Celebrating Christmas

Since Egypt is a Muslim country, Christmas eve and day are normal work days for the locals. Hotels feature a lavish Christmas Gala dinner and the visit of the Santa Claus on the beach. Some shops supply Christmas decorations, but otherwise this is like any day here. The wind was very strong and cold, so the temperature was only +21. Sweaters, woollen and socks come already handy!

However, my colleagues and I gathered for a Christmas dinner together. We had Finnish ham with Turun sinappi, rosolli, Carelian pies with egg butter, carrot casserole, gingerbread cookies, and Fazer's Xmas edition gingerbread chocolate. My boss presented each of us miniature perfume bottles that she had hauled from tax-free, and another one gave us little purses stocked with salmiakki chocolate from Finland.

On the Christimas day we had a special programme with our local colleagues. Instead of reindeer sleigh ride in snow, we drove to a bedouin village and hitched camels for a one-hour ride in the desert. My colleague and I chose white gentle camels, and ihop! -off we went. You need to hold tightly from the saddle knobs at front and back when the camel rises up. Each bedouin man lead two camels deeper into the desert, where steep rocky mountains rose right at our feet. Camel is the most important investment that a bedouin owns, and therefore they are well kept. Our guide scratched and stroked the neck of our camels every now, let them nibble dried grass on the ground as we proceeded, and letting other one's reigns rest in the camel's curved neck.
Back in the village we were offered a typical Egyptian dinner: cucumber and tomato salad with spicy white spreaded cheese and tahina, sesame paste. There was potato casserole, chicken and kofta, longish meat balls, and of course tea, served from tiny emal cups.

Our guide gave us a round in the terrarium that the village hosted – a collection of reptiles in all sizes and shapes each in their own cubicle: a chameleon, lizards, leguans, cobra, Saharan horned viper, large brown and black python, whom those who wished could pet (been there, done than earlier...). There was another fencing for turtles muching lettuce, and a blue bucket that was home to two tiny crocodilettes 20 centimetres long, brought from the river Nile. They were said to be six months old.

We climbed to a hill overlooking Sahara for a photo-op, and drove back to town at sunset. Later we continued the Xmas day party with my colleagues singing xmas carols, accompanied by guitar and my flute.

The Terminal -Arrested

Few weeks ago my colleague and I were routinely bringing clients to the airport. While we waited for the new ones to arrive, we sat at the airport cafeteria. I noticed an unusually large group of security officers enter the check-in hall. After a while we were asked to present our passports, which we have been told to carry with us at all times. However, they happened to be in Cairo for the work permit process. I produced a copy, but a security police wasn't content and stayed watching us not to escape.

I called our agent to explain the situation in Arabic. He came to help us, but we were escorted inside the airport with some others, who didn't have their passports. When we say good-byes to our clients, as they disappear to security check area, we always wonder what the airport looks like inside. Now we had a supreme change to witness it ourselves.

We stress to our clients every time that liquids are not allowed. Also exporting even smallest corals and sea shells is illegal against a big fine, and all will show in the x-ray. Thus a client had left some some coral and shells with my colleague. We also had our morning green tea bottles in our bags. Funny that we passed through the x-ray with all our corals, shells, and drinks, and none of the security officials said a word.

We were walked through check-in area to immigration office and pointed two metal benches where to sit down. A stern-looking, young security man stood watching us. After a while he got tired standing and told us to sit tighter, so he could have a seat with his colleague. I needed to go to bathroom, so one guard escorted me to the door.

In the meantime our agent was doing paperwork for us. After 90 minutes I asked how long does it take. ”5 minutes”. It turned out to be 5 Egyptian minutes, which was 90 minutes more. Our new clients had arrived on the other side, so we made some calls to have someone else deliver them to hotels. Our guards were drinking tea, but they refused to bring us anything. We were freezing in our airport skirts in the air-conditioned hall.

I visited bathroom again. Now the guards' interest on us had decreased to the point that I could sneak there myself. I took advantage of the privilege and wandered to check-in area to buy some tea. The precious cup cost 3 times more than normal, even with a discount!

After three hours we were finally released, when our Mr. Official Relationships entered the scene. The security wanted to x-ray our bags again – in reverse: We walked to departure hall through the metal detection gate with our bags, then gave them to be scanned through x-ray, towards the direction we had just walked, and then they returned our bags through the gate again. How handy! They still didn't discover the corals, shells, and more than 100 ml of liquid each... (We will not tell this to our clients...)

The beginning of an adventure

Dear Reader,

I landed in Egypt few months ago, my bags stuffed with salmiakki, hapankorppu, few floorball balls, and excitement about discovering yet a new country. I lost the count long time ago, but a counry No. 35 may be close enough. The time here has been packed with the most fascinating and strange experiences and encounters that beg to be shared with others. Life here is infused with sights, sounds, and smells that I will describe you in the days to come. Just for starters, here's few essentials.

First of all, Egypt is made of sand. The statistics say 95% of the area is sand. It doesn't mean only the Saharan desert. You cannot escape sand anywhere. Most of the streets are made of soft sand. In grocery store the water bottles, youghurt, books, and other items feature a thin layer of sand. Unless you broom and wipe the apartment daily, the sand and dust keeps cumulating. The car becomes unrecognizable in two weeks unless it is washed. If you happen to drive with an open window, the wind whisks a doze of sand inside the car into the dashboard, clothes, and hair. Sand is not all bad. It makes a wonderful, powdery surface to cruise in the desert with a quad-bike.

Secondly, my new home is all about sea. The Red Sea is not at all red, but there are copious explanations. For example, the sun colours the islands red at sunset (actually orange, but it's beautiful anyhow). There is a purple coral specimen on the reef (True, I've seen it). The Sea was coloured red by the blood of Pharaoh's military, when the Israelites escaped Egypt to travel to the Promised Land (well, the army was drowned by the wawes, so I don't know about the bloodshed). The Red Sea is dotted by little white yacts that take 100 000 snorklers and 10 000 divers every day to discover the wonders of the marine life. This is also my favourite free time option. There are more stories to follow.

Third, Egypt is all about people and relationships. Few friendly words, especially in Arabic, and a smile will take you a long way. Egyptians are by nature very warm, kind, and eager to make friends. Even to the point when it gets annoying, when you've had a rough day and just want to close the home door behind you. The top 5 questions that a woman gets asked routinely every time she meets a new person:

1. Where are you from? - Finland. - Poland? - No, Finland. - Aah, Nokia! (Everyone has fancy hi-tech Nokias that cost only a fraction compared to Europe.


2. What's you name?


3. Do you have a husband? Note: There is no word for 'boyfriend' in Arabic. If the answer is 'no', then the next question is in order:


4. Can I have your phone number? (Even when you don't give it to strangers, they find you and anonymous men keep calling: Hello! Hello! What is you name?)


5. If the answer to the question No. 3. was positive (husband/boyfriend), then the locals always inquire if the lucky guy is Egyptian. And this happens to be the case in 95% of Western women living here.