Well... Nothing

Well,

this weekend was quite lame... Because the whole country shut down during the weekend. Some Islamistic groups, the Brotherhood and the Salafistis announced big demonstrations and thus it was better to stay at home. So the weekend with beach was canceled. We had to drive through Cairo, past Tahir square to get to the beach, so it was a good idea to stay away.

Golfing also was not possible, as my teacher was on a wedding this weekend. So we ended up staying here, doing some basic shopping and cleaning. Nothing special. For next weekend we have some nice things planed.

I will fly back for Christmas mid-December, so if anyone wants to meet, just let me know.

Well, I managed to steal myself some satellite TV from my new down-stair neighbor... I recognized that he installed a dish on the rooftop, so I just connected my TV to the same dish, as there was one slot unused,

It was "fun" finding the cable which was for my apartment. But that's what you have some basic tools for. They will never find out, I am hogging on their dish. But I yet have to check what satellite I am actually receiving now. Still missing one cable to connect the TV to the socket.

Weather is still awesome, spent the whole Friday on the roof with some cold drinks and enjoying the sun. Would have been much nicer on the beach, but I take what I get.

I also had the first visitor here, my Dad came over and spent two nights at my place. I actually never thought he would be the first one to do so... But I am prepared to receive guests :-D

One last word, don't buy those: They are as sweet as they look and you get diabetes just by looking at them.

If you buy breakfast cereals you usually have the choice between sugar and double sugar here. The Egyptians love sugar. One in ten has diabetes here. In twenty years it is estimated to be 3 of ten.

I am staying with the normal European brands, which have less sugar but costs five times more. Imported. If you want quality, you must buy the imported stuff. Local brands are not very nice as a matter of fact.

Good Night :-)

The uzhe'

So many might think, it's getting cold now here too in Egypt. I have some shocking news for you:

No. 

It might be a bit foggy in the morning, but usually that clears up until you finally manage to leave the house/finish coffee in the morning.

What I have been up to the last weekend? Well, to be honest I can now say: The usual. Nothing special. Just going to the beach to some place at the red sea on Friday and playing golf and shopping on Saturday. 

"Playing" golf might be a bit of an exaggeration as my skills aren't that good yet, but from time to time my lovely teacher and me go out on the real course and practice under real conditions. 

By the way, this is lawn. Not plastic. Never seen such perfect lawn. Even in England. Sorry mum!

Nearly nobody on the beach. In the morning when we arrived it was completly empty. Later some tourists showed up. Some locals, too. But they are usually not coming to the beach, because it is "freezing" now with 27°C... They rather prefer going to demonstrations, throw stones at each other and do other Egyptian stuff... 

I actually have no idea what is happening in Egypt, not interested in the local news. All you hear is al-Sisi here, al-Sisi there, IS, Osama and Qatar.... No time for this bulls**** anymore. I rather enjoy the stuff they seem to forget their land can offer.

Cheers to my Aussie friends, I still have the stubby coolers from the time on "the boarder". Best souvenir ever.

After a long day on the golf track you come back home, enjoy a cold blond and then you get the phonecall, that your presence is needed at the company... Turns out the main waterpipe of 4th Industrial zone bursted, leaving all companies flooded. In Egypt. Where it hardly rains... Where water is very precious... Welcome to Africa where they can't manage the few water they have. I heard that we loose 50% of the water due to "Egyptian" pipes.... I wonder why the pyramids still stand...

Finally weekend!

Wow, what a week. Again. The price you pay for being reliable German engineer... A lot of tasks end on your desk...

Yes, you are right, there are still the pictures due I promised last weekend. So I am not so reliable after all.... In your eyes at last... It was a tough week, sorry. Here you go. The cake was not too bad after all, I just needed to cover up its ugliness with chocolate/nutella. I think that's a valid way to do so. After all, taste matters.

Dark chocolate and nutella. They should make a dark nutella. My 2cents.

During the week nothing special happened, we just went out with some guests and customers for dinner. Oh yes, and yesterday there was a car wreckage on the street. Actually nothing special, but this one my driver said was suicide bomber whose car did not make it to the final destination, the mall. I am wondering whether I should be worried again because they start to blow themselves up again here.... Seriously guys, get a hobby which is not killing you. They really should start drinking here, then they can drown there hate and sorrow in alcohol. Worked for us Europeans quite good.

Here are some more pictures of some streets where I pass through sometimes in order to stopp for a falafel breakfast or buy some grocery on the way home.

In this street I actually faced something very sad. There was a small kitten sitting in a corner, one half inside a potato chips bag. It looked very bad and sick. Nobody cared for it, the other cats also ignored it.

The other cats tried to take down some birds but failed. One cat even thought it is a wise idea to try to get that one rooster chicken. Well, he never been so wrong. Ever seen a cat running away from a chicken? I have seen it now :-D

This is also quite interesting. Egyptians love to "decorate". Well, it is better they do, otherwise eveything would look like shit there. Anyway, this is a way to get a bit of color in the usually brown /grey everyday life. Many of the Egyptian cars are actually covered with stickers and decoration. A lot of them use German number plates to decorate the cars or "Exxon Mobil", "Hankook", "Shell"stickers. It is also hilarious to see, that they use the breakdown triangle in there windscreen upside down... They really have no idea for what it is actually for. Let's have a look at this shop here:

Although the advertisement/decoration (Kitkat) and (Maggi [soup sock]) actually suggest, that you have some kind of grocery store here, you can only find some bread and fruits. Same goes for every other shop you will find here, The signs on top will only tell you the true nature of the store in about 75% of the cases. Why? Nobody cares. Welcome to Egypt!

But now my morning coffee is empty, I am looking forward for an awesome weekend again. Let's get this started!

About time again...

Sorry guys,

I know it's already ages ago I posted something here... Just see it positive... I am so busy and engaged here, I hardly find time to sit down and write some lines. Today for example...

Got up in the morning at around 8am, although I had weekend. Let's say it's habbit now to get up early. Went for the gym after breakfast directly... Before they start to have women-only hours again. Funny story about this gym... Just some minutes by foot from my place... It is quite okay, maybe not up to the standard I was used in Germany, but well... I am in Africa. No, the other guys there all look liek Schwarzenegger... I am pretty sure they all use some "enhancements"

After gym, I went to the pool, which also belongs to the same club. Later the day I went for some golf training with my lovely trainer Neila, We went to the driving range and I finally had some good shots. It is all about posture! I will defiantly sign up for more lessons, maybe even during the week in the morning. One way to get rid of my overtime hours,

Yeah, work... Very demanding, very busy, All sorts of tasks. From HSE to projects to process to IT. The man who can I guess... Well, as long I do it, I know it is done right :-D

Tomorrow my driver Mostafa has birthday... And because Egyptians are all into sweets I ll try to make a cake (because I have no other present for him and he really deserves one for all the driving and favors he is doing for me). But try to make a cake, when you didn't plan to... So I had to use what I had on stock... sugar, flour, nutella, butter milk and butter. I stumbled upon this beauty... It is in the oven right now... Let's see how it is going... Never baked in an gas oven before... and the one I have is shitty I can tell.

Will update tomorrow what was the outcome. I think this would be the first time, I really would like to have one of those Dr. Oetker (ready mixtures) here. Xian, maybe you can send me some?

So and because you people actually like pictures more than text, here you go... SOme pictures also from yesterday. We went to the mall for lunch in a sushi place. Then shopping. I wonder why the Egyptians need scarfs and gloves as seen in the TommyH store. The other pictures are from today baking session and from golfing. 29°C, no clouds and also lots of fun with the golf cart :-D And of course some Italian aperitifo is a must in the evening ... Sorry for the bad picture quality, my Samsung is being repaired.

Dubai Wochenende

Hi, wie einige wissen war ich das letze Wochenende ja auf Urlaub in Dubai gewesen. Bin gut rumgekommen. Waren aber eigentlich die meiste Zeit im Oman und nicht in Dubai, da ich Dubai ja schon recht gut kenn und mal was neues sehen wollte. Die Landschaft könnte aus einem Star Wars Film sein. Es waren gut 40°C, das Meer bestimmt auch. Abkühlung war es nicht wirklich. Dafür war der Strand leer.

An einem anderen Tag sind wir ins Hata Gebirge gefahren. Auch Oman, genauso krasse Landschaft. Dort mitten im Gebirge gibt es ein paar Quellen, die einige kleine Bäche speisen. An ein paar Stellen stauen die sich und es entstehen herrliche natürliche Pools, in den man sich abkühlen kann. Leider waren wir wohl am falschen Tag da... Es war alles voll mit pakistanischen Gastarbeitern, die normalerweise auf den Baustellen arbeiten. Wir sind nach einer viertel Stunde wieder weg, war dann doch ein bischen seltsam. Die wurden dort LKW-weise angekarrt. Zu 20730 Stück standen die auf den Ladeflächen von kleinen Lastwagen, wie Zirkustiere in einem Gitterwagen. 

Habe mich nicht getraut Fotos zu machen, die nächste Stadt war einfach zu weit weg. Außerdem war unser Auto nicht geeignet für das Gelände. Sind sogar einmal stecken geblieben und wurden von ein paar anderen Tagestouristen dann befreit... Wäre mir mit Patrick bestimmt nicht passiert ...

Wenn man entspannen will, sollte man das doch in den eigenen vier Wänden im Whirlpool mit nem kalten Bier machen. Und wenn das Bier leer ist, geht man zum Kühlschrank und holt sich ein neues. Cheers!

Spocky

So foggy but still nearly too bright outside for not wearing sunglasses early in the morning already....

posted from Bloggeroid

Ich hab's dir ja gesagt

Am Wochenende habe ich mal den groben Dreck vor meiner Wohnungstür entfernt damit ich den bicht immer zu mir reinschleppe. Aber das ist momentan alles ein Kampf gegen Windmühlen.

Seht selbst. Momentan wird der Aufzug eingebaut.

posted from Bloggeroid

Strandwochenende

Am Wochenende ging es ja wie einige wissen an den Strand. Irgendwie hat sich mein Fahrer entschlossen, eine "Abkürzung" durch die Innenstadt zu nehmen. Haben am Ende dann 30min länger gebraucht als beim letzen mal. Aber dafür haben wir eine nette Stadtrundfahrt durch den Friedhof und den Haustiermarkt erhalten. Sieht man auch nicht alle Tage.

Der Tag am Strand war super, schicker als das letze mal. Dieses mal mit weniger Müll und mehr Sonnenliegen. Auch gab es weniger Spritzen und Glas, dafür Drinks und Kellner.

Das geilste war aber schon fast der Weg zum Strand. Vom parkplatz des Strandresorts zum eigentlichen Meer ging es nämlich mit nem Minizug, wie man ihn nur aus dem Freizeitpark oder Zoo kennt.

Die Nachbarschaft war auch recht edel (ab und zu). Auf dem Rückweg haben wir dann auch noch diese Spinner hier gesehen. Zwei saßen auf der Ladefläche des Pickups bei Temp 130. An der nächsten Mautstelle habe ich ein Foto gemacht.

Achso, mein Sofa ist endlich da. Jetzt ist die Wohnung fast komplett. Es fehlen nur ein paar STühle für den Esstisch.

Nächstes Wochenende haben haben die Ägypter mal wieder langes Wochenende. Aber diesmal nutze ich das auch schön aus. Habe mir einen extra Urlaubstag genommen und fliege über das sehr lange Wochenende nach Abu Dhabi und Dubai. Da es hier schon langsam kalt wird. Klingt seltsam, aber draußen ist es gerade kühler als in meiner Wohnung. Zu ersten mal seitdem ich hier wohne.

Fischimbiss, Markt und Sandsturm

Heute ging es nach der Arbeit zum Mittagessen mal wo anders hin. Wir wollten mal was mit Fisch probieren, also wurden wir in ein "fish sandwich" Laden gebracht.

Der Imbiss war irgendwo zwischen einer Werkstatt, einem Ersatzteilladen und einem Schrottplatz. Aber das Essen war echt gut. Abgesehen von den Kakerlaken die man überall hat rumhuschen sehen. Aber ich glaube das kann ich inzwischen ganz gut verkraften, sind ja nicht im Ritz-Carlton. SOndern Ägypten.

Anschließend sind wir noch ein wenig Gemüse einkaufen gewesen und sind dann noch ein wenig über den Markt gelaufen. Da gab es alles. Sogar lebende Hühner die man kaufen kann. Wofür brauch ich euch ja nicht zu erzählen. Das Beil lab auch schon bereit ;-) ...

Wie ich später dann zurück war und auf meiner Dachterrase die Sonne ein wenig genoßen habe, sah ich dann plötzlich eine riesige Sandwand auf mich zukommen. Mein erster Sandsturm. Krass. Zum Glück sind alle Fenster dicht :-)