Al Tarfa Eco Lodge

I have been away from home for a long time now and when you are away from home for so long you start to think about why you strayed from home in the first place and why you stay away. This morning, the start of my off day, as I was eating cookies, drinking coffee and preparing to lounge by the pool I realized why I was still away. The larger reason of why I left is complicated, but one simple reason to travel sticks in my mind: stereotype fulfillment. Crude and rude I know, not politically correct or really a sexy reason to get on a plane.

Not so deep down inside we go to places for stereotypical reasons. We go to Paris to fall in love. We go to South America to get a taste of communist rebels. We go to Africa to see the “real” while living in the comfort of former French and British colonialism. This past weekend I was able three reasons to travel to Egypt right on the head-ancient ruins, desert, and former colonial glitz at quite possible the most luxurious hotels I will ever stay in-Al Tarfa Eco Lodge in the Dakhla Oasis.

My most gracious boss was invited to the one-year anniversary of Al Tarfa, which was built and is owned by his good friend Weal and his lovely wife Mona. With a bit of prodding I convinced Hany that we should go, despite the long travel hours (five hour drive to Cairo, one hour flight to the western desert and then a four hour drive to the resort), and enjoy the weekend.

We got in a taxi, then a plane, then a car and then arrived at the resort nestled in the outskirts of a green palm oasis. Our greeting upon arrival, by staff with warm towels to wipe the travel dust off of our faces, set the tone for the rest of the stay. Which went a little like this: watch the sun set over various desert scenes, eat a three course meal served on fine china and silver, listen to the French soprano and her conductor husband serenade the guests, have a few drinks, chat, fall fast sleep in large white four poster beds, wake up to sun and coffee by the pool, go see some interesting desert site, chill at the spa or pool, eat ,and you can imagine the rest. Wash, rinse, relax, and repeat.

I was very homesick the week or so before this trip. I try, but I do not deal well with sadness. I get sad about one thing and it just cascades from there. Somehow just moving West made me feel better. I was 14 hours closer to home, and the green landscape and momentarily gray skies of the oasis did my heart some good. This post is already long so I will let the pictures show tell you the rest, 1,000 words and all that jazz. Side note, I finally found my camera battery charge which means more photos soon!

Al Tarfa Eco Lodge Photos

The walk up to the pool and main lodge

Restaurant

My bed is on the left

Sunset

Red sky at night, sailor's delight has relevancy in the desert too.

Silver moon behind the clouds

Poolside at all hours

Ancient Roman/Egyptian city

This minaret is 800 years old and constructed with a sand clay formula that is no longer known.

Tiny alley ways, twisted sand filled stairways, and impossibly standing mud structures filled our day excursion to this ancient city near the resort.


Our host Wael and Hany.

Ancient or current graffiti? Glass half full or empty? You decide.

The only really environmental use for car parts.

Dune wandering, sneaky Hany took this photo. I must also give Hany photo credit for all of the above. At this point I still had no camera battery :(

One Month

I have now been at the Castle Zaman for a little over one month, woot woot! As always settling into a work place is tricky. There are new personalities, routines, expectations, egos, and norms to deal with. I tend to think finding a happy medium between the norms of a place and my own personal standards and behavior is the hardest part of any job. I also tend to think places such as this hire you in some way because of your personality so you should not lose it. Maybe they will still like me after month two!

Here is daily routine....
Wake up around 8-9 am, by 9:50 am be outside to double check the cleaning guys have swept and cleaned up properly. Go down to the house and eat some breakfast. An old chef just came back and reinstated the daily tradition of fresh baked pita bread, yummy cheese spread, cucumbers, tomatoes, soft boiled eggs, and olives for breakfast. I love it. By 10:45 or 11 am start opening the bar. When there were three of us Rebecca and I would open the bar while Laura did the accounts. Now Rebecca has left (although she is coming back when Laura takes a vacation to Canada land) and either I do the accounts and Laura opens or the other way around.

This is the bar as you walk into the castle.

The doors open at noon and the first meal can be served as early as 2 pm. Then the day is pretty simple; serve drinks, set tables, show people around, chat with nice tourists, try to understand large groups of Russians who want fresh juice, open and shut the treasure room door, navigate various cultures, try to communicate with front door man in my super limited Arabic, and tell people my personal Egypt story over and over and over. We close as late as midnight or as early as 9:30 pm depending on how many guest we have/when they leave.

The castle. Under the thatched awning is the bar and main outdoor seating area. We have a sauna and a fresh water pool. I am spoiled.

Here some problems I run into...
Apparently I need to dumb down the English on the phone, people aren't getting me. Also no one likes my music or it is to "American," so I listen to stuff they have here. All in all small problems, I can deal.

I have come to conclusion that America still has a lot of work to do abroad to repair our horrible reputation. The whole Obama winning theNobel Peace Prize did not seem to hurt, also did not seem to help. Little ironic I think that he won a "peace prize" when he is the elected leader of the country that just BOMBED THE MOON! How not peaceful is bombing the moon, even if it was in the name of science?

New Environment

Eid is officially over. My first week was really slow and then Eid happened, wham I had to learn how to work behind the bar. Luckily cafes and bars around the world are much the same and customer service is customer service. Tell people to wait with a smile, let them see you working hard, and don't mess up to many drinks then people will be happy. Now Eid is over and that means no more 14 hour plus work days or hordes of young guests downing bottles of tequila in about 10 minutes! Ha, that makes the castle sound like Vegas and we are not Vegas. The guests are calm, incredibly nice, they want to get to know you, and most will come back a few times so you can get to know them too.

I am dealing with a pretty new environment physically and mentally. Environmentally I live in the desert and Saudi Arabia is across the sea. Sometimes I feel like I am overlooking Ballard and global warming has really happened. Nothing is green, the mountains have no snow, and the sun is hot and always shining. I crave grey and rain, I really want to wander around in the spitting Seattle rain and sleep in cold cold nights. Oh well, it will get cold here and I will most likely want the hot sun back. Cool things are happening though. I notice when the sun sets earlier, I can sort of guess the time by the light of day, little geckos make noises in the bathroom and my room, the South wind makes me sneeze because it brings more dust, and I am learning how to sleep through sunrise and pigeons cooing (so annoying) in my window.

Mentally the risk of being lonely and isolated is pretty high. I spend a lot of time at the castle with the same four wonderful people, but who can spend all their time with the same four people? Not me, so a resolution has been forming in my head to leave whenever I can for my sanity's sake. I had half a day off yesterday and headed down to the Good Life (a beach camp two friends run). There I read a little, chilled a little, and ate a good meal. Perfect change. Good resolution.

I cannot find my camera charger, but the pictures of the castle on the website are accurate. They are not glossy versions of the truth, that is where I live. Check them out.

On a conversational note is America falling apart? I have no idea except what I see in the headlines. Why do people give Glenn Beck the time of day, why do I know who he is, can we not get health care down and settled, can someone act like a leader and do something about global climate change now and not in the year 2020? I am pretty removed and I would really like to know if all the "Yes, we can" people still feel like they can or if Obama is doing and not just talking. You hear a lot about his pretty words over here and in the foreign press. Maybe action is happening at home? Let me know.

Visuals of my two new jobs

Quick pics of my new jobs. For more information check out the web sites.

www.tibesti.com


ww.castlezaman.com

Two jobs are better than one

I also have another job, well internship. I am working with Tibesti as a marketing intern. The position is remote, obviously, as I am in Egypt and they are in America.

More information about Tibesti and the position. Tibesti functions similarly to Amazon, it is web site that hosts vendors. But, unlike Amazon Tibesti gives you part of the comission they make on products sold. Members can put up to 100 products on their profiles (for free) and anyone can then shop from your profile. For example, if you want to buy a pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans, you go to Tibesti, search for the product, find it on my profile, click buy, and then we both get a comission. You get 25 percent and so do I. If I were to buy a product from my own profile I would get 50 percent commission. Pretty cool, and perfect for things you have to buy really hate to spend money on.

I wish I had this in college, I would have bought all my texts books and school supplies from Tibesti, but also that was in early 2000 and such technology was not around. Thank the heavens we are nearing 2010 and technology is finally getting up to speed.

Full disclosure. I work for Tibesti, but I would not have taken a position like this if I thought it was a scam. I shop online, you all shop online, why not make money? Plus, it is also a great way to create a product lists that other people can shop from. Hint hint, if you are getting married or having a baby you can direct friends to your wish lists and they can buy you presents from there. Hmmm, might be cooler than Macy's. Just might be.

I will be posting awesome items and more information about Tibesti. Check it out, join up, make some purchases, and get money back. Add me as a friend, Faye1985 and if you are on twitter add me there too faye1985. Pretty east screen names huh?

www.tibesti.com

Still in Egypt, just not Cairo

Many or a few of you know I have been looking for job in Cairo since I came back at the beginning of August. Well, after over a month of imposing myself upon friends, hours of internet searches, way to many cover letters, and smiling in interviews I did not want to go to I found a job!

www.castlezaman.com

If you read the url yes I will be working and living in a castle. Yes, it overlooks the Red Sea from the top of a hill. Yes, it was built using revived Roman architecture. Yes, all the materials are recylcled or found in the Siani. Yes, the food is cooked slow and completely gourmet. Yes, it is in the Sinai minutes away from the beauty of the sea and the mountains right behind me.

My official title is bar person, glamorous I know. There are only three other employees who deal with guests so I imagine I will get to put my grubby hands in all kinds of things. I am a little scared because working on a beach is a drastic lifestyle change for me. The Siani is pretty isolated, but when I stayed over for a night to check it out and woke up to the sunrise turning the sea red, when I could see the outline of miles of corals reefs on the coast and when I walked out to sun filled silence I felt a little better about my decision.

I will keep you posted on my thoughts as they form, right now I am still a little shocked I am staying and moving to the beach. In the meantime check out the website.