Two weeks on

Today is an anniversary – two weeks today since we fronted up at the Ministry of Justice and got married. So how is married life in Egypt?

Well, in many ways I guess it’s like married life anywhere, but in other ways it’s very different and I’m still not sure sometimes if things are so different because I’ve married an Egyptian, I’ve married a Muslim or I’ve married Masry. When everything is not what you expect it can be tricky to sort out.

For example, when I had to stay in another part of the house for 6 hours because 5 men were here installing the kitchen, which was that? After much thought I think it was a bit of all three. Regardless of the reason it wasn’t a great day given the only room in which there was furniture was the bedroom.

And I still can’t get used to having to be covered up, even at home if there are visitors of any sort, especially men. And I mean covered, long sleeves, long pants or dress, shoes. And there’s some distinction of which I’m not sure, sometimes a gallibaya is OK and sometimes not, sometimes it should be western clothes. Maybe one day I’ll figure that one out as Masry doesn’t seem to be able to explain it. And it seems to be more important that I’m covered now that we’re married than it was before.

But on the whole we’re enjoying life as any newly married couple would I guess, getting to know each other better and enjoying each other’s company. Maybe even more so in this Muslim country where contact between a couple is so restricted before marriage. And remains very restricted in public even after marriage.

The kitchen is in and all working and so far I’ve cooked 3 times with 2 disasters. First of all there was the egg – stainless steel frying pan that everything stuck to and well… eggs have always been so simple but not this lot!

And today there was the pizza; again, they’re so simple. Everything looked set to go until I realized that the oven has no way of telling you what temperature it is. I thought that green light was it – off when the oven reached the right heat – no such luck. Actually, it’s there to show that the oven is in operation. So the pizza ended up burnt on the bottom and not properly cooked through. The other interesting thing about the gas here (as well as the fact that the gas bottle sits in a kitchen cupboard near the stove – Masry has at least bought us two decent fire extinguishers) is that the supply of gas is variable; you can turn it up or down. Oh, and there’s no indicator to show you that the bottle is empty. So when the pizza wasn’t cooking even though the oven was flat out we turned the gas up and in a couple of minutes the pizza was burnt on the bottom! And still not properly cooked on the top! Masry wouldn’t eat it so it’s all mine although he did find it exceptionally funny. I refuse to throw it out – it’s not really that burnt! I’m not sure how I’ll manage for the future; I guess it will be like an old wood stove - trial and error for starters – more disasters for me to eat and more cause for hilarity for Masry!.

Friday
Masry has gone to the mosque, to see his sister and collect more clothes and to the barber and I have done a few bits of housework and now have settled down for a while to relax. One thing about this house and this environment is that there is a great deal of housework to be done. I remember my mother talking about “the dust” and how everything needed to be done every day. And I used to think she was obsessed.  Maybe we really do turn into our mothers! Between the desert and the wind the sand roads and all the building activity around us, the floors, the kitchen (I’ll never have this much stainless again) and furniture need cleaning every day. So given that housework has never been my strong point – it is not a natural inclination, it’s a learned skill – sometimes I get a bit frustrated and I suspect that sooner or later we will have someone to help do some of this or I will go crazy. When I start work I suppose.

But apart from the housework, I really like living in the house. The roof is having some work done; the pergola poles are being painted as well as the door being finished for the bathroom up there, so I haven’t been up on the roof for ages. I’m looking forward to it being complete and being able to get up there, back to my pyramids view.

March has been and gone and the khamseen that Masry predicted didn’t come for 3 days but did for 1 day, one very miserable day when a strong and cold wind blew and the sand was thick in the air. It looks so miserable when it’s like that and you really wouldn’t want to be outside. The house didn’t seem to absorb any more dust than any other day but we certainly had to retract the awnings, I thought they might blow off the wall.

The house is still not quite finished but has relatively few teething problems. We need more power into the kitchen to run the water filter and the ensuite is up to leaking tap number 3 while the big bathroom had virtually no water to the shower to begin with. I think of all the workmanship the plumbing is the worst and the plumbers certainly did the most damage while they were working, things like cracked tiles etc. I still can’t get all the grout off the black floor and don’t really know what else to try to get it off. Hopefully it will wear off in time or I will find a miracle product.

We’ve had Masry’s family to visit to congratulate us on the new house, and to see it of course as they hadn’t been out at all. After my day of getting the house spick and span, helped by Masry after he came back from the mosque, we were ready to receive about 7.00 pm. Masry had told me they were coming for dinner so I had thought roast lamb etc. – Masry says “Meat for dinner? Where are you from?” So dinner is food like cheese, Arabic bread, salad, fruit, eggs and because it is a celebration there is juice and soft drink, for once not tea. (“What, they come to say congratulations and you would serve tea? Where are you from?” says Masry incredulously when I asked. One day I will get the nuances right I hope.) And I did a little Ozzie thing with potatoes and sweet potatoes in the oven with rosemary and garlic. Haga cooked the beans and the eggs and I watched, so at least I know exactly what I’m doing with the eggs now! And the beans (very simple – fava beans, a little corn oil, salt and pepper and lemon. It’s called “foul” and pronounced “fool”). There’s lots of ways to cook them, all different sorts of things to add in but this way seems pretty simple to me and Masry likes them this way. And we used the non-stick frying pan, which helped the eggs a great deal. (It’s a bit like fried eggs but you mash them around and soft cook them so that it looks like a damaged omelette - sort of.)

I told Hend I need an Egyptian cook book in English which I haven’t been able to find yet and she said she would take care of that and I will be very grateful if she finds one. I am kicking myself because I saw one in the airport when I was on my way home last time and I didn’t get it because I thought it would be easy to get it when I got back. I should know by now that when you’re travelling you get it when you see it! Hend was my guide when I was in Egypt the first time – she was such a delight and my first friend in Egypt.

Anyway, we had a really nice night with Rania and Allaa and the three boys and Haga. Omar, the two-year old, is so cute and finally got a bit comfortable with me, even sat on my knee for a while. My big surprise was that Haga was wearing rings on her right hand, what looked like a wedding ring and another band with sapphires and diamonds set into it. I asked her did it mean what I thought it meant and she said yes, that her boyfriend (also Mohammad) and his family had been to see Masry and Rania and Allaa two weeks before and it had been agreed that they would be married. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t told me! And neither could she. She tells me she will be married in about 2 years; Masry says it will not be the summer coming but the one after. When she is married the rings move to her left hand. I am very pleased for her as her future will be secure. Masry tells me that she met him in Aswan when she and Rania went down there just before Christmas. I hope that soon Haga will be able to come out to stay some of the time; I am counting on my new sisters to help me learn the language faster and I would really like to get to know them better.

I think that’s enough for now, Masry is out talking to yet another man about another company. Several have seemed promising but each time something happens to preclude the sale, most often a change of mind on the seller’s part, just as we found it when looking at real estate. Hopefully soon. I hope it is sorted out soon because the status of the company purchase (or establishment) will determine whether or not Masry comes with me for any part of my visit to Australia in May-June. Lahni is doing well and still on schedule to have Baby Bunting in the third week in June. Linc moves to Melbourne (where Lucy is already working) by 21st April so a trip to Oz will also mean a visit to Vic – who knows I might even get to make a trip for a day (or two) to Port Fairy! I really want him to meet the kids and to see Australia, so I am very hopeful that the timing will all work out.

Lots of love to all

Lyndall