A summary of Life in Egypt so far . . . . .

3 May
Flew from Heathrow to Cairo – business class! We were 'chauffeured' from Bristol to Heathrow by Reda's friend – Chris – which was a great help. We set off just after 9am and arrived just before 12pm. At Heathrow we were treated very well, of course, being business class. As BC customers, we were treated to the luxury of going into the first class lounge, which was great, and once on the flight of course the extra leg room etc was very helpful. On the flight were a famous actress and a famous singer (Egyptian) which was nice to tell the family when we landed. We were very lucky at the checkpoint where we show our passports/visas, as a son of a neighbor who works there saw us and instead of waiting in line, he sorted everything out for us, and we did not have to get visas to enter. We did not have too long a wait for our baggage, and we went through customs quickly (helped again) and of course the family were there ready and waiting for us. Our things were taken outside and put into the minibus for our trip to Ibyar. We had a pleasant trip home to Ibyar and of course when we arrived, Reda's Mum was waiting for us and she was pleased to see not only us of course, but at long last her grandson Noor. We had a bit of a chat over a cup of tea, and then made our way upstairs to bed and to sleep. It was of course difficult to sleep and the noise of the cockerels, people in other houses round about etc etc is going to take some getting used to.
7 May
Reda Goes to Cairo – Reda went to Cairo today with the documents needed to register Noor's birth. He also took my passport etc and went to Tanta on the way back, to arrange my visa and ask about applying for permanent residency.
12 May
Toot Fruit – Went out this evening for a walk into the countryside, to have some 'toot' fruit. Basically, there are quite a few toot fruit trees growing on the side of the farms, which the farmers are happy for anyone passing by to collect fruit from. We went with Sammy and his children and Ahmed Ismail came too. The fruit comes in 2 forms, the white (which is actually pink) and the black. We went to a 'pink' tree first – 3 of us held out a sheet while the 4th person went up into the tree and shook the branches, so that the ripe fruit would fall down. We all ate from what we collected, and took some back for Sammy's wife (who could not come as they have a young baby at home). Later we went to a black tree, the juice of which stains the tongue, the hands or basically anything it comes into contact with. The fruit is delicious. I have never seen anything like it before and it is not something which I have ever seen sold in England – and would be unlikely too as its best eaten ripe, and does not travel well – they don't even bother selling it in the shops in Egypt as it goes bad so quickly! The fruit is very sweet. Too look at it does remind me a little of a loganberry – but it is a tree it grows on rather than a bush. Anyway we had a very pleasant afternoon/early evening. We had a nice gentle stroll back and stopped briefly for a 'sugar cane' drink before returning home.
13 May
Noor Has Egyptian Status.
Reda went to Cairo to collect Noor's Egyptian birth certificate.
14 May
Noor Circumcised.
Ahmed's daughter (Runna) was born in the early hours of today. Later this evening we went to the Doctor's clinic to have Noor circumcised. (ouch!)
20 May
Potato farmers meeting. My husband's uncle runs a business as an 'intermediary' – supplying seed potatoes to the farmers, and at the end of the 2 seasons, buying potatoes from the farmers, storing them and selling them a few months later at a (hopefully) higher price. Anyway, there were representatives from a Scottish seed potato supplier coming for a meeting with the farmers, to see the seed potato trials which were now coming up for harvest and as we were English we were invited along for 'fun'. Two of the chaps were from the London office (where the potatoes are shipped out from), and 2 from the company in Scotland (where the seed potato is grown/ trialed etc etc).
23 May
Buying Property. We discovered that the 'house' 2 doors down for us is for sale. Similar in design to our building, the building is made up of 2 flats. The woman who owns the building used to live in the ground floor flat, but she moved to Alexandria, and her son still lives in the first floor flat. She is asking 200,000 Egyptian pounds, though our friend who lives in the next building thinks we might be able to get it for about 160,000 EGP, as he's heard someone has offered 140,000 EGP for it. We were concerned about if there might be problems with the son, but we later discovered that in fact he wants to sell too, as he will get half and he wants to use that money to buy his own place. We have asked our friend to initially do some 'spying' for us to see truly how much has been offered and what sort of money they might settle at etc etc.
22 May
Artist at Work – We made a tape today of Reda painting a scene of mountains, lake and trees as a demo/promo for a possible TV program we want to suggest to
24 May
Noor's First Haircut/Potato Opportunity Noor's hair has grown quite long (and still curly!) but we've noticed that he does scratch his head quite a lot, which given the heat is only to be expected I guess, so decided that we should really help him to be more comfortable and cut his hair. Of course it was difficult, as Noor didn't want to stay still (I held him and Reda wielded the scissors!) but bit by bit we managed to 'shear' him OK. My 'little Lord Fauntleroy is no more ! He was really cute with his curly locks and now they are gone. He looks even more like a little boy now and not a baby.
We were asked if we might like to consider going into the 'potato stock market' business (as it were). My husband's uncle, as well as investing his own money each season also has investors from Alexandria and Cairo, who like him buy potatoes and store it – he acts as the 'manager' and he charges commission and shares the profit. As we are 'family' he asked if we would be interested in investing too, and though he would still potentially do very well out of it by sharing in 50% of the profit, he would waive the commission. We initially looked at buying about 30 or 40 tonnes, but due to connected expenses, the potential profit would be quite small and not really any better than the interest the bank would pay. Therefore we agreed to buy 150 tonnes of potatoes! After further discussion, I wanted to buy 200 tonnes, but Reda was concerned about investing so much money in case the price does not rise, or rises only slightly, as the cost of storage etc also needs to be taken into consideration, so we ended up sticking at 150 tonnes.
25 May
We are in the Potato Business/I have a Visa/Visited Friends. Today we went to Tanta to get money from the bank and to get my visa. Because we wanted to draw so much money out of the bank, and the notes they had were small, they suggested we go to complete our business with the visa and return in an hour or so to collect the money so that they could have it ready in larger notes (ended up being some 20's but also 100 pound notes, and the biggest were 200 pound notes). The visa place was interesting, as they are 'refurbishing' and so part of the office was outside! I guess its only in a hot country that this can be done. Anyway, I now have a 3 year visa to stay in Egypt, which is great. We need to look at applying for residency now, but have been told at the office in Tanta that we will need to go to Cairo for this. Basically, I needed the 3 year visa to apply for residency anyway, we then need to go to Cairo to apply for residency which will take 2 years to come through. During this 2 years, Reda will need to go back to the office in Tanta every 6 months to sign that we are living together. What a performance! Mind you, that having been said it is easier than applying for 'permission to remain' and then applying to be British, as you have to pass a test for that, and since Reda did it, its got even harder as you have to take more tests and show you can read and write English. I'd be stuck if I had to read and write Arabic, that's for sure!
Later that evening, we went to visit a friend of Reda's (Ali) and his wife and baby. They really are a lovely family and we were treated like royalty. The wife spoke a tiny bit of English and she really tried hard to make me welcome and to talk to me – she showed me her album from her wedding and was really very nice to me – as were their family (like most Egyptians, they live with the husband's parents) and we all got along 'like a house on fire'. It really was a lovely evening. Ali returns to Sharm El Sheikh tomorrow for work, but we have made tentative arrangements for them to visit us when he is next on holiday from Sharm (in about a month). Their little boy is a cutie – he is 6 months old but he seems much younger as he is so small (I would have put him at about 3 months at the most). It turns out he was premature, she had to have an emergency caesarean because of high blood pressure and he weighed only 1 kilo and 300 grams when born! So he still has some catching up to do.
26 May
Buying Land – Reda is excited about an opportunity to buy land on the main road. There is a long stretch of land right on the main road for sale. Next to it (beside it at the back but not on the main road) is a smaller plot of land also for sale. In front of the land behind (i.e. next to the long piece of land for sale) are 2 small 'shops' (in a poor state of repair) which are not currently for sale. He has heard that the man selling the long piece of land is looking for around 280,000 EGP for it. Reda feels that we could really do well if we could buy all 3 pieces of land, as we could then 'join them' as it were – and then either leave the land and sell at some point in the future, or even consider building on the land – e.g. putting a row of up to 4 shops on the front (which we could then rent out and be getting some money back on our investment in the meantime before selling it at some point in the future). Maybe even building flats on top and behind the shops to extend the potential. I can certainly see the potential here, but I am concerned about just how much money the entire 3 plots of land will cost us, how much it would cost to build on that plot, and frankly I can see that it would cost most, if not all, of the rest of the savings that we have. Ahmed Ismail (my husbands cousin) is to try to contact the person who owns the land to find out more details.
28 May
Buying Land (continued) - Sammy (our friend and neighbor) took Reda to see some land for sale which is near where he has some land. Reda feels that it is too far 'off the beaten track' in that it is between land currently being used for growing vegetables, and of course doesn't have planning permission. It doesn't look like a place which is likely to get permission to build for a long, long time. In the meantime, Ahmed Ismail has been able to contact the man who owns the land on the main street, and he will be ringing us later this afternoon/early evening; which he did. It transpires that Reda was too trusting in believing the man who told him the land was going for around 280,000 EGP – the man is actually asking for about 560,000 EGP !!! Ahmed said that of course this would come down with negotiation, but as there was land that recently sold on the street for 2,000 EGP per metre recently, we would still be looking well in excess of 400,000 EGP when all is said and done. And that's before looking at the other 2 pieces of land that are for sale! After discussion, we are thinking of putting in an offer for the land and if we can get it at a halfway reasonable price, building on that land only and forgetting about the land to the side of it, as we definitely cannot afford all 3 pieces of land – let alone have any money left to build on it! Whereas we might be able to manage the one piece of land and have money to build – it would use most of our money up – but we would then have rental income from the shops, plus of course we have money to come back from the potato investment. As of course we need to have some money to live on in the meantime !!!!! We are going to think about if some more … . . . . . . . . . . Of course we are both keen to invest now, as the village has a high percentage of people working abroad in Italy, and they will soon be coming back to Ibyar for their Summer holidays – and they look to invest in land – which puts the prices up, so if we can invest now before those prices go up, it would be much better really.