Villa Janse

Dubai 9 AM today

2011-10-03T09:10:00.001-07:00

Lovely cool morning. Dropped F off at nursery and I am now at the playground with L near our hotel. She was a bit feverish yesterday so decided to keep her at home today and check out the clinic here at the mall. Luckily there are about 5 kids for L to play with!

In Dubai!

2011-09-12T06:07:00.001-07:00

I arrived in Dubai with the girls! Husband will follow 2 wks later. Day 1 of nursery of Femke; the other one will start Sunday. It is hot and humid!!!

Goodbye Cairo, Hello Dubai

2011-08-04T06:01:00.001-07:00

Just a quick message.. we're moving to Dubai per 1 October.. Arthur found a new job.
We're very excited and happy about this opportunity. A nursery for the children is already arranged and end of August we'll check out areas and houses...

Grandma Betsie turns 70- family picture...

2011-05-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

Here Betsie, her 4 children Scarlett, Arthur, Priscilla and Pascalle, their spouses John, Meryem, Mario and Michel, and the grandchildren in order of age Luuk, Fee, Nova, Nouk, Femke, Skip and Lente.

Family time.....

2011-05-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

...and after the clean-up!

2011-05-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Wilderness in our Urla garden

2011-05-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

Our babies

2011-05-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

Drawing of Oma Betsie by Femke (3,5 yrs)

2011-04-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Love this quote...

2011-04-12T04:30:00.001-07:00

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt
US diplomat & reformer (1884 - 1962)

Holiday Pictures of South Africa - March

2011-04-04T06:10:00.001-07:00

Perfect toy

2011-03-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I bought this kitchen/diner a few days ago from a friend who has left Cairo.
The kids love it !!

Lente

2011-02-28T00:16:00.000-08:00

At beach resort Stella di Mare in Ain Soukna a stranger took pictures of Lente and his son.

He later came up to us and said he had some amazing pictures of Lente and could email them to us.

Here they are.

Family picture

2011-02-23T11:06:00.000-08:00

While being in Dubai for 10 days, waiting to return to Cairo, we went to our favorite mall, The Dubai Mall again. We love it because it is one of the few malls where you can walk outside as well, around this lake, located at the Burj Kalifa, the highest building in the world. Because of very hot weather, life is normally spent inside, at least during daytime, but we had very pleasant weather, windy and about 25 degrees.

A view on Cairo

2011-02-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

With friends we wanted to have a drink in the top floor restaurant of the Grand Hyatt hotel; we were told by security that children were not allowed in this club. When we got to the top floor, and asked the waiters for a drink, they repeated that children were not allowed. We still managed to take a few pictures. Really beautiful from up here.

Revolution in Egypt

2011-02-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

On 24th of January we decided we would stay one more year in Cairo, so till Sept 2012. The next day there were peaceful demonstrations in Cairo. On Wednesday we had a play group and discussed how wonderful it would be if Egypt would experience a true revolution, we even discussed what we as expat spouses could do. On Thursday a friend suggested we might bring food to the prisons near where we live, as it was in the news there was a shortage of food there. It was declined by the prison manager; foreigners should not meddle in Egypts' business. On Friday the internet was off and also the mobile phones: a bit scary as we also could not reach the childrens doctor anymore, and we didn't have any landline numbers of friends, colleagues etc. Baby Lente was sick with fever, luckily I could get hold of a pediatrician in a hospital. Arthur went to a pharmacy that evening to get some medicine. My brother in the Netherlands kept us up to date, and said, while Arthur was out, that a curfew was in place ! When Arthur came home safely he said he had sensed something was wrong; the streets were completely empty and all shops closed. We watched the next few days on tv what was going on. At night we barricaded the doors as we feared thieves. Thousand prisoners had escaped (or set free) and we heard rumours looters in big groups are breaking in in houses.
When mobile phones were working again, I phoned all my friends and mums from the playgroup. The majority would be evacuated shortly.
We decided to stay. Our days were filled with meeting up with our German neighbours who have a 2 yr old, playing in our garden, cleaning up, visiting the pediatrician... It was nice to go out for a change and seeing on every street corner neighbourhood watchers, men with sticks and other weapons, prepared to fill in the gap police had left in their safety role. At nights we heard gunshots but later we found out this was the military shooting warning shots in the air.
Then internet is on again. I catch up on all the news from the past week, all the articles on the demonstrations. Also the play group mums have emailed around, where they are, stuck in hotels in cold cities in Europe, their experiences at Cairo Airport, some of them waiting there 27 hours before getting a flight.
Thursday 3rd of February. I hear gun shots very near by, a military tank is driving through our street. Later I find out foreigners were attacked by police. I call Arthur who was at work, we both decide then it is time to leave Egypt. It is not safe anymore for foreigners.
I reserved a hotel room nearby the airport and booked a flight to Dubai. On the way to the hotel we cross a military checkpoint, a scary moment, as Arthur has to show ID, and the soldier wants to check our bags. I see Arthur getting angry with him, but the soldier doesn't speak any English so conversation is impossible. He lets us go. On the road we see many tanks, but also normal cars, heading home as the curfew is on from 4 PM onwards. The hotel parking is full with cars, but the hotel is empty. We order room service and watch CNN. The next morning we see about 10 guests at breakfast. We take the shuttle bus to the airport, only 15 minutes away. The airport is normal busy, I am so happy that this is not a panic evacuation. Our flight is on time. The company has booked a hotel for us. Dubai is packed with tourists due to the Shopping festival and we are stuck at a hotel far away. In the hotel room I let the emotions of the last 1,5 weeks run free and cry. How long will we be away from home? That night I cannot sleep, I mentally say goodbye to all our things we left in the house, papers, books, clothes, my diaries. Worst case scenario comes in mind: a fire destroys our house, or thieves take anything they can.
In Dubai we are not alone, 5 other families from Cairo are re-located there. Friends of Femke. So we meet up, and have play dates and drink coffee, it is nice to talk to friends about our experiences.
Arthur starts working again. A hotel room is not practical with 2 kids.
I decide to book an apartment from 11 febr onwards. But not much later Arthur phones me, he has approval from the big boss of the company, we are allowed to return to Cairo. Tickets are booked for Sunday 13th February.
On Friday 11th we see live on CNN that Mubarak is stepping down, we can't believe it, are very happy! The next day we can relax and do some shopping. Arthurs Egyptian boss advises us not to return on Sunday but wait a while. We ignore this advice and Sunday afternoon we arrive on Cairo airport, it is quiet and on the main road we don't see any tanks anymore.
We're home.
It feels good.
And we are proud of the Egyptian people. It is a very special time for them.
I hope somehow I can contribute to the post-revolution time. I know we are already supporting 2 families, the driver and our maid; but time will show what more we can do.

Lente almost 9 months

2011-01-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

So, Lente Annabel, almost 9 months old, at the moment of writing this post sick with a cold, a running nose, coughing, red eyes. 3 nights in a row waking up because of pain? high temperature? just feeling sick?, but daytime she is still happy and exploring the world. Drinks every 4 hours a bottle of milk, and in between she eats fruit, bread, carrots, cucumber, potato puree with zuccini, carrots or peas, is completely excited when daddy comes home from work, or when she hears Femke coming down the stairs, sleeps 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, is the oldest of the baby playgroup meetings, zero teeth up till now, far behind with her vaccine schedule, is now 2 mornings a week alone with maid Azza while Mommy is going to Arabic classes, a cutie, so easy and independent already.

Weekend trip to Luxor

2011-01-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we spent in Luxor, 1 hour flight from Cairo. Our friends, Jan & Esther, had gone there just a few weeks before, and we had become curious to the temples and tombs.
Luxor is the ancient Egypt as you would imagine it to be: tombs, statues, obelisks, Sphinx, giant temples, the Nile... So much different then the Gize pyramids ! Really very beautiful !
The weather was also pleasantly warm for January: around 25 degrees.
We stayed in a little hotel, Mara House, an oasis in the otherwise unattractive and dirty town of Luxor. The town has so much potential, but locals are poor and to our opinion, have gotten lazy because of all the money tourism brings to the town.
Well worth a visit.

Christmas at Femke's school

2010-12-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Femke + friends singing songs, parents are watching and glowing with pride..

Holiday to Oman

2010-12-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we went to Oman, a beautiful country in the Middle East. An example for all other countries in that area. Good roads, clean cities, no high rise buildings, trees planted everywhere, charming bazaars. The mountains and country side are amazing.
The sultan has really made an effort the past 40 years to modernize the country and has foreseen that its natural beauty (beaches and mountains and green wadi's) will attract many tourists.
A few down sides: it is expensive (a tourist visa was already 45 Euro's) and the beaches/in the evenings the boulevard and bazaar are packed with men from Pakistan/India/Philippines (who are in Oman to earn money).
Here the best photo's we took from Oman.

Our beautiful girls

2010-11-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

Desert trip ...

2010-11-06T21:59:00.001-07:00

Friday 5 November we went on our first trip to the desert.. with 2 other families, 3 4WD's, 6 children, 7 adults, a 255 km drive into the desert near Cairo.
What an amazing trip. Surprisingly beautiful, surreal to have a BBQ in the middle of nowhere, the kids LOVED it, running around, playing in the sand, collecting shells and stones.
Check out the slide show below..

Femke then and now...

2010-11-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

When I was browsing through old pictures, I came across this one from a 4 month old Femke... And see how she looks now... Amazing that a baby face can show so clearly how she will look many years later..

Halloween at Femke's school...

2010-10-31T01:53:00.000-07:00

Best of Lente- 5 months old

2010-10-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

Toddler Art

2010-09-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

Back in Town..

2010-09-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

After 1 month break in The Netherlands and hardly access to the internet, finally a post again from us! This picture was taken in Veere, in the South West of Holland, near the place Arthur was born and grew up. Our jackets reveal that it was cold those days.

Arthur's mother was on a holiday herself, so for 4 days we stayed alone in her apartment and borrowed her car. It was nice for a change to do things as a family of 4..As all expats do know, when you're in your home country, one usually does things with parents, siblings, friends and is therefor hardly alone.
With a tourist guide of the province Zeeland we enjoyed so much the beautiful country side and charming villages that characterize Holland. It is in those moments we miss 'our' country, although we don't have concrete plans to move here (yet).

It was a long time ago that a picture was taken of the two of us. We've been together now for 10 years, we have 2 wonderful girls and exciting plans for the future.. but it needs work to find the time to do things together. That's why I like this picture so much: it reminds me that there is an 'us', next to being a family.

In Middelburg we were just walking in the streets, when suddenly Arthur said to me, Look behind you, and this is what we saw, this beautiful church, in the middle of many houses! We decided to go inside and it happened we were just in time for a tour.

The climbing of the stairs to the tower was narrow and difficult so we left Lente downstairs with a nice lady. When we were on top we could hear her crying echoing in the church.

Beautiful views on Dutch houses. We had so much luck with the weather this day.

Femke, now 3 years, is a very good travel compagnion. It seems she has inherited our love for travelling, likes to get on planes and trains, go for long walks, mingle with strangers, and is luckily not so affected by change of routines (sleeping in her own bed etc)...

For a few seconds we were puzzled when we saw this picture, because WHO HAS TAKEN THIS PICTURE?? Well, Femke of course..

We concluded that IF we would move back to the Netherlands, the town of Middelburg would be high on our top 5 list. It is charming, clean, with a few nice parks.

Even the grafiti is part of Dutch culture.

Mum & Femke

2010-08-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Fun at the beach

2010-08-13T01:07:00.001-07:00

Garbage city in East Cairo

2010-08-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Cairo has a major garbage problem. It has a reputation of polluted, dusty & dirty city. Ofcourse not all areas can be identified like that.
We live in Maadi, a residential area in the South of Cairo.
Garbage is picked up every day here, many streets do look clean, but then all of sudden around the corner it is messy and smelly and garbage has piled up.
Garbage City is an area in the East of Cairo, where the poorest of the poor, live. Their job is to collect garbage from all over Cairo and do the sorting of garbage in and around their houses. To quote "The Zabbaleen generally perform this service very cheaply. Waste food is fed to livestock, mainly pigs; what cannot be repaired or reused -steel, glass, textile and plastic bottles- is sorted by hand and sold as raw materials; some material is burnt as fuel. It is claimed that Zabbaleen reuse or recycle 80-90% of the waste they collect (a figure that the most modern waste management systems can only dream of), however this must be put into context of the fact that the Zabbaleen concentrate on wealthier areas.."

These blackandwhite pictures of Garbage city are amazing; they are recent pictures but could easily have been from a century ago.

Here an articile about the subject

Femke- almost 3 years old!

2010-08-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Only a few more weeks to go and Femke will turn 3 !
Her first 2 birthdays she cannot remember, but this one for sure. At the nursery they already celebrated birthdays of classmates so she understands the concept now.
She sings the birthday song every day and repeats that we will go to Holland, and oma (grandmother) will pick us up, there will be cake & candles & presents.

Our little baby is not a baby anymore. She speaks better English and Dutch every day, sings songs, can do the Alphabet song, does imaginary role play alone or with friends or with daddy, is potty trained, likes to jump from heights, loves to dance, smiles a lot, is sometimes very jealous and wants attention from mommy (especially when she is breastfeeding Lente!), is sometimes very naughty although her teacher say she is a good girl in school, loves the songs from Paddy Casey, remembers so many experiences she had, has a favorite boyfriend Thomas whom she met almost 1 year ago at the beach (they are still friends), loves to make Lego towers and playing with blocks (?), loves books but has no patience to listen someone reading it to her......

Two sisters...

2010-07-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Lente 2 months and weekend at the sea

2010-07-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

A week ago Lente had a check up at the pediatrician. Besides the running nose and coughing (we all were sick those days!) she is doing fine.
She now measures 61,5 cm and weighs 5.5 kilo's.
On my birthday, she gave me 2 wonderful gifts: she slept through the night, which means 7 hours in a row, AND she started smiling !!! How beautiful she looks then..

Our webalbum with recent pictures of our 2 girls during a weekend away to Ain Soukna at the Red Sea. This time we stayed at the Movenick Hotel.

Femke 1 to 2 years...

2010-07-05T06:44:00.001-07:00

Here we posted a blog with pictures of Femke from birth to 1 year...
As her third birthday is coming up 25th of August, take a look at her 1 to 2 year old pictures....End of August we will show a collage of the 2 to 3 year period..

Golf lessons !

2010-06-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

Katameya Heights Golf & Tennis resort is a huge compound about half an hour of our area Maadi. Villa's are built around a golf area which makes the place very green and nice looking. I surprised Arthur with 3 golf lessons of an hour each for our 10 year anniversary and 4 year marriage anniversary. We enjoyed it so much !! Today is our first official lesson, last week was for free as the instructor could not do a full hour.. Tonight we take Femke with us so let's hope she will keep herself occupied..
Golf is everywhere around us in Cairo, as the weather is always good it is a nice outdoor sport for many (richer) Egyptians and expats. And it is not that expensive to take lessons, we paid around 80 euro's per hour for the 2 of us. They are private lessons, this way the instructor can correct you all the time.

The Three Janse girls

2010-06-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

10 year Anniversary: highlights

2010-06-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

1st of June 2000 was the day Arthur and I fell in love! 10 years have passed since then, 10 years full of amazing highlights...We have travelled together to many beautiful places in the world, to 24 countries to be precise, have been living 7.5 years abroad now, got married, bought a 3000 m2 piece of land in the country side of Urla, Turkey and build a house, and are now parents of cute little girls Femke & Lente.

Portugal was our first destination together and a few years later we went back to celebrate our honeymoon there. We read an article about Lebanon as holiday destination and booked a flight, then 9/11 happened.. what to do? Cancel our flight? We thought hey it can´t be any safer than in the Middle East! Nice (France) & Monaco were weekend trips with cheap Easy jet flights. On a big sailing ship we sailed to a harbour in Denmark. As Belgium is close to The Netherlands we went there several times, to Antwerp and Brugge, but also to the coast. London is one of our favourite destinations, we never went there in Summer time though, only during Christmas and New Year. In Stockholm we visited my friend Frank and his wife Irina. Dublin was a surprise trip from Arthur, he proposed to me in a park, very romantic. 3 weeks we travelled by car through Cuba. Thailand was absolutely fantastic. NY was a place Arthur wanted to go to, but I hesitated for a long time, then said yes and was pleasantly surprised. Venice we went to by car with sister in law Pascalle and her boyfriend Michel. Arthur´s auditor job led us to many European cities like Oxford, Vastervik (Sweden), Zurich (and St Moritz! and Bern!), Paris, Barcelona, Stuttgart and Milan and Lake Maggiore. Then in January 2003 we moved to Turkey and travelled extensively in the country of my parents and forefathers... The charming islands of Greece and Athens were not far from Izmir so favourite destinations for us. Malaysia and Singapore we visited in December 2008. In Curacao we stayed 2 weeks with excellent hosts Jan & Ester. Before moving to Egypt in 2009 we spent a lovely time at Lake Como in Italy and Lugano in Switzerland. Our last big trips were to Sri Lanka and Dubai.

Our ambitions for the next 10 years?
Explore the Middle East & Africa a bit more now that we live so close. Travel to Canada and check out possible areas to live. Perhaps move back to Amsterdam for a few years. Sailing lessons and hopefully within 10 years own a sailing boat.

Routine of Lente

2010-06-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

Here an example of a day in the life of Lente!

Woke up at 5.30 for a feed, stays awake untill 6.50 and then sleeps till 8 AM
Another feed at 8.20 AM, diaper change, some time spent alone, some time at mommy's lap, sleeps at 9.45 untill 12.15
After her feed she stays awake again untill 1.45 and falls asleep without crying!
A long sleep now untill 4.45, stays awake one hour in order to sleep untill 6.45. Now the next feed is already after 2 hours but sometimes that happens! She stays awake 1 hour, and after another feed she falls asleep at 8.15 in the evening. She wakes up at 1 in the night, and lucky for me, she falls asleep right after her feed.
Another long sleep untill 5.30, we go to the living room for a nappy change and some cuddling with daddy (who goes to work at 6.30). She falls asleep at 7 and a new day has begun !!

To sum up: Her feedings are most of the time (during daytime) every 3 to 4 hours, at night she manages to sleep quiet long, sometimes even 5 hours in a row. At daytime she is more and more awake with in the afternoon a long sleep and in the mornings shorter periods of sleep (1,5 hours)

The Good Girl, more pics Lente + video...

2010-05-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

For more pictures of Lente please visit the following webalbum
Here we also uploaded the birth video (C-section!).. Only for the ones who are really interested to see that of course...

Lente is now 18 days old and doing great. At night she sleeps 4 or sometimes 5 hours untill the next feed which gives me time to get some good sleep. It is unbelievable, we are waiting for the day this will change (I hope not though)!! I used to wake up Femke at 10 in the evening for an extra feed before the hopefully long sleep in the night, but with Lente this is not needed at all... During the day she is more awake, but still sleeps 2 to 3 hours in one row.
My stiches were removed last week and I feel great. We have made long walks with Lente in the stroller and we've been to a big mall alltogether for shopping.
Femke is also very sweet to her sister, but for sure she show signs of jealousy and seeks more attention than ever from me and Arthur. My mother has been a great help and played a lot with Femke. Sadly she left this morning.
Femke is still going to the nursery from 8.30 till 3.30 3 days a week to keep her entertained, which gives us quiet time at home. And last Wednesday I started to visit the Play groups again at a friends house.

So far so good.

But now with my mother gone, we all need to find a new routine.
Luckily I don't have to worry about cleaning the house, or doing groceries (thanks to the delivery service of many shops). I just have to bring and take Femke from nursery, make a week schedule for cooking, and with Femke away most part of the day, I will try to nap once a day (which I did not do the last 2 weeks) and do some serious organizing of files and photo's.
Also the occasional social meeting with a friend can be planned.
6 weeks after the birth, so sometime end of June I also want to pick up sports again to get stronger and more fit.

We have very hot months ahead of us, in May already we had a few days of 40+ degrees!!
Next weekend we will start going to the beach again and stay at Stella di Mare Grand hotel.
Another thing we would like to do is go for a 1 hour walk in the evenings, after dinner.

Hello Lente Annabel Janse !

2010-05-08T02:19:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl was born on Wednesday, 5 May, at around 3 pm in El Nada Hospital in Cairo.

She weighs 3,8 kilo and measured 51 cm.

Since Friday afternoon we are all home again. Meryem's mother is also here for 2 weeks.

'Lente' means 'Spring' in Dutch...

More photo's and stories soon...

Last preggie picture

2010-05-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

I am now 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and Arthur took yesterday evening the last picture with my big belly.. This afternoon we will go to the hospital for a c-section, my own choice no medical reasons. I am happy I waited this long, normally they plan a c-section 2 weeks before due date!

I had a good night sleep without any pain but with weird dreams, the delivery was postphoned maybe 4 times, very strange...it was one long waiting dream..

At nursery this morning I heard some sad news though, Femke's class teacher had a miscarriage 2 weeks ago while being 6 months pregnant... I think they didn't tell me in order not to upset me, but today I heard the news..Really sad for her, but at least she already has a daughter of 5, I guess that must be some comfort.

More news from the Janse family later today! I am happy it is almost over.

Comparing Izmir and Cairo

2010-05-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

My feelings of dissatisfaction with living in Cairo got a bit more objective when I wrote down comparisons and differences of the 2 cities..
I felt I had to stop idealizing Izmir/Urla/Turkey and give our situation in Egypt a chance.

Interesting enough I found many similarities both in advantages as disadvantages.

Here we go:

What Cairo/Egypt and Izmir/Turkey have in common:
- Chaotic busy traffic
- Hot weather from May onwards
- Very few public parks or play areas for children
- Very few public swimming pools
- Ugly high rise, buildings, unfinished buildings, with no paint
- Arthur is home early (between 5 and 6)
- Beach resorts within travel distance, say 1,5 hours
- Western style shops and malls available
- Medical services good, cheap and widely available
- Low criminiality, high social control, quiet safe
- No cities to bike around

The advantages of living in Cairo above Izmir

- It is easier to get direct international flights
- No worries about workers around our house in Urla/our financial situation
- Staff is much cheaper, in Turkey 30 euro’s p day, here 100 euro’s a month
- We can save money again!
- The nursery for Femke is excellent
- I have all the time in the world, no obligations or projects
- As it is a world city many good international restaurants are available
- The international community is much bigger and better organized
- The area where we live is greener and therefor much cooler than in Urla

Now the advantages of living in Izmir THUS THE THINGS I MISS!!

- Many nice plces to have breakfast, we haven’t found them yet in Cairo
- Charming villages and beautiful nature not far from Izmir
- Izmir is a better walkable city
- Alsancak and Forum Bornova nice outside shopping
- Beautiful long boulevard
- No language problems

So what to do?
Make a list of all international restaurants we would like to visit
Make a list of top 50 things we want to see in Egypt and Cairo the coming year
Explore our neighbourhood Maadi to the fullest
Accept the fact that we need to take the car or metro for any place outside our Neighboorhood
Learn Arabic as soon as possible!

Playgroup at Fagnoon Art centre

2010-04-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday a playgroup meeting with toddlers and their mums, mostly living in our neighbourhood Maadi, is organised. Usually we meet at someone's home, but a few times we try to do something special. Like 2 weeks ago, we went to Fagnoon Art centre. It is about a half hour drive to the country side of Cairo, where a huge play area is built to entertain children with arts and crafts.
Femke's group did 3 activities, sticking, painting and pottery. I thought she would enjoy working with clay, but she was more interested in putting the wet clay in the bucket with water. In the end her mum made some sculpturous thingie, which was identified by friends as a vulcano...
There was also a horse and 2 camels that caught the attention of the little ones. And a cow eating grass was absolutely an attraction, they all wanted to pet the cow and threw grass towards the cow.
We had a very nice morning, with enough shade to not boil up completely and it is worth going back with Arthur one weekend.

Inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert

2010-04-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

If you have read the book 'Eat, love, pray' from Elizabeth Gilbert, I strongly recommend you to read her new book 'Committed'. In this book she gives valuable insights in the concept of 'marriage', how it is perceived in history, by different cultures, her own family members and by herself. She has done her homework well, used a variety of resources to make the book interesting, funny, serious and easy to read.
While checking out her website, I found this 18 minute speech she gave at a conference.
She cannot only write, but also talk in a very funny, inspirational way.
If you have some time to spare, listen and look to the speech.

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Femke's school pictures

2010-04-04T05:01:00.001-07:00

34 weeks pregnant!

2010-03-29T02:06:00.000-07:00

7 weeks to go...

2010-03-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

...but it is getting tougher every day! I get tired very quickly and prefer sitting, wherever I am, cannot go for long walks anymore, I am short of breath (mostly at nights though) and I am not looking forward to sleeping anymore! There is only one position (on the left side) I can sleep in, but this is beginning to feel uncomfortable as well, causing cramp in my left leg and a stiff neck. Luckily only one night visit to the toilet is enough but getting out of bed and walking up there takes so long I usually am fully awake before I get into bed again. But can't complain too much: I do fall asleep and finish my 8 or 9 hour sleep! And I did not gain too much weight so far, only 9 kilo's which is average...

One of luxuries of being an expat in Cairo is that maids are quiet cheap; my cleaner comes every day from 9 till 2, and her salary is only 150 euro's per month. In Turkey I used to pay my cleaner 30 euro's per day!!!
So with her around, cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, tidying up the bedroom, tidying up Femke's toys, doing dishes and sometimes cut vegetables so that my cooking doesn't take so long to prepare.. my life as a pregnant housewife is quiet easy.
But I guess the biggest advantage at the moment is that Femke goes to nursery from 8.15 till 15.30, 3 days a weeks. Sorry to say, but entertaining a 2,5 yrs old while being 7+ months pregnant is sometimes hard, so with her only around full time the 2 other days (weekends with her father around is much easier for me) is do-able (for now).

My due date is 8th of May, but I am thinking of planning a c-section on the 3rd of May, if everything goes well of course. A friend also had planned a c-section, but her water broke the night before so she had an emergency c-section after all!
Advantage of a planned date is that it will be more relaxing and practical for our family; Femke can go to nursery that day, and Arthur will pick her up in the afternoon, I will already be with the new baby in the hospital room. Also this way we don't need to worry about getting stuck in traffic on the way to the hospital, or that my doctor is not available, or Arthur is busy at work.

We have chosen a name for the baby, and a flight is booked for my mother, she will stay with us 2 weeks after the birth.
End of May, after my mother has left, we will hire a part-time nanny, who can help out on weekdays after nursery time, and on the 2 other days Femke is at home.
Well, we'll see how that works out, I am not looking forward to have another person around me, but almost all friends here in Cairo strongly advice me to hire a nanny.

I am sure friends in the Netherlands might think this is exaggerating but they have family, neighbors and friends nearby to help out!!!

Anyway, we will welcome our first visitor to Cairo this weekend, friend Francisca (always a loyal visitor during our stay in Izmir) will stay 5 days! Jippie...

Two weeks in Sri Lanka

2010-02-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

We're back from our holidays. As we are quite nearby Asia, we managed to arrange a two week holiday in Sri Lanka on short term. Perfect! Very green country, good food and sweet people. So a good holiday with five days at the beach, two sight seeing in capital Colombo and one in fisherman’s town Negombo.

Quite some travelling, but Sri Lanka is not a huge country and the greener parts are even smaller. Also the infrastructure is quite good, so we managed to hop around by train or bus quite easily.

Unfortunately we could not handle the hills of Ela anymore. This as Femke gave the impression that she could handle 3,5 hours by car / bus /train, but no more!. And as Ella was a 5,5 hours drive (and from there another 8! to the South!), we agreed to leave this for our pension days ;)

We went to Unawatuna for our beach time, about 15 min from Galle, a town with many Dutch influences...

Colombo was a bit disappointing as it has been never developed due to the war, but we did see some nice temples and the war memorial is worth visiting. Also the bazaar with small shops is always a treat. Also we spent time with an elephant, always time well spent if you’re hopping along with Femke J

Negombo is a charming fisherman town, very authentic without high buildings.

The 3,5 hour train ride to Kandy was stunning, slowly we went further up the green mountains. Kandy is the Sri Lanka capital of old. By train we clutched along the mountains and small railway stations. As we were in the back of the train, the wagon jerked so many times that Mer’s water almost broke ;) But Kandy was absolutely worth it, very green, very charming. .In Kandy we decided to hire a car with driver for a whole day of sight seeing. We went to a tea factory, a herbal garden and made an elephant ride... Femke is still talking about that! In the centre there is a beautiful, large botanic garden, really amazing what trees and plants they had collected there in a period of hundred years..
And the tea factory… well, we certainly asked our questions there. As an interesting fact; the process of making the tea only differs between green (mainly; not fermented) and brown (fermented, so stronger) tea. The taste differs mainly with the blend of spices you add.

Check out our 'best of Sri Lanka' by clicking on the presentation link below:

The pyramids - finally!

2010-01-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

Last Friday (in Egypt weekend has started then) we decided it was finally time to visit the pyramids of Cheops., after having lived in Cairo for 5 months now...
Our driver Yahye came with us, it was only a 15 min drive from our house, can you imagine how close they are? Arthur passes them everyday (desperately trying to take pictures, but alas..). Of course the city moves closer and closer to the deserts surrounding the pyramids. But also this has its charms.
As you can see on the this picture you can see the city from the Pyramids grounds

I was amazed to experience the ticket office, it seemed time had stood still here sometime in the sixties.. Although the roads up to the entrance are fine, police checks are done to search for bombs etc, the ticket office was dark and men in (leather) black tried to withhold as much info as they could. No shop or stance with refreshments in sight, so if anybody is up for a career that combines ice, tea and coffee.. this is the place to go!
So, Yahya (don't ask, Arabic names are written in Latin differently continuously) could park the car a bit further and did not need to buy a ticket, which is what we used to have in Turkey in the past also (Arthur always was pushing his knowledge of Turkish to the limits just to sound like a Turk at the ticket booth, to get a lower price of course... the depths this man is willing to travel for money ;) respect).
When we entered the area YeahYeah requested our tickets and for a reason, we were immediately harassed by a man who wanted to see our tickets to talk us into him guiding for us 'at no cost of course, you're free to give later if you want to'. Good trick! Didn't see that one coming, the minute you give him your tickets, you'll be in for a little discussion.
Anyways. Camels, horses, strong wind and good sun made for a perfect environment to see the pyramids. Its amazing. Standing there in front of these imposing buildings really only leads to a status of awe. Especially the Sphinx is a masterpiece, looking like a woman though in the past donned with a beard! That fell off. Ok!
Dus. Perfect two hours spent, also us oYeah willfully and with huge joy chased Femke for two straight hours giving us the chance to walk around a bit, definite worth the visit.

Baby 22 weeks

2010-01-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

The Dubai Experience- Jan 2010

2010-01-24T03:31:00.000-08:00

Arthur monthly visits Dubai for work and mid January I decided to join him. We had 4,5 days to explore Dubai, let the good times roll! Our family, especially Di Mama's, were very excited about our trip, haha, actually everyone we know in the Netherlands is more interested to learn about Dubai than Cairo. It appeals as Dubai is doing a great job promoting itself on CNN, travel programs, with world's largest this/fastest that/ladida. Soww.. is it worth it?

I think that is a 'yes indeed' indeed.

Its not Disney world as you'd expect. But a well organized, clean city where the government is travelling length to make sure you are enjoying your stay.
Also January was a good time to travel as temperatures are OK, in the mid twenties, there are (very low) lowseason prices and hardly any tourists can be seen.
Femke and I traveled alone to Dubai on Wednesday. The flight was 3,5 hours, quite longer than I would have thought it would be, and the time difference with Egypt is +2 hours. When we arrived at the airport, the stroller was waiting by my side: Femke now weighs 13 kilo's and with my pregnant situation I can't hold Femke in my arms longer than a few minutes!
Interesting to see all these customs officials in their white cloaks, Kandura they are called, and the Guthra their headscarf. Most popular colors of the headscarf are white or red and white checks. Then Egal, a black rope is used to tie the scarf on the head. See here what I mean...

From Dubai jan 2010

Arthur picked me up at the airport and soon we were heading in a new and clean taxi to our hotel... One cannot help comparing everything to Cairo! Taxi drivers in Dubai are usually from India or Pakistan and speak very well English. Actually; only 10% of Dubai are Emirati, the rest of the people mainly are Indian/Pakistani/other working in construction/service industry or enjoying these constructions/services (Europeans, Iranians & Arabians mostly).

Nice trip. It looks like what I expect Florida to be. Even at the beach I felt as if I could lounge for a bit and later take my surfboard out to do some 'sharky dippin'' (one takes a shark..). Very relaxing, nice week out from Cairo and actually I'm considering to accompany Arthur again in March :)

Highlights:
= The fountain light and music show at the Dubai Mall, Femke is still shouting at her highest notes when she sees the video's

From Dubai jan 2010

= The boat ride at the Madinat Jumeirah hotel / souk, great souk, amazing what they build here, very relaxed.

From Dubai jan 2010

= Mercato shopping mall, because of the Venetian style architecture. All other malls looked quiet futuristic

From Dubai jan 2010

= Beautiful beaches, there are public ones and private ones; the latter have more shade as there are trees planted on the beach, and beds and umbrellas available.

From Dubai jan 2010

= The waterfall at the Mall of the Emirates

From Dubai jan 2010

Check out other pics in the presentation slide below...

It was a strange experience though, to see this wealthy city where everything looks perfect, like in fairy tale from the future. Also good to see how modern and tolerant many cultures live together there. Travelling and sight seeing is comfortable, one sees hardly the poor and ugly and dirty side (of which can be found in Cairo everywhere), it is like a large suburb where all cars are new and clean, and people are rich, many restaurants and shops available. Tourists seem to like that for a change, its not cheap for a tourist here, but its not crazily expensive either (think London/Paris/New York)

It was a nice contrast to our next holiday destination early February, to Sri Lanka!

If I were a rich man...

2010-01-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

It is always interesting, I think, to dream about winning the lottery and what you would do with that money.. I came up with the following list. I am not so much focusing on material things I could buy though, because that would be more ore less a natural thing to do (buy). It is more about making my life easier by getting rid of time consuming activities! But read till the end, because my conclusion might be quiet surprising...

1. I don't enjoy doing groceries, so I would order it online and have it delivered to my home.
2. I don't like to shop for clothes, so I would shop for items in one time and be rid of that activity for a few months!
3. I would go much more often to a hairdresser, massage and all other 'personal care' related things. Perhaps hire a personal trainer to give me advice on nutrition and exercise.
4. I spent a lot of time now searching for good travel deals, I would delegate this work to a virtual assistant
5. I would organize the quickest and easiest way to use the internet
6. I would never go into a post office again, but use a courier like DHL.
7. I would choose the most comfortable car for myself
8. If I would not choose for an eye operation, I would treat myself on the thinnest glasses possible and vary the frames on a regular basis
9. I would hire a maid that would do all household chores
10. I would finish our house in Urla in a quick and perfect way, the heating system, garden, swimming pool etc
11. I would do more tidying up of my books, papers and stuff, more than I did so far
12. I would travel the world more often than now.
13. I would go to the Netherlands more often to spend more time with friends and family.

Last but not least no.14 : I would choose a project that gives fulfillment and satisfaction, this could be a charity project, but also starting a business, open a shop, start a private school, write a book, make documentaries, help young entrepreneurs with great ideas, sponsor poor but talented students, or be involved in an environmental project

Conclusion?

There is actually nothing to keep me from doing all the 14 things on my list!
Now in Cairo a few things are already possible; I have a maid who cleans and does laundry/ironing, she comes 4 times a week, from 9 till 2, so my household chores are minimal; groceries can be delivered home and if coordinated well, ordered on a regular basis.

My life would not change drastically, yes I would have more free time, but one will get used to that as well. For sure I could delegate a lot to a personal or virtual assistant if I want to afford one.

More importantly: I have a 2 year old child who needs to play with other kids, so I would always be occupied with arranging that !!! (I would never hire a nanny to take over my mother role!).

Will I really be happier if I am a millionaire? Or will I lead my life less intense, because my life would pass by in a slower pace for small time consuming activities are already organized. Or will I live my life faster because I would feel I HAVE to do all kinds of things now I have the money, otherwise I would feel guilty ? I think I CAN organize my life NOW in such a way, that the time consuming, boring, activities are at least minimized. Even no. 14 is not impossible without having a lot of money.

Is Egypt a developing country?

2010-01-03T04:31:00.000-08:00

I was curious if and why Egypt was a developing country... A quick research on the internet gives the following interesting details...

Developing country is a term generally used to describe a nation with a low level of material well being. There is no single internationally-recognized definition of developed country, and the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries, with some developing countries having high average standards of living."

Some international organizations like the World Bank use strictly numerical classifications. The World Bank considers all low- and middle- income countries as "developing". In its most recent classification, economies are divided using 2008 Gross National Income per capita. In 2008, countries with GNI per capita below US$11,905 were considered developing.

Egypt had a GNI per capita (US$) of 1580 in 2007 and Norway one of the highest ( 76450 dollars), Liberia one of poorest countries a GNI per capita (US$) of 150.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, defined a developed country as follows. "A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment."

There is criticism of the use of the term ‘developing country’. The term implies inferiority of a 'developing country' compared to a 'developed country', which many such countries dislike. It assumes a desire to ‘develop’ along the traditional 'Western' model of economic development which many countries, such as Cuba, have chosen not to follow. Thus Cuba remains classed as 'developing' due to its low gross national income but has a lower infant mortality rate and higher literacy rate than the USA.

The development of a country is measured with statistical indexes such as income per capita (per person) (GDP), life expectancy, the rate of literacy, et cetera.
The UN has developed the HDI, a compound indicator of the above statistics, to gauge the level of human development for countries where data is available.
Developing countries are in general countries which have not achieved a significant degree of industrialization relative to their populations, and which have, in most cases a medium to low standard of living. There is a strong correlation between low income and high population growth.

Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity
Egypt: 70-72.5 yrs versus 77.5n to 80 yrs in Norway and in Liberia only 45 years!
So Egypt scores not bad at all with its life expectancy...

Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting). For Egypt these figures vary from 72 to 90 %, this is also quiet good compared to other countries

Our Urla house in August 2009

2009-12-08T03:53:00.000-08:00

Movers came end of August to pack our things.. Arthur came home early from work and took these wonderful last pictures of our house and garden. We had managed to finish so many small and big projects, like the masterbedroom.

On the photo you can see the masterbedroom in a finished version. The shutters were made by carpenter Nihat bey last minute. When I told him we would leave to Cairo, he promised he would have them ready before our departure..We are very happy with the result (and his price).
Also a photo of our last minute garden project. To fill up the emptiness in the back we bought many plants and trees, and made a walking path as you can also see below.

Below the road that leads to our garage and the wooden balcony of the masterbedroom

If you are interested to see more please visit

http://picasaweb.google.nl/moguzberk/Urla2009MovingDay?feat=directlink

or see the slide show below

Baby news (2) & mixed feelings about Cairo

2009-11-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday we had another check at a gynecologist, everything is going well, blood pressure is fine, my weight is now 62 kilo's, and the sex is also clear, a girl!
I need to take extra iron vitamins as my blood results showed anemia.

The only thing that worried me a bit are the triple marker results, to identify the chance on Down syndrome. Because of my age, 37, this is 1 : 160, which is of course higher then when I was pregnant with Femke; it then was 1: 450. So the question was will we do another test, the amniocentesis or not?? I read that they collect amniotic fluid, the liquid that is in the womb by inserting a needle through the mother's abdominal wall into the uterus, using ultrasound to guide the needle. Approximately one ounce of fluid is taken for testing. This fluid contains fetal cells that can be examined for chromosome tests. It takes about 2 weeks to determine if the fetus has Down syndrome or not. My doctor said the risk to the baby is less than 1 %, contractions might occur but in his 35 year career this happened only twice.

With a chance lower than 1 %, 1 : 160, we decided not to do the amniocentesis. My gynecologist said that as a doctor he would want to eliminate any risks and do further tests, but as a human being he would not advice his wife to do further tests, as the risk is very low....

The last month I was on and off ill, a cold, a sinusitis, a bit of coughing, diarrhea, headaches ...Since a few days I feel good again, and full of energy to explore Cairo, the pyramids and do some serious shopping for curtains, furniture and paintings.

Maybe because I was ill, I felt unhappy about living in Cairo; I found it hard to find positive aspects of living here. And then of course I met some women who felt the same, and we were in a negative spiral... Luckily yesterday I ran into a friend from my toddler-mum group, and she invited me to visit her this morning. Sometimes you meet people at the right time; she was actually very positive and optimistic about Cairo and Egypt!! Exactly what I needed, some positive views.
Fresh fruit and vegetables, the Red pyramid, many countries near to be visited (Jordan, Morocco, Tunis), the area where we live Maadi, is green full of high trees plants and flowers, it is safe to take a walk with children, it is according to her much cleaner than another 3rd world country where she used to live, India, and despite 18ml people living in Cairo: not at all that crowded in the streets !! Of course she is comparing to India and is therefor much more positive, but still, I could see things much clearer and objective now.

And let's face it: there is no perfect place in the world. I have to stay positive and happy, not only for myself, but also for Femke and Arthur, so therefor focus on the good things we have here. My friend from Azerbaijan has many more (objective) problems, their container with household stuff is still in Dubai, her husbands boss told him that he has to seek aggressively for another job, so where to go??? Switching school for their 2 girls is her main problem now! Where to to go in the middle of school semester?
So life can be more difficult than my little worries and unhappy feelings...Time for a change!!

Curacao May 2009 finally some pictures!

2009-11-16T03:33:00.000-08:00

From our holiday to the Dutch Antilles in May 2009, finally a web album is ready!

Please check the following link for that:

Curacao May 2009

Enjoy!

And a big thank you for our friends, Jan, Esther, Roel and Mark for their hospitality..
You are masters in hospitality!

Femke in pictures 2 yrs and 2 months

2009-11-08T02:36:00.001-08:00

Baby news

2009-11-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

So a few weeks ago we had the first check up in Cairo, a doctor recommended by many foreign women. Unfortunately, like in Izmir, we had to wait very long for our turn, so I told the assistant to please give me a realistic view BEFORE I go to the doctor. I mean, with taxi I can be here in 5 minutes, and I'd rather wait in a shopping mall, at home or in a cafe, than in a stone cold waiting room where Femke is being hyper active!! But the doctor seemed well experienced and spoke very well English, he said there is a 60% chance I might need another c-section, but he'll leave it up to me.
Furthermore he said I have to continue my extra progesterone hormones until week 14.
Blood pressure was normal, no weight gain yet (I think I lost 2 kilo's actually) and a healthy baby on the ultrasound. Due date is early May 2010.
It was a special moment to see the baby move, with Femke and Arthur also watching.
We still have to wait for the triple marker test results, to identify the chances for a Down syndrome.
I feel heavy, there is a big belly already, I still am thinking about food A LOT, so I eat every 2 hours, no different things than usual, just more often. I still have to get up at least once in the night to pee. No other symptoms as far as I know, so that is good news! I am not sure if Femke understands already, although I refer a lot to the baby in the belly...

Hello Cairo!

2009-10-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

It is Tuesday the 27th of October and finally we have settled in our new home in Cairo!

What happened since our last post in June?

Well, we were looking for tenants for our house in Urla; we had 3 real estate agents over, 1 view from possible clients; another one from an English couple whom we knew also were interested but found the place too remote in the end, and then a phone call from a guy who had found our ad in the newspaper website, checked out our own website of the house, and wanted to see the house asap! To cut a long story short, he and his wife loved the house and we came to an agreement. As they were willing to pay the rent for the coming year up front, we could finance and finish many house related projects. On one day I had 15 workers over, really unbelievable but we managed to organise quiet a lot.

Meanwhile we spent a day in Cairo to look for a ground floor apartment in Maadi, a residential area in Cairo. The first house we saw that morning was perfect and I really wanted to have it! So contact was made with the owner to discuss rent price. Although we spent the rest of the day looking at alternative houses, I had set my mind on the first one and a contract was signed within weeks.

Also another fertiliy treatment was started in Summer time, we wanted to give it another try as we knew the procedures, the hospital, the doctor...

It was a busy and hectic period, but finally on the 28th of August the movers came to pack all our things. Femke was at the baby sitters house for the whole day so that I could concentrate on the packing. The team was very good and quick, and because it was fasting period I could not believe they could work whole day without food and water.

That night we spent at Movenpick hotel which coincidently was the Mercure hotel of 7 years ago. When we had just arrived in Izmir 7 years ago, we stayed 3 weeks in this hotel, and so we also spent our last day in Izmir there.

The next day Arthur travelled to Cairo to start working, I travelled to the Netherlands to stay with my mother but also visited Arthurs family. After 1,5 weeks I visited my friend Eva in Aviano, Italy for a few days (more details and photo's later) and travelled from Venice by train to Vienna to visit Sandra, an old friend from Izmir. I will also write something about Vienna later.
Arthur meanwhile had planned a meeting in Como, Italy, and I suggested to meet up in Como to spent as a family one week together as it was holy days in Cairo anyway. The weather forecast for Northern Italy was not good, a lot of rain and thunderstorms, the best was to go further north to Lugano, Switzerland to find dry and sunny weather. More on Lugano in another post.

And then we flew back to Cairo mid September. There we stayed 2 weeks in a hotel as our house hold stuff was not cleared yet from customs. 2 weeks was quiet do-able, and in this period our house was being cleaned and painted and airconditioners placed.

In the Netherlands the pregnancy test was positive; I am 3 months pregnant now. I have already a big belly, it feels very heavy but I did not gain weight at all. I am lucky as so far I don't have any problems, a good appetite and not too tired. We will have a check up this evening so more baby news tomorrow...
Arthur is busy at work, trying to find a way to work in an Egyptian working culture.
Femke is in a nursery, just one block behind our building, 3 days a week. She loves it, and hopefully starting next week she can stay from 8.30 untill 2 or 3 including a nap there...

So, good news from us all!! And more blogs to come as there is much to tell

Our villa for rent

2009-06-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

Please visit the following website to check out our ad for renting the house...

http://villa-urla.blogspot.com/

Webalbum Cairo

2009-06-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

Visit our webalbum to see more pictures of our visit to Cairo in April.

http://picasaweb.google.com/moguzberk/CairoApril2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ6foenx3dqkBw&feat=directlink

Yes or No to Cairo?

2009-04-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

A view on the Nile

During my stay in the Netherlands early April, Arthur got a job offer from his company in Cairo!

Although my first reaction was: NO! , I gave it some thought and decided that it would be fair to go there and have a look before turning the offer down. Quickly a trip was booked and a program made.

As there are no direct flights from Izmir to Cairo, we had a stopover in Istanbul. We travelled light and no luggage to give during customs.

At arrival we would be picked up by a taxi from our hotel... Unfortunately there was no sign with Arthur's name or the company name, and after having waited for half an hour we decided to take a taxi. Not a good start.... We negotiated a price of 22 US dollars for a drive to 6th of October city, a newly developed suburb of Cairo.

Emailed to us was the hotel "Hilton Dreams", but there was no hotel with such name ! There was a Sheraton Dreams yes, but we could not imagine Hilton and Sheraton would be mixed up.

We decided to get out of the car at the Hilton, but there was no reservation on Arthurs or the companies name ! I had forgotten to print out the reservation confirmation, so I asked if I could check my emails and look up the confirmation. Meanwhile the guy at the reception had found several bookings, all in different company names but not THE ONE.

With my confirmation and a booking of someone from "Exxon Mobile" we finally understood: we had a confirmation on paper BUT in the computer Arthur's company name AkzoNobel was mistakenly typed as EXXON MOBILE. We now understood that there must have been a taxi driver waiting at the airport with a sign of this latter company.

I was quite upset with all this and filed a complaint with the manager; we got an upgrade to a junior suite as apology, but our first impression of Egypt was a bit dissapointing.

The view from our room was very impressive though: a large green golf area surrounding the hotel.

The next morning Arthur went to the factory for meetings; I had a long breakfast with Femke, we took a stroll to the swimmingpool, enjoyed the terrace but ended on the balcony of our hotel room as that was the best place for Femke to walk and play and for me to make some notes.

In the afternoon we went with a a real estate agent to see a few compounds in 6th of October city. A house in this suburb would mean that Arthur has only a 10 minute drive to work, compared to 1,5 hours from the city. Although we saw some beautiful compounds, nice houses with swimmingpool etc., I thought that I would be bored to death if I'd had to stay here!!! There is literally nothing if you leave the compound, a road, many cars, offices and factories and the dessert. No nice walking paths, no trees. Emptiness.

That evening we stayed at the Sofitel El Gaza hotel, directly located on the Nile, perfect room, good food, and a beautiful terrace which reminded my of 'Konak Pier' in Izmir.

The next morning we went again with real estate agents to visit properties. This time the suburb Maadi was on the program. A green wealthy area where many foreigners live.

Downside is there are mainly apartment buildings. The ones we visited were huge and quiete good, but the 2 groundfloor places with garden immediately caught our attention.

Yes I could be happy for 2-3 years in a place like this! A ground floor apartment with garden!

Later this afternoon we made a walk into the centre. On foot you have the best impression of the people, the atmosphere, the temperature...

It reminded me of a mixture of places we had seen before: Cuba, Malaysia, Little India in Singapore...

My conclusion: after 6,5 years in Izmir we do wanted a new adventure! We are fortunate to get this job offer in these difficult economic times. Although I am not very enthusiastic about Cairo, I feel I can and will make the best out of it. A city with 50.000 expats, all services available (think of day care for Femke, sports, activities), an interesting country to explore...

Negative points remain: our next house will be much smaller, with a smaller garden, and less privacy, Egypt is more islamic than Turkey which means more women wear headscarfs which gives a strange view in streets, did I already mention I will miss Izmir/Turkey/my house/my garden?

1,5 yrs old!

2009-02-27T23:06:00.000-08:00

Femke turned 1,5 years old, 18 months to speak still in baby age time... She now weighs 10,9 kilo's and is 80,5 cm tall. Compared to her birth facts: 4 kilo's and 50 cm!!
I just felt 2 more teeth coming out, besides the 5 she already has...She is doing great, really communicating with her mouth now, ofcourse 99,9 % is not real words, but still, she is trying.

Arthur found an old picture of her and it is magical... We compare it to Vermeer's Girl with Pearl Earring.. Now a large size canvas is hanging in our living room.

20+ words!

2009-01-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

Femke turned 17 months today and we thought it was time to count all the words she can say... Here we go:

1. Mama

2. Papa

3. Mammi

4. Mimi (when she wanted to suck)

5. Anne (mama in Turkish)

6. Baby

7. Hallo

8. ByeBye

9. Bitti ('finished' in Turkish)

10. Hayriye (name of our cleaning lady)

11. Auto

12. Toetoet

13. Toetje (desert)

14. Ohoh! (when disaster is coming)

15. Hoppala (when she achieves something and is proud)

16. Hoppetjee (see 15)

17. No-no-no

18. Ja (yes in Dutch)

19. Mauw

20. WoefWoef

21. Banaan (Banana)

22. Appel (apple)

23. Aapjes (monkies)

24. Bah (trash, dirty nappies etc)

We cannot get here to say oma (grandmother) or su (water in Turkish)..but this is still very good we think!

Singapore & Malaysia December 2008

2009-01-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

It was time for a long and far holiday again! This time to Singapore and Malaysia!
Our webalbum with our most beautiful pictures can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.nl/moguzberk/SingaporeMalaysiaDec2008#

On short notice more information on what we visited there..

Urla revisited

2008-12-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

Sohoowww.

As we visited our fav restaurant Begendik Abi ('we loved it, brother' or 'we loved it, sister') to eat some very soft meatballs with rice (sweet!), we had another excuse to revisit some of the spots in Urla we like a lot, but didn´t have pictures from.

Also we wanted to show you devious pictures from the house, shot from the right angle the grass is greener than green:

Gras! In front of the house!

Femke looking for her neighbour, Ella

knispr knaspr grind grind

road to our house (really, a road, to our house..)

this is a cat

camiiiii

still in use, but slowly people are taking these carriages to their gardens too..

Urla's older parts

think Sergio Leone..

The house from the back

house from the side

Urlanian, Urlaoop, Urlaman, UrlaWurlakidoki, urlawoozieboozie..ehr..

Other Cami (three very old ones can be found here)

Other sight on the older parts (before)

After

The area to our left

We caught this lady working the fields

got sheep?

This is Urla's harbour, Iskele. (ours is the 2nd boat on the right)

Ofcourse, there´s nothing as good as the real thing ;)

So anybody feeling the urge to drop by and come over to visit will be greeted with an open door and a warm welcome from the Janse family.

The beer is cold (the port is op ;), the BBQ's burning and the sucuk's on the table: Turkiyeye hos geldin!

Urla, authentic, chaotic, sometimes charming

2008-11-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what this town Urla exactly looks like?
Well it is a town of farmers ! At the bank or postoffice you can smell the 'farm' smells haha, and everywhere are traces of farm land.
Tractors, fields, men wearing high boots..
It makes Urla not a very modern or ''beautiful' place.
We know Urla now for 6 six years, and a few weeks ago the first nice, modern coffee shop was opened!
Urla has it charming sides, the old greek houses, of which a few now are restaurated and will be shops or restaurants. An old mosque here, a mysterious small street there, a tiny bazaar, a lane with palm trees, little shops everywhere, a few green parks, a beautiful city council building...
The major, half his staff and the kadastre staff were in prison for a while due to fraud; this has stopped a major construction project in the heart of Urla.
There is a huge hole in the ground, where the shopping centre/parking lot should have been built.
The fraud says enough about professional city management, there is none!
Look at Bodrum, look at Alacati; without a proper vision of city council management what to do with a town, Urla will remain a farmers town, little change and development.

Finally some pics of our house!

2008-10-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

A view on our IKEA kitchen from the living room

Here a few pictures of our house..We bought new furniture, the terrace in front of the living room is finished, a few walls in the garden are ready etc.
We are very happy to live here in Urla! There are still zillion projects on our list, from small things to do, to big project like our garden, but we are limited by our budget and depending on carpenters, gardeners, construction people and most importantly: ourselves... we are not easy decision makers!
Almost every evening we make a long walk in the country side, it is really beautiful, ofcourse construction work is going on, but most of the land is owned by farmers or olive yards.

Above left: our terrace/ right: our kitchen. Look closely to find Femke in one of the drawers!
She loves to play with the (plastic) plates, cups etc in this corner of the kitchen.
A view on the living room from the study
We still need nice pictures on the wall in front of you, and ofcoure the fire place is still missing

Above left: Femke's play corner/right new furniture

Above : a view from the kitchen. The fences were necessary as Femke wanted to climb all stairs.
Very dangerous!

Above left, our terrace, where we sat and ate most of the Summer
Right: new finished garden walls, very nice ! We are happy to have found 2 men who
worked like horses. Unfortunately they are in their home town at the moment and
return to Urla end of October! Hopefully they can finish their work before the rain
season starts

Femke's milestones

2008-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Femke is now almost 14 months and I thought it is interesting to write about her development/achievements so far.

* Well last night was the first night that she slept in her own room! I was hesistant to do this BUT she didn't even notice that we were not in the room anymore. She still woke up 3 times in the night, at 12, at 4 and 5, and at 5 I breastfed her and then she slept till 6.45. But more importantly is that this is a very big change for her and us!

* She walks most of the time now and really enjoys that ! So we bought shoes for the first time, for 2 reasons; firstly it is mid October and although it is still 25 degrees, it is much colder in the morning and shoes protect against cold and rain. Secondly, I let her free to walk in parks, malls, pavement, shops, museums etc... Till now she did that barefoot, but comments from Turkish people AND dirty floors made me decide that it is better to have her wearing shoes. She likes the shoes! She is aware she is wearing 'adult things' and can play with her new and old small sized shoes (which she never wore).

* When she is hungry she ofcourse cried when she was smaller... a few months ago she pointed with her finger that she wanted something to eat, now she makes a noice with her lips which indicates she wants something to eat. She is more and more copying sounds animals make, although they are far from similar to the sounds we make.

* She now understands simple sentences as "get the ball" "bring the book" or 'sit down' or 'give this to daddy'.

* She is humming songs and making gestures to go along with it.

* When I change her diaper, she tries to grab the diaper and smell it saying 'bah'. She now knows that she is doing something in/t0/with the diaper, and that it smells bad.. but she is still laughing everytime I hold the dirty diaper in front of her.

* She can walk backwards and doing that with a big smile.

* She can fool you! We found that out while feeding her grapes; she likes to feed you as well BUT that time she brought the grape close to my mouth and suddenly took her hand back and ate the grape herself.

* And for me (Meryem) a very important point: I can leave her alone with someone else than her father for a few hours! Next Monday I will try for the first time to stay away for a whole morning. I am still breastfeeding so every 4-5 hours she wants me for that reason, but when I am not around she will need to be satisfied with alternative food/drinks.

And for the rest what is so lovable about her: she is not afraid of animals, she likes other children and walks up to them, she is very social and not afraid of strangers, for example in a restaurant the other day, one of the waiters (male!) entertained her for 2 hours and she had a good time, she gives you hugs and kisses, she bites with her 4 teeth in my belly and when I say 'AUW' she laughs, she plays hide and seek, she can play alone for at least half an hour, she comes and sit on your lap with her back to you, she wants to sit on my lap when I feed her..........

Athens Sept 2008

2008-10-07T02:03:00.000-07:00

It is holy holidays in Turkey and Arthur's firm closes down for a whole week. Jippie, always a good time to go on a long holiday. We choose Athens, we have been here during the Olympic Games in 2004 but wanted to visit again and spent more time. The journey goes via the island of Samos (by boat from Kusadasi), where we take the plane to Athens. The Olympics always give an enormous boost in investments in a city, and the metrosystem is therefor new, clean, efficient and good. It takes us in 20 minutes to the centre of Athens.

We have rent an apartment this time, instead of the regular hotel bedroom. It is very convenient like this. With a seperate bedroom, Arthur and I can spend time reading and watchin tv, while our baby is sound asleep next door. And having your own kitchen is also great for cooking Femke's meals for the day. (To quote http://not-so-desperate-yugowife.blogspot.com/ A note to new parents thinking of going on a holiday with their young one: Unless you can afford a suite, staying in a rented flat rather than in a hotel room really makes a huge difference. Not only can you cook, eat, play or nap when you feel like it, but you can actually enjoy your evenings à deux by having dinner, a chat, playing cards, watching TV etc. while your babe is safely asleep in another room.)

Our first day we walk up to the Acropolis through Plaka, the old town.
Athens is visited by millions of tourists from all over the world, and especially in the Acropolis area it is crowded with them.

We always enjoy making long walks to discover a city's best spots, eat where the locals eat, and just wander trough streets the locals live.

Plaka with the narrow streets and old houses are this time not so relaxt with a baby and pram..
Athens is not child-friendly at all! Cars are parked on the pavements which makes it im possible to go there with the pram, no single child seat to be found in restaurants, and very few playgrounds for children. We found out that a one year old also has special needs while on holiday, this means time and space to practice her walking, and life is more adventurous on foot anyway than sitting on daddies lap or lie in the pram.
The best place for her was actually the Archeological Museum, clean floors (no sigarettes!), spacious, nothing that she could break, and friendly guards everywhere. She walked with me for more than an hour, making noices to sculptures of dogs, lions and horses, and saying ''hela'' to everyone (which means hello) and waving byebye when we move on.
We especially enjoyed the Asian restaurants! You don;t have them in Izmir, only one good Chinese restaurant; so we visited the Noodles bar twice, ate at a Vietnamese restaurant (take away as Femke would not sit quietly) and only once we had traditional Greek food.
Starbucks's were everywhere so our need for Caramel Machiatio's were satisfied.

What else did we do?
Visit the harbour of Pireus, and walked along the coast
Watch the guards at the grave of the unknown warrior (I am convinced they choose the most hansom men for this job!)
Go with a funicular up the Lykavittos hill, with beautiful views over Athens
Visit the meat and fish market

Cake & grandma/uncle in Izmir

2008-08-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Femke's 1st birthday we, grandma Vacide and uncle Ab, had cake at famous patisserie "Reyhan" in Izmir. Femke of course thought the candle was more interesting than the cake, although she put 2 fingers in the cake in the end as well... She tasted the orange-pineapple cake by licking off one of the spoons...

After the Reyhan experience we went into the Fuar and enjoyed a ride in a Ferris wheel and had a nice view over Izmir... But the 32nd floor from the Hilton hotel gives a better view. There we enjoyed our most expensive cola in Izmir (8 ytl per glass).

Cafe Crown recently opened, it is connected to the Swiss Otel; on the picture below Arthur and uncle Ab; and Meryem and her mother...

Happy Birthday!

2008-08-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

It is 25th of August and our daughter Femke turned 1 years old!
Yippie. Congratulations dear, how time has flown.

Here a collage of pictures of her, representing each month of her 1st year.

The beach

2008-07-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago friends from Holland came to Kusadasi for a week holiday... We spent 5 days with them, proudly showing the best places in Izmir as well.
They had brought their 2 daughters with them, Tess 3 yrs old and Robin 6 yrs. Femke was quite impressed by these talkative and happy ladies.
The "Starbucks experience" is always a success.
Here on the right 2 men and 3 ladies...
The Starbucks in Kusadasi is on a great location facing the Bird Island and the sea. Our friend Dimitri drank for the first time in his life a Frappuchino Caramel with whipped cream and loved every sip of it.
The beach in Kusadasi has improved a lot the last
years. It is clean and well managed. For Femke it is nice to play in the sand but the high waves make it less fun for her to sit close to the sea. I think she enjoyed the swimmingpool in our hotel better as she could walk around there.

New website!

2008-07-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Due to the many international friends we made the past years we decided to open a new website in English!

With Femke now part of the family we also thought MerenAr was not quiet correct anymore.

We are looking forward to sharing our photo's and our stories with you.

Cheers!

Meryem, Arthur and Femke