A bit more randomness

Every once in awhile I look through the photos on my iPhone and it's a strange snapshot into what happens in our lives on a weekly basis.

So here's the past month in Cairo told from my phone's point of view.  I'll provide the captions.

Yeah, this is my sitting car.  I get a nice view and the other dogs leave me alone.

I couldn't resist, read the bottle's label if you can.  :)

Life can be really difficult sometimes, luckily there's a comfy chair for that.

Have I mentioned he's not even a hamburger fan?

A gift from Brussels!  See, we didn't need to travel over spring break.

I can't figure out who's to blame.  It's equally likely that either of them made this happen.

Coconut ice cream served in a coconut.  Part of the reason Ryan loves the new Indian restaurant by our house.

I like the bibs... they're very manly.  Might need to steal a few for the baby.

As you do, why not take out the floor at the bottom of an escalator in the biggest mall in Cairo?

She likes his beard.  

The Joy of Pregnancy

When I was kid my mom had this huge white cookbook on the shelf called The Joy of Cooking.  Hopefully I'm not throwing her under the bus by saying this, but I never saw her open its' pages.  Don't mistake me, she's an amazing cook, and probably didn't need the cookbook.  But that book stuck in my mind all this time because of the title. Joy is a word that doesn't apply to many of the mundane parts of daily life, in fact I would dare you to point out 5 things that bring you joy on a daily basis.  I can think of few.  Ryan sliding over in bed to snuggle in the mornings, the first blast of hot water in the shower bringing instant comfort, how excited Cleo gets each and every time we come home, even if we were only gone for a few minutes.  These are the little moments of joy I can count on just about every day.

This pregnancy has been a coin toss of joy and trials.  And now that things are drawing nearer to the finish line I've been thinking almost daily about the things I'll miss and the things I won't. In the spirit of positivity, I'll start with the things I won't miss so we can end with the good.

5 Things I won't miss about pregnancy

1.  Only being able to sleep on my sides.  I miss sleeping on my back and stomach, and the easiness of rolling into any position I want to in the night.

2.  All the banned items, I miss you sushi and seafood and cold medicine.

3.  Everybody and their neighbor feeling the need to tell me how awful/scary/painful/debilitating/scarring childbirth is.  Seriously, what's the deal?

4.  The fact that all my pants pull on with a big elastic belt.  I miss zippers and buttons.

5.  Weird dreams.  So far I've given birth to a 4 year old girl, part baby part alpaca, large beetle like creature and many many normal infants that disappear the moment they're placed in my arms.

5 Things I will miss about pregnancy

1.  The special smile people give me when they see my belly.  

2.  Feeling him move and tumble around inside of me in a way that's more intimate than anything I've ever felt before.

3.  Ryan having very serious conversations with him that I am not allowed to participate in.

4.  Not being expected to carry/lift/hold/push just about anything.  It's a good thing pregnancy is replaced by a built in weight training program of lugging a baby around, or my arms would become useless noodles.

5.  Knowing that for now, he's safe and comfortable all the time. 

Oh Pinterest, you tease you

Have you heard of a little website known as Pinterest?

It's April 2013, so I'm sure this is huge news to all of you out there.  So let me fill you in.  Pinterest is this hall of mirrors website where you can see the ADHD imaginings of everyone in the world.

Oh wait, everyone knows about it and they're just as addicted to it as I am?  Damn, I thought I would surprise you.

I actually jumped onto the Pinterest (by the way Ryan had to teach me how to pronounce it) bandwagon very late.  I heard about it pretty quickly after it became a raging monster of time suck capabilities, but the first time I went to the site I became frustrated after about 2 min of browsing and gave up.  "This is totally stupid, why do people like this?" Mainly because I didn't understand that there was a way to go see the information being teased on the little descriptions.  Once I discovered you could use these Pins to travel around the web looking at recipes, design ideas, beautiful pictures and more, I was hooked.  Pinterest is like crack for people who like good ideas and inspiration.

But here's the dilemma...  Pinterest and Egypt are not a good combination.  They're not a good combination because there are so many craft ideas, recipes and things I want to do, that I can't do because I live in Egypt and am missing at least one of the needed items.  It's especially bad in the recipes area because so many of them require ingredients that are impossible to find here.

So far here are the list of items that have made it impossible for me to make something I've pinned on Pinterest.  BTW, I know some of these ingredients could be tweaked/handmade/substituted for something else/found in some tiny unknown shop in the bowels of Cairo for more money than anyone should ever spend on anything, but that's the whole point, I'm trying to avoid adding more hours of work to my already busy day.  I could spend 3 extra hours every week traveling around Egypt to find a single ingredient on this list, but it's just not worth it.

- Greek Yogurt (We've got regular yogurt, not the same)
- Soy milk
- Pillsbury crescent rolls
- Cool Whip
- Andes Mints
- Velveeta cheese
- Monterey jack cheese
- Colby cheese
- Enchilada sauce (I can find it sometimes, but it's been 10 months since it's been in stock)
- Ranch seasoning mix (I do have some of this, but it's brought in from the states and carefully hoarded)
- Lipton onion soup mix (same thing)
- Bacon
- Ham
- Oh wait, pork of any kind (I just skip these recipes entirely now, there's really no point)

The list could go on and on, but it makes me sad so it's time to stop.  What kills me the most is that all of these things could be found in one trip to Walmart, or Publix, or any other "normal" store in the States.  I bet I could even tell you the aisle #'s to find a few of them.

So there's the dilemma, good ideas close at hand, but the means to make them just out of reach.  Pinterest you've gone down a bad road here and become a tease.  I should really have 2 separate accounts.  One with pins I can use now and another for things I will have to dream about in a distant future where American household staples are easier to get.

Sigh... I know, my middle class problems are soul crushing.

In other news, school is back in session and we're honing in on the end of the year with great speed.  I can't believe how little time there is left until my Momma arrives in Cairo!  Hurry up June 12th, I need to find a good parking spot at the airport, oh and prepare to give birth to a baby.  :)

Spring Break + 3rd Trimester = Babymoon?

Tomorrow starts spring break.  Ahhh, just saying it makes me take a deep breath and feel a surge of happiness.

We thought about taking a trip, doing the whole "babymoon" thing.  But exhaustion, coupled with guilt over leaving our dog (when she's going to have a long kennel stay this summer) made us realize that staying home is really the best thing for us right now.  And I'm so freaking excited about it. In fact in the car last night coming home from a Dr. appointment in Maadi, Ryan and I spent about 20 minutes talking about how happy we are that we're not traveling anywhere over the break.  How excited we are to be staying home.

It's funny how things change huh?  When we first started this expat lifestyle, every time there was even the slightest break we were traveling. Exotic locations, beautiful landmarks, the world is so big and there's so much to see, let's go!  Now it's kinda like... hmmm, yeah there are some really cool places to see... but you know what sounds amazing?  Sleeping in and hanging out in my pajamas all day!

It's partly the pregnancy and Ryan's workload, which have deflated our energy levels quite a bit this year.  But it's also partially the fact that the travel bug isn't as strong anymore.  We have a lot more conversations about our future dream home, which state we want to live in, where we might move to next year.  I'm not sure if we're growing up or becoming boring.  Probably a little bit of both, but it's really nice and makes me so grateful for the man I married and the life we're building together.

So this spring break, Ryan and I will make our own babymoon in Cairo.  We'll have lazy mornings in bed, take Cleo to the park, watch movies and try to get our home a little more prepared for its' newest member.

And I'm pretty damn happy thinking about it.  :)

To all our friends and family traveling around the world, hope your flights are quick and painless and you have a wonderful time on your journeys!  We'll hold the fort down here till you get back.

Houston, we have a stretch mark

I had a bit of pregnancy depression yesterday.  The first stretch mark has appeared on my belly.  And I would swear it appeared instantaneously, because I didn't see it there the day before.

I know stretch marks are very common, some would say unavoidable in pregnancy.  And to be honest if that little red line had appeared a month ago it probably wouldn't have bothered me, because I was expecting them!  I already know my skin is not the most flexible.  After two growth spurts in middle and high school, my body has many silver battle scars.

I expected pregnancy to turn my still pristine belly into a railroad track.  But it didn't, up until yesterday.  And that's why finding that mark made me sad. I was lulled into a sense of false hope that this might be the one area of my body where I would get lucky.  Which was promptly dashed to bits when I saw the red line in the mirror.

I know it's not really a big deal, and it's all a part of the process.  Blah blah, symbol of motherhood.  And this baby boy is definitely worth it... but man!  I won't lie, I'm disappointed.

So let the belly lubrication increase tenfold, and I'll cling to the fact that my weirdo of a husband thinks stretch marks are beautiful and interesting.

P.S.  Lord Voldemort, I'm pretty sure it was your acrobatics over the weekend that pushed my tired skin into this, so feel free to move a little more gently so Momma doesn't lose her mind and smooth stomach tissue.  :)

My dog is so much cooler than yours

No really she is...

She's always happy and smiling, even when she looks completely ridiculous.

She loves her toys (and I use the term toy here very loosely, as an empty water bottle makes her just as happy as a store bought toy). She loves to "hold" them in her mouth and paws.  A lot of times she just walks around the house holding them in her mouth, not even chewing or playing with them.  She's the only dog I've ever seen use a water bottle as a security blanket.

She's obsessed with the miracle that is our bath tub and practically climbs in whenever I take a bath or shower.

She watches T.V. with us.

She looks you deep in the eyes and you can feel what she's thinking.  Which is usually something along the lines of "You're awesome, I love you" or "Please don't leave me".

She likes to snuggle on the bed, couch, chair.  Wherever we are, she wants to be there too, all 60lbs of her, even if there's no room.

She loves kids and babies.  Every time Audrey is at the house she can barely contain her excitement and spends the entire time wriggling and trying to lick her face.

In fact, every time we come back from being around Audrey she goes crazy smelling us.  This weekend we brought home a carseat from Matt and Tessa's house and every 5 minutes she's in the room.  Hoping the baby will suddenly appear I guess.  

That's our little girl.  Our first child, the one who will soon become an older sister.  She drives us crazy sometimes when she hogs the bed, or makes us late for work.  But in the end she's a pretty incredible dog who we are lucky to have in our lives. We can't wait to see her with her little brother.  Pretty sure she'll want to smother him with love, and steal all his toys, but she's also watch over him, be patient when he accidentally hurts her, and even let him ride her around like a pony if he wants to.  Because she's just that good of a dog.  And possibly also a ninja.

Revolution 7.0

We had dinner last week with a friend who just arrived in Cairo this year.  She was anxiously discussing the road closures and curfews, the violence and the "tension" in the air.  Over her shoulder I could see the news feed on the T.V.  Men running through clouds of tear gas, people throwing rocks and other projectiles.

She asked us how what's happening now compares with the Revolution 1.0 we experienced two years ago.  And the best answer I could give is that it feels nothing like before.  It's sad, and the violence is disturbing, but I don't feel like it's really affecting my life at all.

Let me preface all of this by saying that I am always reluctant to give too much personal opinion on the subject of Egypt's tumultuous political situation.  Because if we look at the facts open and honestly, it's a bit naive and arrogant of me or any other expat to talk as if we can ever truly understand what's going on.

1.  I don't live in downtown Cairo where the nitty gritty real stuff is happening.

2.  I don't live on a normal Egyptian salary.

3.  I don't understand the cultural and religious issues that underly everything.

4.  I'm not Egyptian.  While I can appreciate their national pride and interest in improving their country, it's still their country, not mine.

When everything started two years ago it was frightening. We watched the news constantly for updates on what was happening in Tahrir. So much was uncertain. We had only lived in Egypt for 6 months, and were still trying to find a comfortable place for ourselves in a vastly different world.  To have that world suddenly go chaotic was a lot to handle.  I was afraid school would close down, and we wouldn't have jobs anymore.  I was afraid for the safety of my Egyptian friends who were taking part in the protests.  And I was slightly afraid of becoming trapped in a country where access to basic supplies was dwindling.  But never once was I afraid for my own safety. The people banded together and patrolled the streets.  It made me feel protected and safe.

This time around, as the Revolution continues, again and again... I feel very separate from everything that's happening.  We don't watch the news.  Half the time I don't even know something is happening downtown until I get a frantic message from loved ones asking if we're safe.  The media coverage always over dramatizes what's happening and I know how alarming that can be for friends and family back home.

Not to be callous, but it's all become something we're used to.  And that is a very harsh thing to say, especially with the death tally over the last week.  But when things continue in the same pattern without significant changes, that's kinda what happens.

So here's the point I want to make in this post... yes there is a point... If I can figure out how to weave it in.

I feel sorry for Egypt.  The vast majority of it's population lives without basic amenities, and the quality of life can be quite dismal.  Even in the "middle class" people are seriously struggling if their business relies on tourism, because no one wants to come to a country on vacation if they're concerned for their safety.  Which is especially sad, because Egypt is a dream for so many people.  It's a shimmering mirage in the sand, with Pharaohs and hieroglyphics.  We think of the amazing achievements we all learned about in grade school; the Pyramids, the Sphinx.  It's exotic and leaves a magical spot in our hearts.  And it should hold that spot.  Even now that my image of Egypt has changed to a more realistic one, I still remember the magic of seeing the Pyramids for the first time.

This is a country with so much history, so much passion, so much wonder.  And I truly hope that the people of our planet can keep the magic of Egypt alive in their hearts.  Because one day, things will get sorted out and coming to Egypt should not only be on your bucket list, it should be something you can do without fear.