Our New Freezer

I was starting to tell you about our shopping trip to look at small freezers the other day when I was distracted by the historic Omar Effendi department store.  Back to the story.

We had gone downtown to Abd El-Aziz Street where the appliance shops are located.


A shop owner suggested that we go over to the White Whale showroom, look at the freezer we wanted and return to buy it from him.  The White Whale showroom is right next to the Samsung showroom.


What a quiet place in comparison to the rest of the shops on the street.  We walked up to the second floor (there are three) where the refrigerators and freezers are displayed and looked over the nice small unit.  White Whale, I should add, is an Egyptian appliance manufacturer.  Remember those white whale bones out in the desert at Wadi Al-Hitan we visited last year?  We were quoted a price of 1800 EGP (about $225) plus delivery.  I took some pictures and we decided to think it over.


We had along as expediter our good friend, Roshdy, who quickly found us an alternative price of 1700 EGP as we walked back to the car.

The next day we decided to go ahead and buy the freezer even though we only have a month left here this year.  We have learned that if you want something in Egypt, you should buy it when you find it - it may never be available again.

Roshdy and I came back to the store the next day.  Do you recall those little Suzuki trucks parked along Abd El-Aziz in the first picture?  That is how delivery happens in modern Egypt.  They can actually carry quite a big load.  Here is a picture I took of one barreling down the Ring Road a few years ago.


We paid for the freezer and delivery at our bargain retail store.  That got us a Suzuki driver and a receipt to take to the White Whale warehouse.  The Suzuki driver took us to the warehouse to load up.  I had won the coin toss, so got to ride in the cab while Roshdy hopped on back. 


We did a careful inspection of the freezer at the warehouse after the supervisor opened the box for us.


With the freezer roped onto the bed of the truck, Roshdy got a firm grip on the siderails, I squeezed into the front seat with my knees in the broken glove-box and we set out on the route home along the Ring Road.


Roshdy says that the view from the rear of the truck is quite different than what he is used to.  We had a good driver.  He avoided bumps, almost never had to stop - just slowed up a bit now and then  (he pumped the brakes a lot - maybe there was a problem?) and it took just 20 minutes to get home.  It had taken us almost a full hour in a taxi to get there because of heavy traffic in the other direction.

As recommended in the instructions, we let the unit set for 24 hours before connecting it up.

It comes with an instruction book, guarantee, a lock and key, a plastic frost scraper and two of the cutest little ice cube trays you have ever seen.  (We have real ice cube trays brought with us from the States.)



The driver carried the unit up via the elevator and we un-boxed it again.  Even though it had passed inspection at the factory and by me at the warehouse, I now found a minor flaw in the bracket holding the temperature control.


It is now installed, working fine, maintains 0 degrees F., only draws 67 watts and should save us a lot of hassle.