Cairo, the 5th April, 2010

Honey, I am (finally!!!) home!

Why everything in Egypt has to be so extreme and crazy?!
You never know what's waiting for you at each corner and so didn't I expect the 48 hour home moving process.
Uff!

I am finally home in my newly adopted Zamalek (yuppieee....I don't have to spend hours, patience and loads of money on taxis every day in order to arrive to the NILE MAXIM!).
There are still boxes lying around, my new t.v. is not set yet (yes, I have surrendered - just a bit - the world television mania but I suspect I will not have time not even to turn it on...), newly found cockroaches at the kitchen (yuck!)and so forth but the hardest part is done.

The accidents were plenty, as usual, and nothing went as planned (as usual, too).
I had hired a team of four men who were supposed to bring a big truck and do all the stuff moving to Zamalek within a few hours and what I got was the following (enjoy the ride):

1. I left work at 1.30h in the morning anxious to get all my things moved to my new home as soon as possible. I was totally exhausted, as usual...


2.Four drunk and stoned men just returned from a baladi wedding (the same respectable people I hired by recommendation of my new landlord.
These guys arrived so wasted they couldn't carry anything.
They managed to dump all my furniture and objects into the street and left, without notice, leaving me and my assistant stuck with all my home stuff in the middle of the street at 4 o'clock in the morning.

SPICY DETAIL: In the middle of the whole commotion with the drunk men, my freak/crazy neighbour decided to stand at my door and stare at me.
Now, please, please...tell me! Do I need to have the patience of a saint or WHAT?!strong>

3. I went around - at 4 o'clock in the morning! - searching for trucks and men with arms to carry heavy stuff and my assistant planted herself in front of the building, guarding all my possessions.

4. I managed to get another truck and three men to rescue the situation but they could only bring the truck into Zamalek until 7.30h in the morning.
Meaning: They took half of my stuff to my new home in Zamalek and left the other half in the street, as they were, waiting to be taken - Inshah Allah - that day AT NIGHT!

5. Me and my assistant spent the whole day keeping half of my possessions safe.
There's this law that only allows trucks into Zamalek at night, NEVER during the day (unless you're a friend of the standing policemen or if you hand them a good load of cash from under the table).

We installed ourselves on very own sofa and passers by delighted themselves with the view.
The doorman little girls made us company as well as his horrible Saiidi wife who used to comment on every detail of my cloth and make-up every time I passed by on my way to anywhere.
The girls made my day. They talked and danced for me, they made me laugh and the whole drama didn't seem so hard to manage.
We just had to wait until 20.00h in order to remove this half of the stuff and...voila!Everything would be over and done.

6. Some neighbours brought us food and drink (proving egyptian generosity right), anothers just blessed us and asked God for help as they thought a disaster happened and, suddenly, we got homeless (yet in style because my furniture is gorgeous).

7. Night came and the second part of the move was done, not without broken objects and damaged furniture. Not without the sight of me and my assistant - two tired, sleepless women - working harder and faster than the new men I hired.

Where did REAL MEN go, anyways??!! Well, that's a question for another occasion.:)

After 48 hours of going up and down and standing at the street as a homeless person, I was finally at home with all my objects and furniture inside it.
I couldn't believe it!

I also coulnd't believe when one of my new neighbours and the doorman rang at my door at 3.00h in the morning, after all the hard work of the move just to say hi and ask for money (???).
It was such an inconvenient gesture but they couldn't figure out why I got furious at them...After everything, all I wanted was to take a shower and sleep.
They didn't have the sense to know it was not apropriate to make this kind of visit at this specific time of the night.
They just couldn't get it.:(

I often find most egyptians lack that sense of property and ground limits.
Even if with good intentions, what kind of person has the courage to ring at my door at 3.00h in the morning after watching all the traffic and exhaustion of the last two days?!

Well...now I can, finally, say: Honey, I am home.