We Visit the Lumberyard

One of our projects during our stay in Cairo this winter involved assisting in a bit of remodeling for a family that we regularly visit.  Unfortunate circumstances have left a widow and four children in need of much.

One of our neighbors had donated a much needed bed frame and mattress to the family but the frame was in need of slats to support the mattress.  The box-springs that most American mattresses lie upon are a luxury item here.  Most Egyptians sleep upon a cotton mattress about 4 inches thick that rests upon a hard surface, or perhaps, as in this case, a series of wooden slats across a frame.

While a painter was at work on the bedroom one evening, we tacked the bed frame together outside and measured for the required slats. 

 

I measured it to be 162.5 mm on the metric side of my tape.  This level of precision seemed unusual to nearby observers.   But 162.5 to 163 seemed to cover the range on the frame.  Now we needed to go to the local "Home Depot."

Fortunately, there are several furniture stores/factories in the neighborhood.  We stopped at one with a nice selection of doors and three-ply for sale where we were directed to just go ahead down the street and turn right twice.  This brought us to a large two-bay shop behind the store that was well-stocked with rough-cut dimension lumber.  We browsed the boards.

(Approximate) 1x4s were available in about 15mm thickness or 20mm.  For our application, the sales consultant suggested the 20mm - about 3/4 inches in thickness.  The boards need to have some give, since they act as our springs.  After some discussion, I settled on ten as the quantity.

Another bay in the building held a workshop with at least a half dozen workers. 

I heard the boards being cut but then I heard the distinct whine of a planer.  Walking over to observe, I was invited in to watch.  Two of the workers had been assigned to turn the rough-cut boards into S4S lumber - a nice touch that should help preserve the life of the mattress.

I was given a brief tour of the shop where another couple of the workers were busy cutting mortise and tenon joints on the band saw.

At the project site the next day, we began putting the frame together only to discover that just two of the eight bolts required were included in the bed donation.  And, one of those was distinctly undersized.  I thought we would be touring a hardware store but fortunately, an uncle of the family has a nice bucket of hardware and between long bolts and some extra nuts we were able to piece together the frame.

The boards fit perfectly.

The finished product.

 

We didn't stay the night.

Ramadan Has Arrived!

Ramadan has arrived in Egypt as of Thursday and life is changing.

We left the apartment for a walk in the early afternoon and immediately noticed that the front door has been given a new coat of gold paint and the "trim," including the electrical box, had received a new coat of white.  There was only a moderate amount of gold and white spattered on the steps and sidewalk.

Later that night, we had our first glimpse of our fanous (lantern) in operation.

  

 

The first day of Ramadan is a holiday (Egypt has plenty of holidays.)  As we walked along the street we immediately noticed that the Mercedes repair shop was closed, the coffee shop was closed, the normally very busy Syrian sandwich shop was closed, the juice bar was shuttered, and traffic is sparse and marvelously calm. We could actually carry on a conversation without shouting.

  

 

 

We were surprised to find that our favorite bakery was closed, as many shops are open to sell food, especially sweet things, for the evening breakfast meal.  We continued on a short distance to the next bakery where another friend heads a very nice operation. There is no shortage of bakeries in our neighborhood.

There they were preparing special Ramadan treats.  These pancakes will be folded and filled with honey or jam and perhaps nuts, to be served as desert at the end of the evening breakfast.

  

Another special desert treat is kunafa which requires this dough being prepared with considerable flourish.

  

First Aid

We were ready to go out shopping for a few food items this afternoon.  I was gathering our cats to put them out in the hall and Inky did not want to leave.  He grabbed my wrist with both paws to protest.

Oh great, I'm bleeding.  Well, at least I'll get a chance to check out that new blood-thinner that the doctor put me on three months ago.  (He was after me since I turned 75 to upgrade from an aspirin to one of the new hi-tech thinners.  I finally gave in this past December.)

Fifteen minutes down the block, I was still bleeding.  Good news I can report to the cardiologist!  But messy.

I stopped in at a pharmacy.  We have three on our block - these are popular places for fixing whatever ails you, and Egyptians ail quite frequently.  Pharmacists have a lot of discretion to treat folks here.

I asked for a "band-aid" and was handed a pretty good sized wound-dressing close to what we carried in our army first aid kits.  I must have looked worse than I thought!   

 "No, just small band-aid," I indicated. 

The pharmacist's assistant then handed me ten "band-aid" strips - 5 small and 5 medium.

"Aiwa! (Yes)" I replied and they both smiled.

The band-aids appear under the trademark of "Cureaid," say "Made In Egypt," and look like the real thing.

But first, they applied some Betadine to the wound, turning my wrist a nice shade of yellow.  Nice idea.

Then they sprayed on a white spray that stops bleeding.  Another nice touch.  I stuck on one of the medium band-aids.

I took a picture of the bandaged wrist when we got home.

 

 

 

The bill was 10 EGP.  That's about 35 cents, U.S.   I think that is a fair price for the Cureaid strips and consider the treatment a generous gift for Ramadan.

By the way, the band-aids don't stick worth a darn.  Maybe that's why they gave me ten of them.

 

 

A Reading Chair

 There was an empty corner in our sun-filled bedroom that was begging for a chair. I thought it would be the perfect spot for a dedicated reading chair. Thinking doesn't make it happen so we went looking for a furniture store. I remembered seeing Zoski Furniture on our regular route to the bakery.

One night on a whim we stopped to see what they had.

Zoski is a family furniture business. They have two shops in Giza, one on Faisal Street and one on Lebeny Street. The furniture itself is made in the Delta city of Damietta. I was helped by a lovely young lady, Minna, with excellent English ability, matched only by her lively personality. She really knew her product also.

I brought a photo of the type of chair that I wanted and a soft cushion from one of our living room chairs as an example. Egyptian furniture tends to be on the hard side for me. 

 

My chair was promised for completion in twelve days at the very acceptable price of  6800 EGP ($227.00)

Twelve days after order would have suggested the delivery date would be February 6. True to the Egyptian time line, the chair was not ready for deliver until February 15. Omar, the son of the Zoski owner, (and brother of Minna) delivered the chair with the help of a tall muscular man, who carried it up eight flights of stairs. Our building does have an elevator that we use but it was deemed too small for the chair.

The reading chair fits perfectly in the corner. Now we just need a small table for my coffee and glasses.

That table sounds like a project for next year. Until then Tom has given up his night stand for me to use. I enjoy sitting in my reading corner with a book, an iPad and a sunny view toward the pyramids of Sakkara.

Ramadan Is Coming Soon

If the astronomers should prove correct again this year, Ramadan will arrive on Wednesday, March 23rd.  But the possibilities are complicated according to ahramonline.  That was the report from a week ago.  Just yesterday, ahramonline announced:

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawky Allam, is expected to make a statement on Tuesday, 21 March, regarding the start date of the fasting month.

But this much is certain:  this past weekend was the final weekend before Ramadan and shoppers were out in force to make last minute purchases.  One can almost always find a crowd at the entrance to the busy commercial street leading to the Alley of the Tentmakers where shoppers pour out onto El-Azhar Street.  Saturday was exceptionally busy as we walked in to purchase some fabric before returning across El-Azhar to Khan el Kalili for some shopping.

 

Of course, there was an abundance of dates and other sweets for sale.  This gentleman had both fresh and pickled lemons on his cart.

There is always Ramadan merchandise on display near the Bab Zuweyla gate.

 

We flowed with the crowd moving through the alley of the tentmakers and Linda found a couple of shops with the type of fabric she was seeking.  

 

 

She also paused to examine the Ramadan specials and pick out a special wall hanging for a friend.

  

 

Crossing the road between the Tentmaker's alley and Bab Zuella is always difficult, but on Saturday it was nearly impossible with scarcely enough space between vehicles for even a child's leg.  This young man was trying hard to get his two-wheeler through the fray with a load of Ramadan fabric, probably from the family business.

A long line of Tuk-Tuks and other vehicles was at a complete stop at the crossroads.  You might think no one would add their car or minibus to this chaos, but you would be wrong in Cairo.

Linda's purchases were placed in a free Ramadan Kareem fabric bag and she has received numerous compliments on the bag.

 

I blogged about the Fanoos, or Ramadan lanterns last year.  Sometime in the nine months before we returned this winter, our building acquired its own Fanoos.  

 

Just a few days ago, someone then added these streamers to the front of the building.

 

 

We were on a street a couple of days ago at a small furniture shop and that street had a multitude of streamers up and down the entire block.

 

Ramadan is becoming quite commercialized, much like Christmas.  The lantern display down the street near our vegetable market is brightly lit at night.

Note the sheep, which you may also want to purchase for the final Ramadan celebration of Eid al-Fitr.

 

 

A Visit to Siwa Oasis - Part V, We Return to Cairo

After a comfortable night's sleep at the Siwa Safari Oasis Hotel, we had another pleasant breakfast and some conversation with proprietor/manager, Suzi, as we paid our bill and checked out.  The hotel was only full on our first night with just a few visitors on the next two nights.  This was an excellent choice for our visit; close to town but not too close.  It is nice to travel here and only have to pay the quoted rate with no additional taxes and fees.  We paid 900 EGP ($30 U.S.) per night for a wonderful double room including breakfast.

We left the hotel about 10:45 a.m.  It was only a short drive before we were clearly out of the oasis and into the desert.

We stopped at the "Smile Market" gas station and convenience store to gas up.  The sign above the window says, more or less, "if you have any complaints, please see the management."

Just two hours into the drive north toward Marsa Matruh, we again reached the "halfway well" rest stop and took advantage of the opportunity to stretch our legs.  The remodeling of the former Mr. Amo Cafeteria had been proceeding at a smart pace over the previous two days.  We noted that the fancy new "coffee shop" ceramic tiles were now fully in place across the front and side of the new addition to the building.  (previous photo on left, below)  I think that I have seen this pattern in some kitchens in Cairo apartments for sale - it has a nice "American breakfast feel" to it.

  

  

As I approached the restrooms, a young man held up a puppy for inspection and invited me to come seem mom and the litter.  She was a bit defensive as I leaned in to count the puppies. She looked like a good mother and seemed to be taking good care of them.

Another couple of hours on the road brought us out of the harsh stone desert, past the camels grazing on sagebrush and into the sheep-herding territory along coast highway 40.  I believe we showed our passports to the security forces four times to get out just as we had to get in to the area.

I had forgotten to mention this prominent piece of sculpture at the junction of the coast highway with the Marsa Matruh - Siwa Oasis road.  I would love to explain the symbolism but have come up empty.  Neither our driver nor our guide had any explanation either. Here is hoping some commenter will explain to us all the meaning of the intertwined, multicolored noodles topped by a disco ball.

The next 100 miles toward el Alamein is sheer agony because of the road construction.  It took close to three hours to cover this route.  Our driver diverted to the south at el Dabaa onto another massive ten-lane freeway that doesn't show up yet on Google maps.  It will be interesting to see if all the development along the el Alamein coastline ever justifies all the road infrastructure.

We cut over to the new road along a decent divided highway and then entered the new ten-lane super freeway via a typical, "go northwest to loop back southeast" junction.  Fortunately there was a Chill Out and Dabaa Mart rest stop at that point.

We stopped at the service plaza which had gas pumps, the convenience store and a mosque.  It has very nice restrooms, lots and lots of snacks as well as tea and other beverages.  Our driver took advantage of the mosque for evening prayer before proceeding.  As Amar says in his 4-star review just below, "It got everything you need for your trip."

 

 

From there it was still almost four hours to reach home, making it close to eleven and a half hours in this direction also.  Our adopted "building cats" were very happy to see us and snuggled up to rest in my travel bag after a much appreciated dinner. That's Spicy on the left and Inky on the right.