A visit to Greece

In the true spirit of London buses, I’m now rounding off a mini glut of posting to this blog- although two posts hardly construes a glut it’s still a lot of typing! The office is working strictly to Ramadan hours, meaning works finishes at 3pm. In an attempt to get back up to date both with work and with this blog, I’ve opted to stick around until 7.30pm when Mohamed my driver has finished his Iftar and gets back across Cairo to take me home. Actually the drive home should be quite pleasant- leaving at 4pm most days, the roads are jam packed with starving angry drivers all trying their best to get home by dark and managing to reenact Wacky Races in the process. After Iftar everyone is home so roads are empty.

Anyway, back in my office in Cairo, all seems to be quiet again. Our mad two weeks of traveling has come to an end (well international travel anyway) and Mum has headed back home after a rather tough fortnight of dealing with the boys!

Last weekend saw our final bit of overseas travel (for this month anyway). In the wee small hours of Friday morning, Soma and I boarded an Olympic Airlines plane headed for Thessaloniki via Athens to attend the wedding of our long standing friend Matt to his Greek better half. Egypt having changed its hour early and, more specifically not having told the rest of the world about it, we actually landed in Athens an hour later than we thought- good news since we more or less got right onto our connecting flight.

Coming out of Thessaloniki Airport, the place did not seem that impressive. Other than the nice weather and the fact that our driver was smoking like a chimney and playing non stop Bee Gees tracks the whole way, there was little to differentiate this place from Wolverhampton!

Once we got into the city centre, to the Minerva Hotel, that view changed radically. Thessaloniki is a port town with beautiful classical architecture, wide plazas and a long waterfront on which hundreds of small bars and cafes stretch off into the distance. We met up with Matt and some other friends (many recognizable from the haze of his stag do in Munich last year). What a difference a year makes, I thought- none of them were too bothered about heading to a bar. We all opted for lunch and a quiet coffee instead. Was this a new found maturity? Had the fact that two had become fathers brought them kicking and screaming into middle age? No- they had all been out on a bender the previous night and had only got in at 7am!

Soma on the Thessaloniki waterfront- a brief interlude of walking between cafes!


Anyway we wandered through a marketplace to a very small but very good little restaurant recommended by Matt and sat down to one of those long leisurely lunches you’re meant to have in these places. We must have spent hours in the place, picking away at the various mezze, working our way through the myriad film posters on the wall working out which of the classics we’d actually seen (nobody had seen Citizen Cane which confirms my suspicion that, despite it always getting voted the best film of all time, nobody has ever watched it).

Anyway, on to Saturday- the wedding day. As with our own wedding in India there were a number of pre wedding rituals that had to be followed during the day. The oddest of these was Matt getting shaved and dressed by his friends. All of us were crammed into a small hotel room, sipping afternoon drinks with Matt sat in his boxer shorts on a chair being shaved- very odd.

At 7pm we were all suited and booted and were picked up by the coach taking us to the church. We stayed outside the church a while taking photos. Everyone got very excited when Soma came and announced the bride was round the corner meeting her Greek family and friends “and she’s wearing a meringue!” she said to the delight of at least the female contingent. We all headed off to see her and started taking photos until I realized that this was not the Christina I knew- unless she’d put on weight, dyed her hair and more worryingly, shrunk! Indeed this was not Christina, but another newly wed lady who had taken the 7pm slot!

Bang on time we headed inside the church and waited a while taking in the beautifully ornate artwork of the place. Interestingly, although it was obviously a church, it lacked the European feel of a Catholic or Protestant church. This was much closer in feel to the religious places close to our home in Egypt- a useful reminder that Christianity is not a Western religion at all, but one rooted in the Middle East.

Matt and Christina came in together- not a bride being given away so much as a couple presenting themselves before God. The priests came in with them and conducted the entire ceremony themselves. According to the wedding notes, this was because the wedding was not so much a conversation between the couple as one with God- one which only the priesthood could conduct. The ceremony ended with the couple and the priest walking round the altar three times (three times to represent the Trinity, the priest was there to guide them on their first steps in married life) and that was that- hitched!

Matt and Christina being taken on their first married steps by a very large priest- also being pelted by a lot of confetti/ rice.

After a slightly convoluted ride to the reception we arrived at close to 10pm. Food was ready and waiting and we dug in! The music varied from your traditional wedding fare to some more Greek stuff and, predictably we all ended up in a big circle dancing to Zorba the Greek- a huge cliché but a lot of fun!

We headed back at 2am (5 hours before the bride and groom left the building apparently!) and went to bed, treating ourselves the next morning to our first lie in years!

We enjoyed this Greek wedding and the whole experience of Greek café life. However, on more than one occasion we got the sense of time having passed. More than a few people now have kids and Matt, the epitome of the single man, is now married. There were some huge nights out had by some but they seemed be a bit of a last hurrah- two of the protagonists now have small kids and are beginning to realize that screaming babies and hangovers don’t go. Matt I’m sure will be at that stage before long too. This time round we all drank more tea and coffee than beer- seems like the sensible life is upon us!

Jambo! Our First Visit to Tanzania

We go from one extreme to the other it seems. A couple of weeks ago I was cribbing about not writing because there was nothing to write about; now so much is happening I don’t have time!

First things first; we seem to be getting close to agreeing a move date for me. Actually the first draft of the posting included a very definitive and confident paragraph stating that we’d be leaving October 18th- that, typically, has now changed. We’re looking to move somewhere around the first week of November now- good for us as some of Soma’s family is in Egypt at the end of October and can now pay us a visit!

The move process is getting well underway now. Quotes have been received from removal firms, we’re doing a major triage of stuff (the pool table went to a loving new owner last week!), vaccination are being pumped into us as fast as the doctors can administer them and we’re even learning a few words of Swahili!

The biggest step to date came over the weekend. With Mum now arrived in Cairo on major babysitting duties, Soma and myself boarded the Kenya Airways flight on Thursday night to Dar es Salaam- a short “look see” visit was in order.

I’m not going to get too sidetracked but the flight was not a lot of fun. The plane was good, food great, flight crew very professional. However their sense of timekeeping makes Egypt look like Switzerland. Through the six stages (Cairo- Khartoum- Nairobi- Dar and back again) five were late. The Dubai route definitely looks like being the one for us next time!

Anyway, what about Dar? We’re both really positive about this place. We were picked up by one of the Songas drivers, Abubakar, who was very friendly. The drive across Dar, to the Msasani Peninsula gave us our first experience of Tanzania driving……and it wasn’t bad at all. The bonus is that they drive on the left although, as with Cairo, that is always a fairly flexible rule- potholes are a bigger factor in where on the road you drive than any Highway Code. The traffic itself was okay and drivers a bit better than Cairo. Abubakar spent a fair bit of time pointing out the shocking driving of various Daladala (microbus equivalent) drivers who swerved from lane to lane. As with their Egyptian counterparts, these guys were a bit kamikaze but, as Soma pointed out, at least they indicate in Dar!

After an hour or so, we arrived at our hotel on the Peninsula and got a feel for the area we’re hoping to live in. The first thing that leaped out at us was just how clean it all is. Sure there was a bit of rubbish and debris from place to place but the lack of pollution was…. Erm… a breath of fresh air! I guess that should not be too much a surprise; there is less heavy industry in Tanzania than in Cairo so actual pollution is lower to start with. Added to this, we’re on the coast so have a fair bit of wind to take any pollution out to sea- doubly so on a peninsula. The peninsula itself is pretty lightly populated- it seems to be the rough equivalent of Maadi in that most expats live here. However, this is not a place where you’ll be strolling from neighbour to neighbour- a car of some sort is going to be needed for any sort of social life here.





A shot of the Tanzanian coastline, taken from the Msasani Peninsula

Friday evening found the need for food just about trumping the need for sleep so we headed down to the restaurant for a bite. Sitting at a table by the sea, an African band playing away, we both realized that this destination was perhaps not going to be as tough as we and many of our friends had feared. We also had our first experience of the food. That first meal sealed the deal for Soma- keeping weight off here is going to be hard as the food is just amazing! The basic ingredients here are remarkably similar to those of Goa- lots of fresh fish and seafood, rice, fresh fruit, coconut and spices. There seems to be an Indian Ocean cuisine in the same way you have Mediterranean food- not surprising, I guess, given the centuries of trade between East Africa, Arabia, India and China.

Anyway, apart from simply taking in the general lifestyle of the place, we did need to carry out some more focused researches. After seeing about ten places, we realized that none was quite in keeping with what we were looking for in a home- too small, wrong location, bad décor etc. Most of the homes we saw would do at a pinch but we came away feeling that a bit of time would allow us to find “the one”. That being the case we opted for a serviced apartment to stay in for the first month or two- to be used as a base for Soma’s more hard nosed assault on the local property market later.

We did sort one thing out however. After a careful selection (Eton, Repton, Harrow….) we decided that the boys will be going to “Little Scholars” playgroup. Out of all those we saw, this one just blew us away- the icing on the cake was that Kieran’s teacher- to- be is originally from Pune!



The playground at the boys' new nursery- "Little Scholars"

So, back in Cairo, what have we returned with,apart from the obligatory Kenya Airways model for Kieran and two bottles of top notch non Egyptian wine? We certainly have much more information with which to work out how to get ourselves settled. A nursery for the boys is now set up; we've chosen a good serviced apartment for the first few months; we have a good idea of what sort of housing we can get for our money; I know where the local pub is.

We've had just a glimpse of our new life and have come away counting the days till we can make the move. We’re going to be very happy living in Dar. It's a cleaner place with great food, nice people and decent wine! We'll miss Cairo for sure and will be leaving some special friends behind, but what we saw in Tanzania is more than just a silver lining!

We got back last night- very tired after the obligatory plane delays but also full of enthusiasm. In Tanzania we have lot of fun ahead of us- safaris to take, people to meet and, for me, a lot of interesting work to do. We’re off to Greece for a wedding at the weekend. From there on in there’s an awful lot of work to do to get us from Cairo to Tanzania!

Off to the Football

At long last I’ve done something I’ve been itching to do for the past two and a half years. The Pyramids and the Sphinx have been done to death, the Khan el Khalili and the Mohammed Ali Mosque have been seen and wondered at too. A couple of times we even ventured as far afield as the Birkash camel market. These were all well and good but what I’ve been dying to see for ages is a decent Egyptian football match.

Football is very popular here in Egypt. I don’t mean European football either. Through most of Africa and Asia, if you ask someone what their favourite team is they will probably say Man Utd, Liverpool or Barcelona. Not in Egypt! Although Egyptians take an interest in overseas football, and are especially proud of their overseas contingent (including two plying their trade in the North East at Middlesborough!) their real passion is for their local sides. Of these, none is as big or as successful as Al Ahly. Their red shirts with Vodafone splashed all over the front look at bit like the 2006 Man Utd team. That, however, is where the similarity ends. In terms of success they knock spots off anyone. For two years after I arrived here they went undefeated in Egypt and on the African continent. They have won the Egyptian league three years in a row and the African Champions league twice in a row. They celebrated their centenary by winning their hundredth major trophy. These guys might be in a smallish pond but they are very big fish indeed!

What better occasion for my first football match than a crucial final group stage match in the African Champions League against Asec Mimosas, champions of Cote D’Ivoire. The tickets were ridiculously cheap (or is it just that UK tickets are stupidly expensive?) at 30 Egyptian Pounds (less than three quid) each. Wanting to look the part we all bought a shirt each for about the same price.

We’d been warned to get to the stadium very early- this was a major match and a high attendance was likely. The police therefore could well stop off access some time before kick off. We parked on the main road, just over from where former President Sadat was assassinated, and made our way through the police barriers. The first impression I had was how closely this resembled an English match- lots of supporters all making their way in a never ending column towards the stadium. The next impression however was that actually this was ever so slightly different. The level of police coverage was massive- hundreds upon hundreds of black clad riot police, horses and heavy duty vehicles. Even at a Millwall match there are not that many police- and they certainly are not armed to the teeth as they were here. I wondered what the police were there to prevent- surely there were not going to be more than fifty Asec fans making their way to Cairo?

The Cairo National Stadium is most impressive. It is a typical Latin American style bowl- the pitch is some way from the seating separated by the athletics track (upon which a variety of policemen and special forces types were sat). At first it seemed fairly empty but, as expected, it filled up fast. By about 7 o’clock the place was rocking- an hour before kick off and more noise than you’d find anywhere in the Premiership. As expected the stadium was a sea of red- there seemed to be more Asec players warming up on the pitch than there were Asec fans! Still, that didn’t stop the hundred or so of them being given an entire end of the stadium (sad as it made for a half empty stadium in what could have been a sellout match). These fans must have had a reputation as supermen as they were surrounded by a two thick cordon of police!

The Al Ahly end........

.........and the teams coming out to face the army of Asec fans (or should it be the army and the Asec fans?)

Kickoff was at 8 o’clock and the match was pretty anodyne for the first part. In part this was due to nerves on the part of both sides- a draw would suit both if results went the right way elsewhere but defeat would be a disaster. In addition to nerves, the Egyptian tactics were rather bizarre. A team of small, skillful players were trying long, high balls against the biggest guys I’ve seen outside of a basketball team! As the match progressed, the crowd started getting less enthusiastic- just as anywhere else I suppose. In Egypt, however, this is simply not allowed! From nowhere a huge bloke, employed I think by the club started running among the supporters and, in traditional sergeant major style both insulted them (pretty sure I recognized the Arabic for “dumb beasts”) and exhorted them to get singing. At once everyone started singing and cheering again! I wondered what this guy could achieve at the Molineux!

As the game headed towards a draw, Al Ahly’s star player, Mohammed Abou Trika, who had just returned from injury, came onto the pitch. This seemed to unsettle the Ivorians as they fairly quickly managed to concede the first goal of the game- a messy, scrambled affair. With five minutes to go, Abou Trika capitalized on a goalkeeper error to make the score 2-0. The ref eventually blew for full time and the crowd went wild- Al Ahly, once again were through to the semi finals, to play al Ittihad of Libya.

As we trooped out of the ground, my Egyptian friends kept reminding me of how wonderful Al Ahly were, conveniently forgetting, as any good fan should, that for most of the match they were actually rubbish!

What an experience. The match itself was pretty poor but then that was not the point. Walking to the ground, bantering with other fans, singing football chants were things I’d really missed since I was last at Molineux. On the other hand being in a stadium which, even though only half full still had over 50,000 watching meant an atmosphere I’d never experienced before. The best bits- the fireworks, drums, standing on the seats etc- which have now been banned in the UK led to a football experience you’d never find at St James Park, Old Trafford or even Molineux- and all for three quid!