Marriage, divorce, and relationship with a Copt.

I received an email recently where a woman asked whether it is possible to have a relationship with a Copt in Egypt who is separated from his wife but does not want a divorce.

For those who do not know, a Copt is an Egyptian Orthodox Christian. Btw, Christians represent around 10% of the Egyptian population. Around 90% of them belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The remaining 10% are divided between the Coptic Catholic and the Coptic Protestant churches (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html).

Civil marriage and divorce are regulated in Egypt by the Family law. In addition, the Coptic Church has a separate set of bylaws regarding both marriage and divorce, which were set in 1938.

Recently the Church increased the number of reasons for divorce from two to three:
- adultery,
- undisclosed pre-existing terminal illness,
- and change of religion.

Importantly that the Coptic Church issues annulment of marriages not divorces. Another problem is that while a Christian may be able to obtain civil divorce, this divorce may not be recognized by the Church (if the reason for divorce does not fall into the three above). Egypt's Coptic religious leader Pope Shenouda III said that the ruling of an Egyptian court obliging the church to acknowledge a man's right to remarry after he obtained a civil divorce is not binding.

"We only abide by the Bible. We cannot betray our principles and do something that is forbidden in our holy book. The court ruling is civil and not religious" (http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/03/04/46471.html )

In case of adultery and consequent divorce recognized by the church, "the party that committed adultery is not allowed to re-marry while the victim is granted this right." Thus, the church cannot marry a divorcee for reasons other than adultery, and any minister who does that will be excommunicated," Pope Shenouda said.

What shall people do with such a rigid church’ stance? Many accepted these restrictions on divorce and are reluctant even to raise the issue of divorce in attempt to protect their families including parents and children from embarrassment. Some lead a double life. Some Christians temporarily convert to Islam in order to get divorced and remarry.

It is not my place here to judge anyone. But it seems that any relationship with a Coptic man can bring more troubles to both than joy. Unfortunately…

Population of Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria, Egypt is the second- largest and constantly growing city in Egypt. Between 1947 and 1986, Alexandria's population grew from 700,000 to 2.7 million. Currently, Alexandria's population is somewhere around 4.1 (although some sources state that it is 5 million). It consists of 6 blocks:

1. Montaza block: population 943,100
2. Eastern Alexandria block: population 933,600
3. Middle Alexandria block: population 566,500
4. Amreya block: population 457,800
5. Western Alexandria block: population 450,300
6. Gumrok block: population 186,900

There are also two cities under the control of the Alexandria governorate: Borg Al-Arab city with population of 186,900 and New Borg Al-Arab city with population of 7600.

The city is overpopulated. When in Alexandria, you cannot fail to notice that that automobiles and people are everywhere inside the city. In many areas, the boundary between sidewalks and the roadway appears to be somewhat blurred as the people overflow on the edge of the roadways walking around parked cars with no concern for the numerous cars that are driving on the roadways. To a stranger it seems like chaos. But sometimes what we consider chaos may work if it is a commonly understood system in which all parts of the system follow the same rules.

http://www.photius.com/countries/egypt/society/index.html
http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/egypt/index.html

Guava jam

It is a guava season now in Egypt. I love this fruit in fresh a lot. I also like to stock up some guava jam cans. It goes great with breakfast toasts. The Egyptian guava is yellow when ripe with a pronounced fragrance which makes a wonderful aromatic jam.


Ingredients:
Guava
Sugar

Many recipes call for water. I do not add water. With water it will take longer time to cook and as the result the jam will come out like a pure. Meanwhile I like to feel pieces of fruit in the jam.

For each 10-12 guava fruits I add 2 cups of sugar 200 ml each (400 ml total).

Cut guavas into quarters and scrape out the seeds (I do not peel fruits). Put the guava insides with seeds into a pot and bring to a boil (on a low heat.) Then reduce heat to minimum and boil for about 30 minutes. Remove from stove and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Pour the mixture through a metal sifter (into a pan) to separate out the seeds. Use a spoon to force the mixture through the sifter.

Meanwhile, slice seedless quarters of guava into smaller segments. Transfer them to a heavy pan (the same that will be set on stove) and add sugar (for each 10-12 guava fruits 2 cups of sugar), shake the pot, cover it and leave for 30 minutes. Then, shake it again and leave for another 30 minutes. Repeat this procedure for 4-5 times. This will allow juices to develop. Hence, there will be no need for water. Sometimes I leave fruit-sugar mix over night and start cooking only next morning.

Add mixture obtained after sifting seeded pieces to the heavy pan where you kept guava-sugar mix. Set the pan on stove; bring to boil (on a low heat). Reduce heat and keep boiling, shaking the pan every now and then (stirring would mash the pieces of fruit) until a little drop onto a wet saucer begins to thicken. It takes to me about 5 hours to reach this stage on a low heat. Jam should simmer at a very slow boil. If it is too high, the jam will burn.

Move pot from stove and set aside to cool. Transfer jam into jars and refrigerate. Jam will stiffen as it cools. Make sure they have good tight lids. This jam can keep for months.

A fish restaurant in Alexandria

My husband and I love fish and eat it as often as possible. In Alexandria, we have found two quite good fish restaurants. One of them is Zephyrion - the one that is located in Abu Quir. So, if you choose to go down there get ready for a long drive.

The interiors of the restaurant are simple – all painted in white, high Italian windows allow plenty of light insides. White linen table clothes and curtains with dark blue strip emphasize the marine motive as well as the cleanness of the place. White walls carry naïve paintings predominantly with traditional for Egypt Pharaoh’s motives.

The menu is also very basic. It is just fish, shrimps and wine or beer. But the choice of fish is quite reasonable. The customers select fish and shrimps for themselves and then the restaurant would cook them.

At the time of our visit there were around 6 types of fish to choose from. We ordered two types of grilled fish (one was fillet and another complete fish) and grilled shrimps plus some soft drinks. Salads, tahina, tzatziki (a yoghurt and garlic paste) , pickles, fried eggplant were brought as well. All food was deliciously fresh. It came to something around 140 Egyptian pounds for two of us.


This picture was taken in a parking lot in front of the restaurant.


Spacious hall of the restaurant.

And here are the paintings.

Armadillo' shoe

It seems that soon we might walk in something like this
They are so-called 'armadillo' shoes from Alexander McQueen's S/S 2010 show.

I wonder whether these shoes will be ever found elegant. I remember when the first shoes on a platform came into existence they seemed very ugly. Then, gradually all people got used to them and many found them even stylish. But the shoes on the picture above are something!

By the way armadillo is an animal with a shell.

Butterflied turkey

Cooking turkey is something that I don't venture frequently and my cooking skills in this area are quite shaky. So, I was searching for some new recipe ideas and stumbled upon the description of how to butterfly the turkey. The difficult part here is to remove the backbone and crack the breastbones so the bird will lie flat keeping the bird intact. Flattening helps reduce the amount of time it takes to cook the bird. It also makes the whole process a little easier to manage.
The video that I found shows in details the technique of butterflying. One look is worth a thousand words.

Crows in Alexandria?!

For the past week I have been hearing crow cawing. The fact that crows were also present here was a revelation to me. Ever since we moved to Egypt three months ago and settled down in our apartment, I hadn’t seen or heard a crow. Back home in my native northern town, crows were inseparable part of landscape. They were particularly active in autumn when rains and winds wash down most of leaves. They were also very much visible during mild periods of winter. But to see a crow in Africa – that was something  I’ve done some research and I found that the origin of crows is Asia and they spread out into North America, Africa, Europe, and Australia. They can live on all temperate continents (except South America).