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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 22:46:46 GMT
Deyana, if you imagine a house with two levels at the front but a third below at the rear. The garden is at the bottom of the third level. the 'basement'. It's not so usual. It did give the problem of the garden walls being very high but this gave, on the good side, privacy, at the expense though of feeling closed in. The street level is halfway up the garden walls. Yes, that makes sense. I can see how it would stay so cool down there. True, you do need to have (ideally anyway), the pool in direct sunlight to warm it up. I know the lakes around where I live take ages to warm up in the early summer weeks. It was not very good of the landlord to put your rent up by 50% was it? I guess they have no laws over there about only being able to put it up by a 'reasonable' percentage? It's funny, but the house reminds me of some places that I saw in India, the same kind of flooring, although it was more marble there I think, but stone and brick structures were preferred, spacious and airy too. You led him on and then told him to forget it?! Serves him right. Did you lose your deposit because of that though? Did you have to pay a deposit even? The ups and downs of living in such a country huh?
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Post by onlymark on Apr 1, 2010 5:16:40 GMT
With the deposit, what happened is we delayed so much that we stayed an extra couple of weeks anyway, so the deposit was virtually used up in rent, so I wasn't so bothered.
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Post by BigIain on Apr 1, 2010 10:23:15 GMT
Mark,what a great looking living space you had. I may have to start being nice to you again!
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Post by onlymark on Apr 1, 2010 10:41:53 GMT
HAD is the operative word I'm afraid. It's just a normal(ish) house I'm in now.
The guest room was the one with the table tennis table and the table football in, as well as a double bed and own bathroom, plus direct access to the pool. You've missed out there.
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Post by gertie on Apr 2, 2010 19:14:30 GMT
My, that house is interesting. I am curious, an Ethiopian maid? Was that common? Do they come there to find work such as Mexicans do here?
I have always been told as a woman and particularly an American woman, I wouldn't like living or even much like visiting Egypt, Nigeria, Mexico, this place that place, with perhaps the exception of tourist areas. I noticed in your picture both a woman without head covering and a picture of the world depicted as a Muslim man with cap, I found the juxtaposition interesting. Is comfort for the women another reason to stay in the expat areas, or has this been exaggerated?
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 3, 2010 8:09:42 GMT
Great pics, Mark.
That neighbourhood reminds me a bit of Algiers.
There is a very similar 'hood here in Phnom Penh, called Boeung Keng Kong 1. All the NGOs have their offices there and their staff is encouraged to stay there. Same price range, unbelievable.
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Post by Jazz on Apr 3, 2010 17:01:02 GMT
A fascinating thread, Mark. The area is lovely and I especially like the diversity of homes and businesses. Cairo has always intrigued me. I would happily be one of the expats moving into an apartment in this area, perhaps on one of the small side streets? As Kerouac mentioned, I am quite ignorant of Egyptian space and prices. I looked at each of the apartments, quite decent…you couldn’t rent a closet in Toronto for $550/month! (if you could find one, you’d be sharing it with a rat) One of my masochistic, timewasting and enjoyable hobbies is to search for apartments in other countries. Even if I visited Cairo for only a week, I would rent an apartment. The home that you lived in is beautiful…talk about ‘igniting fantasies’! In Toronto you could not find anything remotely like it as cheaply as $2500/month. Your photo threads of Egypt are developing a very well rounded sense of the country. Thank you. I often revisit the Egypt board, with Baz’s series and K’s visits, all great. Egypt board: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=egypt
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Post by onlymark on Apr 6, 2010 14:53:48 GMT
My, that house is interesting. I am curious, an Ethiopian maid? Was that common? Do they come there to find work such as Mexicans do here? I have always been told as a woman and particularly an American woman, I wouldn't like living or even much like visiting Egypt, Nigeria, Mexico, this place that place, with perhaps the exception of tourist areas. I noticed in your picture both a woman without head covering and a picture of the world depicted as a Muslim man with cap, I found the juxtaposition interesting. Is comfort for the women another reason to stay in the expat areas, or has this been exaggerated? About 10% of the population of Egypt are not Muslims, hence many, many women do not wear a headscarf or any incarnation of it. It is, for example, very rare to see a woman in the service industry, like shop assistants, receptionists and the like, to cover up. There are areas that are quite radical but unless you are a local it is doubtful you'd be there anyway. That would leave about 99% of Cairo as somewhere you could live, but whether you'd want to is a different matter due to other factors like cleanliness, noise or whatever. There is a pecking order of which nationality make the best housekeepers/maids. Many come on a tourist visa and never go back as they obviously would then have severe problems at Immigration on leaving as getting a tourist visa is quite easy compared to some countries. Many want to work or an Embassy where they can get a proper visa more easily, but not many do. Many arrive when employed already by an Egyptian family abroad or by another nationality, like Saudi, and then whilst here, run off as they have been treated so badly. They then have no passport either. We have had two Filipino and one Ethiopian over the time and we have set them on via the local Coptic church. One left when she found an Embassy job, with the Spanish Embassy, one left after two weeks and never came back, don't really know why, the last was the Ethiopian woman who we didn't need any more when we moved to a smaller house. All were live in. Now we just have an Egyptian woman to clean three times a week but turns up whenever she feels like it, runs the vacuum round a bit and then leaves when she wants. That's quite normal here. www.mastereg.com/filippien.htmlClick on the nationalities on the right side for more info.
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Post by onlymark on Apr 6, 2010 14:56:13 GMT
hwinpp and jazz, comments read and thanks etc.
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