Lunchtime at Zanilli's

As many of you already know, one of my favorite things about traveling is trying the different foods. This work of art, the Greek salad at Zanilli's, cost me a mere $3.75!

Egyptian food is healthy. NOT! It is very challenging to find food that is: (a) not fried; (b) not carbohydrate; (c) both of the above. However, just one block from school, Yvonne and I have found a precious gem, a restaurant called Zanilli's. Food is cheap here though. I can usually buy groceries (yogurt, tomatoes, cucumbers, pita bread, granola, water) for the week for about $15. Deb, you would love that the diet Pepsi can be bought in about a half litre bottle for about 60 cents (equal to about 4 cans) - and it's even carbonated like in the states, not flat like in England! Kochary is the main staple of the diet - think pasta + rice + beans + onions + spicy seasoning - actually, I had a small bowl just the other night for 3 L.E. (Egyptian pounds) That is equivalent to 60 cents. It was delicious and filling.
















This is my young friend whose main job at Zanilli's appears to be opening the door to the ladies' room for the female patrons.





This is my new friend and favorite waiter, Sameh. He waited on Yvonne and me every day that we ate lunch at Zanilli's. He is 20 years old, studying computers at the university. Sameh presented me with a postcard of nearby Stanley Beach, a map of historic Alexandria and interlocking key chains with King Tut and Nephrititi.












The very cool staff at Zanilli's - they are a wonderful group!

Interesting Tidbits About Alexandria

The city is absolutely filthy, but every driver has a box of tissues on the car dashboard. These can be purchased for about a pound (20 cents per box) from men who wander between the cars when they are stopped in traffic.

There are no traffic lights or signals - men in white uniforms, who are not intimidated by the ongoing traffic step into the flow now and then to halt traffic in one direction so the other direction may proceed across busy intersections or into circles.

I'm not really sure why there are lines painted on the roads - no one stays in their lane - in fact, most vehicles straddle 2 lanes in case a better opening should occur that they can squeeze through. (None of us likes to sit in the middle seat of the front row of seats in the van because that is the seat where you can best witness the near brushes with death on the long drive to and from school).

There is no recycling of anything. You have trash? Just toss it in the street. Same with the beach unfortunately. The only part of the beach that is kept clean is the section that contains the foreign tourists. That, and the fact that the women in that part of the beach have decent, more modern bathing suits, keeps me coming back. When the chair/umbrella guy asks to see my cards, and then tells me in Arabic that I am in the wrong section, I just pretend I don't understand him (who's pretending???) and eventually he just leaves me alone.

Yesterday, we found the mother lode in Phillipe & Kory's apartment - a washing machine!!! Good thing because I was running out of underwear. All of us are establishing records for the total number of consecutive days one outfit can be worn. In this heat, and with no A/C in the apartments, this is a definite challenge.

At the beginning of the week, we lost power in the apartment complex for 7 very long, very trying hours. Try sleeping in a room that is at least 90 degrees, with no working ceiling fan. Talk about a sauna! Then the power went off at school - we were very hopeful that class would be cancelled, but we only were without power for about 5 minutes.

The computers at the apartments and school make the schools' computers at home look like state of the art. They are ancient, slow and cumbersome.

I am compiling a list of things to never complain about:

1. overcrowding at Upton Hill pool
2. poor water pressure in the master bathroom shower at home
3. my laptop or desktop running slowly

I'm sure there will be more as my journey continues...............

Alexandria Day Tour

Bibliotheca Alexandrina (7 levels of books and reference materials - 4 levels above sea level and 3 below sea level). We could not believe the number of people waiting to get in - we've never seen lines like that in the US, Canada or Britain! Amazing structure and worth revisiting.

Jean, I will give you the website so you can check out the incredible online photos!

I will never, ever, complain about how crowded the Upton Hill pool is after seeing the people at Montaza Palace Gardens!

Qaitbey Fort (built between 1477-1480)

One of the guards came up to me and offered a personal tour of the mosque, the lighthouse artifacts. He went off in a huff when I gave him only 1 pound for his tour.

The marketplace outside Qaitbey Fort.

The ruins at Pompey's Pillar.

Pompey's Pillar (actually erected for Diocletian) in A.D. 293. This red granite column is 30 ft. around and 100 ft. tall. It was transported from Aswan by boat along the Nile, and erected by humans building a sand slope to angle the bottom of the column; then attaching ropes at the top that were pulled in the opposite direction by camels, mules and horses until it was upright.

The pillar is flanked by a pair of sphinxes from Heliopolis.

This was a great day! No classes - 1 long week down and hopefully 3 quicker ones to go. We had a great day tour of Alexandria with Mohammed & Ahmed.

One last story for the day...We had a really nice buffet lunch at Athineos, an Egyptian/Greek restaurant. I went to use the ladies room after the meal,and realized, too late that there was no toilet paper in the stall. I was not in a position to drip dry, and I was alone in the bathroom, so I checked the other 2 stalls with the same result. Then I checked the paper towels - none to be had. So, I used some precious paper that was lying on the floor. When I got outside the door, I saw an Egyptian woman sitting there, passing out all the toilet paper from the restroom in return for money. To say I was livid was putting it mildly. I grabbed a couple of handfuls and took them into the stalls where they belonged. I think she could tell from my actions that it would not be a good idea to ask me for money.

Paradise & Stanley Beaches

(L) Stanley Beach photos (near the school) - so close yet so far away!

(L) Paradise Beach - (30 minutes away from school, but near the dorm) - watch out for the chair man looking for 5 pounds!

2 Days Down & a Long 18 to go!

Finished only 2 days of class and am ready to die of boredom. I am growing very weary of the constant need of some of the students to be recognized and validated after each comment the teacher makes. One Egyptian guy is constantly making remarks to try to prove he knows everything; then he sets off the his foreign comrades, who all also feel the need to be king of the hill. Their sexist remarks are getting on my last nerve! Yvonne & I don't think we're going to last at this rate. Even our main instructor is getting fed up with the one guy. Someone needs to explain to all these people that this class is pass/fail.

On a positive note, Yvonne and I discovered Zanilli's, a great Greek/Egyptian restaurant for our lunch break from school - good thing since I mistakenly ordered a liver fajita yesterday. Can you say, "gross"? No more pointing at pictures to communicate what I want.

No more drinking while here either, since there is no place other than Groucho's, and their prices fluctuate based upon how much they think they can rip you off. One day a Heiniken cost $5 if you go in the bar with men; then it can be $7 if you go in without any men; then it can go back down to $4 if you go with Egyptian men. Go figure............

Yesterday, after class, I went to the beach with the school passes for the umbrella and beach. One of the beach chairs/umbrella owners came right over to me after I settled in and told me my chair would cost 2 Egyptian pounds. I told him I had no money on me. So he said I could pay him 5 pounds the next time I came to the beach. I laughed (sure buddy, like I'm going to pay you for a chair I didn't pay for 2 days ago). Well, darn if he didn't find me today in a vast sea of humanity - asking for his 5 pounds. I told him again that I had no money, and went off to another section of the beach and sat in a free chair.

Paradise Beach

Today we are free until the bus picks us up @ 5 PM, so I spent most of the day exploring nearby Paradise Beach - about 100 yds. from our dorm. The weather was a bit cooler - 100 degrees today, and the water was amazing. We have passes for entry to the beach and passes for umbrellas & chairs, so all I was missing was a beach towel - which I ought from this cute little guy about 12 yrs. old. He was a tough bargainer, but I managed to get him to decrease the price a bit - then we had to change a larger Egyptian bill. He was really dedicated to that task. Once we finished our transaction, he & a much older gentleman (who appeared to be his grandfather), loaded up their towels and continued on. I'll try to get a photo of them next visit to the beach.

There appears to be about 13-14 participants in our course, but I'll know for sure after our orientation this evening.

I continue to do battle with the one cat who insists on mewling at our front door or back balcony door. It must have a death wish....

Shades of New Dehli

Today, Friday, July 17th, we landed in Cairo a half hour early. Interesting view of the airport from the air - desert everywhere and the airport in the middle of nowhere. I think I heard from someone that the temp was 104 - it felt like it. I had to go to terminal 2 from the newer terminal 1 to meet the driver from our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) school. Talk about a difference of day and night - #2 was filthy, smelly and crowded, but what a great people watching location! I saw women in all kinds of interesting burkas; men in flowing robes; and people in between. I saw a lady passed out in the women's bathroom with her head resting on the step near the cubicle door. I saw about 10 men facing Mecca on prayer rugs for afternoon prayer. I was hungry, but there was no way I was going to touch any of the food they were selling.

Our drive from Cairo to Alexandria (2 1/2 hours by car), was adventurous to say the least. Between dodging other cars, we could not believe how people just walked across the street right in front of you - some pushing out their children in front of them! People gathered along major highways to hitchhike - mostly trying to stop any small vans that might have a spot or 2.

Here in Al-Agami, the streets were worse than NYC - cars, people sacrificing their children, donkeys pulling carts, little carts like covered golf carts. No traffic lights, lots of people.

Our living quarters are very minimal - no A/C, little water pressure, and worst of all, cats everywhere - one who apparently continues to try and enter our room. (I am sharing an apartment with Holly, a gal from Denver - young enough to be my daughter).