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| Better Late Than Never - Ho, Ho, Ho! |
Happy new year, everyone and thank you for reading my blog. If you’re stuck for a new year’s resolution, try out my 50 New Year’s Resolutions – How to Make Them, How to Keep Them.
It was a busy festive season for me and it goes on for a long time over here, since there are the Europeans, who celebrate either on 24th or 25th December (or in my case, both, well, why not?) and then there are the Christian Egyptians who are mostly Coptic Christians, and they celebrate on 7th January. Merry Christmas to any Coptic Christians who are reading this. Santa Claus (pictured) didn’t appear in El Andalous until 26th December, which was a bit strange for the Europeans! We didn’t have any lights up in the garden this year, maybe due to the ever-increasing electricity costs.
Anyway, I joined the Lotus Ladies for a Christmas meal on 24th December, where we sampled food from many nationalities. One of my favorite dishes was from Syria; it was a creamy aubergine concoction with garlic – very yummy!
For Christmas Day I was invited round to Stephen and Kathryn’s for the full UK works (turkey, stuffing, trifle). We didn’t start until the late afternoon to give us the opportunity to have time on the beach beforehand (hurrah!). More people piled in from 7pm onwards where we continued to nibble, drink, and generally socialize.
The owners at El Andalous had been trying for ages to get our annual meeting with the operating company to discuss our maintenance fees. They finally relented and suggested meeting them at 3pm on Christmas Day (whilst wishing us a Merry Christmas, oh the irony). We refused but we ended up having the meeting on Boxing Day. It didn’t get us very far this year but it was at least a polite meeting. We are nevertheless saddled with increased fees.
A week later, it was time for the New Year celebrations. A group of us hired a minibus to take us into Hurghada and we went to the Caribbean Bar for a buffet and dance. The food was really good (turkey, beef, some cheese dishes, salads, lovely desserts) and I completely stuffed myself. I had very little alcohol since I wanted to be able to enjoy the first day of 2019 and not be hungover. However, as it turned out, we didn’t leave until around 3.30am, so I ended up feeling wrecked anyway. I won’t do that again next year! Nevertheless, it’s nice to feel that I saw in the new year properly.
The new year also began here with our old manager at El Andalous leaving and a new manager being appointed. Our new manager, Ahmed, is someone who has already been working in El Andalous and we all like him, so we have hopes that things may improve. I am however, sad to see Medhat go as he was a very nice guy. He has a new job in Hurghada, so with any luck he has a good future ahead as well.
We're only one week into 2019 and the new year has started by ringing in the changes already. Let’s see what else it has in store!
A week later, it was time for the New Year celebrations. A group of us hired a minibus to take us into Hurghada and we went to the Caribbean Bar for a buffet and dance. The food was really good (turkey, beef, some cheese dishes, salads, lovely desserts) and I completely stuffed myself. I had very little alcohol since I wanted to be able to enjoy the first day of 2019 and not be hungover. However, as it turned out, we didn’t leave until around 3.30am, so I ended up feeling wrecked anyway. I won’t do that again next year! Nevertheless, it’s nice to feel that I saw in the new year properly.
The new year also began here with our old manager at El Andalous leaving and a new manager being appointed. Our new manager, Ahmed, is someone who has already been working in El Andalous and we all like him, so we have hopes that things may improve. I am however, sad to see Medhat go as he was a very nice guy. He has a new job in Hurghada, so with any luck he has a good future ahead as well.
We're only one week into 2019 and the new year has started by ringing in the changes already. Let’s see what else it has in store!
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