Common Cairo Occurrences...

A friend of mines friend came to visit last week,

and it was interesting to see his shock re-actions to things around him,

pretty much the same ones i was having a couple of months ago.

Things in Cairo are a little bit different,

some of things i'm getting used to

others not.

But i thought i'd start a little thing where i put up

the occasional picture or tell little stories to emulate a wee bit what i'm talking about.

I also thought i'd call it Common Cairo Occurrences,

mainly because i like alliteration

i thought i'd start with this dude,

There are so many of these guys driving around,

and you wouldn't believe how fast they go,

down little alleys ways swerving between

people and what not.

Trust its impressive.

Growing Old....

I secretly hope that when i'm old i'm one of those crazy old ladys

that kids are secretly scared of but know for a fact that i'm guaranteed

to give them a sticky old sweetie from my handbag.

anyhows,

i was inspired by this blog today

here

"A person is not old until regret takes place of dreams"

John Barrymore

Introducing Sookie the Uki.....

So here's the thing, i have a problem where i like to give inanimate objects names.

For some reason it brings them a little bit more to life

and makes them more friendly,

is this strange?

I dont know,

but its a thing i do and wont stop doing

even if you tell me that it is indeed strange.

So when i got my ukulele one of the first things

i started doing was trying to pick out a name for her.

The initial front runner was Lulu, i dont know why, which then progressed to Gigi.

But ultimately i have decided to call her Sookie.

Sookie, the Uki.

I think has a nice ring to it.

Plus it reminds me of Sookie from Gilmore Girls,

which is one of my fave tv shows,

and she had a fun personality but was also a little bit ditzy and clumsy,

i like to think that Sookie my Uki, shares these qualities.

Plus, you say it quickly it sounds a bit like Sookie the Wookie

and that makes me giggle.

Besides, now when people ask me what i have been doing all day

(and i do mean all day)

i can tell them i've been hanging out with Sookie,

and hopefully they wont question it further

and i look like a nice friendly person rather

than the ukulele obsessed hermit

which is what i have actually become.

Dear Deer......

My latest obsession is youtubing ukulele videos....

some that can inspire me

and some that can teach me how to actually play the thing.

I came across this one by Kate Micucci,

which definitely goes under the catagory of inspire.

It also inspired me to buy her mini EP from itunes could Songs.....

its sparkelicious.

(almost) A little mermaid....

Dahab was amazing.

I didnt want to leave.

After a few initial hiccups

(fighting with the bus driver for charging extra money)

and turning up to find my hostel double booked, and that they couldnt care less

(Octupus World Hostel, big black mark)

things were just great

I spent every day snorkelling,

and bought a disposable underwater camera

the pictures are ridiculously bad quality,

but i had fun taking them

and they will always be full of the memories that only i can see.

i spent the evenings attempting to play on my new ukulele,

(more about that later.)

it was bliss

and i think that in another life i would like to be a mermaid...

just sayin....

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.....

I just found out this week that i have four days holiday.

And seeing as i'm not sure the next time i'll get a holiday

(dancers are always working when everyone else holidays)

i'm making the most of it.

I'm catching an over night bus for 10 hours to go to

Dahab

where i will stay in a youth hostel that costs less than 2 euros a night (should i be worried?)

but hopefully its going to look a bit like this

and i'm going to look a bit like this

(its so weird to me that its November and its still summer)

My Bonnie....

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

My Bonnie lies over the sea

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

So bring back my Bonnie to me

Older and Wiser?

So today is my birthday.

Which technically means that i've gotten older and wiser.

and seeing as i dont want to focus on the older part i thought i'd reflect

on somethings that i've learned in the last year which

may or may not have made me a little bit wiser.

(back when i was young)

1 cup = 128g

How to play a chord on the ukulele.

How to put on Snowboarding boots.

Snowboarding hurts

How to snorkel.

Robert The Bruce is the most important figure in Scottish History,

(everyone should read a biography on him.)

When baking cookies,

don't double the amount of sugar just because its my favourite ingredient.

If i dont cheat at monopoly i can actually win it.

How to say thankyou in Arabic (the rest is yet to come)

The story of La Bayadere.

How to look after a tortoise.

How to get angry so angry at a taxi driver that he is too

scared to ask you for his money and just drives a way.

How to make pizza dough, and pastry.

How to cook in general,

this past year has been a food revolution to me.

Egypt isn't as scary as i thought it might be.

Philadelphia cream cheese is amazing on anything.

Egypt is dirty.

Sometimes asking for help is the only way.

The Land Before Time....

Last night i felt like watching

The Land Before TIme.

So i did.

It's a movie that i watched many a time when i was a wee bit wee-er,

I think it's been a long time since i last watched it as, i dont every remember really appreciate quite how beautiful a movie it is.

i'll admit i got emotional on the odd occasion

and the soundtrack had me dreaming up a dinosaur ballet.

i've decided that, one day, its definitely going to be a movie

that my children are going to be made to appreciate.

Yep, yep yep!

Book Heaven?

So i finally got round to finding the

Azbakizya Second Hand Book Market in Cairo.

The first couple of times i got lost in the process,

and found markets that sold,

soap,

shoes,

meat,

underwear

everything but books.

But it was worth the wait.

It is literally book heaven .

Lots of old abandoned books been sent to a resting place,

until someone who loves them takes them home and give them a new lease of life.

I hate to buy new books.

I rarely ever do,

in fact in the past 6 years i can only recall

1 book that i have bought brand new,

and only because i was stuck at a train station with a long wait ahead of me.

I love second hand books.

I love that they have a history.

That they once took someone on the journey

that i am about to embark on with them.

I always hand in books that i don't enjoy to second hand shops,

as i know that there is someone out there who

will give them a home and appreciate them in a way that i couldnt.

Finding a 2nd hand book market

in cairo makes me very happy.

How i feel about haggling....

The Monty Python got it right.

Haggling is stupid.

I'm rotten at it, i hate to do it.

Especially when i dont know how much i ought to

be paying for something.

I think i've done a really great haggle

then later on i find out i was totally duped.

The other day i was haggling for a very pretty dress,

but the guy wouldnt budge on his price nor me from mine,

so i walked out the shop adamant

that i would not buy it for less than the price that i had insisted on.

Until a few moments later i realised that

i didnt actually have the dress that i really wanted to buy

for what was actually a fairly reasonable price,

and would feel too stupid to go back to the shop to

buy it as that would mean admitting defeat.

Or i hate the fact that i feel bad

as i may have haggled them too low....

At any rate when it comes to The Haggle...

I always end up the loser.

One should always take advice from a doctor...

"Be who you are and say what you feel,

because those who mind don't matter,

and those who matter don't mind."

Dr. Seuss