Entertaining yourself in times of curfew in three steps

Before I give you the answers, I would like to talk about last Friday.

There were protests and town was unsafe as foreseen, but the numbers and incidents are not as high and as serious as Egypt has seen over the past months.  In addition, I just finished reading a very positive and hopeful article that gathers the names of the 50 people who will help review the constitution. Even though there aren’t many women, the people selected seem to represent most of sides, so let’s keep our fingers crossed for Egypt and its people.                                                                          (http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/80519/Egypt/Politics-/BREAKING-Egypt-presidency-announces-names-of-membe.aspx)

Now, back to our topic, every time I look out the window in the morning, I remember the words of Chimamanda Adichie during a TED talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg). The excellent and eloquent Nigerian writer refers to the time when she grew up in Nigeria and was reading foreign literature. She was amazed at how often the blond and blue eyed characters talked about the weather in all the books, as the weather in Nigeria (and also in Egypt) is never a topic, as it has been the same since we have landed: a strong dry heat, with the occasional breeze and the one or two clouds.

This weather, however lovely in the morning and evening, does limit your options during the days. Once again, we are here in a transitional and therefore unstable time, so the option of town is often postponed, as we are with our Buls.

Yet, do not despair for us expats, we have many occupations indeed, besides meeting up and socialising.

Step 1: Find the power in you to become a Gold member!

If you live in a fancy compound, there is the gym option.

If you know me well, you will know my level in sports or anything remotely associated to sports, but never mind, I signed up! Yes I did! I now have access to all sorts of machines that I do not  know how to operate, classes from belly dancing to body combat. On the plus side, there is a hydro massage pool!

Step 2: Embrace materialism as well as you can/must.

This step is my least favourite but it does the trick, when you are desperate. If you remember my attempt at describing the barren, trashy landscapes sometimes punctuated by the occasional oasis of buildings rising, well, some of those are malls.

Those amazingly enormous places are full of “stuff”. For instance, clothes that we, women, can never wear outside unless you want to become a -2 (Please refer to the grade scale) with tank tops, shorts, short skirts and very tight dresses. There are also electronic shops, kids shops, and more of the same. Personally, I am not too fond on spending my weekends there, YET, the mall has the PAUL restaurant.

Paul has rocked our world once again on Saturday, with the onion soup, served in a shallow bread crust... Just delicious.

Step 3: Swim in the Gulf of Aqaba.

Hopefully, more on this once certified for Open Water Diving.