El Andalous - Adapting Back

Back to My Other Lifestyle

It’s autumn, so it’s time for me to move back to Egypt. A different residence means different routines, and I’m really surprised at just how much I’ve forgotten.

My daily life for the first few days seemed to have been spent re-learning what it was I used to do.

One of the first things I did wrong, and I only realized after two days, was to make my ice cubes with tap water instead of bottled water. I think I’d got confused because my kitchen tap broke as soon as I returned (maybe a topic for another blog). Consequently, I had to constantly remind myself to get water from the bathroom and on no account to switch on the kitchen tap (which would result in water gushing out over the entire flat). I proudly filled up my ice cube tray with water from the bathroom thinking I was so clever not to have used the kitchen tap, only to realize two days later that I shouldn’t have used tap water at all. Oh well.

As it turned out, I haven’t got ill from using those ice cubes in my drinks, so I’ll just continue to use them up and then go back to using the bottled water afterwards. For those who are reading this and feeling horrified at my total disregard for my health, the water in my flat is filtered twice before it comes to me anyway, so it’s not too bad; I just don’t generally risk it though.

I’d also forgotten that it takes a while for my shower to produce hot water. Consequently, on my first morning, I stood under the shower and thought I’d forgotten to switch the hot water on. I dried myself off, clutched a towel round me in case anyone was looking through the window, and went to switch on the water heater only to find it was already on. Doh.

Another thing that I’m still struggling to remember is to clean my swim shoes after I come off the beach. If I don’t do this, my flat gets covered in sand from the shoes. I think I’m finally getting back into the habit but at the moment I forget more often than I remember and it’s annoying going onto my balcony every morning and seeing a pile of sand by my shoes.

I also have my established routines for the things I do frequently – such as going on the beach or working on my laptop. At first, I’d go to the beach and find I’d forgotten my kindle, forgotten my sports watch, forgotten my sunglasses, forgotten my shampoo for my goggles… these are usually all packed in a bag, although some things, like the watch, the kindle, and the sunglasses, have to be added in before departing because I use them also at other times.

Similarly, I’d get the laptop out, then realize that I’d forgotten the power cord, or my mobile phone, or pen and paper, or the lap table that I have for the laptop (so that it doesn’t get too hot on my lap). I’ve finally gathered all these things together and have them stored in a corner of my lounge, ready for me to pick up and take out on the balcony whenever I need them. It was just second nature before.

When I was in Switzerland, I’d often thought to myself that when I’m back in Egypt I mustn’t forget to turn the TV off as soon as I’m not really watching it anymore, because when I’m in Egypt, my TV usage eats up my internet allowance (and thus costs me money). I remembered this on returning and have been very good at turning the TV off straight away, but I completely forgot that I needed to set it to standard definition rather than high definition, as the latter also uses up at least twice as much of my internet allowance than the former. It’s taken me four days to remember this, so I’ve already used up a third of a month’s allowance now. But at least I remembered in the end!

I don’t recall ever having such a hard time of remembering my old routines, so I’m obviously long-overdue for having a stint in Egypt.