Construction In Progress, Part I

A friend of a friend is building an apartment building.  Well, in Cairo, I sometimes think that everyone is building an apartment building.  We see the partially complete structures anywhere we go.  We decided to go take a look.  The building is about half way between our place and the great pyramids of Giza.  There are plenty of buildings going up in the area.


I am always amazed at what a small number of Egyptians can do with a concrete mixer, some sand and a few loads of bricks.

Here is the front of the building.  We walked up the stairs to the seventh floor to look at one apartment nearing completion and paused along the way to rest and take pictures.


Linda kept telling me not to lean on the walls.

This is a good chance to show you the electrical "rough-in."  Flexible orange conduit is placed in the floor and walls to distribute the electricity.  Here you can see the conduits emerging from the circuit breaker panel and running across the floor.  Later, a couple of inches of concrete will cover the floor, level it and cover the conduit.


Channels are cut in the bricks to allow the conduit to run vertically and horizontally along the walls.  A layer of stucco or mortar mix will be applied over the bricks to form the interior wall surfaces.


The seventh floor unit is almost complete.  The walls are ready for painting, the plaster crown molding is in place and the ceramic tile has been laid over the top of that concrete that I mentioned earlier.

A Shopping Trip to Carrefour

About once every three weeks or so we make a major outing to Maadi and the Cairo Mall.


Maadi is where the "other half" lives.  Or "the 1%" or the diplomatic corps and foreign contractors or whatever you would prefer to call them.  You would recognize most of the mall stores and restaurants such as Timberland, Starbucks, Chilis, Payless Shoes and Radio Shack.

Our principal destination is Carrefour, the giant French hypermart.  We always arrive in Cairo during their anniversary sale.  They have been here twelve years now.


We had lunch at Chilis and went into Carrefour at around 1 p.m. on Thursday, just as the weekend crowd was beginning to build around the specials on flat screen TVs.  The TV's were stacked close to ten feet tall and the red-shirt guys were ready to help put one in your cart.  We already knew what the special was because we saw so many carts with big-screen TVs rolling out past Chilis.


The hot display item seemed to be the 47-inch LG priced at 9999 Egyptian pounds or around $1395.  The 40 inch Samsung at 2999 egp or $419 was what actually ended up going into the carts, however.

There were "amazing anniversary offers" in all areas as the shoppers played "bumper carts" up and down the aisles.


The attraction of Carrefour is not just low prices, it is broad selection.  I counted twelve varieties of apples on display in this part of the produce section.  There were a couple more around the corner on an end-cap.


Tomatoes of the baladi variety (local) were selling for 2.40 egp per kg or 15 cents a pound.  Buying organic could set you back a good bit more.


Linda passed up the 12 cent per pound pre-packaged larger potatoes to pick individual selections from the better quality, "potatoes for fried," at 24 cents per pound. We don't understand the meaning of "potatoes for fried" but they are the best looking potatoes so that's what we buy.


At the cash register the bagger packed up our 21 plastic bags of groceries and we headed out to haggle with the taxi drivers. After about 5 minutes of back and forth prices we settled on a "good" price for the 20 minute ride home and we were off.

(To visit Carrefour Egypt's website for current specials and store locations, follow this link.)

The Universal Man Was Here Today

The service tech for our Universal stove was scheduled to arrive today so we looked forward to a day spent at home wondering if it would really happen.  About 10 a.m., Linda had a call from the company saying that he would arrive around 1.  Very surprising and a good sign.  He arrived on time with tools and proceeded to go to work.

For the slow to ignite burner, he diagnosed poor gas flow out to the igniter and so he got out his snips and hacked out a bit of the metal to enlarge the opening in the burner.  Maybe this is where the term "hacker" originates?


I also had him adjust the simmer setting on each of the burners so that the flame wouldn't die when the control knob was turned down to its minimum stop.


I can also report that the oven continues to work very well.  Linda turned out this hot-dish a couple of nights ago and the temperature held at an even 350 degrees.


Linda does have a concern with the fact that the oven rack is very difficult to slide in and out.  The tech gave us the old "it will loosen up with use" answer in Arabic.  Fortunately, we had  a translator.  By the way, it won't loosen up.  Our previous stove had a much superior oven rack design - it was the only good thing about that stove. 

Relaxing at Abu Sir

One of our favorite spots near Cairo is  a horse farm at Abu Sir about five miles south of our apartment.  Last year, we visited several times.  It's away from the city noise and quite close to some of the oldest pyramids in Egypt.  A few weeks ago, I noticed that the Czech archeologists working at the Abu Sir site had made some major new discoveries.  You can read the story at this website. 

Our good friend, Roshdy, could sense that I had had a tough couple of days with our Egyptian craftsmen and needed some calming atmosphere.  That was actually just half of it.  I also had been dealing with the Hennepin County Library's eBook system.  More on that in another post.

So Roshdy suggested that we go somewhere for tea to relax and that certainly sounded like a good idea.  He picked us up and we were soon driving into the entrance of the horse farm.


There were some new horses and donkeys to visit as an Australian animal veterinary and rescue group is now operating from this farm.  We hope to learn more about their efforts in the future.

The farm's owner, Mohammed, has built an additional small apartment on the property and we had  chance to view the Abu Sir pyramids from the roof while drinking tea and having a few of the very sweet local mandarin oranges known as Yusuf Effendi.




The mandarins were a good match to the color of the sky as the sun set behind the desert sand beyond the palm trees.


To visit some of those other posts about Abu Sir and see more of the pyramids and tombs there, just click on the Abu Sir label at the bottom of this post.  To find the spot on a map, put 29.896755,31.20352 into Google and press the enter key. (switch to satellite view to spot the pyramids.)

Next Day, Next Craftsman, Next Problem

With our toilet problems behind us, let's talk stoves!

You may recall that we had a brand new stove sitting in the dining room at the end of this post.


We had to remove the original packing box to fit it into the elevator and avoid carrying it up eight flights of stairs.  In fact, this defines the size of our elevator.  It will hold exactly one stove and one good sized person.

The stove installation was scheduled for Sunday between 9 and 3 and the installer actually showed up around 1:00.  The installer was from the "gas company," which was probably a mistake.  We would have been better off with an installer from Universal, the stove company.  As I moved into the kitchen to move some things out of the way near our existing stove, we heard a loud metal bang followed by a screeching noise.  The gas man had lifted the stove out of the box base and was dragging it across the ceramic tile.  I shouted, "No, No, NO, NO!" I showed him the proper way to move the stove by putting it back into the cardboard and then gliding it smoothly across the floor into the kitchen with nary a scratch on the tiles. We were not off to a good start!

The gas man did a good job of preparing the stove with a proper fitting and connecting the unsheathed flexible rubber hose to the stove.  I guess the code is different here than at home.  Next, he swapped out the gas jets on all the burners from LP to Natural Gas.  More on what that's about here for the technically inclined.

There are more safety features on this stove than the last.  That means lighting is more difficult.  Also one burner flame sensor seems a bit iffy. The large burner doesn't work right at maximum flow and only one burner properly turns down to minimum without going out.  The gas man pointed to the logo, "Universal," and told us in Arabic, "not my job," more or less.  We were using a telephone and a friend to handle translation.  The Universal man is scheduled for Wednesday to fix all problems. We were told that it will cost 50 Egyptian pounds to begin the 3 year warranty. We'd call that a buyer protection plan not a warranty.

But, we are both delighted with the stove.  Here I am cooking our first dinner, an Indian chicken vindaloo.  The big burner can be adjusted to both high and low temperatures.  The small burner does a great job of cooking rice without boiling over.  And remarkably, if you pour some oil into the center of a pan, it no longer runs over to the side due to a concave top on the stove.


As for Linda, she couldn't be more pleased.  The oven lights without a match and a "whoosh," and it maintains a remarkably steady 350 degrees without opening and closing the door to act as a temperature control.  Here are her first batch of cookies, many of which have just been delivered across the hall in her "cultural exchange program."

Cairo Craftsmen, Part One

It's been a busy thirty hours or so.  Last night a plumber arrived around 9 p.m. to fix a leaky toilet.  A good friend had located him and brought him over when he was available.  As is usually the case with Cairo craftsmen, he showed up with a cloth bag containing all his tools.  I missed an opportunity to photograph one of those cloth bags - what was I thinking.  I did notice that the bag contained a piece of green broomstick about a foot long.  That, it turns out, was his caulk gun.  He used it to push the caulk out of a conventional tube of the stuff.

The 9 p.m. arrival was not unusual.  Plumbers, electricians and carpenters doing repair work come after finishing their day jobs.  Or, at least, the ones that our friends bring us seem to usually arrive then.  This was not a problem for us but did cause a bit of an issue for our friend whose wife had a dentist's appointment for 9 p.m.  As we say, "everything is different here."

Back to the toilet problem.  The main bathroom toilet was dripping when flushed when we arrived last year but the leaking stopped before we were able to get a plumber on site.  I elected to leave well-enough alone.  This year the leak returned and didn't go away.  Obviously, some part of the joint was drying out and separating.  Think rigid porcelain and plastic joined by plaster and you will understand the problem.

Egyptian toilets don't have a waste exit underneath with a wax ring connection to the waste stack as do American toilets.  The waste goes out the rear and into the stack.  Note this "before" picture.


My first inclination was to apply a layer of 3M tub and tile caulk to the joint externally and let it go - but why not call in the professionals?  After assuring that the plumber was going to bring his own rags (Cairo craftsmen are notorious for using your nice new towels to wipe the floor) and that the job included cleanup - another rarity here - we were ready for the plumber's visit.  The plan was to cut out the existing waste pipe, move the toilet out, install a new flexible pipe and reconnect to the stack.  And, re-seat the toilet, of course.

The plumber pulled a floppy saw blade out of his bag and began cutting on the existing plastic pipe.  I went to the closet, opened my tool box and offered my hack saw but it was too late, he had already finished the cut.

An hour later, I inspected the finished job and we (especially Linda) didn't like the re-caulking around the base of the toilet.  It was pretty much caulk on everything including the floor and toilet base.  Well, that green broomstick pushing the caulk out of the tube doesn't exactly lay down an even bead!

The toilet now seems to work fine and there is no leak.  As for the final appearance, well, you be the judge.  As for me, the wax ring system, hidden from sight, seems more desirable.


We'll see how long this works.  Stay tuned!

Friday Shopping Tour

We haven't established a daily walking routine yet this year.  We thought we should get outside today, though.  So we decided to head over to one of our favorite "market" streets about a mile away.  We arrived at about a quarter to one so Friday prayer services were just ending.

Now I imagine most Americans picture the typical Egyptian family dressing up, getting in the car and heading to the Mosque.  This is not quite how it works.  Dad and the older boys head to the nearby Mosque, generally on foot.  Mom and the daughters and very young boys stay at home and cook a delicious dinner.  Friday noon in an apartment building brings a delightful mix of aromas as the ladies prepare that special meal.

Dad and the boys are not going far.  There is usually a mosque on every block.  In the high-density areas where we were headed today, not everyone can get inside.  Not to worry, though.  There are loud speakers where the Imam's message is broadcast to all nearby people.  A large number of men might block the entire street as they listen and pray.  There is almost no traffic moving at this time anyway.  You might describe the converging sounds from several nearby Imams on loudspeakers as a cacophony.  No matter what the subject, it is almost always delivered with a high level of emotion and intensity.


As the prayer sessions break up, the men disperse and return home.  Quite a few were picking up a few extras for dinner from what we could see as we finally were able to move down this street.



This is a view down one of the side streets emerging onto the shopping street.


I'm sure that this is the kind of high-density housing that brings smiles to the faces of urban planners.  Interestingly, if you find the right street and crop the photo carefully, it almost looks vacant as you glance west to the Great Pyramid.


But let's get back to the market street.  We had taken a few pictures last year and had copies to share in case we met certain shop owners.  We were looking for one in particular and asked at several shops.  We didn't find any repeats from last year but did make some new friends.

One place we stopped was a fresh meat store, one of several along this street.  These ducks and chickens were likely on someone's dinner table tonight.  Bunnies are also available.  The shop owner was anxious to have his own picture taken today.


We stopped at a vegetable stand to inspect the kolkas.  Kolkas, also known as Colocasia is a root vegetable not seen much outside of Egypt.  It is sometimes known as Taro in English.  It tastes very similar to potato in a soup also known as Kolkas.


Naturally after some discussion, the shop staff wanted their picture taken.


There was a nearby bakery and I picked out a few items to take home.  This required another picture.


We eventually made it to the Grand Pyramids Hotel where we stopped for some freshly pressed strawberry and mango juice.

Appliance Shopping

We only have minor upgrades in mind for our Cairo Condo this year.  Linda definitely wanted a new kitchen stove to make baking easier and I thought it was time to upgrade the television screen to high-definition.

We set out to accomplish this early in the trip so we could maximize our benefits during this winter.  We headed downtown with a friend to the appliance district.  Our friend's favorite store in the area has both of our needs covered and he was making some large purchases at the same time so we had bargaining power.

The appliance district is on a single street with maybe a hundred shops along a couple of city blocks.


If one store doesn't have what you want, you won't get to leave - the owner will be on the phone finding someone who does have it.  Meanwhile, sit down, please.  And have some tea.

Linda had very specific needs.  If you recall this post, our current stove requires that the oven be lit with a match and then just keeps getting hotter until you open the door.  It works a bit like grandma's did on the farm in 1900 except you don't have to put wood in it.


Stoves with the features Linda wants are mainly available in larger sizes with five burners or more.  But, we were fortunate to find a smaller four burner model (at a premium price) built for the "European and Italian markets."  Who knew that Italy was no longer in Europe.  Well, of course, they are just calling out Italy since all of the best chefs are known to live there. For now the new stove sits in our dining room awaiting installation. We got immediate delivery but not immediate installation.  We hope the installation will happen soon. Now that should be a real adventure!  Watch for further posts.


The television selection was simpler.  I wanted a 32 inch screen, preferably by Samsung.  Clearly the U.S.A standards dominate the television market - nothing else in the world is sold by inches except televisions.  We settled on a Samsung 32EH4003.  Amazon sells it for $219 but we paid around $290 here.  Electronics come at a premium due to heavy import duty.  The larger the screen, the greater the percentage duty, I am told.  Smartphones go for about double their U.S. price.  So we settled for this smaller and somewhat lower-end unit in spite of "but sir, it is not full HD!"  (It's a 720 scan line unit versus 1080.)  This is a great improvement over our previous TV that is now sitting on the floor looking for a worthy owner.


You can expect a significant improvement in the quality of screen captures that I post in the future.


I had previously upgraded the satellite receiver to an HD model.  No extra charge for HD - still free for my 400 channels and I am guessing that about a quarter of them are HD.  Interestingly, an OTA (Over the Air) channel scan gave me 13 local channels but none of them are  digital.  The Egyptian government hasn't seen fit to put their viewers through the same "buy a new TV or get a converter box" fiasco as in the United States.  Perhaps they have had enough revolutions.  That also means that our old TV will actually have some value to someone.

My 42 Cent Dinner

We were out visiting friends a couple of days ago.  This friend and family live close by and our route home took us by the neighborhood Koshary shop.  Koshary, you may recall from previous posts, is a staple of the Egyptian diet.  This time, we are buying it from a shop on the corner near the Vodafone store.  There are always people in line, no one speaks English, the pace is furious.  And I forgot my camera.  Here is the plastic bag for takeaway offered as a consolation picture.


The price for one person is 3 pounds Egyptian - about 42 cents.  Here is what I find when I get home and open the bag.


The plastic container hold the pasta, rice, lentils, garbanzo beans and most important, the fried onions on top.


The three tied plastic bags contain the "secret sauces."  On the left, a great tomato sauce, then lemon sauce and on the right, just a bit of very hot sauce.  Tomato sauce is found on most things here - there are some exceptions.  We'll talk about one tomorrow.  But tomatoes are coming and going by the truckload.


They are firm and ripe as you would expect from a Minnesota Farmer's Market around Labor Day.  They are a good excuse by themselves  for coming to Egypt.

Linda is following a "much reduced carb" regimen so she stayed with the leftover chicken from the previous night.  (Don't worry, she didn't eat the bread.)


If you want some Koshary of your own, there are a couple of recipes on this blog if you just enter Koshary in the search box at the top.  Otherwise, here are two recipes.