Misr and other wots

One of the best parts of being in Egypt is the Ethiopian food. You wouldn’t expect that, would you? In fact, I don’t know of any Ethiopian restaurants in Cairo. (If someone reading this does, please let me know.)

Photo by eekim.

Our Ethiopian housekeeper/nanny/maid (some Cairenes use the term “servant” which just sounds all sorta wrong to me) cooks for us most week nights, and often she makes Ethiopian food. Dinner usually includes misr wot (red lentils), misr alicha (less spicy lentils), and a vegetable dish or two like gomen (greens), cabbage, potatoes, or green beans. Every other week or so we have doro wot, basically chicken stew, which is a bit more complicated because the recipe includes something like a dozen onions.

I love it all, and I love that it’s vegetarian and cheap and keeps the boys connected to their home country.

We don’t know of any teff available locally, so we substitute regular whole wheat bread or pita-like local bread for injera, the pancake-like flat bread served under the main dishes.

By the way, the word “misr” in Arabic means Egypt. So to an Egyptian, it might sound like we’re eating Spicy Egypt. Yum, what a dish.

Anyway, this month the foodie magazine Saveur is featuring Ethiopian food. I was excited for new recipes when I realized all but one of their recipes are a regular part of our diet.

The mall

So back in January, we spent a half day at the local mega mall, called City Star.

We had two primary destinations: the Mexican restaurant, rumored to be excellent, and Magic Planet, the indoor kiddie amusement park. The Mexican food was good. More importantly, it was Mexican, uncommon cuisine here in Cairo. And this was in January, when Mr. Four and I were both feeling a bit antsy for a break from Cairo, even if it came in the form of a lunch entree.

As you look at the photos, you may think, “It just looks like a big western mall.” And that is exactly the point: it looks just like a big western mall, and it’s in the middle of Cairo. Whoa.

This incongruity inspired me to take these very photos. Then, after I snapped a few shots, a security guard told me not to take the photos. So now they are contraband and far more interesting. Also interesting are the gigantic Christmas balls.

It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to drive to the mall, and the trip home is inevitably more expensive because taxi drivers leaving the mall assume you’re rich. We may be rich, relatively, but not enough to afford to buy anything at the mall, so we won’t be rushing back anytime soon. Not even for the Mexican food. The January malaise has passed.

By the way, there are photos to come of Magic Planet (astonishingly large for an indoor anything).

The cost of bread in Cairo

My mom forwarded to me a recent article from the LA Times about the economy of everyday life in Cairo. According to the article, the price of bread has doubled in the past year, from 25 to 50 piasters, from less than five cents to a little less than ten cents. Pennies indeed to an American, but consider that (as the article mentions) some doctors here make only $45/month.

On Sunday, the New York Times had a story about how the rough economy in Egypt means young people can’t afford to get married. The Times estimates that couples need about $21,000 (yup, US dollars) in order to afford the bride price (ugh), ceremony, apartment, and furniture.

Unmarried young people are increasingly turning to religion to offset their unhappiness. The Times says that this religious fervor has repercussions beyond the nation and region:

Here in Egypt and across the Middle East, many young people are being forced to put off marriage, the gateway to independence, sexual activity and societal respect. Stymied by the government’s failure to provide adequate schooling and thwarted by an economy without jobs to match their abilities or aspirations, they are stuck in limbo between youth and adulthood. …

In their frustration, the young are turning to religion for solace and purpose, pulling their parents and their governments along with them.

With 60 percent of the region’s population under the age of 25, this youthful religious fervor has enormous implications for the Middle East. More than ever, Islam has become the cornerstone of identity, replacing other, failed ideologies: Arabism, socialism, nationalism.

The wave of religious identification has forced governments that are increasingly seen as corrupt or inept to seek their own public redemption through religion. In Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco and Algeria, leaders who once headed secular states or played down religion have struggled to reposition themselves as the guardians of Islamic values. More and more parents are sending their children to religious schools, and some countries have infused more religious content into their state educational systems.

More young people are observing stricter separation between boys and girls, sociologists say, fueling sexual frustrations. The focus on Islam is also further alienating young people from the West and aggravating political grievances already stoked by Western foreign policies. The religious fervor among the young is swelling support for Islam to play a greater role in political life. That in turn has increased political repression, because many governments in the region see Islamic political movements as a threat to their own rule.

While there are few statistics tracking religious observance among the young, there is near-universal agreement that young people are propelling an Islamic revival, one that has been years in the making but is intensifying as the youth bulge in the population is peaking.

I don’t think I can add anything here. Read the article, and let me know what you think.

Poverty, corruption, and bread in Cairo

If you are at all interested in Egypt, or in poverty and government corruption, check out this New York Times article on subsidized bread in Cairo.

The photo with the article shows a man selling bread. That kind of bread is for sale everywhere in this city, including piled high on large woven trays held by men riding bikes, and spread out on blankets on top of the dirty sidewalks.

This article reminded me of how little I know about Egypt, including this staggering statistic:

It is hard to make ends meet in Egypt, where about 45 percent of the population survives on just $2 a day.

And it’s not like everything is cheap in Cairo. I find local food to be very affordable, but of course I’m not making local wages. But I also live in a part of town where apartments can rent for $3000 (that’s American dollars) and up per month. That’s shocking to me. I live in an apartment provided by my employer; we could never afford to live here otherwise.

In another, apparently unrelated article, also in the New York Times, President Bush, on his winter vacation to the Middle East and most recently in Egypt, is quoted as saying this to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak:

“I appreciate the example that your nation is setting,” he said, facing the Egyptian president.

I’m not blogging politics, not Egyptian politics, because, well, I don’t know much. Also, yikes, I’m a guest here, and you can get in trouble for what you say and do.

But I do know that Bush’s comments are disgraceful. Check out the article if you don’t know much about Egypt and are interested in the corruption sampler.

Back to work…

I went back to work today after almost three weeks off. Tomorrow, Monday, is the eastern Christmas (recognized here because of Coptic Christians but relevant in our household because it’s also the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas), so I have tomorrow off. Then I go back to work on Tuesday. Then, I have Wednesday off for the Islamic New Year. Then I go back to work on Thursday.

Are you following this? To explain it more simply: I am working only three days this week. The multiplicity of holidays is certainly a highlight of working internationally.

To celebrate the eastern Christmas tomorrow, we are going to the mall. That doesn’t make any sense, I know. Let me explain: there’s a huge mall here in Cairo called City Star, and it has a big movie theater, lots of restaurants, lots of shops (of course), and a great kiddie playland. We tried to go there during Ramadan but it was closed at iftar. This particular trip was inspired by a few recent comments we’ve heard about a great Mexican restaurant at City Star. You can get just about any kind of food in Cairo, but it’s hard to come by Mexican. So we’re going to the mall for the playground and Mexican restaurant. We’d go to a movie but I don’t think Bug is ready for a full-length feature. When the TV is on (drat, I’ve gone and mentioned the TV again!), he usually doesn’t watch more than a few minutes at a time.

The mall is super busy, I’ve heard, on weekends and evenings, so it makes sense to go on a holiday that’s not a holiday for most Egyptians. Or at least I don’t think it is.

So that’s tomorrow.

It was nice to be back at work today, nice in that way when you get a lot done because no one else is around. And because no one has been around, there wasn’t too much piled up. Many of my colleagues are still on holiday.

In between work tasks, I found myself thinking an awful lot about New Hampshire. I am very eager to hear about the results of the primary.

So that’s the latest from Cairo. Soon, soon, I promise, the photos from Alex.

Christmas recap

It’s been a busy few days. First off, we closed on our (now former) house in the States, which has me leaping for joy and sobbing all at the same time. Actually, I’m neither sobbing nor leaping, but I am very sad that we aren’t fabulously wealthy enough to own multiple houses we don’t live in. Plus, I really liked that house. It was my very favorite place of all the places I’ve lived as an adult.

(People who know the place we lived before that house might think I’m nuts, but it’s true.)

Why did we leave it then? Well, we didn’t move to leave the house. We moved for the great opportunity. Leaving the house was a side effect.

It is a huge relief not to have the mortgage. And, it’s great that the house pretty much paid for both boys’ adoptions as well as furnishing our mountain house so we could rent it (we still do own one house, which Mr. Four built many years ago).

Okay, that’s enough of my house angst.

Before Christmas, while Bug was sick, Giggle and I made some Christmas cookies based on the recipe for Ice Box Cookies from the Joy of Cooking, mostly because this was the one Christmas cookie recipe that didn’t require cookie cutters.

The cookies were absolutely delicious and horribly crumbly. I found some food coloring, but nothing else decoration-wise. So I embraced the chaos of it all and Giggle and I made some really ugly cookies. Here’s Giggle decorating.

And here’s the cookie line-up. Please note the Ethiopia-inspired cookie:

The Joy of Cooking recipe for simple icing was sugar and water and the sweetest icing I’ve ever had. It was so sweet the cookies were actually too sweet for me. (Who knew such a thing was possible?) The boys, on the other hand, loved the iced cookies. We were going to share some cookies but Mr. Four and I decided they were too ugly and we didn’t want to shame all of America by distributing these cookies throughout Cairo. So we ate them all ourselves.

Next, Christmas.

Last year Bug was too little to understand Santa, and this was Giggle’s first American-style Christmas, so Mr. Four and I weren’t sure what to tell them about Santa. It turns out that if your kids are around enough other kids who know about Santa, you don’t have to tell them anything. Also, if your kids are around other kids who know about power rangers and super heroes, your kids will learn all about that stuff too.

So Giggle was thrilled when Santa brought him a big power ranger on a motorcycle and a little plain one too. Bug got a little power ranger, along with a Bat Man that broke in about ten minutes and has not been missed. The boys also got lots of trains, some from family, some from Santa, and Bug in particular has been thrilled about that. We also got some movies from family back home, and they have been a huge hit. They were even excited about the clothes from grandparents and Santa. Their aunt sent some nice craft supplies, and they immediately wanted to start on some “projects,” which apparently including dumping glitter on the rugs.

It was a great day, not too overwhelming, and we were in our jammies until about 4pm. Since we were leaving the next day for Alexandria, we had a simple Shepherd’s Pie for dinner after watching a movie. We talked to some family so didn’t feel too homesick. And it was great fun to have Christmas with two sons.

I’ll post about Alex in the next entry.

Buzzed on Guiness

Dear readers, you may not know that I am a fan of dark beer. Or at least brown beer. While in college, I spent some time with (that’s my favorite euphemism) a beer snob, and now I am one too. So I just finished up a pint of Guiness, which I had forgotten is extra smooth and quite drinkable over here. I may get another. Why? Because I can.

I’m also reflecting on all the signs I saw at immigration control at the airport, warning off potential asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants. Now I know why: no one would ever want to leave this place.

Now, I’m off to find my mom for another evening out in London.

Ah, London

Here I am in London. It’s damp and cool and lovely. I had the hoped-for dinner of fish and chips and peas and a delicious pint of brown something or other ale.

Not that this will come as a shock to anyone, but man is it expensive here. Trips on the underground are four pounds each way. That’s something like eight bucks! (Best not to do the actual math.)

But, who cares, I’m in London! And it’s wonderful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s a strange thing to celebrate a national holiday outside of your nation, and I’ll have a longer post on this over the weekend, but I’m very lucky to have Thursday off from work as well as lovely friends who have invited us to share their Thanksgiving feast. And I’m really lucky that this woman has been baking for days. Also, I’m quite pleased that Mr. Four made his favorite apple pie. Yum.

I’m looking forward to the long weekend (only one extra day, since we go back to work on Sunday, but I’ll take it), and, as is the tradition, I want to note that I have much for which to be thankful, especially my family. Living in Egypt has given me a keen appreciation for being an American woman, a luck of birth. It’s also given me an extra keen appreciation for the man I was smart enough to marry. (That’s Mr. Four, in case you were wondering.)

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and family.

How’d those jeans get so short?

Giggle loves to wear his jeans. He has two pairs, and they are on heavy rotation. This was true during the hottest months of summer in the US and Egypt, and he’s kept wearing them all fall.

I noticed the other day that they seemed shorter than usual. And we don’t have a clothes-shrinking dryer here, so I had him stand up against a wall and measured him.

He’s grown two inches since July. This is particularly surprising because he grew about two to three inches this past spring while in Addis. Doing some (not very) complicated calculations, I realized that this kid has grown about four to five inches in about eight or nine months.

(I could look up the precise measurements, but I’m not inclined to sort through the still-unpacked massive pile of my papers on my desk in our bedroom.)

Undoubtedly much of this growth spurt is because he’s eating more and better food. He didn’t have much when he was still in his village. I’ve heard of adopted kids having big growth spurts when they join their new family, but I hadn’t thought a boy as old as Giggle would grow so much so fast.

Tonight I dug out the 5T pants (bought in the US this past summer), which was quite the thrill for Giggle, who loves new clothes. They fit or are even a bit long. He’s very excited to be “getting tall like Daddy.”

But it’s heartbreaking to know how much potential he might have missed, and not just for height.