So a 'bowab' is basically your door guy, maintenance man, and all around go to guy. Most of the time they are pretty cool and it's important to maintain a good relationship with them if you want to have any guests over. The place we are house sitting has a creepy bowab with poor manners and a terrible disposition.
The landlady recently decided that she wanted to replace the old, busted refrigerator with 2 old busted refrigerators. The problem is that someone has to be here when the refrigerator guy gets here and the bowab can't be trusted. So after a day of Francesca waiting around and no refrigerator guy, we arrive at the apartment at 3am to find 2 fridges outside our front door.
The next morning at 830am the bowab is banging on the door. I ignore it and it happens for the next few hours until dave finally answers it at 1130am. This is where it gets funny. They spend an hour trying to figure out how to get it into the kitchen. Dave and I both know all you have to do is take the doors off the fridge and voila! Instead we are treated to a live action marx brothers comedy. The bowab and some random guy with tools decide to take the entire door frame off and then see if it fits, all without measuring anything. This then becomes a construction project with plaster dust everywhere. At one point we have 3 refrigerators in the house and decide to do a photoshoot with Franzo while she is trying to explain to the guys why they are responsible for cleaning up the mess. The entire thing lasted 4+ hours and all they had to do was take the door off the fridge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimifoster/sets/72157606467564821/
Sat July 26th
Yesterday morning we met up with Francesca who had socially engineered us an invite to her friends' beach house up on the northern coast. We took a cab over to her friend, George's place and ordered some breakfast. George is the son of wealthy steel farmers or something, I can't remember. Anyway, he's egyptian, as is his brother Paul, but they were schooled in England so they have strong english accents. At first Dave and I were really uncomfortable in his apartment because it seemed way too nice. I assume its about as nice as you can get in Cairo, with a view that over looks the entire city from the 14th floor penthouse wrap around windows. It also always seems like people with english accents are talking down to you because they sound so foppish by nature. Fortunately, it turns out that George is a good guy and he likes jokes/fun. It took a long time to get his brother out of bed and that time involved his parents (who live across the hall) coming over and yelling at him in arabic. This was all a lot to handle early in the morning.
Regardless, we loaded up and drove to the northern coast, which is about 30 km west of Alexandria on the Mediterranian sea. Shockingly beautiful is a strong understatement. The water is so blue that it makes the sky look like faded, washed out towel. (That was Francesa's simile btw).
On the last night there I was able to lay by myself on the beach and watch the clouds in the night sky. I was listening to some new Sigur Ros, which seemed to go perfectly with the speed of the clouds and the shooting stars. Sometimes you're given the encouragement that you're on the right path right when you need it. Sometimes life is so beautiful that you know you don't deserve it, but you'll take what you can get, and what I got was awesome.
Driver exceeds 140 kmph
Guy sitting in a chair with nothing around for a mile
Sheep having sex
Bedouin selling hash
Near death experience
Car made within the last decade
Minivan with 14+ people
Car driving the wrong way on the highway w/ lights on
Car driving the wrong way on the highway w/ lights off
Man on motorcycle in the back of pickup truck
Vehicle towing another vehicle with 4+ people in each vehicle
Arabic 'Calvin Stickers'
Please quit being so fickle and slow.
I have so many great pictures, but I cannot upload them. I set it up to upload 39 pictures overnight and it got 4 done. Oh well, this will be text only until I can figure something out. I'll still try to catch up on the posts now that I've resigned to just text. I have to go to some dinner party or whatever but I will say that all is good here. Stressful, hectic, loud, etc, but good. I've eaten a lot of good food and met a lot of good people, who could ask for more?
Also - its mango season. If you think you've had a good mango before you're a fool. These might be classified as super mangoes and I eat 3-4 in a sitting. Here's the other crazy thing - i'm not a huge fan of mangoes normally. To compliment the mangoes, the jasmine trees are in bloom and smell great.
Dave and I fell into a house sitting gig so we have a free place to stay, we just have to feed 2 crazy cats every day.
Everything works out and we're having a great time. When I have more time to post I'll fill you in on the details.
Love Jimi
So I wake up with a rather strong desire to go 'pee pee'. On two hours of sleep I'm still very confused as to where I am and who these people are in the room. It was a 8 person slumber party, but Dave was in a weird scene on the futon pad dragged onto the floor. There was this guy trying to hook up with one of the girls and I guess she wasn't having any of that. Either way, dave slept with them on the futon pad widthways style which meant that his feet got a terrible nights sleep. I woke up in my underwear and looking for a bathroom. Dave woke up at my stirring about and then started to go back to sleep. I thought it would be funny to stuff a t shirt and a pair of socks in front of the blue american apparel briefs i'm wearing and hope that he wakes back up as I look for the bathroom. Apparently, the bathroom is in someone else's room and I don't know this, so I look everywhere. Everywhere somehow included me almost pulling a giant piece of plywood down onto me (I guess I thought they hid the bathroom behind some paneling). Anyway, just take a second to pretend you are any of the other people in the room that I don't know and imagine if you woke up to that.
So I try to gather some troops to attempt breakfast at 9am at the little grille. Total success and we get to dine with Ward/Kate and company. We make plans to go to a swimming hole and get it right/tight later. Then we head over to 'Cally's' and I get a bloody mary. Dave and I hang out for a bit and head back to Mike K's to find him starting to wake up. We bro down for a bit, text up a swimmin hole rolling crew and try to take a nap. No dice on the nap, but we did get to see some awesome old pictures Mike had of old duke dogs looking young. There was one of me painting a topless Nate with condiments, in the main dining (d) hall.
The swimming hole had a rope swing that was just dangerous enough to be super fun. After a while we got some thai food super early dinner style and went back to take naps. Instead of napping we ended up watching Wet Hot American Summer with the 'Extra Farts' Commentary.
Oh yeah, here's some weird things - the last place we went was The Nile, which Harper pointed out, is where Dave and I are going. Then almost immediately after that, the bartender plays Real Talk! I got way too excited and we were asked to leave.
The rest of the night was so calm and so fun, Dave and I are still reeling from it. If a day is defined not by the passing of 24 hours, but by the period in between 6+ hours of sleep, then Dave and I might have had one of our best days of our lives.
Sincere thanks especially to Celia, Suzi, and Megan for entertaining Dave and me. I know we couldn't have been easy to handle in our sleep deprived state, you made the best of it and we are very grateful.
1. you can't. you just can't. That's ok though because if you look out your window to your left you can see the sun starting to rise over Dublin.
2. If you really must try, start by taking off your shoes. It feels good, but don't do it if you got that sour foot and don't take your comfort too far. You dropped good money on this ticket and I'll be damned if you're going to ruin it by wearing those mustard stained heather grey sweatpants. put on some linen dress slacks and look sharp. Don't forget to install that braid in the back of your hair with a shark's tooth at the end, that will ward off any unwanted conversationalists. Unless you're sitting next to captain ron or jimmy buffett then you should forego the sharks tooth.
3. Build a fort. if you ask each steward for a blanket you will soon have amassed a rather large collection to construct a fort with. This will give you enough privacy for you to take your shirt off.
Dear Parents of the screaming child,
Please quit putting out your cigarettes on that kid's face, that sound is terrible.
Also, please tell the parents in aisle 46 that their kids dvd player does not have headphones plugged in and no one else needs to hear Elmo on full blast.
Thank you,
Jimi
Right now I am listening to Group Inerane. This flight has given me a perfect opportunity to explore music I usually don't have time to digest.
Back to the stories.
We arrived in Harrisonburg later than expected and met up with Ward and Kate at Clementine on Main St. It's a nice place, moderately fancy but relaxed and with a bathroom that's nicer than any New York apartment I've ever seen. After a couple drinks we decide to move on, but not before Ward approached the Assistant coach of the womens college basketball team and talked her into a late night basketball game.
We decided to go to The Nile, which is a fairly new establishment downtown and a nice, dark, underground bar with plenty of space to move around it. This is also where our gracious host, Mike K. works. I really enjoyed the entire scene and we met some new friends with whom discussed the finer parts of the R. Kelly trial and Real Talk.
We then went to an after party at someones house where some Indian girl gave me the business just for existing. It was pretty jarring given how laid back eveyone had been up until that point. Somehow Mike K. saved the day and I got stuck talking to some guy who had been to 83 Grateful Dead shows. I eventually told him that I had just heard some jerk say that the Grateful Dead and phish were no talent bar bands that became famous for no good reason and you had to be heavily intoxicated to even come close to enjoying it. I never told him that that person was me. On a related side note, Dave is still wearing patchouli, and it's not for the sake of ironic comedy.
I then expressed an interest in playing ghost in the graveyard in an actual graveyard, so after the bar, that's what we did. Dave and I were really happy that even during the slowest time of the year for harrisonburg there were still quality people that wanted to have fun. Dave laid on top of a crypt instead of looking for 'the ghost' and looked at the stars while taking in all that dog food aroma that is harrisonburg. We then ended up crashing with the new friends and making jokes til the sun came up. Even though in my mind we were hysterical I can only assume we were mildly funny, really tired, and moderately annoying.
Speaking of annoying, how long does it take to read a newspaper? I know it's in German so it would take me a really long time, but he knows that language. Just so we got this straight, this guy is upset because I'm using a seat that is not mine because he wants 3 more seats that are not his. He wants me to be cramped into a seat in between people so he can stretch out over 4 seats.
Life is suffering and that suffering is a result of our wants.
Maybe if he wanted less seats he'd be happier. (see previous post for picture)
I guess I'll start from the most recent and work my way backwards.
Right now I am listening to African Scream Contest. I recommend it if you like James Brown and kickin' ass.
On the 21st Dave and I had a nice dinner with friends at Mandalay outside of DC. Dave's parents came and Les and company had some choice inappropriate comments by accident. Matt H. was there to give me last minute tips, although most of them revolved around the concept of neck pillows and the textures of fruit. Meanwhile Les brought up the concept of bondage pants and Houton explained the conspiracy theory of Coke original formula and the introduction of New coke. I ate a delicious green tea salad (right now Dave is eating another one of our homemade treats...and me too) and some tofu dish, followed by two desserts.
This morning I had a pot of jasmine pearl tea, my personal favorite of the greens.
This turned into a food post, I'm bailing.
So I typed up a bunch of posts on the plane and I'll be uploading they throughout the day as I can edit and link up things/stuff.
First one:
I am aboard the flight from DC to Germany right now. I made some baked goods for the flight and dave and I are comfortable and hungry for adventure (and nerds rope). I'm listening to Brazil 70 after tropicalia, which is pretty amazing so far. South America is like a giant middle finger on the globe cursing me for not knowing it more intimately. One day.
I'm doing my best to remember everything I have to post right now. Unfortunately the note I made to myself is on the internet, which despite being ethereal in nature is not at this altitude, nor in nature.
Oh, and the man next to me is pissed because he thought he had a whole row to himself and I took one of the seats so dave and I could chillax to the medium. When I say 'pissed' I mean he is a german doogie howser reading a newspaper in an almost violent way, and he has already confronted me about it and spoken to the stewardess about it. This may get really good.
Speaking of good, I think Dave and I have fell into an appreciation hole. I firmly believe that we suffer so that we might become a deeper vessel for joy, but I seriously can't remember suffer enough in my life to deserve the happiness that dave and I are experiencing. When I made my schedule for the last couple of months in America I looked and it and I thought it was going to be way too much. The great thing is: it was.
Hours of Sleep broken down by night:
Thursday - 5 hours due to dancing too hard
Friday - 5 hours due to Mekongs/Richmond friends/Hot Tub
Sat - 2 hours due to Ghost in the graveyard (in a graveyard), new friends, sparks, early breakfast
Sunday - 4 hours due to more fun with new friends
Right now it is 6 am Tuesday morning. I just woke up after going to bed at 1am. I cannot go back to sleep. I have underwear on my head to block the light. I lost a contact so I'm typing with one eye closed. Please just try to imagine what this looks like.
Riding around on motorcycles meeting new people and having lots of real life fun is not conducive to posting cyber life blogs. I am sorry and my plan is to post everything that happened over the past week on the airplane tomorrow via a zombie blog program.
I am sunburned. I am sleep deprived. I am exhausted on every level. I am stressed about what I might have forgotten to do before I leave the country.
I am full of delicious burmese food. I am surrounded by friends. I am about to embark on the next chapter of my life. I couldn't be more excited/scared.
I love my life.
Hello friends, this is Dave guest blogging while Jimi goes to Lowe's to pick up a new grill. I just wanted to post a few animated pictures for you to enjoy and to tide you over until Jimi gets back on the storytelling wagon. These 2 pictures are from tubin weekend in West Virginia. The first is Drew Good getting that wet beard, and the second is Jimi digging himself into a laugh hole. Enjoy!
That's how I've felt while being at my parents house. Not in a bad way, just in a dave-sleeps-in-my-room-on-a-mattress-on-the-floor-and-drinks-michelob-lights-while-playing-nintendo-and-saying-swear-words-kind-of-way. So tonight I am sitting here eating pie and ice cream and watching him play mario kart on the wii. Anyway, so dave just kind of lost it while playing and I said, 'quit wigging out' and he said, 'I'm going to get wiggered out'. I about lost it. Then he started talking about how the term 'wigger' came from just losing your mind sometimes. For me, that time was 7th grade...I wouldn't suggest wigging out to anyone out there. There's a lot of drama, and a lot of heartache and those roads are not for us. I say we just play. I say we just lay here, chillax and drink some 'lobes.
Motorcycle (mis)adventures
M. Hall's treatise on drugs and motorcycles in popular american culture
Cabin trip in west va
Saw V or Hot Potato the movie
Life's a beach in va beach, eating a peach
Pics from all of the above
so stay tuned for all of those. Once i get some down time I'll start writing.
Also, July 18th come to Mekong's at 8pm for a dinner celebration. Just give me a heads up that you're coming so I can call ahead.
From Barb -
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Cute British men
Last night I had one of those nights where I just kept having really weird dreams. The last one of which involved Colin Firth. We only hugged, but it was lovely--I felt very safe. It was a very fatherly-type embrace. Maybe I've just seen too many commercials for Mamma Mia!? Anyway, I woke up just completely disoriented. Like, stumbling around the apartment, as those drunk, disoriented. It was bizarre.
Can't complain about dreaming of Colin Firth, though.
So I was surfin' up the net while dave took a nap with ethan and found this:
Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.
If you don't already know, I have a mild obsession with NPH and I'm really excited about this. The site is down due to heavy traffic but you should be able to see all three episodes between now and 7/20.
Sorry I haven't been able to post. I went from having the internets and cell phone connected to me through an intense neural network 8-12 hours a day to nothing for the last few days. It's been pretty amazing. We all went to a cabin in West Virginia for the weekend and can you believe they didn't have a wireless signal?!? Anyway, I am going to the mall with my super adorable nephew 'cool ethan' and dave and I are going to try to find some 'talent' on their lunch breaks if you know what I'm saying...also, I need shoes and a jacket for riding the wild hogs. I'll blog later when I get my computer back.
After a full day/week of packing, loading, running errands, cleaning, etc. I finally get to rest at Emerson house. I am pretty confident that everything is taken care of, and all the important i's and t's are respectively dotted and crossed. I think that the motorcycle trip tomorrow will be perfect for clearing my mind and getting prepared for this weekend.
Dave and I just watched Intolerable Cruelty tonight for the first time. I admit the only appeal was the fact that it's a Cohen brothers film. Despite the fact that it is a rom/com, I was impressed and recommend it if you've never seen it.
I'm lying on the futon typing out a late post, staring at my suitcase. My possessions now fill a suitcase and one messenger bag. It's a really great feeling. Last time I left behind a house, furniture, electronics, etc...now I just leave behind some of the best friends and family anyone could ever wish for.
I have a lot to look forward to in a short amount of time. Tomorrow Dave and I ride to WV to meet up with some of the best and creative minds of our time...and partake in 'make your own pizza night' and nickel slots. Oh yeah, tomorrow will also be the first time I've ever really ridden a motorcycle.
The name says it all, but I like the idea of popping my life away one bubble at a time. I also love Cinqo de Mayo. I wonder if you can special order an all cinqo de mayo bubble calender?
