Swede Week

Every week a new group of 30-50 Swedish golfers show up at Stella Di Mare. They come from October to March for winter golf since their country is snowed in, just like Canada. To greet them when they get here are temporary residents Jocke and Tobias, whom I can call my friends. They're the ones I've been playing squash, golfing, generally hanging out with since they arrived. Jocke (2nd from the right) is a golf pro who is here to give lessons to the guests, while Tobias (far right) is here to organise their tours, book golf, and general running around. They're both scratch or better and kick my ass on a regular basis. Tobias hits the ball around 300-320.... meters.

Anyways, usually their guests are 45+ year old couples, as you would expect golf tourists to be... but last week we were all pleasantly surprised by the arrival of a group of 3 30'ish girls, in conjunction with Tobias' best friend Jonas (far left) (3rd girl is still on the driving range warming when this pic was taken). So for the last week I've been hanging out with this group going for dinner (showing them around the area), playing pool, drunken after parties, coffee table bronc riding, and oh ya, a little golf mixed in too. It's been one of the best weeks since I've been here simply because there was a few people all looking to hangout and have fun. The girls and Jonas left yesterday and are already back at home and we've already f-booked and emailed.... Hopefully some more friends to keep in touch with in the years to come...

Cleanse Details

For those interested and have been asking about, here are the details of the cleanse I did...

First Supper

I've been doing a 10-day elderberry cleanse that ended on Saturday... I didn't eat anything for 7 days in the middle and only fruit/veggies on the first and last two days. The 7 days with no food was spent drinking elderberry juice, water, herbal teas, and herb vitamins. I had done a 5-day version a couple years ago and decided to try the 10-day'er. It was relatively easy and uneventful. I didn't get terribly hungry because you're always busy drinking the juice and making tea. Physically I was alright, golfing the usual amount and a game of squash with no issues. So all in all i don't want to say it was a waste of time, but I'm not sure exactly what I accomplished. Supposedly it cleans out your liver and kidneys and lungs and stuff, but whatever. I did sort of lose some evidence of one love handle, but not the other. So whoever will be holding on will have to use one hand like a bull rider, but that's ok.

Mom, for my first home cooked meal in the new apartment and my first real food in 10 days I bbq'd a chicken breast and made your pasta with olive oil, garlic, onions, and montreal steak spice. It was delish.

This week there is actually a few 21-30'ish people with one of the golf tour groups, so I've been coherting with them at night a bit. Last night we played pool until 2am, which didn't bode well for my 5:30am alarm clock and 8am meeting. But the moons were aligned and I couldn't turn down another Heineken.

Bizupt.

Apt Vid

Virtual View

Here are some pictures from the balcony of the new pad... it overlooks the 13th green, which is looking a little brown these days due to it being the dead of winter... hah.

Looking right (west) up the 13th fairway:
Looking out the front door (north) over the wall... they use the property on the other side of the wall to dump pretty much everything from dirt to garbage, lovely view:
Looking northeast from the front door... the Red Sea in the distance:

Virtual Tour

Here's some inside pictures of the new pad... like I said before it's not that much bigger than the hotel room, but it's nice to able to cook for myself and kick back on a sofa... So far so good anyways, the change of scenery for the next 6 months will be worth it. The patio is the main attraction but I haven't cleaned it yet so no pics yet...

Living room accessories:
Kickin' back:
Living room:
Bedroom: I guess some Egyptian couples use separate beds... anyways, I use the other one for a coat hanger.
Kitchen, small but adequate por uno:

Moving Day

Well, I'm in. After 2 rounds of golf on Friday (80 & 82 if anyone cares) I set myself to the task of cleaning the apartment. 5 hours later and about 5 pounds of dust moved the place is essentially spotless, only a little more work on the kitchen. I moved most of the stuff I use regularly into the apartment and stayed there last night for the first time. The only drawback was the heater function on the airconditioner wasn't working. And last night it got down to 4 degrees C here. I wasn't the warmest under my meager Egyptian blankets, it reminded me of winter camping conditions...

I haven't had to go grocery shopping yet either... Today I started a 10 day cleanse. After a first day of fruit and veggies my diet will consist of Elderberry juice, tea, and herb/vitamin pills. This will give me some more time to start accumulating food and cooking stuff.

I'm going to head to Suez one of these days to pick up some things to make the place look a bit more "homey"... a couple rugs and sheesha smoking pillows outta do the trick.

Apartment Living

I've bit the bullet. I'm officially renting an apartment in one of the buildings on the golf course here, and will be moving some of my stuff from the hotel to the apartment. I have to keep the hotel room in order to still collect the living allowance from the company... I know I know, it sounds stupid, and let me confirm that it is. They pay upwards of $2000/mo for us to stay in the hotel, plus pay us the allowance. Meanwhile, they could rent us (or allow us) to rent apartments or villas outside of the hotel for much much less, but they don't. So anyway, I've rented this roof-top apartment to stay in some of the time, but mostly it'll be a place where we can get together outside of the hotel in order to BBQ, play poker, etc. Essentially a party-pad or clubhouse, or whatever you want to call it.

Here is a pic of the outside, from the golf course. I'll take more photos and maybe video once I'm fully moved in... Note, I only have the top floor. The apartment itself is relatively small with 1 bedroom, kitchen, bath, living room, but the patio is the main draw. I'm still waiting for some plumbing to be fixed before I move in, but it's coming... at Egyptian speed. ;)

Xmas is over

well... I'm in the calgary airport waiting for my flight to frankfurt. Its been a great couple of weeks spent with lots of family and friends... The time has flown by and ive decided 2 weeks in canada isnt enough ! Next project i work is going to have to have an 8 week on 3 week off schedule, that will be key. Highlights from the holidays include (in no particular order) turkey, snowmobiling/sleddin', ham, steaks, home cooked meals, family gatherings, seeing cousins all grown up (almost!) , iphone (using it right now), taylormade, new golf shoes, flames hockey games, the world juniors hockey tournament, tv, driving with incessant honking or light flashing, canadian beer (even the labatt lite in MB), malls, mom, dad, playing hockey, dressing room beers, new shoes, nellies' breakfasts, steak, snow!, NYE, handing egyptian presents to everyone, smiles, birthday dinner and drinks(wicked fun), movie theatres (and not having to pirate them!), large popcorn, large pop, wifi, and the list goes on... I hope everyone else out there had a good break and the new year has started well enough. I for one have already started planning/booking my next vacation!

As far as Egypt and the project goes i'm sure the next few months will fly by, i'm over half way!