The Works

Without going into graphic details, there have been some things that were not "agreeing" with me digestively, and I was forced to spend the last four days lying on my back in a dark room. (apparently this is common with travelers and back-country explorers...) What was still a slightly jet-lagged sleep schedule has become a completely whacked pattern of sleep, what was a voracious appetite for everything delicious has dried up to nothing (since Friday I have had half a pita and some chicken-and-rice soup, seriously, I'm not even hungry right now), and I am pretty sure I have listened to every podcast iTunes has to offer. Sadly, I was also unable to post to The Magic Shwarma, but to make it up, I have decided to write one large all-topics-covered post. In no particular order, I present to you The Works:

It turns out that I have been misled about the names of certain inspirational eateries. I didn't explain this in my food post so I suppose I should explain it here. The Magic Shwarma is the name of a Shwarma stand in Dokki, a neighborhood of Cairo. They cut greasy chicken off of a huge spit, and put it with pickles and yogurt into without-a-doubt the best pita in the world. It's the next step that sets them apart, though, as they dab the sandwich in the grease that has collected under the spit and then grill it under this large stone slab (almost like a medieval panini machine). Heavenly. And, I was led to believe by my friend Theo that this stand was called The Magic Shwarma, and that name provided inspiration for my Sam-is-in-Egypt blog. However, I found out that the stand is actually called Abu Ramis, which is Arabic for "Father of Ramses." Oh well. 

From the files of: "Cairo is strange", I found this gem on the website for the Four Seasons First Residence, one of the newest and nicest luxury hotels in Cairo: "Services provided by the Hotel: Transportation to and from the airport is available using the limousine services provided by the Hotel. Charges are determined based on distance." Distance to where? Do you think many people land in Cairo after a long flight and request to go sightseeing? I have been here for almost two weeks, and I am 99% sure that neither the Four Seasons First Residence nor the Cairo International Airport can move. Do you think you can request to go "The Long Way"??? 

Also, Daylight Saving began in the States two nights ago. Daylight Saving begins here in the end of April. Apparently, Daylight Saving begins and ends at all different times around the world, but it presents for a strange situation when communicating across time zones, as a seven hour difference to the east coast has turned into a much more manageable six hours for the next six weeks, when it will change back to seven. 

The football team Zamalek has played two matches since my last postings!! Apparently, the standings I listed for the football post were for all of Africa, when the standings that really matter are the Egyptian League Standings, in which Zamalek is in 9th and hated Al-Alhy is in 1st. Clearly, they have been struggling this year, so much so that in the last few weeks, they hired a new coach. Zamalek won last Tuesday night for the first time under Michel De Castel, who is Swiss. Featuring a new-look lineup, they won 1-0 over ENNPI. Then, on Saturday night, they played the Al-Haras Club in Alexandria, and although they outperformed the "Border Guards" for most of the game, they came out on the bottom, after a 2-1 defeat. Haras scored their two goals on the only two scoring opportunities that they saw the entire game. It was a disappointing result for the White Knights, but their efforts against the 4th and 5th ranked club in Egypt show promise as they near an end to their Egyptian Premier League season. 

I am watching Zamalek play Gaish (I think) right now in all Arabic. Someone is winning 3-0. I have no idea what is going on, I hope that someone who can translate comes home soon so I can know what is happening in this game!!!

I went to the pharmacy last night, and although I am pretty sure you could get OxyContin for only a few pounds, there is no discreetness whatsoever. You must announce to the cashier what you are looking for, he tells his assistant (and everyone else in the tiny store), and he goes and finds it. No browsing. Thank God I was only getting Imodium and not something more embarrassing... 

Egyptian pop music is god awful. It is very strange to see the bits and pieces of Western Culture that the young people here pick up and run with, and I'm sure there is whole post on this later, but the most amazing thing to me is how bad the pop music is. Imagine if Britney Spears and Moby did an album together, except instead of a normal album, the "album" is one long song, Moby has lost that creative skill that he had that made the same song sound different, Britney is ugly, and it is sped up so its both higher pitched, and more exhausting. Now imagine the music video is our "Britney" dancing, except that it's not, because she's not dancing, there is tons of really tacky gold and pink everywhere, and her backup dancers are scrawny metro-sexual eleven year-old Egyptian boys. It's ten times worse than late 90's Ricky Martin-style pop. And, instead of nice quiet music, cafes, bars, and restaurants insist of having these music videos be the backdrop for their ambiance. I actually felt relieved when Beyonce's "Single Ladies" came on in a cafe last week. That is a bad song.

Do you think that Tiger and Roger refused to film this ad, or do you think some producer went on a power trip and wanted to make their CGI guys suffer? Did Tiger and Roger do the grunting voice overs?? Why is Jeter real?? Why is it so creepy? So many questions...

Theo has posted his video of our experience with the vendors at the pyramids. Sadly, he cut me out of it. Just kidding, but actually, a lot of the best footage of vendors was ruined because it was really very windy. It's still a good bit, and there are some other good pieces on his Global Post Blog. Check it Out. 

I guess that's it....if anyone is still reading at this point.