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.
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