We have been living in Egypt for one year only. Still a clear picture of what to expect from each season of the year has not been formed. Sudden change in weather caught us unprepared. Within just one hour from the start of the first December storm the temperature inside the apartment dropped to plus 17-18 Celsius that was too cold for me. In Egypt, buildings do not have any centralized heating system. Some people install AC with dual function – cooling and heating. Some people buy heaters that can be easily moved from one room to another. But what we really had to do was to seal the windows (they are single pane windows, by the way). Just a minor wind allows airflow to come inside the house reducing temperature immediately.

Anyways, a sudden winter made me wonder: if December was chilly what will be in January? February? I found on the net some very interesting info with monthly averages for Alexandria. According to it January will be colder than December. The same pleasant warm temperatures as there were in November we will reach only in April. Sad… From the same source: in December, on average only 6 days are rainy. Taking into consideration that the first storm lasted three days and there were also couple days with light rains – the monthly norm has been completed. That is a good news.

The first storm of this winter

Up to the middle of December the weather was lovely: sunny and warm. I could venture into long walks wearing just a light cotton shirt. Meanwhile, hearing about extreme precipitations and cold elsewhere I was wondering when and what we shall expect our portion of misery.

Finally, past weekend the storm struck us. It started on Friday with strong wind. The wind had been howling and screaming for three days. The rain showers were hammering on windows. In fact, rain lashed so strong that the wall of one of our room got soaked in water. We will need to repair it in spring. All the first night I could not sleep: pounding and pulses of wind, falling and banging of chairs and flower pots on our balcony.

Next morning – the second day of the storm - the wind was still strong. So, I was confined to my apartment. I went out to see what was left of my plants. Luckily, thorough preparation for winter paid me back and the loss was not too bad. Only two plants – mint and basil - were softened by the wind. But they are both easy to grow and they will recover soon. After this brief inspection happily I went inside. And then I heard a sudden horrible bang followed by loud metallic rasp. I thought that our building was about to collapse and run to the balcony to have a look. Guess what? Somebody’s satellite 2 meters in diameter dish landed on us! Luckily, it did not make any extra damage.

Well, this was our first winter scare. What to expect next?

Below is the video of the first day of storm in Alexandria.

Annona

Another new for me and a very strange fruit; we bought it yesterday. It is called in Arabic قشطة – Eshta, that is cream. Its English name is Annona. The plant belongs to the same family as pawpaw.



Each fruit consists of many small segments with a small hard seed inside each segment. The taste is nice, light sugary. No special flavor was detected. Nevertheless, it is very expensive over here.

Well, I’ve tried the new fruit and returned back to my favorites. Annona won’t be among them.

Tannura dance

Tannura

Have you ever seen Tannura dance? It’s spectacular and the music is very beautiful! Moreover, it has some strange effect on me: my head starts spinning and waging !

Lucky me… recently I attended a party where organizers invited a band of artists. Among the performances was the Tannura dance. By the way, Tannura is an Egyptian folk dance derived from the whirling dance performed as a Sufi religious practice. The dancers are men only in large skirts who constantly spin. They spin for a prolonged period (can be up to 40 minutes of continuous spinning). In this dance, they actually do not do anything but spinning but you cannot take your eye off them.

My cell phone allowed me to record almost the entire dance. But to be able to upload it here I had to compress the file. That is why the quality is low. Nevertheless, it gives an idea.

Marsa Matrouh

Last week we spent in Marsa Matrouh – this was my first visit to Matrouh.

Three hours on a bus and you are there. A beautiful place with fine white sand, clean turquoise sea, little to none tourists. The water is calm with small ripples and gentle current. I spent hours of swimming and was not afraid that the current take me far away as it frequently happened in Agamy or Zomoroda (other cities on the North coast of Egypt).

What is also important - the temperature there is around 5 degrees (Celsius) less than in Alexandria - nice break from the heat of Alex. Pleasant warmth, light breeze, and no, pardon me, sweating.

Frankly speaking, I cannot understand why people choose Hurgada or Sharm for summer vacations. These places are for winter breaks. In summer time the best place is the North coast of Egypt.

My husband' company has guesthouses located all over Egypt. We stayed in Matrouh in one of them. I have to say that the staff of the guesthouse was not used to foreigners and my arrival blew them away. They checked and re-checked my documents telling to each other: “heya mish masrya – heya agnabya” (she is not Egyptian – she is a foreigner). However, the documents were all in order and they left us alone to enjoy the place.

Here is the view from our apartment.

Beach. Empty…. What else you need to relax?

Rocks in the sea serve as a natural wave breaker. That is why the sea is so calm over here. And they look very dramatic.