From the Cairo Airport Lounge

Today I realized that I have pretty much achieved what I often dreamed of during my studies - and that already at the age of 24.... Well, this makes me thoughtfull.


Waiting at the Cairo Airport Lounge, drinking free coffee, a company laptop and -phone in front of me, flying off to Algeria to run some Workshops alone on behalf of my team. And so on it goes... having worked already in so many countries, met so many interesting people as well as the only one I love, had fantastic adventures, and even found a small cat that gives the little bit of extra joy to life....


I guess its time to reflect on all this, put it in perspective.

In what kind of time are we living? Its the age of ever new technology, changing our lives. I could just take a photo with my mobile camera, send it to the pc via bluetooth and then upload it the same second so that everybody with access to the internet is able to see it...and here we talk about some billion people. Also its the age of global ways of working, you need to be connected around the world to do business. Along comes the 'new found' mobile worker, who personifies the office, wherever s/he's coordinates are located. And in this picture of the ideal, super flexible, cosmopolitain employee... we need to fit..... so maybe, the dreams from University seemed so far away, because 6 years ago...life led a slightly different pace. These days, it does not take decades anymore for life styles to change, for corporate mentalities to be overhauled. Maybe what I am experiencing right now, is just a normal professional life, nothing too exotic to be over-excited about?

Mornings

One of those f* mornings, where nothing f* drives you to do any f* work...who on earth likes mornings? I absolutely do not. Especially, when the morning starts with a traffic jam, right in front of your house and drags along 25km until the office. Traffic in Cairo is hell, and gets worse by the day. The influx of people in this city is a two digit percentage per year. Recent estimates suggest between 15 to 20 million inhabitants, depending on the definition of the city. Annually, around 3 million new cars are registered. A number which is growing with increasing wealth of the population. Infrastructure design is one main concern of course. They started building bridges on top of roads, and in certain areas, one can even find 3-level roads....all clogged with cars. Nevertheless, I do not think this is the only bottleneck. A big part is driving behaviour. Due to missing rules and regulations, everybody is selfishly trying to take advantage of every situation. Examples would be to cross a 4-lane road from the right side to the left in the last minute, in order to be the first at the U-turn and sneak in front of everybody. Naturally, stopping all the passing traffic. Or another example would be to speedily overtake you on the left, break in front of you and just make it to the right turn...causing you to use an emergency break manouver. Well, and then not to speak of the buses and taxis trying to pick up people on the left and right, or sometimes in the middle of the road.

Hmmm, but then. There is absolutely no use in getting frustrated and angry about this. Better use the time in the car for a good conversation, listen to relaxing music (I am very grateful to Nile FM) or even watch a video. Unfortunately, I do not have a DVD player installed in this car....but sooon....Now enjoy this hilarious tape, to get back into a good mood. And....HAPPY MORNING TO ALL OF YOU!

Hashish very innocently

Finding things in Cairo can be at times tedious. I still have the line in my mind from one of the books for foreigners living in Egypt: "You will find virtually everything in Cairo, EVENTUALLY". And so the story goes, I am looking for fertilizer, specifically for gras/lawn. Spending the complete Saturday running from one nursery to the next, asking left and right of the street and by the same token, immensely increasing my Arabic vocabulary for everything around the garden, I come across a funny revelation: Hashish is an Arabic word. And simply, innocently means gras....

So now, I am just wondering, what is the word for the 'real' thing? Or in case it is the same, how big was the risk of getting arrested while looking for more greenery in my garden?