked in the ribs, as she's a bit of a nighttime wiggler, but oh well...
But all of a sudden Maya has decided to change the arrangement. She is sleeping all night long in her own bed, with no middle of the night wakings. In the morning, she sits in her bed until someone comes to get her. And when she sees one of us in the morning, she gets a sneaky little grin on her face that is saying: Look what I did!
I think she has the idea that one morning she is going to sneak up on us when we are still asleep and wake us up. But she hasn't gotten up the courage to actually do that yet.
I think it definitely helped that we are now in a one-story apartment rather than a duplex. Maya never really liked the idea that after she went to bed upstairs, that we would go back downstairs. She is pretty happy with the current arrangement, as are we.
Now, if she would just make a similar decision to be consistent about potty training...
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
I'm back!!!
After a 6-week battle with a state-owned telecoms firm to get my internet connected in our new apartment, I can finally pronounce victory! We won! Here is what we had to go through:
First off, we wanted to simply keep the same account and switch phone lines, transferring the remaining credit from our old internet connection to our new one to avoid double paying (since we had a month or so remaining that we had pre-paid for). We spent a week on that and got nowhere with no real prospect of success, so we decided to go for a brand new account in the new house.
Then it took them four weeks to flip the switch on and let the adsl juice flow to our apartment.
Once they flipped it on, of course the connection didn't work at all. We called technical support. Then we got bounced back and forth between the state-owned telecom company and the state-owned isp for about a week, with each side blaming the other and the isp refusing point blank to send a technician because they were convinced the problem was in the telephone line.
Finally we hired a private technician who diagnosed the problem as a faulty router (yes, the one the isp had insisted over and over and over again was working fine). We got a new router from the isp, and voila, the internet works.
First off, we wanted to simply keep the same account and switch phone lines, transferring the remaining credit from our old internet connection to our new one to avoid double paying (since we had a month or so remaining that we had pre-paid for). We spent a week on that and got nowhere with no real prospect of success, so we decided to go for a brand new account in the new house.
Then it took them four weeks to flip the switch on and let the adsl juice flow to our apartment.
Once they flipped it on, of course the connection didn't work at all. We called technical support. Then we got bounced back and forth between the state-owned telecom company and the state-owned isp for about a week, with each side blaming the other and the isp refusing point blank to send a technician because they were convinced the problem was in the telephone line.
Finally we hired a private technician who diagnosed the problem as a faulty router (yes, the one the isp had insisted over and over and over again was working fine). We got a new router from the isp, and voila, the internet works.
Saturday, 17 May 2008
Maya and school
I haven't totally dropped off the planet. But unfortunately, more than a month after we moved into our new place, we still have not managed to get the state-run telephone company to successfully hook up our internet. So I am still on a really slow dial-up account, and I can't even post pictures -- believe me, I tried!! Anyway, we are hopeful to have real internet soon...
Maya has been doing great at school. She loves it! She has gone four times so far, and she has not cried even once when we left, although she was pretty clingy the first three times. Then on day four, she just walked in, saw some other girls, exclaimed "I play my friends", and ran inside. Did I mention that she is going to school with no diapers? That's right! And she has only had one accident at school so far, which I think is terrific!
Also, I am in love with Maya's preschool! I love the age-mixing at the school. I love that it is small and cozy. And I love that it is totally play-based. I also think they organise the activities really well. It is free play when the kids arrive in the morning, but that is also the time they do their art project of the day. So they basically get pulled aside to do art, or do it in a sort of starggered way as kids arrive in the morning. So they seem to get lots of individual attention with the projects. They have also done really cool activities. One morning, the activity was making pancakes. They also did painting, then turned their painting into paper airplanes. Another day they painted pre-made newspaper hats. And they have outdoor time and circle time every day -- or at least that's what we think. Maya seems to think school is a private affair, and when we ask her what she did every day, she just shrugs her shoulders...
What is also cool is that Maya is showing a huge burst of development since going to school also. All of a sudden she is interested in spatial games -- like shape sorting or stacking or puzzles. She previously was never interested in these types of toys, preferring to focus exclusively on her two favorite activities -- sports and talking. So it's been cool to see her expanding her interests since starting school. And she has been wanting to play "teacher" with us at home, which basically amounts to setting up chairs and telling us what to do.
Maya has been doing great at school. She loves it! She has gone four times so far, and she has not cried even once when we left, although she was pretty clingy the first three times. Then on day four, she just walked in, saw some other girls, exclaimed "I play my friends", and ran inside. Did I mention that she is going to school with no diapers? That's right! And she has only had one accident at school so far, which I think is terrific!
Also, I am in love with Maya's preschool! I love the age-mixing at the school. I love that it is small and cozy. And I love that it is totally play-based. I also think they organise the activities really well. It is free play when the kids arrive in the morning, but that is also the time they do their art project of the day. So they basically get pulled aside to do art, or do it in a sort of starggered way as kids arrive in the morning. So they seem to get lots of individual attention with the projects. They have also done really cool activities. One morning, the activity was making pancakes. They also did painting, then turned their painting into paper airplanes. Another day they painted pre-made newspaper hats. And they have outdoor time and circle time every day -- or at least that's what we think. Maya seems to think school is a private affair, and when we ask her what she did every day, she just shrugs her shoulders...
What is also cool is that Maya is showing a huge burst of development since going to school also. All of a sudden she is interested in spatial games -- like shape sorting or stacking or puzzles. She previously was never interested in these types of toys, preferring to focus exclusively on her two favorite activities -- sports and talking. So it's been cool to see her expanding her interests since starting school. And she has been wanting to play "teacher" with us at home, which basically amounts to setting up chairs and telling us what to do.
Monday, 5 May 2008
Just dropped Maya off at preschool
I'm a bit sad about it, but Maya will be OK there. She was delaying getting ready this morning, not wanting to get dressed and saying she wanted to watch Sesame Street instead of getting ready. We bargained with her and let her watch a 5-minute Sesame Street video clip on Mike's computer while eating a yoghurt at the table.
We showed her what we had packed her for lunch, and that she had a little "treat" inside. In a retro baby moment, she then demanded to ride to preschool in her stroller rather than walk.
Once we got to the school, she was a bit nervous and clingy, and was playing with the other kids but also looking back to check that we were still there. After about 10-15 minutes, we told her it was time for us to go, and she walked us to the door and we left. And she was totally fine. No tears or anything! So we'll see how it went this afternoon...
We showed her what we had packed her for lunch, and that she had a little "treat" inside. In a retro baby moment, she then demanded to ride to preschool in her stroller rather than walk.
Once we got to the school, she was a bit nervous and clingy, and was playing with the other kids but also looking back to check that we were still there. After about 10-15 minutes, we told her it was time for us to go, and she walked us to the door and we left. And she was totally fine. No tears or anything! So we'll see how it went this afternoon...
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Starting preschool tomorrow!!
Maya is starting preschool tomorrow, and we're both nervous about it!! Actually I'm sure Maya will be totally fine, but I feel like I am losing my baby girl. Mike and I will walk her to school in the morning, and Tibby will pick her up in the afternoon. We are only doing two days a week for the first year, as we really value the Amharic exposure that Tibby gives her and we don't want to cut back on that more than we have to.
We have to pack a lunch for her tonight, and I don't know what to pack. A Labna sandwich maybe?? (Labna is thick, spreadable Arab bitter yoghurt) That is Maya's current favorite lunch food. Maybe some fruit and a box of skim milk? Maybe some fruity yoghurt? I think I will pack some stickers for her in her lunch box, too!
We have to pack a lunch for her tonight, and I don't know what to pack. A Labna sandwich maybe?? (Labna is thick, spreadable Arab bitter yoghurt) That is Maya's current favorite lunch food. Maybe some fruit and a box of skim milk? Maybe some fruity yoghurt? I think I will pack some stickers for her in her lunch box, too!
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Rainforest Cafe
Today we took Maya to the newly opened Rainforest Cafe at CityStars mall in Cairo. Wow!!! It was incredible and Maya loved it. I can't believe this kind of stuff is available in Cairo! They have life sized animals that move their arms and growl and grumble, a life-sized alligator that hisses and snaps its jaws open and closed. A huge fish tank with lots of little nemos. They even have a mama and baby elephant pair. Maya was in 2-year-old heaven. And the fact that she was still a little bit unsure whether the animals were real meant that we could enjoy our dinner without having to run after a stir-crazy toddler. And the food was pretty good too.
Maya was a bit freaked by the "leopard", actually a jaguar, which I think decided to wake from sleep and roar at her just as she was passing by.
We learned from our waiter that the Cairo Rainforest Cafe was the first branch to open in the Middle East, and even beat out Dubai -- though our waiter says one will be opening there too.
One really interesting cultural tidbit about restaurants here is that somehow culturally restaurants feel they have to bring the children their food first, then wait until the kids are pretty much finished eating to serve the parents. It's pretty much a standard practice in a lot of places. I personally think it is because lots of Egyptians (the ones who can afford to eat at nice restaurants) will bring their kids with a nanny. The kids eat first and then the nanny takes them outside so the parents can enjoy a nice quiet meal. But if you are not with a nanny, it is super annoying when your 2-year-old's pizza arrives a full half an hour before your meal. It means that once the parents' food comes, you have about1.5 seconds to scarf down your meal because otherwise your child is going to decide dinner's over and time to go.
Now most restaurants here we know enough to ask in advance that all the food be brought to the table at the same time -- a technique that works only about half the time. But somehow we neglected to ask today at Rainforest. I think I had the idea that a Western chain would have Western food-serving customs. Woops! My mistake. Next time we'll remember to ask for all the food together!
P.S. - Did I mention they sell American-style lunch boxes?? And Maya is starting school soon! How could I resist?
Maya was a bit freaked by the "leopard", actually a jaguar, which I think decided to wake from sleep and roar at her just as she was passing by.
We learned from our waiter that the Cairo Rainforest Cafe was the first branch to open in the Middle East, and even beat out Dubai -- though our waiter says one will be opening there too.
One really interesting cultural tidbit about restaurants here is that somehow culturally restaurants feel they have to bring the children their food first, then wait until the kids are pretty much finished eating to serve the parents. It's pretty much a standard practice in a lot of places. I personally think it is because lots of Egyptians (the ones who can afford to eat at nice restaurants) will bring their kids with a nanny. The kids eat first and then the nanny takes them outside so the parents can enjoy a nice quiet meal. But if you are not with a nanny, it is super annoying when your 2-year-old's pizza arrives a full half an hour before your meal. It means that once the parents' food comes, you have about1.5 seconds to scarf down your meal because otherwise your child is going to decide dinner's over and time to go.
Now most restaurants here we know enough to ask in advance that all the food be brought to the table at the same time -- a technique that works only about half the time. But somehow we neglected to ask today at Rainforest. I think I had the idea that a Western chain would have Western food-serving customs. Woops! My mistake. Next time we'll remember to ask for all the food together!
P.S. - Did I mention they sell American-style lunch boxes?? And Maya is starting school soon! How could I resist?
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