El Andalous - Daily Life

Beachfront from Sahl Hasheesh Old Town

After about two months of unusually cold weather here (I mean windy and around 20 degrees centigrade), we’re finally back to a spell of “normal” weather, perhaps even a little hotter than usual (around 24-26 degrees, calmer). This has made me think a bit about what “normal” life is here.

What’s not been normal is me sitting on my balcony wearing a cardigan, having the heating on at night, wearing bed socks in the evening because my feet are cold…

However, most of my life has, of course, stayed the same. The Egyptians don’t miss much. When I arrived back I walked along the seafront to see if anything had changed and to go to BestWay. I was stopped by one of the shopkeepers and asked where my bicycle was. It appears that my little flying pigeon has become famous in its own right!

The weekly bus to Senzo Mall is still running, so Mondays are defined in my head as “KFC night”. Last time I returned to Egypt, I was joking that even though I’d been away for quite some months, the guy in the KFC recognized me immediately and still knew my order off by heart (“original recipe, no coleslaw, double fries, diet coke” – the irony of double fries paired with diet coke is not lost on me). This time, on my second KFC visit, the guy (a different one) explained that he’d given me 2 small pieces of chicken and was this OK? I said yes, but actually felt a bit miffed. This must have shown on my face, because he took my meal back and told me he’d give me two big pieces instead since I was a regular customer. I smiled broadly in return!

For Europeans, Egyptians can perhaps come across as too over-friendly, but it’s also an attraction to living here. On my way to BestWay, Tony, one of the shopkeepers, stopped me and was eager to tell me all the latest gossip about what was going to happen in Sahl Hasheesh, who he’d talked to, and what he was up to.

When I went to the bank, the security guy at the door recognized me, as did the guy at customer service, and on subsequent visits the security guy reminded me that if I needed any help, I only needed to ask him. Again, my face must give away my true emotions, because I came out of the bank feeling a bit annoyed that I hadn’t really got a resolution of my internet banking issue, and the security guy asked me if I was OK as I was leaving. It at least made me feel that I belonged!

I hired a golf buggy to go to the ERC (resort company) offices to collect my year’s residency card, and an Egyptian guy shouted out to me that the coast was clear. The only problem was that he said it in Arabic and I didn’t have a clue what he was saying, so it was more of a distraction than a help. But it was all resolved with good humour.

Similarly, I was riding along on my bike, and someone (an Egyptian) stopped me to say that I needed to pump up my tyres (that might explain why I was finding it more exhausting to ride my bike recently!). I was at first reticent to listen to him (which I think he sensed), but then I realized he was just trying to be helpful. Really, the people are great!

By contrast, it made me laugh when one of the new staff in El Andalous saw me trying to work out which way to go to get to Kathryn’s old flat and thought I didn’t know where my own flat was. He led me all the way back to my own flat before I realized he’d got the wrong end of the stick!