Well I have 3 month of no posts I need to make up for so let the novel begin......

From my last post I was just getting back from my end of April trip to Sharm el-Sheikh.  For the next month I mainly just worked, besides a few weekend trips to Cairo.  I really enjoy coming to Cairo for a weekend every once in a while.  I stay in an area called Maadi which has a lot of expats from around the world.  There are places such as the Ace Club (American Club) or the British Club where a lot of expats go for drinks and food on the weekends.  My company has a flat in Maadi that I am allowed to use from time to time so that is a very nice perk.  There are a lot of tourist activities to do in Cairo, however I haven’t done as many as I would have hoped so far.  Some places I have been are the Citadel and Khan al-Khalili market.

The Citadel is a fortress that was built hundreds of years ago (construction started around 1200).  This fortress has multiple museums and a few mosques.  The large mosque in the Citadel is the mosque of Mohammed Ali.  This mosque took 18 years to build and is a beautiful building.  Whenever I go to places of history in Egypt it really makes me think on how young America is compared to other countries.  Egypt has history that dates back thousands of years and America was discovered in the 1400-1500s (I think).  Another note worthy point of the Citadel is that it has a great view of the city of Cairo.

The Khan al-Khalili is the most famous tourist market in Cairo.  A lot of expats try to avoid this area because it is known as a tourist trap.  The market is fun in small doses.  You can only handle so much of people coming up to you and hassling you every 5 seconds.  The only way to get through the market is to not acknowledge people and you have to be mean.  I know that sounds horrible but if you are just a nice tourist and talk to everyone that approaches you, you will be in the market all day and night.  There are so decent shops in Khan al-Khalili but most of the shops have junk for sale.  In my experience the best tourist shopping is on Road 9 in Maadi.   

Sharm El Sheikh

Well after almost four months of working in Egypt I finally did a little traveling.  My first destination is a popular vacation spot in Egypt called Sharm El Sheikh.  It is a place located on the Red Sea and it was beautiful.  I spent 4 days there over Easter weekend and spent a lot of time on the beach and did a little bit of scuba diving.

This is a picture of Shark's Bay Beach where I spent most of my vacation.  It was very quiet and I was lucky to have great weather.  The coral went from the beginning of the beach all the way to the end of the dock and then there was a 12 - 15 dropoff.  It was a great place to snorkel and the coral was great.  As I mentioned I did a little bit of scuba diving ( 3 dives to be exact) and didn't see anything really amazing except for a large manta ray.

I met up with my old roommate Eric who is being shipped off to either Qatar or Saudi Arabia for a new project.  The nightlife was........ well it was interesting to say the least.  There were mainly Russians on holiday so it was difficult to communicate with most.  Although I did get to meet a few people from around the world.  So all in all the first trip was a lot of fun.  I will be headed to Cairo for a few weekends in the next couple of months but my next official trip is back to the U S of A in the end of June.

Qatar, Boat Trip & More....

I can't believe it has been a month since my last update.  I would have gave up on this blog a long time ago if I was following it:)  I want to say I will do better but you must remember there isn't internet everywhere like in the great USA and there are two different kind of outlets in Egypt and sometimes I am powerless.  So that is my excuse even though not a good one....... So lets start with Qatar!!!!

I thought Doha was an awesome city.  It was so clean and all the buildings were brand new.  I didn't get to see all of Doha but I tried to see as much as I could in the short time I was there.  They have a great river walk and I would love to go back in a few years to see how much it changed.  My company has multiple very large projects in Qatar and hopefully more to come with the World Cup in 2022.  One thing I noticed was everyone had very nice cars and you could just tell there was a lot of oil money floating around.  I spent most of the week at one of our jobsites getting training on a new software program that hopefully we get in Egypt soon.  I learned alot but I am going to be honest being trained from someone whose native language isn't English can be exhausting.  One day I was trained by someone from India, Asia and Egypt.  Which definitely gave my brain a challenge.  Don't get me wrong though I think that is one of the coolest things about working abroad is getting to have coworkers from all over the world but when you are use to Egyptian English and then you have to switch over it can take some time.  I was also glad to meet some other TIME (Turner International Middle East) outside of Egypt.  Besides that I walked around the city alot and unfortuantely couldn't get into The Pearl becasue you have to have permission to get in that area.  I thought of my architecture family and friends when I was there too I figure they would really enjoy the site.  Now for the Boat Trip.......

This past Sunday I got invited to go on a friends boat for the day and it was amazing.  The boat went around the coast of Alexandria in the Mediterrian Sea.  I finally swam in the SEA!!!!  I have lived next to it for over 3 months and haven't got it until now.  Hopefully I will get more opportunities.  After the boat trip we went out to a seafood restaurant on the Cornish.  The fish was fresh and amazing.  My friends that own the boat left an open invitation to come and use it whenever.  It just shows how hospitable Egyptians are and of course I gladly with accept in due time:)

Besides that not a whole lot to report.  I went to Cairo for a weekend and met up with some friends and had a great time.  I am headed off to Sharm el Shiek on Thursday to do some diving in the Red Sea and have a nice little 4 day holiday so I am very excited since I haven't got a chance to travel outside of Cairo and Alexandria.  I also posted some photos of the job I am working on.  The water is the most beautiful I have every seen at the Marassi project.  I can't wait to use it this summer!!!

Miss you all

Adam