As I’ve stated, I’m not yet ready to show you the inside of
our apartment, but I do want to show you one of our favorite hang-out spaces:
the roof. Roofs in Egypt are basically just an un-finished upper floor for 2
reasons: 1) there is very little space to move horizontally, and people often
live in the same building with family members, moving to a higher floor when
they marry, so the upper levels are just added to as needed, and 2) I don’t
think you have to pay property taxes unless the building is finished. Thus,
most roofs are perfectly suited to hang out on as the sun sets. Around 5pm, we
grab a cocktail and head upstairs to watch the sun set in a much cooler
environment than our un-air-conditioned apartments while we wait for dinner.
This is our view:
It basically looks like that all the way around, but in this
picture, you can see our dear friend The Mosque, as well as the temple pylons
(just to the right of the minaret).
This shot is looking down almost straight down off of the
roof. The mosque would be to the left of this picture. Notice the goats hanging
out. A cat came over and played for a while, too. The little garden at the
bottom of the frame is actually quite large and green. We don’t really know to
whom it belongs, but it forms quite a juxtaposition with the trash-heap.
The exact other side of the roof houses our neighborhood
farm:
He has ducks, chickens, a turkey (I have no idea what that’s
doing here), a possibly pregnant white horse, 2 donkeys (one’s a baby), goats,
cats, and some cows (under the thatching in the upper right). It’s kind of cute
to watch them all chase each other.
Bonus points to whomever can figure out what’s missing from
that last photo. Yep, that’s right, it’s an edge to our roof. It’s enclosed on
almost three sides, but that one is open to the 4-storey drop. My mother would
hate it (though to be fair, you’d hate this country for a lot of reasons, mom).
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| Yeah, those are my awesome capris that have Egyptian stuff on them. I got them from a family friend and they are kitchy and AWESOME! |
While the surrounding town may not be much to look at, the
sunsets here are fantastic. The sky is always so clear that we get striking
reds and oranges all over the sky. And since we’re right at the edge of
cultivation in this apartment (it’s only about 3 houses from the farm next to
us to cultivation), we get to watch the sun set over hills, trees, and crops,
which is a great end to a hard day.
