remote control

wall paper

throw your camera

up in the air and see what happens. I didn't want to take any chances so I was holding on to the strap...

moroccan tea

what I love most when I'm shopping is to stop and have a tea in one of the stores...

afternoon sun

another stroll in the old Casablanca medina. I'm glad to be back this time with more light.

rick's cafe...

 

... from the usual suspects.

casablanca port

night traffic

golf in egypt

I had quite a few of firsts in Egypt. To the list below kitesurfing and sandboarding, I've now added golf. I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. What used to sound like a jargon from another planet now makes more sense.

mirror

ceiling

naguib mahfouz

My first try at Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt's most famous Nobel winner author. And I was hooked. It tells the story of a middle class Egyptian family through both world wars. It tells the places I've already seen in Cairo and talks about mystical times that this city has been through.

different angles

back from school

buddies

self-portrait

intruder

pistachio

windows

my dusty camera

urla view

The beautiful view from the garden in Urla. This is where I want to live. The only problem is there are no decent jobs that I know of in this city...

moroccan slippers

Trying out our new Moroccan slippers and they're pretty comfortable...

alacati

Candidate to be one of my favorite places to see on a weekend. I'm just hoping it's not going to get too popular.

moroccan tea glasses

desert city

I don't like the feeling of getting used to. Not finding anything worthwhile to photograph is a clear sign to me that I'm getting used to living here. Even though I spend about half of my time traveling and outside Cairo, when I come back, at least my week days have quieted down to a routine. I miss the first coming to a country, discovering its absurdities and similarities I hadn't known. I miss the curiosity. I know if we were surprised, amazed, and impressed by every little detail around us, we'd go crazy, but getting used to is so anti-climatic.

I'm kind of worried that I'm never going to be happy settling down anywhere. I hope that's a misinterpretation. There's nothing like traveling. I think I'm traveling tomorrow...

helicopter

the helicopter that won't lift off the table because I'm forgetting to get new batteries.

cola or bebsi?

It's one of those few countries where Pepsi is more common than Coca Cola. The secret is in the way it's pronounced here. It's called Bebsi. There's no p sound in Arabic, so simply drink Bebsi!

tesbih

My "made in Egypt" tesbih... I've always had a fascination for these and I found out that it's actually called subha in Arabic where as we use tesbih which is the verb form of subha. So we've named it after the motion and I know why. Anyone who's been in Turkey knows that our national obsession with the prayer beads is more full of action than anywhere else in the world.

yellow watermelon

When I first saw it in the grocery store, I thought it was a genetically modified freak, but then I remembered I was in Egypt where I've already so far seen many weird tropical fruits. This could be one of them. So I decided to try and man, it was sweet! A quick wikipedia search proved that the "yellow crimson watermelon" is considered to be sweeter and more honey flavored than the more popular red one. I love discovering new fruits, mmm....