Wow. It's been a while. Sorry about that. As I suppose happens anytime you're anywhere for a long time, things fall into a routine and don't necessarily become that interesting or worth writing about. I really can't beleive that we've been out here 5 months. Okay, well, I can beleive it, but it just seems so unreal. Chris and I have indeed fallen into a routine now. It's not that difficult when you work 6 days a week- our day off mostly consists of sleeping most of the day and doing housework. And no, we HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE PYRAMIDS YET. I know, I know. Unless transforming robots from outter space come down and battle it out over an energy sapping device embedded deep inside the main pyramid (sorry if i just spoiled Transformers 2 for anyone), the great landmarks aren't going anywhere.
There is exactly 1 week and 5 days left before we go home. HOME. What a wonderful word. It's been real, but it'll be nice to be home, even if it's just on furlow for 6 weeks. It's funny actually- Chris and I have just recently gotten hooked on 'Lost' (I know, I know, 'what took us so long'??) and we found ourselves playing the same game as many of the survivors- "What am I going to do the Minute I get Home". We've been making lists of the foods we miss, the conveniences we long for, the little things that make home, well, 'home'. Here's a few off my list:
My dogs!!!!
Family & friends
Popcorn
Nonstick pans that are really 'nonstick'
Pam
'Normal'-sized bathtubs
No smoking laws
Bathrooms with toilet paper
Pedicures
Traffic laws
My Blackberry
Lawns
Doing my own laundry
Frozen yogurt
Of course, going home won't be all lollipops and sunshine- there's bound to be a few 'wakeup calls'. For example, we won't be able to go for a "nice" dinner and movie for 30$ (that's both of us, plus movie nibbles too!). We'll have to actually drive ourselves around. We won't be able to pay 1$ for a gallon of gas. Actually, come to think about it, if that's it, it's really not that bad... :)
Looking ahead, it seems like these last 2 weeks are going to take forever to go by, especially when we're sooooo close to the end- or as some of us here like to call it, our 'release date'. Ha ha.
We have seen some pretty amazing stuff since we've been in Egypt- the temples in Luxor, The Valley of the Kings, the Tut Exhibit at the Cairo Museum, etc. There's also a few things that I know I'll only have seen in Egypt:
A family of 5 on a scooter- Mom, Dad, 2 kids and a baby
A car full of wedding guests stopped in the middle of an offramp, with everyone out and dancing around
A swimsuit that covers everything from the neck down
A bird riding a dead donkey down the Nile
A woman talking 'handsfree' on her cell phone- it was stuck to the side of her face in her headveil!
Despite all that cool stuff, it will be so wonderful to be home- our house, our bed, etc. I hate to be corny, but that age-old adage is true- you never know what you have until it's gone.
Cheers!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tandoori Chicken, Steamed
So, as I'm sitting here waiting for talent to show up, turns out it'll be a few hours- instead of coming from make-up and hair, he'll be coming from Lebanon. Seems there was a slight problem somewhere in production and instead of booking him a flight well in advance, they did it at 10pm last night. Um, okay. Gives me time to blog.
We had a three day break this weekend! Weeehooo! We had a three-day break because they told us we deserved it....*snicker*...Sorry I can't say that with a straight face. The truth of the matter is that we didn't have any actors. They were all off shooting other projects. Fine by me! While the idea of sleeping the ENTIRE weekend flitted across my mind, I knew that in order not to fall behind on the build Chris and I had to go into work for at least one of the days. Ugh. Well, to take the bitter edge off of that nasty little pill, we decided to treat ourselves to a spa day on Friday. I had read a few articles about 'traditional hammams' or steam bath treatments, both Moroccan and Turkish. All opinions laid on the positive side, so I thought I'd be adventurous and book a traditional Moroccan Hammam- and at the cost of $45 for an hour, how can you go wrong? Chris opted for a relaxation massage- still budget friendly at $35 for an hour. Of course, keeping in mind the adage of 'you get what you pay for', I was a little wary. Still, an adventure is an adventure. Turns out I was not to be disappointed.
The spa was an old converted house and the interior was very relaxing, done up 'a-la-Moroccan' with rich colours on the walls, fluffy cushions, dark wood and lush tapestries draped in doorways. We were greeted by a small French-Egyptian man (who later turned out to be Chris' masseuse) and steaming cups of tea. I still haven't figured out why for the love of God they serve scalding hot tea in delicate glass cups that you can't pick up without asbestos gloves. Within 10 minutes I was shown upstairs to the change room then subsequently found myself in my skivvies in a room so dense with steam I couldn't see a few feet ahead of me. The hot steam felt incredibly good- I was already relaxing. Then a small woman in a one-piece swimsuit came in and told me to lie down on the tiled platform and proceeded to slather me with an olive oil and clay based soap- everywhere. When I cleared my eyes from the steam and looked down at myself, the first image that shot into my mind was that of tandoori slathered chicken. Properly 'basted', she left me to steam for 10 minutes. Having me sit up, she washed off the gunk with cool water which, after the initial shock, felt really nice. Next she pulled on this blue catchers' mitt-looking thing and began scrubbing me down. The very first pass on the back of my calf felt like she was taking a skin graff. Once the endorphins kicked in, it was actually quite invigorating. I just lay there and let her go to town. I snuck a glance at my newly revealed skin... GROSS!! It looked like someone had taken handfuls of grey pocket lint and smeared them on my skin. Except, of course, THIS WAS MY SKIN. Ugh. "I shower everyday" I said embarrassed. She smiled and said in broken English that everyone is like this, that it was the pollution in Cairo. Looovely.
She left me to the steam for another 10 minutes, where after followed another cool water rinse-off and then she had me sit and she washed my hair for me. Ahhhh... sooooo wonderful and relaxing. Leave-in conditioner, full-body lotion, face mask and another steam followed; I walked, no, floated out of there in a high state of bliss. More hot tea and cool honeydew juice was waiting for me in the lounge. I can understand how this type of spoilage was once reserved for ancient royalty.
Oh, and Chris liked his massage. ;)
We had a three day break this weekend! Weeehooo! We had a three-day break because they told us we deserved it....*snicker*...Sorry I can't say that with a straight face. The truth of the matter is that we didn't have any actors. They were all off shooting other projects. Fine by me! While the idea of sleeping the ENTIRE weekend flitted across my mind, I knew that in order not to fall behind on the build Chris and I had to go into work for at least one of the days. Ugh. Well, to take the bitter edge off of that nasty little pill, we decided to treat ourselves to a spa day on Friday. I had read a few articles about 'traditional hammams' or steam bath treatments, both Moroccan and Turkish. All opinions laid on the positive side, so I thought I'd be adventurous and book a traditional Moroccan Hammam- and at the cost of $45 for an hour, how can you go wrong? Chris opted for a relaxation massage- still budget friendly at $35 for an hour. Of course, keeping in mind the adage of 'you get what you pay for', I was a little wary. Still, an adventure is an adventure. Turns out I was not to be disappointed.
The spa was an old converted house and the interior was very relaxing, done up 'a-la-Moroccan' with rich colours on the walls, fluffy cushions, dark wood and lush tapestries draped in doorways. We were greeted by a small French-Egyptian man (who later turned out to be Chris' masseuse) and steaming cups of tea. I still haven't figured out why for the love of God they serve scalding hot tea in delicate glass cups that you can't pick up without asbestos gloves. Within 10 minutes I was shown upstairs to the change room then subsequently found myself in my skivvies in a room so dense with steam I couldn't see a few feet ahead of me. The hot steam felt incredibly good- I was already relaxing. Then a small woman in a one-piece swimsuit came in and told me to lie down on the tiled platform and proceeded to slather me with an olive oil and clay based soap- everywhere. When I cleared my eyes from the steam and looked down at myself, the first image that shot into my mind was that of tandoori slathered chicken. Properly 'basted', she left me to steam for 10 minutes. Having me sit up, she washed off the gunk with cool water which, after the initial shock, felt really nice. Next she pulled on this blue catchers' mitt-looking thing and began scrubbing me down. The very first pass on the back of my calf felt like she was taking a skin graff. Once the endorphins kicked in, it was actually quite invigorating. I just lay there and let her go to town. I snuck a glance at my newly revealed skin... GROSS!! It looked like someone had taken handfuls of grey pocket lint and smeared them on my skin. Except, of course, THIS WAS MY SKIN. Ugh. "I shower everyday" I said embarrassed. She smiled and said in broken English that everyone is like this, that it was the pollution in Cairo. Looovely.
She left me to the steam for another 10 minutes, where after followed another cool water rinse-off and then she had me sit and she washed my hair for me. Ahhhh... sooooo wonderful and relaxing. Leave-in conditioner, full-body lotion, face mask and another steam followed; I walked, no, floated out of there in a high state of bliss. More hot tea and cool honeydew juice was waiting for me in the lounge. I can understand how this type of spoilage was once reserved for ancient royalty.
Oh, and Chris liked his massage. ;)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ignorance Is... Well, it's Ignorance.
It is so weird working on a show that you've never heard of and on actors you've never heard of. When local people ask me who's on the show and I manage to remember and not butcher the pronunciation of their names, they're so excited for me. I try to mirror their excitement, but I'm still terribly ignorant- and though I've tried to remedy this by going online and researching the talent pool, most of the websites are in Arabic. Ugh. If any of you are interested, here's a list of the principals of the show:
Boshra
Injy El Mokadem
Mahmoud Abdelmoughni
Ahmed Rateb
Safaa Galal
Amaar Chalak
Ahmed El Sakka
Amir Karara
It's so funny because right now on the way to work we pass at least 5 movie posters with stars from the show on them. Boshra just released a new CD. Apparently Ahmed El Sakka is the 'Bruce Willis' of the Arab world. He let us keep a bullet that was recently removed from his foot in a handgun incident. Uh, thanks? I'm really enjoying not knowing who these people are because then I'm not so nervous when I'm working on them. Whoever they are, they're all really nice. Of course, even out here in Egypt there are your typical 'diva' personality types (guys and gals), and actors with quirky habits.
There are some other marked differences stylistically as well. Whether it's an extra or a principal, the ladies out here looooove their makeup. It is caked on. And we're shooting on HD too. The doctors are sporting full coverage base and quasi-smokey eye applications. Now, we don't have much interaction with the principals as most of our work is on the secondary actors who play the cases that the main actors are working on. Aside from putting some blood on their gloves during an operation scene, they haven't been submitted to our particular forms of torture. Notwithstanding, they see enough of us and have chatted with us (most of it a mutual muddling across a common language gap) enough to give us nicknames: 'Mr. Chris' and 'Bloody Amy'. Uh, I'm pretty sure I got the cooler nickname.
I think that not knowing "who they are" allowed us to really get to know who they are- if that makes any sense. One of the actors is dedicated to a charity for mentally disabled children that the media doesn't really know about. Another actress is an accomplished kick boxer and an eerily talented pick-pocket; I watched her in action one day and she stripped one of the gaffers of his wallet, watch, keys, cell phone and smokes- the guy didn't have a chance, and wasn't the wiser. You should have seen the look on his face when she handed all his stuff back to him.
When I get back home, I'm really going to try to stop myself from sustaining preconceived notions of people gleaned off what I've just heard. We're all guilty of it, and while it's fun, it is limiting; for those who's reputation 'precedes them' and for our own personal development- and potential fruitful friendships.
Boshra
Injy El Mokadem
Mahmoud Abdelmoughni
Ahmed Rateb
Safaa Galal
Amaar Chalak
Ahmed El Sakka
Amir Karara
It's so funny because right now on the way to work we pass at least 5 movie posters with stars from the show on them. Boshra just released a new CD. Apparently Ahmed El Sakka is the 'Bruce Willis' of the Arab world. He let us keep a bullet that was recently removed from his foot in a handgun incident. Uh, thanks? I'm really enjoying not knowing who these people are because then I'm not so nervous when I'm working on them. Whoever they are, they're all really nice. Of course, even out here in Egypt there are your typical 'diva' personality types (guys and gals), and actors with quirky habits.
There are some other marked differences stylistically as well. Whether it's an extra or a principal, the ladies out here looooove their makeup. It is caked on. And we're shooting on HD too. The doctors are sporting full coverage base and quasi-smokey eye applications. Now, we don't have much interaction with the principals as most of our work is on the secondary actors who play the cases that the main actors are working on. Aside from putting some blood on their gloves during an operation scene, they haven't been submitted to our particular forms of torture. Notwithstanding, they see enough of us and have chatted with us (most of it a mutual muddling across a common language gap) enough to give us nicknames: 'Mr. Chris' and 'Bloody Amy'. Uh, I'm pretty sure I got the cooler nickname.
I think that not knowing "who they are" allowed us to really get to know who they are- if that makes any sense. One of the actors is dedicated to a charity for mentally disabled children that the media doesn't really know about. Another actress is an accomplished kick boxer and an eerily talented pick-pocket; I watched her in action one day and she stripped one of the gaffers of his wallet, watch, keys, cell phone and smokes- the guy didn't have a chance, and wasn't the wiser. You should have seen the look on his face when she handed all his stuff back to him.
When I get back home, I'm really going to try to stop myself from sustaining preconceived notions of people gleaned off what I've just heard. We're all guilty of it, and while it's fun, it is limiting; for those who's reputation 'precedes them' and for our own personal development- and potential fruitful friendships.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Epicurian tidbits
Here are a few epicurian facts I've learned from my experience so far dining in Egypt, on Egyptian food with Egyptian people.
1. If you don't know what it is, try it first- you might like it. If you do like it, I still probably wouldn't ask what's 'in it'.
2. There is no '15 second rule' in Egypt.
3. Potato chips are a viable sidedish for roast lamb.
4. Many Egyptian foods have names that are fun to say: 'gibna' (cheese), 'chipsi' (potato chips), 'hawowshi' (ground beef sandwich), 'kofta' (lamb meatball) and 'bassbossa' (semolina cake) which makes me think of a vilanous Disney pirate each time I say it.
5. Egypt is not the place for dieters.
6. The best tasting watermelon in the world is grown in Egypt.
7. You haven't had fresh honey until it's served to you straight from a sleeve of comb, right out of the hive.
8. Everything tastes better roasted on a stick.
9. There is no such thing as too many carbs in Egypt.
10. "What is this thing called a 'napkin' of which you speak?"
11. If it came out of the Nile, DON'T EAT IT.
1. If you don't know what it is, try it first- you might like it. If you do like it, I still probably wouldn't ask what's 'in it'.
2. There is no '15 second rule' in Egypt.
3. Potato chips are a viable sidedish for roast lamb.
4. Many Egyptian foods have names that are fun to say: 'gibna' (cheese), 'chipsi' (potato chips), 'hawowshi' (ground beef sandwich), 'kofta' (lamb meatball) and 'bassbossa' (semolina cake) which makes me think of a vilanous Disney pirate each time I say it.
5. Egypt is not the place for dieters.
6. The best tasting watermelon in the world is grown in Egypt.
7. You haven't had fresh honey until it's served to you straight from a sleeve of comb, right out of the hive.
8. Everything tastes better roasted on a stick.
9. There is no such thing as too many carbs in Egypt.
10. "What is this thing called a 'napkin' of which you speak?"
11. If it came out of the Nile, DON'T EAT IT.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Ironic
I find it more than ironic that in a country that is 94% Muslim, they're worried about 'swine' flu.
The other day I walked onto set and my nostrils were assaulted by a terribly strong medicinal smell. Turns out production had a few people walking around spraying 'Detol'- Lysol's counterpart out here. Huh. 'I guess they're cleaning the set', I thought. Then I saw about 1/3 of the crew walking around with surgical masks on. 'That's weird', I thought. Then again, not so strange when I remembered the times when I went around set sporting a spike out of the top of my head, a fake moustache, deely-boppers, a fake pregnant belly and glitter platform shoes just for fun (not all at the same time mind you- I do have some sense of decorum). Well, it turns out that the media sources in Cairo are stating that the 13 (as of today 20) cases of Swine Flu come from Americans! There are 6 Americans on set (including Chris and myself), and we all found ourselves being avoided like, well, the plague. Never one to miss an opportunity, I proceded to blow my nose a whole bunch and try to stiffle a raspy cough here and there. Chris took it one step further.
I was sitting on set waiting for the next scene when Chris tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I had seen the doctor. When I looked up from my book to answer him, I was in shock! He looked terrible- pale, red nostrils, snot caked under his nose, sweaty- my God, how could he get so sick so fast... wait a tic. Nice make-up job, funnyman. Of course, there more than a few crew who weren't so convinced that it was make-up and gave him a wide berth when he walked by. If anything, I'd say the day was highly entertaining.
The other day I walked onto set and my nostrils were assaulted by a terribly strong medicinal smell. Turns out production had a few people walking around spraying 'Detol'- Lysol's counterpart out here. Huh. 'I guess they're cleaning the set', I thought. Then I saw about 1/3 of the crew walking around with surgical masks on. 'That's weird', I thought. Then again, not so strange when I remembered the times when I went around set sporting a spike out of the top of my head, a fake moustache, deely-boppers, a fake pregnant belly and glitter platform shoes just for fun (not all at the same time mind you- I do have some sense of decorum). Well, it turns out that the media sources in Cairo are stating that the 13 (as of today 20) cases of Swine Flu come from Americans! There are 6 Americans on set (including Chris and myself), and we all found ourselves being avoided like, well, the plague. Never one to miss an opportunity, I proceded to blow my nose a whole bunch and try to stiffle a raspy cough here and there. Chris took it one step further.
I was sitting on set waiting for the next scene when Chris tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I had seen the doctor. When I looked up from my book to answer him, I was in shock! He looked terrible- pale, red nostrils, snot caked under his nose, sweaty- my God, how could he get so sick so fast... wait a tic. Nice make-up job, funnyman. Of course, there more than a few crew who weren't so convinced that it was make-up and gave him a wide berth when he walked by. If anything, I'd say the day was highly entertaining.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Nile Cruise, Part Deux
Before I get into this post, I would like all those reading this to do me a little solid; this week has been a heavy one, health-wise for a family member of mine, and for two good friends of mine. My aunt Maggie went through a pretty serious procedure last Wednesday and all your positive healing thoughts would be appreciated for her speedy recovery. Also, my friend Lonnie suffured a stroke and she could use some of those thoughts too. What's more, we made a good friend here on set, Mostafa- he's off to Germany to donate part of his liver to his mom. Let's make sure he gets some of those good thoughts too. Thanks, y'all- it means alot.
Soooo, where was I? Oh yeah, Luxor and its varied archeological riches.
The first temple we visited was Karnak temple. THE largest ancient religious site in the world. It took over 2000 years to build the place, and 4 different pharaohs were involved in its construction. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the 'Theban Triad' (Amun, his wife Mut [goddess of the sky] and their son Khons) with Amun Re (the creator God) at its head. The temple of Karnak is famous for its 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows in the Hypostyle Hall. 122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The tops of these columns weighed 70 tons! It's purported that they were either lifted to the top with a pulley system or brought to the top by way of a ramp of mud bricks and sand. Actually, just inside the first pylon (pylon: Pylon is the Greek term for a monumental gateway of an Egyptian temple. It consists of two tapering towers, each surmounted by a cornice, joined by a less elevated section which enclosed the entrance between them. The entrance was generally about half the height of the towers. Contemporary paintings of pylons show them with long poles flying banners.) there's the remains of a mudbrick ramp, showing how they got the huge blocks to the top. The reason the ramp is still there is because war broke out during the last phase of construction and all the workers had to go to battle, abandoning everything. The outter areas of Karnak are unfinished because those areas were the last to be constructed; ancient Egyptian temples were built from the inside out, radiating out from the most sacred inner sanctum where the god's image was housed. Every other inch of the complex though was covered in carvings. Sayyid thought it was really funny to point out the huge image of Min, the god of fertility. He's depicted as a human with one arm and one leg, and a, ahem, generous endowement, standing at attention. According to Wikipedia, the symbols of Min were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a head of lettuce, that the Egyptians believed to be an aphrodisiac, as Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milk-like substance when rubbed- ewwwwwwww. No salad for me, thanks.
It was so hot in Luxor, even though we were by the water. 108F. Yeesh. We saw alot of tourists being attended to by fist aid, wiped out by heat exhaustion. Shady spots were at a premium.
Notwithstanding, we could have been there the whole day- there was so much to see!
We went next to the Luxor temple, dedicated to Mut (Amun's wife). It was the focus of the festival of Opet, when a statue of Amun travel from Karnak to Mut's temple to spend a romantic week with her. There would be huge parties, lots of food, drinking, games, etc.. When the week was over, they walk the idol back to Karnak 3km along 'the Avenue of Sphinx'- an avenue lined with sculptures of the sphinx all the way to the Karnak temple.
The Luxor temple is unique because it encompassed 4 different religions; ancient Egyptian, Roman, Islam and Catholic. The temple was orginally dedicated to Mut (ancient Egyptian). It was then taken over by Alexander the Great showed and in order to avoid an revolt, built this inner sanctum to honour Amun to say “hey, I'm just like you guys- now worship me as your new King” (Roman). Like many of the ancient sites in Egypt, the temple of Luxor was buried under sand for many years. In the meantime, a village was built over the site, and a mosque was errected. (you can see the picture at the top of the blog) Because the mosque is over 1000 years old, they left it standing (Islam). Finally, while the Christians were being hunted down in Rome, many hid out in the ancient Egyptian temples. In the temple of Luxor, they turned one of the areas into a church and painted frescoes right over the ancient carvings (Christian). Actually, that's one thing that pissed me off at every site we went to: all of the temples were defaced in some way or another by Christians who were hiding out in the buildings during their time of persecution. Beautiful, informative, ancient works of art were smashed, painted over, burned out, etc. Ech. Now, I'm a catholic (in the loosest of terms) and I was thoroughly embarassed. When exactly did the notion of tolerance become enacted?
That night we returned to watch 'The Sound and Light Show' at the Karnak Temple. Basically, they shut off all of the lights and project images on the walls while a recording of the history of the place plays. You walk through to various areas to hear the different parts of the story. Very eerie to be in that ancient place with all the lights off. At one point, there are almost no lights and all you can hear is the tapping of the chisels against stone. Spoooky.
The next day saw us up bright and early and headed for the Valley of the Kings. Even at 7am, the sun was bouncing off landscape, baking us in 115F temperatures. The east bank of the Nile in Luxor has the majority of the temples and the west bank is where the valley is. With the 2005 discovery of a new chamber and the 2008 discovery of 2 further tomb entrances,the valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers (ranging in size from a simple pit to a complex tomb with over 120 chambers),and was the principal burial place of the major royal figures of the Egyptian New Kingdom, together with those of a number of privileged nobles. Even while we were there, excavations were going on, discovering more incredible ancient findings. A ticket bought you admittance to 3 of those tombs, so you had to choose wisely. We actually decided to forgo Tut's tomb. I know that sounds foolish, but actually, the tomb is very sparsely decorated and we had already seen all the stuff they took out of it at the Cairo museum. We went instead for Tutmosis III, Ramses III and Seti I's tombs; all incredibly preserved and rife with brightly coloured paintings and wall carvings. Tutmosis III's tomb was the most interesting because it was built 30ft off the ground in the cliff face. You have to climb a tall staircase and then down a steep ladder into the tomb. It was all worth it though. The artwork was incredible. As you can guess, no photos allowed! They actually have guards posted that will check your camera to see if you've tried to sneak a pic. The fines can cost you upwards of 1,000$ USD! It was all slightly surreal. I think we've been spoiled by Disneyland and Universal- everything around me was so well preserved that I felt like I was at a cunningly designed Hollywood attraction or on an elaborate set. It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that these places had been around for thousands and thousands of years.
We rounded out the day with a visit to Hatshepsut's temple (sort of pronounced like 'hotchickensoup', according ot Sayyid). She was is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Most of the images of her depict her as a man, as she wanted to be seen as an equal to any other man, if not stronger and smarter. She was eventually kicked off the throne by her brother when he got old enough to take it from her. Bully.
All in all it was an amazing trip. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that we stuffed a 7-day trip into 4, but I don't regret a single exhaustive minute.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Nile Cruise
I know, I know, it's been a while. We've been pretty busy.
Turns out the AD's needed some time to breakdown scripts 6 thru 10, so we had a 4-day weekend! With 2 days notice, we furiously tried to put a trip out of Cairo together. With the help of the set doctor (and medical advisor), Dr. Khaled, and his myriad of connections, we booked a 4-day cruise up the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, with a few stops along the way.
We got back on Monday, and it's only been a few days, but already things are blurring together and fading. Chris and I decided to leave the computer behind, and part of me wishes we had brought it so that I could have written everything down while it was still fresh. I look back now and realize that we really crammed a 7-day trip into 4, but I regret nothing. This was the most amazing trip- I saw things that made me realize the true meaning of the word 'awesome'; things that made me feel thoroughly blown away and insignificant at the same time. The sheer age of these places made your head spin. The technology and engineering skills needed to create these colossal installations is unfathomable. Looking at the ancient acheivements made me wonder if there wasn't another hand involved in all of this. I'm not saying aliens or anything, but it really makes you wonder how they did all that thousands of years ago.
Chris and I flew into Aswan Friday afternoon and were met at our boat, The Nile Shams, by our very own tour guide, Sayyid. We went over the itinerary for the weekend- so much to do! We were going to start with a Felucca ride on the Nile, then a visit to a Nubian Village. Sayyid spoke excellent English and we found out he holds a degree in Egyptology and his wife works in restoration of the temples in the area.
The ride in the Felucca (a type of sailboat that's been around since the time of the Pharoahs) was a wonderful way to ease into vacation-mode. The first thing I noticed about Aswan was the absolute stillness. Not a car horn, no loud radios, no yelling. Nuthin'. Total peace and quiet. And the air smelled so wonderful- not an ounce of taxi exhaust, no dust, nothing.
As we glided along with the wind, Sayyid showed us various points of interest. Then a teeny red flag: the 'captain' of the boat pulled out a bag with jewelery for us to 'browse'. Ech. I was afraid of this. We must have 'tourist' written on our faces. Sure it was all pretty inexpensive, but we were on a sightseeing trip, not a souvenir-quest. We picked up a few cheap pieces and landed back on the dock for high tea on board and a little rest.
A little later we met up with Sayyid for a trip to the local Nubian Village. We had to take a motorboat to get there, and we passed through some really beautiful scenery. When we arrived on the shore close to the village, we were greeted with a chorus of grunts and strange bleating- we looked out on a sea of camels, all saddled up and ready to go. Chris and I each 'hopped' on a "ship of the desert" (they're called that because when they walk they move both legs of each side together, creating a rocking motion like a ship)- as much as you can 'hop' on a camel- it's like sitting on a seesaw. NOW we're tourists. It was a 15minute trek to the village, all along the Nile. Our guide took the motorboat. Smart guy.
In the Nubian village we visited a traditional home and saw the school where we learned the difference between Arabic and the Nubian languages. Walking back we ran the gauntlet of vendors asking us to come and see, come and buy. We stopped at a spice vendor's stand and were agog at the variety, smells and colours. We got to taste a bunch of them and walked away with some fresh cumin, dried hybiscus flowers and a few custom blends for different meats. There would have been more, but when the vendor gleefully tallied up our choices, it came up to more than 100$ and we more than a couple selections back, much to the guy's disappointment. We had to pull Sayyid aside and say, 'listen, we're not here to buy a bunch of tchotskies in a mad rush to cram as much purchasing of souvenirs as possible- we're here for 5 months! we're "workin' folk" and just want to see stuff'- he was completely understanding and assured us that we were not to feel obliged to buy anything and just politely say so when confronted by any avid seller. So the tone for the trip was set we were cool again- Dr. Khaled set us up with a straight up guide. Nice.
The following morning we got up at the butt crack of dawn (2:30am) and headed for Abu Simbel, 3 hrs away across the desert, very close to the border of Sudan. In order to ensure our safe passage, we had to travel as part of a police convoy that left Aswan at 4:30am. Thankfully our tour guide had found us a very comfy car with shades that could be drawn against the intrusive sunrise. A few hours later we arrived in dusty parking lot in front of a large hill. There were crowds of tourists pouring out of the other vehicles in the convoy, so we beat feet to be the first though security. The hill was between the parking lot and Lake Nasser and the sun was just coming up over the water- absolutely gorgeous. Lake Nasser is the largest man-made lake in the world, the result of the building of the Aswan High Dam. We followed Sayyid around the big hill to be confronted by a sight that literally made me gasp. There was Abu Simbel, built into the side of the hill. The sheer size of the place was incredible, and the way it looked in the early morning light made it look all that more awe-inspiring. Like the museum in Cairo, picture-taking is not allowed inside the temple, which is unfortunate because the walls were covered top to bottom with carvings- and these walls were over 40ft tall! It's amazing how so much detail can be crammed into one space. I have never felt so insignificant before, and not minded one bit if the face of such amazing sights. And that feeling never changed in intensity with each ancient site we visited.
Sayyid had so much information to tell us of each place we visited. It turns out that the hill that Abu Simbel was built into is a man-made hill: when the lake was created, the temple was in danger of being swallowed up by the water. So, archeologists took the temple apart piece by piece and moved it 300 meters to higher ground and rebuilt it exactly as it was!
Later that day we arrived in Edfu and visited the second-largest and second-best preserved temple in Egypt. The place was huge! You could still see the bright shades of red, blue, yellow and orange on the walls of the temple. Amazing. The tour guide said that the ancient Egyptians had over 6500 colours in their choice of paints. Like every temple we saw after that, every inch of the interior and exterior are covered in carved images; mostly of whichever king commissioned the builiding of the said temple. In many cases, it took several 100 years to build a temple, so a few different pharaohs were involved. As you can imagine, most of the images on the walls depict the king demonstrating his power, his devotion to the gods, his vast progeny, etc. The monuments are as much dedicated to dieties as to the pharaohs themselves.
Later that day we sailed further up the Nile to Kom Ombo, Sayyid's hometown. We visited that temple. There was carvings on the walls of that temple showing early evidence of surgical tools. Whoa. This temple was also distinct because it was devoted to two gods instead of just one: Horus and Sobek. The temple has two halves, identically mirroring themselves in every detail, save that one side is dedicated to Horus, the hawk-headed god, and the other side to Sobek the crocodile headed god. In ancient times, Kom Ombo's area waters were infested with crocodiles and people were not safe. They figured if they built a temple for Sobek, it would please him and he would call off his 'minions'. Notwithstanding, Sobek was an evil god, and you couldn't build a temple for an evil god, so they balanced it by making a equal temple for Horus. Got to cover your butt, right?
We moved on to Luxor and saw the Karnak Temple and Luxor's temple, each one more and more impressive in detail, artwork, history and size.
I'll save that for the next posting. My fingers are cramping...
Turns out the AD's needed some time to breakdown scripts 6 thru 10, so we had a 4-day weekend! With 2 days notice, we furiously tried to put a trip out of Cairo together. With the help of the set doctor (and medical advisor), Dr. Khaled, and his myriad of connections, we booked a 4-day cruise up the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, with a few stops along the way.
We got back on Monday, and it's only been a few days, but already things are blurring together and fading. Chris and I decided to leave the computer behind, and part of me wishes we had brought it so that I could have written everything down while it was still fresh. I look back now and realize that we really crammed a 7-day trip into 4, but I regret nothing. This was the most amazing trip- I saw things that made me realize the true meaning of the word 'awesome'; things that made me feel thoroughly blown away and insignificant at the same time. The sheer age of these places made your head spin. The technology and engineering skills needed to create these colossal installations is unfathomable. Looking at the ancient acheivements made me wonder if there wasn't another hand involved in all of this. I'm not saying aliens or anything, but it really makes you wonder how they did all that thousands of years ago.
Chris and I flew into Aswan Friday afternoon and were met at our boat, The Nile Shams, by our very own tour guide, Sayyid. We went over the itinerary for the weekend- so much to do! We were going to start with a Felucca ride on the Nile, then a visit to a Nubian Village. Sayyid spoke excellent English and we found out he holds a degree in Egyptology and his wife works in restoration of the temples in the area.
The ride in the Felucca (a type of sailboat that's been around since the time of the Pharoahs) was a wonderful way to ease into vacation-mode. The first thing I noticed about Aswan was the absolute stillness. Not a car horn, no loud radios, no yelling. Nuthin'. Total peace and quiet. And the air smelled so wonderful- not an ounce of taxi exhaust, no dust, nothing.
As we glided along with the wind, Sayyid showed us various points of interest. Then a teeny red flag: the 'captain' of the boat pulled out a bag with jewelery for us to 'browse'. Ech. I was afraid of this. We must have 'tourist' written on our faces. Sure it was all pretty inexpensive, but we were on a sightseeing trip, not a souvenir-quest. We picked up a few cheap pieces and landed back on the dock for high tea on board and a little rest.
A little later we met up with Sayyid for a trip to the local Nubian Village. We had to take a motorboat to get there, and we passed through some really beautiful scenery. When we arrived on the shore close to the village, we were greeted with a chorus of grunts and strange bleating- we looked out on a sea of camels, all saddled up and ready to go. Chris and I each 'hopped' on a "ship of the desert" (they're called that because when they walk they move both legs of each side together, creating a rocking motion like a ship)- as much as you can 'hop' on a camel- it's like sitting on a seesaw. NOW we're tourists. It was a 15minute trek to the village, all along the Nile. Our guide took the motorboat. Smart guy.
In the Nubian village we visited a traditional home and saw the school where we learned the difference between Arabic and the Nubian languages. Walking back we ran the gauntlet of vendors asking us to come and see, come and buy. We stopped at a spice vendor's stand and were agog at the variety, smells and colours. We got to taste a bunch of them and walked away with some fresh cumin, dried hybiscus flowers and a few custom blends for different meats. There would have been more, but when the vendor gleefully tallied up our choices, it came up to more than 100$ and we more than a couple selections back, much to the guy's disappointment. We had to pull Sayyid aside and say, 'listen, we're not here to buy a bunch of tchotskies in a mad rush to cram as much purchasing of souvenirs as possible- we're here for 5 months! we're "workin' folk" and just want to see stuff'- he was completely understanding and assured us that we were not to feel obliged to buy anything and just politely say so when confronted by any avid seller. So the tone for the trip was set we were cool again- Dr. Khaled set us up with a straight up guide. Nice.
The following morning we got up at the butt crack of dawn (2:30am) and headed for Abu Simbel, 3 hrs away across the desert, very close to the border of Sudan. In order to ensure our safe passage, we had to travel as part of a police convoy that left Aswan at 4:30am. Thankfully our tour guide had found us a very comfy car with shades that could be drawn against the intrusive sunrise. A few hours later we arrived in dusty parking lot in front of a large hill. There were crowds of tourists pouring out of the other vehicles in the convoy, so we beat feet to be the first though security. The hill was between the parking lot and Lake Nasser and the sun was just coming up over the water- absolutely gorgeous. Lake Nasser is the largest man-made lake in the world, the result of the building of the Aswan High Dam. We followed Sayyid around the big hill to be confronted by a sight that literally made me gasp. There was Abu Simbel, built into the side of the hill. The sheer size of the place was incredible, and the way it looked in the early morning light made it look all that more awe-inspiring. Like the museum in Cairo, picture-taking is not allowed inside the temple, which is unfortunate because the walls were covered top to bottom with carvings- and these walls were over 40ft tall! It's amazing how so much detail can be crammed into one space. I have never felt so insignificant before, and not minded one bit if the face of such amazing sights. And that feeling never changed in intensity with each ancient site we visited.
Sayyid had so much information to tell us of each place we visited. It turns out that the hill that Abu Simbel was built into is a man-made hill: when the lake was created, the temple was in danger of being swallowed up by the water. So, archeologists took the temple apart piece by piece and moved it 300 meters to higher ground and rebuilt it exactly as it was!
Later that day we arrived in Edfu and visited the second-largest and second-best preserved temple in Egypt. The place was huge! You could still see the bright shades of red, blue, yellow and orange on the walls of the temple. Amazing. The tour guide said that the ancient Egyptians had over 6500 colours in their choice of paints. Like every temple we saw after that, every inch of the interior and exterior are covered in carved images; mostly of whichever king commissioned the builiding of the said temple. In many cases, it took several 100 years to build a temple, so a few different pharaohs were involved. As you can imagine, most of the images on the walls depict the king demonstrating his power, his devotion to the gods, his vast progeny, etc. The monuments are as much dedicated to dieties as to the pharaohs themselves.
Later that day we sailed further up the Nile to Kom Ombo, Sayyid's hometown. We visited that temple. There was carvings on the walls of that temple showing early evidence of surgical tools. Whoa. This temple was also distinct because it was devoted to two gods instead of just one: Horus and Sobek. The temple has two halves, identically mirroring themselves in every detail, save that one side is dedicated to Horus, the hawk-headed god, and the other side to Sobek the crocodile headed god. In ancient times, Kom Ombo's area waters were infested with crocodiles and people were not safe. They figured if they built a temple for Sobek, it would please him and he would call off his 'minions'. Notwithstanding, Sobek was an evil god, and you couldn't build a temple for an evil god, so they balanced it by making a equal temple for Horus. Got to cover your butt, right?
We moved on to Luxor and saw the Karnak Temple and Luxor's temple, each one more and more impressive in detail, artwork, history and size.
I'll save that for the next posting. My fingers are cramping...
Monday, May 4, 2009
Meat-a-palooza
Seeing as how our stuff was three-and-a-half weeks late, and we got here a week early to start working on a pre-build, we're roughly 4 1/2 weeks behind. Some math, eh? Needless to say, Chris and I had to work on our day off. Luckily, this past week has been very light, effects-wise, so we had some time to catch up and only had to clock a couple of hours.
We had gone out the night before with our new-made friends from set to a gorgeous lounge called 'Sangria', right on the Nile. Chris and the others had "Shrimp 'Grandmere'" (sort of a gratin of shrimp served in an actual huge clam shell) and I had the "Mixed Grill" as suggested by a coworker who I had sworn knew my dining 'particularities'. Much to my dismay, the dish turned out to be chicken, beef and lamb. I ate the chicken and the lamb and beef were gobbled up by my hubby and the other guys at our table. Chris tried some 'Sheesha' which is a water-pipe with flavoured tobacco. There are many misconceptions that these are for smoking dope- nope. Just a regular hunk of regular, unfiltered 'to-bac-keee' soaked in either honey or molasses and then set in a foil cone under glowing coals. The tobacco comes in flavours like honeydew, cantalope, apple and a few others. It smelt really good, but apparently it's worse than cigarettes when it comes to your lungs because of the lack of filter. Chris said it was really smooth though. Either way, I didn't try it. I did have a beer though. Two beers, actually. The Egyptians invented beer, which is good because their wine is really nothing to write home about and I've heard scary things about their hard liquor. The top brands of beer are Meister Max, Sakara, and Stella (not Stella Artois). They all come in 8% and 10% version. Niiiice. I had a Meister Max and a Stella and enjoyed both- Meister Max being the (slightly) darker of the two. (Appology to the readers: I really hope no one is looking for a deep introspective blog- this ain't it. I just want to share my adventure of living in Cairo with those close to me. If a deep thought or moment of personal enlightened finds itself into the chaos, bonus.)
After sleeping in a bit, we headed for Studio Galal (affectionately refered to on set as "Galal-atanamo") to work on a piece that was shooting this weekend; in one scene someone is impaled by metal rods as he's caught under a collapsing balcony- very messy. We managed to get everything done by 4pm, so Ibrahim's friend Wasseed (or Wasseem- I am really bad with names here) invited us and our driver Sa'eed for dinner. With my new 'when in Rome' philosophy, how could I turn it down? :)
Waseem/d, his wife Omnare and his two daughters Ganan and Ashrakat live in an apartment not far from the studio. Actually, almost everyone in Cairo lives in an apartment. Houses are rare, and are only really seen as you move away from Cairo, into Heliopolis (the Beverly Hills of the Cairo area), Giza and Maadi (both considered 'suburbia'). This apartment (by the way, why are they called "apart"ments' when they're stuck together?), though small, has so much character- tall ceilings, archways, ornated molding; the building's been around for almost 100 years! Omnare was very proud of the decor and showed me each room, asking my opinion on each. After, tea was served in the living room and we gabbed until dinner was ready. Omnare and her sister-in-law brought out all sorts of dishes as we crowded around the dining room table.
It was evident that they had been working all day- it smelled incredible! Roast lamb, kofta (elongated lamb/rice meatballs), some sort of meat pie, "makarona bil beshamel" (macaroni or other pasta- in this case rotini- baked in a bechamel sauce with cheese) with ground beef, curried beef stew, and, uh, more meat. A veritable "Meatapalooza"! Gulp. How do I explain to these wonderful people who have OBVIOUSLY slaved all day to make all this awesome food that I don't eat red meat???? I certainly didn't want to offend, because from what I understand, meat is very expensive and is served mostly on special occasions. What else could I do? I handed over my plate. And eating as a guest with an Egyptian family is like going to my Grandmaman's- "no thank you" means "yes please" and "just a bit more" translates to "I have a hollow leg". :)
Oh. My. God. I can't remember ever eating so much meat, let alone remember the last time I had meat. Mind you, it was all incredibly delicious. It's just that my system was in total meat-overload.
And I hope that I don't come across as unappreciative, even for one second. I have never been anywhere where I have felt more unconditionally & warmly welcomed. Omnare and I have clicked in some way and we have founded a quick friendship that I hope I will have the pleasure of enjoying for a long long time.
Actually, this brings me to something that made me quite upset today. I read a blog entry from someone I know today. They had recently made a trip out to Cairo on a 4-day weekend holiday they had from work (in India). The blog was nothing more than a slandering, angry tirade about how the Cairene people are angry, money-grubbing, scheming individuals who have it in for foreigners, Americans in particular. While the blog was rife with historical information, it was lacking sociologically sensitive facts that proper preparative reading would have helped elucidate the behaviours they encountered on their jaunt to Cairo.
For one, sure, Cairo is overcrowded, loud and dirty. So is New York.
Sure, people yell at each other alot here. That doesn't mean they're consumed with a burning rage that might result in murder in the streets. The Cairenes are a passionate people- this goes for the majority of the Egyptian people. They get excited, they yell, it's over. Arabic is a language that is very foreign to the ear and because of its sound, can seem very angry. So's german.
Sure, everyone is asking for money here. Someone holds the door for you, helps you with your bags, gives you directions, etc. you give them a couple of Egyptian Pounds ($1.00 = $.18- roughly)It's called 'baksheesh'- with a little reading up beforehand, this person would have known about it and not writen it off as some demeaning trait. Wages here are bad. And I mean bad. For those receiving 'tips', the extra income supplements a wage that is often shocking by Western standards (sometimes 300 Egyptian Pounds per MONTH). And it isn't reserved to tourists: Egyptians tip at every opportunity and for some of the most basic of daily needs. Sure, there's crooked people out there, trying to scheme you out of a couple of bucks, but you find those people anywhere you go. Plus, it doesn't help that the only places they visited were tourist hotbeds. I mean, geeze- what do you expect? Do you think people visiting Disneyland think it's rational to pay 6$ for a Coke? C'mon.
And there was a mention of being in fear that at any moment there might be a terrible occurence of 'road-rage', the way the drivers were yelling at each other. I'm sorry, but a little yelling is nothing. Last I remember, drivers in L.A. shoot each other.
I'm sorry, but this blog posting just really made me mad. After living here for a month, I find myself hard-pressed to find more friendly, honest, hard-working people. Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions to every rule, and Cairo and Egypt in general is a long way from Eden, but referring to the city as a 'high-maintence crackwhore girlfriend on steroids'? Whoa. No wonder the unfortunate stereotype of being American still persists.
We had gone out the night before with our new-made friends from set to a gorgeous lounge called 'Sangria', right on the Nile. Chris and the others had "Shrimp 'Grandmere'" (sort of a gratin of shrimp served in an actual huge clam shell) and I had the "Mixed Grill" as suggested by a coworker who I had sworn knew my dining 'particularities'. Much to my dismay, the dish turned out to be chicken, beef and lamb. I ate the chicken and the lamb and beef were gobbled up by my hubby and the other guys at our table. Chris tried some 'Sheesha' which is a water-pipe with flavoured tobacco. There are many misconceptions that these are for smoking dope- nope. Just a regular hunk of regular, unfiltered 'to-bac-keee' soaked in either honey or molasses and then set in a foil cone under glowing coals. The tobacco comes in flavours like honeydew, cantalope, apple and a few others. It smelt really good, but apparently it's worse than cigarettes when it comes to your lungs because of the lack of filter. Chris said it was really smooth though. Either way, I didn't try it. I did have a beer though. Two beers, actually. The Egyptians invented beer, which is good because their wine is really nothing to write home about and I've heard scary things about their hard liquor. The top brands of beer are Meister Max, Sakara, and Stella (not Stella Artois). They all come in 8% and 10% version. Niiiice. I had a Meister Max and a Stella and enjoyed both- Meister Max being the (slightly) darker of the two. (Appology to the readers: I really hope no one is looking for a deep introspective blog- this ain't it. I just want to share my adventure of living in Cairo with those close to me. If a deep thought or moment of personal enlightened finds itself into the chaos, bonus.)
After sleeping in a bit, we headed for Studio Galal (affectionately refered to on set as "Galal-atanamo") to work on a piece that was shooting this weekend; in one scene someone is impaled by metal rods as he's caught under a collapsing balcony- very messy. We managed to get everything done by 4pm, so Ibrahim's friend Wasseed (or Wasseem- I am really bad with names here) invited us and our driver Sa'eed for dinner. With my new 'when in Rome' philosophy, how could I turn it down? :)
Waseem/d, his wife Omnare and his two daughters Ganan and Ashrakat live in an apartment not far from the studio. Actually, almost everyone in Cairo lives in an apartment. Houses are rare, and are only really seen as you move away from Cairo, into Heliopolis (the Beverly Hills of the Cairo area), Giza and Maadi (both considered 'suburbia'). This apartment (by the way, why are they called "apart"ments' when they're stuck together?), though small, has so much character- tall ceilings, archways, ornated molding; the building's been around for almost 100 years! Omnare was very proud of the decor and showed me each room, asking my opinion on each. After, tea was served in the living room and we gabbed until dinner was ready. Omnare and her sister-in-law brought out all sorts of dishes as we crowded around the dining room table.
It was evident that they had been working all day- it smelled incredible! Roast lamb, kofta (elongated lamb/rice meatballs), some sort of meat pie, "makarona bil beshamel" (macaroni or other pasta- in this case rotini- baked in a bechamel sauce with cheese) with ground beef, curried beef stew, and, uh, more meat. A veritable "Meatapalooza"! Gulp. How do I explain to these wonderful people who have OBVIOUSLY slaved all day to make all this awesome food that I don't eat red meat???? I certainly didn't want to offend, because from what I understand, meat is very expensive and is served mostly on special occasions. What else could I do? I handed over my plate. And eating as a guest with an Egyptian family is like going to my Grandmaman's- "no thank you" means "yes please" and "just a bit more" translates to "I have a hollow leg". :)
Oh. My. God. I can't remember ever eating so much meat, let alone remember the last time I had meat. Mind you, it was all incredibly delicious. It's just that my system was in total meat-overload.
And I hope that I don't come across as unappreciative, even for one second. I have never been anywhere where I have felt more unconditionally & warmly welcomed. Omnare and I have clicked in some way and we have founded a quick friendship that I hope I will have the pleasure of enjoying for a long long time.
Actually, this brings me to something that made me quite upset today. I read a blog entry from someone I know today. They had recently made a trip out to Cairo on a 4-day weekend holiday they had from work (in India). The blog was nothing more than a slandering, angry tirade about how the Cairene people are angry, money-grubbing, scheming individuals who have it in for foreigners, Americans in particular. While the blog was rife with historical information, it was lacking sociologically sensitive facts that proper preparative reading would have helped elucidate the behaviours they encountered on their jaunt to Cairo.
For one, sure, Cairo is overcrowded, loud and dirty. So is New York.
Sure, people yell at each other alot here. That doesn't mean they're consumed with a burning rage that might result in murder in the streets. The Cairenes are a passionate people- this goes for the majority of the Egyptian people. They get excited, they yell, it's over. Arabic is a language that is very foreign to the ear and because of its sound, can seem very angry. So's german.
Sure, everyone is asking for money here. Someone holds the door for you, helps you with your bags, gives you directions, etc. you give them a couple of Egyptian Pounds ($1.00 = $.18- roughly)It's called 'baksheesh'- with a little reading up beforehand, this person would have known about it and not writen it off as some demeaning trait. Wages here are bad. And I mean bad. For those receiving 'tips', the extra income supplements a wage that is often shocking by Western standards (sometimes 300 Egyptian Pounds per MONTH). And it isn't reserved to tourists: Egyptians tip at every opportunity and for some of the most basic of daily needs. Sure, there's crooked people out there, trying to scheme you out of a couple of bucks, but you find those people anywhere you go. Plus, it doesn't help that the only places they visited were tourist hotbeds. I mean, geeze- what do you expect? Do you think people visiting Disneyland think it's rational to pay 6$ for a Coke? C'mon.
And there was a mention of being in fear that at any moment there might be a terrible occurence of 'road-rage', the way the drivers were yelling at each other. I'm sorry, but a little yelling is nothing. Last I remember, drivers in L.A. shoot each other.
I'm sorry, but this blog posting just really made me mad. After living here for a month, I find myself hard-pressed to find more friendly, honest, hard-working people. Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions to every rule, and Cairo and Egypt in general is a long way from Eden, but referring to the city as a 'high-maintence crackwhore girlfriend on steroids'? Whoa. No wonder the unfortunate stereotype of being American still persists.
Monday, April 27, 2009
OUR STUFF IS HERE!!!
As what I can only imagine is Fate's appology for 'the incident' the other morning, OUR STUFF ARRIVED!! Well, most of it. Customs opened everything. Pete, the DP, tells me that that's the norm. Last year for his birthday, customs opened all his gifts and then re-wrapped them with the wrapping paper inside-out. Uh huh.
Regardless, it was like Christmas morning- boxes being torn open, excited exclamations, etc. Our room is now (almost) fully equipped. We're only missing a few essential items like adhesive remover (it's been somewhat slow-going- not to mention sticky- removing pieces with alcohol), brush cleaner and the catalyst for the silicone (kiiinda important- it's what makes the molding silicone harden), and a few other bits and bobs. Chris and I are in high gear trying to catch up on the build, with the top priorities being a fake pregnant belly we can shoot getting cut open for an emergency c-section and a torso impaled with actual metal rods that they want to saw off on-screen. Major engineering is going into that last one. We could use your help, Papa Mills!
Last Friday we were invited for the day to Ismalia by one of the guys who works with our department, Ibrahim. Ismalia is a small town on the Red Sea at the mouth of the Suez Canal, about an hour and a half away from Cairo. Ibrahim has a little villa by the ocean in a small resort apartment complex. While the sky was cloudy and it rained on and off, we had a terrific time with his family and close friends. We played football ('soccer' for y'all state-side) and a few games like 'Blindman's Bluff' and 'Musical Chairs'. Everybody played, and was really into it; adults, teens, kids, "Hawaagas" (foreigners, i.e. Us). We had a lovely (albeit cold) picnic on the beach, and feasted on (whole) grilled stuffed 'boori' (mullet) and 'bayadi' (Nile perch-whole), rice, fresh flat bread and salad. The minute they unwrapped the fish, we were descended upon by over a dozen 'otas' (cats). We tossed them bits and pieces and they had a feast too.
Despite the somewhat hindering language barrier, we all had a blast. The games seemed to serve as a sort of universal language. Plus, Chris and I got two more invites for lunches; one with our driver Sa'eed's family this Friday and another with Ibrahim's friend's (Waseed) family later. I'm really glad we took my aunt Janice's advise to jump on any invitation extended to us by a local. It's a really great way to see what life is like here, more of the language and little out of the way place you might not see as a tourist. We're looking forward to this Friday!
Also in what I think is a 'reality check' from Fate, we got locked out of our apartment. It was late Saturday night, and Chris and I were amongst the last to leave the studios around 11:00pm (working late on fiberglass). We trudged exhausted up the stairs and stumbled (there's no light on our floor) to the front door. Chris put tried to put the key in the lock but it wouldn't go in. What the???? He tried a bunch of times but it just wouldn't happen. He played with the lock for a while, then I tried, then he tried again before we went downstairs to the doorman [who doesn't speak a lick of English past "hello" and "Kriiiis"- Chris) and let him know that our key didn't work (hey! great time to try out that Egyptian Arabic phrasebook!). As you can imagine, we headed back upstairs so he could try his hand at it for a bit. No go. He called the landlady (12am) and she came over with her son who then went out to find a locksmith. We made small talk with Suzanne, our landlady (who was fairly fluent in English), talking about going to the gym, her aimless son and watched the stray cats in the stairwell for a while. Meanwhile, Chris contacted our production liason to let them know what was going on. They called back and told us that they had contacted our driver (! he had just arrived home after fighting his way though terrible traffic) to come pick us up and take us to the Semiramis for the night. It's nice to know we're well taken care of! We went downstairs to wait for Sa'eed. Just then, Suzanne's son arrived with a 'locksmith' (a buddy with a screwdriver who borrowed my hairpin to open the lock) who said it looks like someone was messing with our lock and broke it. Reassuring, you can imagine. Needless to say, Chris called to tell Sa'eed (who at this point was still on his way, simply to pay the locksmith) to head home, we'd cover the cost. We FINALLY hit the hay around 1am. Ugh. Sunday was rough...
THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU'RE WAITING FOR THE LANDLADY:
1. Spit down an 8-storey stairwell
2. Work on your mental powers as you try to 'make' the door open with your mind
3. Play 'Guess That Smell'
4. Count your teeth with your tongue
5. Play 'Name That Stain on the Floor'
Regardless, it was like Christmas morning- boxes being torn open, excited exclamations, etc. Our room is now (almost) fully equipped. We're only missing a few essential items like adhesive remover (it's been somewhat slow-going- not to mention sticky- removing pieces with alcohol), brush cleaner and the catalyst for the silicone (kiiinda important- it's what makes the molding silicone harden), and a few other bits and bobs. Chris and I are in high gear trying to catch up on the build, with the top priorities being a fake pregnant belly we can shoot getting cut open for an emergency c-section and a torso impaled with actual metal rods that they want to saw off on-screen. Major engineering is going into that last one. We could use your help, Papa Mills!
Last Friday we were invited for the day to Ismalia by one of the guys who works with our department, Ibrahim. Ismalia is a small town on the Red Sea at the mouth of the Suez Canal, about an hour and a half away from Cairo. Ibrahim has a little villa by the ocean in a small resort apartment complex. While the sky was cloudy and it rained on and off, we had a terrific time with his family and close friends. We played football ('soccer' for y'all state-side) and a few games like 'Blindman's Bluff' and 'Musical Chairs'. Everybody played, and was really into it; adults, teens, kids, "Hawaagas" (foreigners, i.e. Us). We had a lovely (albeit cold) picnic on the beach, and feasted on (whole) grilled stuffed 'boori' (mullet) and 'bayadi' (Nile perch-whole), rice, fresh flat bread and salad. The minute they unwrapped the fish, we were descended upon by over a dozen 'otas' (cats). We tossed them bits and pieces and they had a feast too.
Despite the somewhat hindering language barrier, we all had a blast. The games seemed to serve as a sort of universal language. Plus, Chris and I got two more invites for lunches; one with our driver Sa'eed's family this Friday and another with Ibrahim's friend's (Waseed) family later. I'm really glad we took my aunt Janice's advise to jump on any invitation extended to us by a local. It's a really great way to see what life is like here, more of the language and little out of the way place you might not see as a tourist. We're looking forward to this Friday!
Also in what I think is a 'reality check' from Fate, we got locked out of our apartment. It was late Saturday night, and Chris and I were amongst the last to leave the studios around 11:00pm (working late on fiberglass). We trudged exhausted up the stairs and stumbled (there's no light on our floor) to the front door. Chris put tried to put the key in the lock but it wouldn't go in. What the???? He tried a bunch of times but it just wouldn't happen. He played with the lock for a while, then I tried, then he tried again before we went downstairs to the doorman [who doesn't speak a lick of English past "hello" and "Kriiiis"- Chris) and let him know that our key didn't work (hey! great time to try out that Egyptian Arabic phrasebook!). As you can imagine, we headed back upstairs so he could try his hand at it for a bit. No go. He called the landlady (12am) and she came over with her son who then went out to find a locksmith. We made small talk with Suzanne, our landlady (who was fairly fluent in English), talking about going to the gym, her aimless son and watched the stray cats in the stairwell for a while. Meanwhile, Chris contacted our production liason to let them know what was going on. They called back and told us that they had contacted our driver (! he had just arrived home after fighting his way though terrible traffic) to come pick us up and take us to the Semiramis for the night. It's nice to know we're well taken care of! We went downstairs to wait for Sa'eed. Just then, Suzanne's son arrived with a 'locksmith' (a buddy with a screwdriver who borrowed my hairpin to open the lock) who said it looks like someone was messing with our lock and broke it. Reassuring, you can imagine. Needless to say, Chris called to tell Sa'eed (who at this point was still on his way, simply to pay the locksmith) to head home, we'd cover the cost. We FINALLY hit the hay around 1am. Ugh. Sunday was rough...
THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU'RE WAITING FOR THE LANDLADY:
1. Spit down an 8-storey stairwell
2. Work on your mental powers as you try to 'make' the door open with your mind
3. Play 'Guess That Smell'
4. Count your teeth with your tongue
5. Play 'Name That Stain on the Floor'
Thursday, April 23, 2009
World(s) [Apart] War Three
Holy Crap. It all came to a head today. I exploded. Okay, so not nuclear, but I did raise my voice.
A little back story: Apparently there were communication problems (go figure) last year between the special effects department and the AD department. So as a pre-emptive measure, a special position was created- a continuity AD, just for our department. Now, for those of you familiar with the industry, there really is no such position. Each Department Head is in charge of the continuity elements related to their work. We cannot rely on others because they may not know exactly what we're looking for. Moreover, they may not always be consistent in their coverage of continuity. There is a person in charge of continuity for the entirety of the production, and sometimes the script supervisor takes on these duties too. Buuuuut, it is not required to create a position JUST for the special effect make-up department. The inherent danger in doing so is that since this would be their one-and-only job, they will pour 120% of themselves into the job. While I understand and appreciate the importance of continuity, if something is a nano-millimeter off...and they're worried that someone will notice.... ehhhh... I'm worried about the future of the show.
Anywho, so now we've got this person who stands right next to me in our room with her laptop open with a bevy of photos she's taken and is pointing out (during application, in front of talent no less) how 'this is shorter than in the picture, and there was more red here and...' Grrr...
Now, up to today, I've smiled my 'acquired-from-years-of-service-industry' smile and said 'no problem, i've got it, sure, it's okay, i'm on it...', then asked her to tell me these things after if they're necessary. Every day for two weeks. It's been a constant, interminable struggle. I go to war everyday. They don't seem to understand that Chris and I know what we're doing and we're on it. If we can't manage a simple thing like continuity, then we have no business in this industry! Yet, she's still standing there, with her laptop at my shoulder, stepbystep.
Well, today Chris stepped in and said something. Enough was enough. She responded, things escalated and arguing ensued. IN FRONT OF THE TALENT. I don't care who's in my chair- You never EVER argue in front of an actor. After the actor left the room, I told Chris and our 'helper' that next time, you take it outside. She got defensive. I was trying to make my point (across a chasm of a language/cultural barrier) and she kept cutting me off, saying she didn't understand. Um, let me finish and hopefully you'll see what I'm getting to. She kept cutting me off, talking over me. That was that. I lost it and started raising my voice. Now, up until this point I've used my dad's technique of keeping my voice level, yet trying to express my 'displeasure' and getting my point across, and in every other case I've enjoyed measurable success. Today that went into the toilet. This was not going to be resolved without proper mediation.
I had to leave the room to regain my composure. I knew that if I didn't step away things would keep escalating and that would get us nowhere fast. When I returned I found two of our producers, Chris, the AD and her in deep discussion. Again. Now, understand that this situation is starting to feel alot like a scene from "Groundhog Day". We've had this conversation before, three or four times with different approaches, but always with the same disappointing results. There was alot of 'this is how we do it here', 'this is how we do it back home', I appologized for raising my voice (which apparently just isn't done here), lots of Arabic between one of the producers and the ADs, AAARRRRGG! We are getting nowhere!!!! Finally, we think we've come to a resolution. I think. Eeecchh. We'll have to see on Saturday. Which, by the way, is when our stuff is supposed to be here. "T.A.I.T." (Thank Allah It's Thursday)- I need a drink.
A little back story: Apparently there were communication problems (go figure) last year between the special effects department and the AD department. So as a pre-emptive measure, a special position was created- a continuity AD, just for our department. Now, for those of you familiar with the industry, there really is no such position. Each Department Head is in charge of the continuity elements related to their work. We cannot rely on others because they may not know exactly what we're looking for. Moreover, they may not always be consistent in their coverage of continuity. There is a person in charge of continuity for the entirety of the production, and sometimes the script supervisor takes on these duties too. Buuuuut, it is not required to create a position JUST for the special effect make-up department. The inherent danger in doing so is that since this would be their one-and-only job, they will pour 120% of themselves into the job. While I understand and appreciate the importance of continuity, if something is a nano-millimeter off...and they're worried that someone will notice.... ehhhh... I'm worried about the future of the show.
Anywho, so now we've got this person who stands right next to me in our room with her laptop open with a bevy of photos she's taken and is pointing out (during application, in front of talent no less) how 'this is shorter than in the picture, and there was more red here and...' Grrr...
Now, up to today, I've smiled my 'acquired-from-years-of-service-industry' smile and said 'no problem, i've got it, sure, it's okay, i'm on it...', then asked her to tell me these things after if they're necessary. Every day for two weeks. It's been a constant, interminable struggle. I go to war everyday. They don't seem to understand that Chris and I know what we're doing and we're on it. If we can't manage a simple thing like continuity, then we have no business in this industry! Yet, she's still standing there, with her laptop at my shoulder, stepbystep.
Well, today Chris stepped in and said something. Enough was enough. She responded, things escalated and arguing ensued. IN FRONT OF THE TALENT. I don't care who's in my chair- You never EVER argue in front of an actor. After the actor left the room, I told Chris and our 'helper' that next time, you take it outside. She got defensive. I was trying to make my point (across a chasm of a language/cultural barrier) and she kept cutting me off, saying she didn't understand. Um, let me finish and hopefully you'll see what I'm getting to. She kept cutting me off, talking over me. That was that. I lost it and started raising my voice. Now, up until this point I've used my dad's technique of keeping my voice level, yet trying to express my 'displeasure' and getting my point across, and in every other case I've enjoyed measurable success. Today that went into the toilet. This was not going to be resolved without proper mediation.
I had to leave the room to regain my composure. I knew that if I didn't step away things would keep escalating and that would get us nowhere fast. When I returned I found two of our producers, Chris, the AD and her in deep discussion. Again. Now, understand that this situation is starting to feel alot like a scene from "Groundhog Day". We've had this conversation before, three or four times with different approaches, but always with the same disappointing results. There was alot of 'this is how we do it here', 'this is how we do it back home', I appologized for raising my voice (which apparently just isn't done here), lots of Arabic between one of the producers and the ADs, AAARRRRGG! We are getting nowhere!!!! Finally, we think we've come to a resolution. I think. Eeecchh. We'll have to see on Saturday. Which, by the way, is when our stuff is supposed to be here. "T.A.I.T." (Thank Allah It's Thursday)- I need a drink.
Monday, April 20, 2009
"Itchy" Gitchy Ya Ya Yah
Blood seems to be a theme this week. Right now though I'm talking about my own; I seem to be the sole source of sustenance for some colony of mosquitoes, or fleas or something around here. My legs are all chewed up from the knees down. And the itching!!! Oh. My. God. It's terrible. Thankfuly we have a doctor on set- Dr. Khaled got me some antihistamine cream and some claratin, but still, the itch!! Arrrgh!! I can't stop!
Let's think about something else, shall we, or I'll start considering amputating my legs...
Speaking of the focus of unwanted attention, Chris and I feel lately like we're walking in a constant spotlight. As we walk down the street, taxis are constantly stopping (in fact, impeding traffic around them) to see if we need a ride. My feelings regarding this are very much the same as those regarding telemarketers: if I need something, I'll go out and find it- don't hound me. This goes for taxis. While I appreciate the willingness to help us, go away please! See these? These are legs- they work fantastic! We enjoy walking!!! We like exploring!! We'll flag you down if we need you.
In regards to driving in Cairo, I beleive that everyone here is a stunt driver in training. It's nuts how close the cars pass to each other! Inches. And not even a graze. Sometimes there's head-on traffic facing off in a one-way street (most of the sidestreets are like that) and it's like a game of Tetris as cars pull off into a few feet of space to let the other go by, all while pedestrians thread their way through. There seems to be an unspoken understanding between drivers too. Nobody yells, or gets really upset. There's a lot of courtesy, with driver's signaling to each other with a series of flashing blinkers and 'peeps' of their horns. I'm assuming that if no one gets upset, or tries to force their right-of-way, then there's less accidents. Just a theory.
Let's think about something else, shall we, or I'll start considering amputating my legs...
Speaking of the focus of unwanted attention, Chris and I feel lately like we're walking in a constant spotlight. As we walk down the street, taxis are constantly stopping (in fact, impeding traffic around them) to see if we need a ride. My feelings regarding this are very much the same as those regarding telemarketers: if I need something, I'll go out and find it- don't hound me. This goes for taxis. While I appreciate the willingness to help us, go away please! See these? These are legs- they work fantastic! We enjoy walking!!! We like exploring!! We'll flag you down if we need you.
In regards to driving in Cairo, I beleive that everyone here is a stunt driver in training. It's nuts how close the cars pass to each other! Inches. And not even a graze. Sometimes there's head-on traffic facing off in a one-way street (most of the sidestreets are like that) and it's like a game of Tetris as cars pull off into a few feet of space to let the other go by, all while pedestrians thread their way through. There seems to be an unspoken understanding between drivers too. Nobody yells, or gets really upset. There's a lot of courtesy, with driver's signaling to each other with a series of flashing blinkers and 'peeps' of their horns. I'm assuming that if no one gets upset, or tries to force their right-of-way, then there's less accidents. Just a theory.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Blades, Blood and a Monster Under the Bed
Tuesday was an interesting day. I had fair warning of it from Joe Z. at least, on Monday. Production was going to sacrifice a bull in order to bless the taping of the third season of 'CM'. Yup. Sacrifice a bull. We got to work and there it was, ignorantly standing there, tied to a tree. Everyone was waiting for Joe to arrive to start the, er, 'festivities'. I suddenly remembered that I had some very important work that needed attending to right away. Chris stayed to watch and took pictures. I guess that's one more life experience that Chris is richer by. I don't feel a great loss. I know myself and from what Chris said, I would have had a rough time of it (it took the bull 10 minutes to die). Well, I hope all the hoopla worked, and we get our stuff soon. Yessiree. Would be nice to do make-up with, oh, I dunno, a makeup kit.
I spent the better part of yesterday under a hospital bed; it's a scene where a man who's committed suicide is placed in a bed and his wounds continue to bleed profusely. The actor was hooked up to tubing and I was 'attached' to the tubing with syringes, pumping the blood. Because the shot was pretty wide, there really wasn't any place for me to hide save under the bed, so I hung out there for a couple of hours. It wasn't so uncomfortable except for the fact that I really really really had to use the restroom and I was laying flat on my bladder..! Actually, most of the crew forgot that I was under the bed and I scared the crap out of a few of them when I crawled out, covered in blood splatter. :)
Despite the awkward language barrier, I'm really enjoying the crew here. Egyptian people, and Cairenes in particular, have a terrific sense of humour and love picking on each other. They're pretty sarcastic- just my type of folks! I feel right at home!
I think (one of) the hardest things about living in Egypt is the taboo of publicly displayed affection. Chris and I are very affectionate and it's difficult to remember that anything more than linked arms or hand-holding is staunchly looked-down upon. Even a shared kiss between a married couple is a no-no.
I spent the better part of yesterday under a hospital bed; it's a scene where a man who's committed suicide is placed in a bed and his wounds continue to bleed profusely. The actor was hooked up to tubing and I was 'attached' to the tubing with syringes, pumping the blood. Because the shot was pretty wide, there really wasn't any place for me to hide save under the bed, so I hung out there for a couple of hours. It wasn't so uncomfortable except for the fact that I really really really had to use the restroom and I was laying flat on my bladder..! Actually, most of the crew forgot that I was under the bed and I scared the crap out of a few of them when I crawled out, covered in blood splatter. :)
Despite the awkward language barrier, I'm really enjoying the crew here. Egyptian people, and Cairenes in particular, have a terrific sense of humour and love picking on each other. They're pretty sarcastic- just my type of folks! I feel right at home!
I think (one of) the hardest things about living in Egypt is the taboo of publicly displayed affection. Chris and I are very affectionate and it's difficult to remember that anything more than linked arms or hand-holding is staunchly looked-down upon. Even a shared kiss between a married couple is a no-no.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Lights, Camera...Action??
Soooo. We're on our second day of shooting. NO MATERIALS. NONE. NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. ZILCH. Everything is still tied up in customs somewhere. They've probably decided that Chris and I are threats to national security and they're tracking our every move right now.
FORTUNATELY, Kevin, the makeup artist before us left a few things with his local assistant, Ibrahim; a partial Kryolan greasepaint palette, some spirit gum, an Illustrator palette and a bit of liquid latex. Definitely better than nothing!
Our first day on set was like every other first day on set- lots of kinks to work out and an attempt to coordinated every one's 'rhythms'. We're almost there on day two. The feeling on set is pretty laid back. It's nice not having to oversee both the beauty and the effects departments. While our work is an integral part of the show, there is an element of subtlety that the show's director and producers wanted to maintain. Also, showing a great deal of graphic images on television is a relatively new concept here in Egypt and the Middle East. For example, one of the characters is supposed to have overdosed on her medication and she has been repeatedly vomiting on herself. We dressed her nightgown with 'prop yak' (tinted latex and chunks of bread) accordingly. Waaayyy to much they told us. For some reason, the audience here will have an easier time with blood than they will vomit. Huh. Well there you go.
Speaking of what they can and cannot show on tv, it's interesting to see how they censor televised movies from the U.S.. I was watching 'Van Wylder 2' (there. was. absolutely. nothing. on.) and they cut all and any kissing scene, even the most innocent peck on the cheek. Left in all the swearing though. When this show ("Critical Moments") will air in Saudia Arabia, they censor it so that you never see a woman exposing any more flesh than her hands and face.
When we first got to Cairo, I was really self-concious about not having my head covered. One of the crew members (a Cairene- born and raised- as is 90% of the crew) assured me that it didn't matter because I was from the west and they don't expect that level of modesty from us. I didn't know whether to be reassured or somewhat offended... Actually, you see alot of women without headcoverings. Egypt is very liberal- relatively speaking. Relative that is to the rest of the Islamic-dominated countries. I actually like the way things are here. There's something to be said for modesty. Walking around Burbank and bearing in mind what I expected the 'dress code' to be in Egypt, I was, sorry to say, a bit ashamed to see what some, ahem, "young ladies" were wearing. I saw one girl who was wearing shorts smaller that some boyshort undies I have.
Anywho, who am I to judge? Opinions are a different matter- and you know what they say opinions are like...
FORTUNATELY, Kevin, the makeup artist before us left a few things with his local assistant, Ibrahim; a partial Kryolan greasepaint palette, some spirit gum, an Illustrator palette and a bit of liquid latex. Definitely better than nothing!
Our first day on set was like every other first day on set- lots of kinks to work out and an attempt to coordinated every one's 'rhythms'. We're almost there on day two. The feeling on set is pretty laid back. It's nice not having to oversee both the beauty and the effects departments. While our work is an integral part of the show, there is an element of subtlety that the show's director and producers wanted to maintain. Also, showing a great deal of graphic images on television is a relatively new concept here in Egypt and the Middle East. For example, one of the characters is supposed to have overdosed on her medication and she has been repeatedly vomiting on herself. We dressed her nightgown with 'prop yak' (tinted latex and chunks of bread) accordingly. Waaayyy to much they told us. For some reason, the audience here will have an easier time with blood than they will vomit. Huh. Well there you go.
Speaking of what they can and cannot show on tv, it's interesting to see how they censor televised movies from the U.S.. I was watching 'Van Wylder 2' (there. was. absolutely. nothing. on.) and they cut all and any kissing scene, even the most innocent peck on the cheek. Left in all the swearing though. When this show ("Critical Moments") will air in Saudia Arabia, they censor it so that you never see a woman exposing any more flesh than her hands and face.
When we first got to Cairo, I was really self-concious about not having my head covered. One of the crew members (a Cairene- born and raised- as is 90% of the crew) assured me that it didn't matter because I was from the west and they don't expect that level of modesty from us. I didn't know whether to be reassured or somewhat offended... Actually, you see alot of women without headcoverings. Egypt is very liberal- relatively speaking. Relative that is to the rest of the Islamic-dominated countries. I actually like the way things are here. There's something to be said for modesty. Walking around Burbank and bearing in mind what I expected the 'dress code' to be in Egypt, I was, sorry to say, a bit ashamed to see what some, ahem, "young ladies" were wearing. I saw one girl who was wearing shorts smaller that some boyshort undies I have.
Anywho, who am I to judge? Opinions are a different matter- and you know what they say opinions are like...
Friday, April 10, 2009
"Saturday Night Fever"
I know you're not supposed to 'drunk dial', but can you 'tipsy blog'? We just got in from a typical 'thursday' night [Egypt's version of Saturday night- they have Fridays off] with one of our producers, Rob. I've had two 'Stellas' (no, not Stella Artois, just 'Stella', one of Egypt's national beers) and I'm well into the beginings of 'the spins', watching a boxing moving with Barbara Streisand- the name escapes me right now. I smell like an ashstray. I wonder what the life-expectancy is here? I've never gotten all my minerals all in one breath.
A small word on the traffic here; there are no lanes, no traffic signals, no use of the indicator (turn signal), etc. The most used part of the car is the horn- unlike L.A., it's not used in anger; it's more of a warning. Like, "hey, I see you there. Can you see me coming?". Here, you assume that no one is going to know what they're doing so everyone is extra curteous and cautious. No one gets angry(much), no road rage. I have seen very few accidents, and our driver says they are few and far in between. The traffic is tough, and the worst tie-ups are caused by stopped traffic because a Minister is passing through with their entourage. I don't know if their system would work everywhere, but it seems to work here.
A small word on the traffic here; there are no lanes, no traffic signals, no use of the indicator (turn signal), etc. The most used part of the car is the horn- unlike L.A., it's not used in anger; it's more of a warning. Like, "hey, I see you there. Can you see me coming?". Here, you assume that no one is going to know what they're doing so everyone is extra curteous and cautious. No one gets angry(much), no road rage. I have seen very few accidents, and our driver says they are few and far in between. The traffic is tough, and the worst tie-ups are caused by stopped traffic because a Minister is passing through with their entourage. I don't know if their system would work everywhere, but it seems to work here.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
One week
One week in and we still don't have our stuff. Eeeesh. Production assures us that our kits and supplies are in London. Great. How about our stuff being in Cairo? I know they can't do anything about it, but shooting starts on Saturday and things look grim. We have gelatine and fake blood. I've worked with less. :)
Chris is just getting over a little stomach bug. I think it was lunch from the other day: smoked herring or 'ringa'. I had some too- definitely an acquired taste. Chris hasn't been acquiring a taste for anything these past two days. One of the medical consultants, Dr. Khaled, took a look at him this afternoon and gave him a little something for the nausea and to clear out his system. He seems to be fine. "Pharoah's Curse" they call it [aka "Montezuma's Revenge" in Mexico]. I haven't had any problems yet. Yet. Must be all my mom's cooking growing up; I'm impervious to pretty much anything by now. Hah hah. (love you, Maman!)
Walked around Zamalek last night. Got lost, got found. Not really all that lost if you're exploring. We just had a little trouble finding our way back to the apartment. Wouldn't have been too big of a deal otherwise, but as Chris put it, the herring was 'trying to swim free'... Our neighbourhood is really nice. Beautiful architecture, lots of tree-lined streets. It was fun exploring a new place. Notwithstanding, we are definitely going to buy a map today.
Chris is just getting over a little stomach bug. I think it was lunch from the other day: smoked herring or 'ringa'. I had some too- definitely an acquired taste. Chris hasn't been acquiring a taste for anything these past two days. One of the medical consultants, Dr. Khaled, took a look at him this afternoon and gave him a little something for the nausea and to clear out his system. He seems to be fine. "Pharoah's Curse" they call it [aka "Montezuma's Revenge" in Mexico]. I haven't had any problems yet. Yet. Must be all my mom's cooking growing up; I'm impervious to pretty much anything by now. Hah hah. (love you, Maman!)
Walked around Zamalek last night. Got lost, got found. Not really all that lost if you're exploring. We just had a little trouble finding our way back to the apartment. Wouldn't have been too big of a deal otherwise, but as Chris put it, the herring was 'trying to swim free'... Our neighbourhood is really nice. Beautiful architecture, lots of tree-lined streets. It was fun exploring a new place. Notwithstanding, we are definitely going to buy a map today.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Ya'kul & Yashrab
So I've just come up from the lobby cafe, 'Cafe Cornish'. I've been wanting for a while now to try something you can only get out in these parts: Turkish Coffee. Yah, yah, I know, I'm in Egypt, not Turkey, but Egypt was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for a while. They don't call it "Turkish coffee" here, but " 'awah ", and you can get it either bitter, medium or very sweet. As it was the first time I was having it, the waiter suggested I try it 'medium'. It came in a small esspresso-like cup, poured out of a small brass ewer. I took a sip- thick-ish, but not entirely unpleasant and not remotely bitter. The jolt, however? As I sit here, I'm having to type and retype lines because of the jitters. I may have found something wayyyyy more potent than Redbull, Monster or even Redline. Whhhheeeeee!!! Chris is just shaking his head.
There's lots of great food & drink here. Every morning since we've been here at the hotel, we've been lucky to be able to try a variety of local dishes. My favorite so far is 'fuul'- topped with onions, tomatoes, parsley and a sprinkling of spicy dry herb mix. It's stewed broad bean and the only thing I can liken it too is refried beans. Fuul is eaten typically with 'eesh baladi- a whole-wheat pita bread. There is also fiTiir, a puff-pastry used like pizza dough and topped with sweet stuff or savory. The 'regular' coffee is awesome too- when they set down the cup, I couldn't quite put my finger on the smell until Chris mentioned what it tasted a bit like; dark chocolate- yummy! The juices are so much more than that: actually, to best describe the consistency and flavour, imagine pulverizing a mango/strawberry/honeydew/guava/orange/(whatever) and put it in a glass. Oh My God. Delicious. Speaking of delicious, Chris and I had a chance to sample some local desserts too. A couple of my favorites were Kunaafa, a shredded-wheat type pastry soaked in a honey syrup and a semolina cake (also soaked in honey syrup), topped with crushed pistachios (I removed those before eating). Another popular one is called Umm 'Ali, (lit. 'Mother of Ali) a rich bread pudding with coconut, cream and nuts (eaten anytime of the day).
There are still so many dishes I have yet to try. My next epicurian adventure will be Kushari, a mix of lentils, beans, noodles and onions, topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Rob, one of our producers, says it's delicious, filling and very cheap! Now that will have our own kitchen too, I'm looking forward to making some dishes too. It will be interesting to see how they turn out...!
There's lots of great food & drink here. Every morning since we've been here at the hotel, we've been lucky to be able to try a variety of local dishes. My favorite so far is 'fuul'- topped with onions, tomatoes, parsley and a sprinkling of spicy dry herb mix. It's stewed broad bean and the only thing I can liken it too is refried beans. Fuul is eaten typically with 'eesh baladi- a whole-wheat pita bread. There is also fiTiir, a puff-pastry used like pizza dough and topped with sweet stuff or savory. The 'regular' coffee is awesome too- when they set down the cup, I couldn't quite put my finger on the smell until Chris mentioned what it tasted a bit like; dark chocolate- yummy! The juices are so much more than that: actually, to best describe the consistency and flavour, imagine pulverizing a mango/strawberry/honeydew/guava/orange/(whatever) and put it in a glass. Oh My God. Delicious. Speaking of delicious, Chris and I had a chance to sample some local desserts too. A couple of my favorites were Kunaafa, a shredded-wheat type pastry soaked in a honey syrup and a semolina cake (also soaked in honey syrup), topped with crushed pistachios (I removed those before eating). Another popular one is called Umm 'Ali, (lit. 'Mother of Ali) a rich bread pudding with coconut, cream and nuts (eaten anytime of the day).
There are still so many dishes I have yet to try. My next epicurian adventure will be Kushari, a mix of lentils, beans, noodles and onions, topped with a spicy tomato sauce. Rob, one of our producers, says it's delicious, filling and very cheap! Now that will have our own kitchen too, I'm looking forward to making some dishes too. It will be interesting to see how they turn out...!
Time to Get to Work
We got to have a tour of the studios yesterday. What a great set-up! FX has its own make-up room and the studio lot is beautiful all around. It's been around for 80 + years. They even have guard dogs. There's a pool, though both the producer Rob and the DP Pete have advised us NOT to swim in it unless we want to catch something more than a cold. The building is massive yet very unassuming from the outside. There's these sort of 'gophers/waiters' that bring you snacks and drinks- crafty comes to you! Don't get me wrong, I don't think this will be a total walk in the park; I've taken a look at the next 5 scripts and we have a huge workload, and if we run out of something, it's not like we can send a P.A. to just run out to Cinema Secrets to pick something up.
We were assigned a driver (" sawwaa' "), Sa'eed. He's very quiet; we figure he's either very shy or not comfortable with English. It'll be weird having a personal driver to take us anywhere we want to go, whenever we want to go. Notwithstanding, it'll be great because there's NO WAY I could ever drive in this city. I can barely function as a pedestrian. Still, I feel a little awkward just requesting to go places and having him either wait or come back for me. Chris makes a good point; wages are pretty low here and Sa'eed is getting paid very well by the studios. Sa'eed told us he's available to take us anywhere, any time of our choosing; we feel very lucky and priviledged.
Production also showed us our apartment yesterday (it's all happening so fast!). We're in Zamalek, a district on an island smack in the middle of the Nile, connected to the rest of central Cairo by two bridges. It seems to be one of the nicer areas to be in (according to most tour books - and production, of course); a lot of ex-pats are living out there. We're #37 on the 8th Floor on Sharia (street/road) 26 July. The elevator is a nightmare: nothing more than a steel phonebooth with no door (you can watch the concrete of each floor pass by). The apartment itself is very nice- 2 bedrooms, a big living room, new-ish bathroom, all fully furnished. Sa'eed too Chris and I to the local shopping center to get sheets and towels. Things are pretty cheap here, save certain toiletteries found in the pharmacies- they're comprable with Western prices.
Part of me is fully ready for this adventure and I can easily see myself shopping in the neighbourhood, becoming 'local'. Then the other part of me that is somewhat freaked-out is wondering if I'm just a bit self-delusional. I think I'm going to side with that first part.
We were assigned a driver (" sawwaa' "), Sa'eed. He's very quiet; we figure he's either very shy or not comfortable with English. It'll be weird having a personal driver to take us anywhere we want to go, whenever we want to go. Notwithstanding, it'll be great because there's NO WAY I could ever drive in this city. I can barely function as a pedestrian. Still, I feel a little awkward just requesting to go places and having him either wait or come back for me. Chris makes a good point; wages are pretty low here and Sa'eed is getting paid very well by the studios. Sa'eed told us he's available to take us anywhere, any time of our choosing; we feel very lucky and priviledged.
Production also showed us our apartment yesterday (it's all happening so fast!). We're in Zamalek, a district on an island smack in the middle of the Nile, connected to the rest of central Cairo by two bridges. It seems to be one of the nicer areas to be in (according to most tour books - and production, of course); a lot of ex-pats are living out there. We're #37 on the 8th Floor on Sharia (street/road) 26 July. The elevator is a nightmare: nothing more than a steel phonebooth with no door (you can watch the concrete of each floor pass by). The apartment itself is very nice- 2 bedrooms, a big living room, new-ish bathroom, all fully furnished. Sa'eed too Chris and I to the local shopping center to get sheets and towels. Things are pretty cheap here, save certain toiletteries found in the pharmacies- they're comprable with Western prices.
Part of me is fully ready for this adventure and I can easily see myself shopping in the neighbourhood, becoming 'local'. Then the other part of me that is somewhat freaked-out is wondering if I'm just a bit self-delusional. I think I'm going to side with that first part.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Chris and I have arrived safe and sound in Cairo. This place is gorgeous! We're in the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel, overlooking the Nile. We are absolutely spent! What a long day(s) of travel. We had a layover in Frankfurt for 12 hours, but we were set up at the Sheraton which is attached to the airport and slept for the better part of the layover. We did however have a couple of Paulaner Heifeweisens and Chris had some bratwursts and sauerkraut.
We arrived into Cairo around 3am and were met at the airport by someone from the hotel who arranged travelers visas for us and got our bags. I really don't know how we could have managed on our own. There's a distinct moment where you can feel the sliver of panic work itself into you as you realize you are soooo out of place.
Chris and I walked around downtown Cairo today. Friday is equivilant to the west's Sunday, so 'there wasn't that much traffic' on the roads. Ha! There are no real crosswalks, no one obeys traffic signals, and crossing the street is like playing "Frogger"- I being the frog. The architecture is wonderfully varied, ranging over a large span of historical periods. It is noisy, it is dirty, but it's no worse Chris says than New York in places. Actually, the drivers here make me think of L.A..
The day runs long here. Businesses don't open til 9 or 10 and restaurants are open til 4am in some places. Dinner isn't usually served until 10pm.
Anywho, we're going to the studios tomorrow to check out our digs.
We arrived into Cairo around 3am and were met at the airport by someone from the hotel who arranged travelers visas for us and got our bags. I really don't know how we could have managed on our own. There's a distinct moment where you can feel the sliver of panic work itself into you as you realize you are soooo out of place.
Chris and I walked around downtown Cairo today. Friday is equivilant to the west's Sunday, so 'there wasn't that much traffic' on the roads. Ha! There are no real crosswalks, no one obeys traffic signals, and crossing the street is like playing "Frogger"- I being the frog. The architecture is wonderfully varied, ranging over a large span of historical periods. It is noisy, it is dirty, but it's no worse Chris says than New York in places. Actually, the drivers here make me think of L.A..
The day runs long here. Businesses don't open til 9 or 10 and restaurants are open til 4am in some places. Dinner isn't usually served until 10pm.
Anywho, we're going to the studios tomorrow to check out our digs.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
One Week to Go
I am really excited now, but also feeling somewhat overwhelmed. There is just so much to do right now, and working full-time, right up until the day we leave is not helping.
I need to get a bunch of shots before I leave and I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to do that. I was also planning to have a garage sale this weekend, but I REALLY don't think that's got a chance in hell of happening.
Part of me feels sort of guilty that my level of excitement is starting to edge out how much I'm going to miss everyone. I've been doing a lot of reading on living and working in Egypt and everything I have to look forward to is only building my sense of anticipation. There are many cultural exigences and I think I'm going to err on the side of caution and follow them to the letter, as not to 'perminently damage east/west relations'.
I need to get a bunch of shots before I leave and I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to do that. I was also planning to have a garage sale this weekend, but I REALLY don't think that's got a chance in hell of happening.
Part of me feels sort of guilty that my level of excitement is starting to edge out how much I'm going to miss everyone. I've been doing a lot of reading on living and working in Egypt and everything I have to look forward to is only building my sense of anticipation. There are many cultural exigences and I think I'm going to err on the side of caution and follow them to the letter, as not to 'perminently damage east/west relations'.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wow. It's happening.
In a little over a week, Chris and I will be in Cairo, Egypt.
Do you think I'll be able to pick up Arabic in a week?
We're so excited, but so nervous at the same time; there's so much to do! Becca has been extremely gracious and agreed to housesit and babysit the puppies- oh how i'm going to miss my babies!!! And the nextdoor neighbour's kid has already been 'booked' to do the yardwork while we're away.
5 months is a long time. We'll be shooting the third season of Egypt's version of 'ER', doing the special effects. Chris and I thought this blog will be the best way to keep everyone abreast (heehee; i said 'breast'...) of our adventures in Cairo.
The production company will be setting up with our flights and a hotel for the first few weeks that we're there. After that they'll help us find an apartment. We'll be right in downtown Cairo, about an hour away from the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.
Well, lots of work to do- more later...
Do you think I'll be able to pick up Arabic in a week?
We're so excited, but so nervous at the same time; there's so much to do! Becca has been extremely gracious and agreed to housesit and babysit the puppies- oh how i'm going to miss my babies!!! And the nextdoor neighbour's kid has already been 'booked' to do the yardwork while we're away.
5 months is a long time. We'll be shooting the third season of Egypt's version of 'ER', doing the special effects. Chris and I thought this blog will be the best way to keep everyone abreast (heehee; i said 'breast'...) of our adventures in Cairo.
The production company will be setting up with our flights and a hotel for the first few weeks that we're there. After that they'll help us find an apartment. We'll be right in downtown Cairo, about an hour away from the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.
Well, lots of work to do- more later...
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