Greetings from egypt

Hello everyone, i'm Ahmed al garf. i from Cairo, Egypt (land of the pharaohs) and i have recently become a proud owner of a 4 months old st bernard, Elvis!
i've never owned a dog (or any other pet for that matter) before so im still brand new at this and i had a question.
i bought Elvis from a family i met over an internet site and i wasnt the only one interested in it so i had to act quickly, and i did. unfortunately i had to leave the country the next day (and i still havent gone back yet, im due back on the 9th of jan) so ive had no time what so ever to bond with him. i left him with my girlfriend untill i return and over the past week he's fallen completely in love with her. he follows her eveywhere to the point where she doesnt even have to put him on a leash when they go out. He even throws a fit when she goes out without him and will go around tearing up news papers and whatnot. i was wondering if the fact that im going to have to take him away from here going to affect my relationship with him. what should i do to make it easier for him and help me bond with him at the same time?
thanks in advance!

Hello, Ahmed. Welcome to the forum.

If I understand you correctly, you'll be taking Elvis from your girlfriend's house to yours when you get back? Being alone with you will make a big difference--you'll be feeding him and walking him and he'll start to focus on you. Make sure he gets plenty of attention, but also some consistent discipline, and he'll come around. And since he'll still see your girlfriend from time to time, he'll soon find he has the best of both worlds. :D

Marhaba Ahmed!

My husband is Egyptian and is still in Cairo, waiting for immigration.

I second what Hazel said. He's only four months, so will adapt.

If you need any help with your pup, just ask, I know how hard it is to find dog info over there. :rolleyes:

I second that, Marhaba !! (used to live in Dubai ...)

I would add one thing, even though Elvis follows without a leash, please tell your girlfriend to use one!

You just never know what might spook or interest a dog, a puppy even more so. If he should dart across a busy Cairo street ...

The funny thing ... we were discussing cat names on another thread today, and guess who came up? Bastet ;)

Hi and welcome to pets.ca.

Stupid question but ... a St-Bernard ? In Egypt ? :eek: won't he be miserable from the heat ? :confused:

Ahlan wa Sahlan ya Ahmed!

I'm Egyptian too ( in Canada) :D. Can't help you too much as I've only cats (and a doggy neice), but I hope you stick around on the board as there really is a great number of dedicated and knowledgeable members who are always more than willing to help out :thumbs up.

We'd love to see some pics of little Elvis once your back in Egypt :)

Ahlan wa Sahlan ya Ahmed!

I'm Egyptian too ( in Canada) :D. Can't help you too much as I've only cats (and a doggy neice), but I hope you stick around on the board as there really is a great number of dedicated and knowledgeable members who are always more than willing to help out :thumbs up.

We'd love to see some pics of little Elvis once your back in Egypt :)

Hey, my parents have coasters that say that ... never got a good translation though ...

Frenchy, there's air conditioning, and in the winter it's not that hot (we even had the heat on in the car in the mornings all of December and January in Dubai!)

Frenchy, there's air conditioning, and in the winter it's not that hot (we even had the heat on in the car in the mornings all of December and January in Dubai!)

Winter in Egypt .... hummm .... no snow right ? :laughing:

We would love to see pictures of your St-Bernard pup BTW , I just love these dogs :cloud9:

Yeah, right now in Cairo it's 10-15C. Hubby's complaining of the cold, wait until he gets here. LOL

A lot of Egyptians don't seem to like AC though. Not mainy private homes seem to have it, just those places that cater to us foreigners.

Yup, same in Dubai, and the stores and hotels had the a/c on really cold too. I guess they think since we come from colder climates, we like the cold. Not reeeaaally guys! There's a reason we move south for a while (like, to thaw out!) :D Still at +50ºC getting inside an a/c cooled hotel lobby was pretty ... cool :cool:

Yeah, but it made it way harder when you go back outside. I really wish I could go this time of year, I've only been in spring and fall. Wouldn't want to go in the summer. :eek:

Like everything though, we aclimatize, and I'm sure Elvis will be aclimatized to the Cairo heat.

Hey, my parents have coasters that say that ... never got a good translation though

Its just a phrase which means welcome.

"Ahlan" literally means "family, kinfolk"
"Sahlan" literally means "easy"

So it basically has a bunch of words dropped for ease ( the beauty of phrases :D), but the origin of combining the two words would mean "You have now arrived within your family and may your foot tread on an easy plain".

Thank you onster, I'll pass that on to my parents! (about time, they've had the things since 1978! 4 burgundy, 4 green, gold lettering in Arabic and English, leather coasters)

Actually, Byrd, I'd go in the suq in the summer, not too bad at all :) especially when I got to the fresh fruit juice stalls! Yummy!!

Ure welcome Sarah,..I actually had to ask my mom about it :laughing: I knew ahlan meant welcome and sahlan easy...but then I didnt get what the origin of the phrase was :o

I think Elvis will be just fine in the heat, my mother's uncle had 4 old english sheepdogs (3 have passed at the ripe age of 20 :rip:) in Alexendria and they were just fine. We loved to take Rambo (the most easygoing) to the beach :cloud9:

Also, Ive only ever been to Egypt in the summer and it really isn't that bad. As for the winter, well I called my gramma a week ago and she was complaining that she couldnt go out cuz it was too cold "It's freezing Alia, freezing!"

mmmm fresh lemon juice!!!! Yummy.

I love some of the Arabic art, love Arabic writing. Definitely will have to have some of it in our house seeing that hubby's Arabic.

Poor Ahmed is going to come back to seeing his thread overrun with our memories of the East.

No, pommegranade juice! And mom would have mango or pineapple. Funny thing one day, she couldn't remember the word for pineapple, only the french ananas came to her mind, and as she asked me, the vendor said "ah yes, ananas!" and out came the fresh pineapple juice!

Ahmed, not treadjacking here, as you can see, it's all good memories coming back!!

Oh, and the flat breads straight from the clay ovens! Eating them still warm right there in the suq :cloud9: soo good!

mmmm lamoonata :D

lol, I'm sure ahmed will be fine...egyptians are tres easygoing :D * i will stop now though* sorry :offtopic:

just a ps: the Arabic coffee ... sipped sitting on rolls of carpets in the little shops ... dreaming here! Best coffee ever!

Its just a phrase which means welcome.

"Ahlan" literally means "family, kinfolk"
"Sahlan" literally means "easy"

So it basically has a bunch of words dropped for ease ( the beauty of phrases :D), but the origin of combining the two words would mean "You have now arrived within your family and may your foot tread on an easy plain".

ok ive lived in the arab world my whole life and even i didnt know that it meant THAT! all i knew is that it means welcome? where you from onster?

NO NO dont stop. please keep going. this is fun. i didnt that many people liked egypt. most people who actually live there including my family hate it. i dont though, i love it. it really is "omm el donia" which literally means "mother of the world", Byrd your gonna love it here.
and dont worry bout elvis taking the heat, he's like a 3rd generation st bernard who have all lived in egypt and if his family can take it then so can he.
those of you coming back should definately try sugar cane juice (thats like our thing) , oh and by the way pine apple IS ananas in egyptian thats why the vendor knew what it was. we have alot of egyptian words that were originally french (egypt was occupied by france for a long time)
anyway thank you so much for all advice and for making me feel right at home. this site is great, especially since IT IS very hard to get info here.

I'm from Cairo :) but I never lived there, born there & spent the 2nd week of life chilling on the beach in alex then off to Saudi arabia till I was 5, then off to Abu Dhabi till I was 15 and then off to Canada :D Still masreya though, body mind and soul.

And yes, a lot of egyptians, here especially, have the mentality "omg, u WANT to go back to live in Egypt, Alia u crazy?? (Onnie is the name of 1 of my cats, goes by "The Onster" by my bro hence the username). Slowly but surely though my family is going back, if at least to experience Egypt for a while, globe-trotters that we are. My two brothers are back there now, loving it. 3o2bali :D. Dont get me wrong, Canada is great, more than great! but like you said, masr omm el donya.

oh and as for the phrase, I had to ask my mom who's ridiculously good at arabic. I'm a but stuttery, my gramma laughs at my accent and I constantly make up words....3angaleezi (3arabi, engileezi) all the way.

I'll be sure to try the sugarcane juice this summer (yes I know how could an egyptian not have tried it???..shame on me!)

Oh no, I'm not moving there, he's moving here. I really don't think I could handle living there, I'm a country girl who loves grass and trees, etc, I really hate the city. I think it would really be hard to adapt to moving from here to there, two weeks drives me nuts (been there three times).... no offense, I'm just too used to this way of life.

I tried sugar cane juice, I thought it tasted too much like coconut. Didn't really like it much and hubby had to drink the rest. :o Really, really love the fresh lemon juice though.

I tried Oma-Ali last time I was there.... mmmmmmmm soooo yummy. Does anyone have a recipe?

welcome garf, I am really enjoying this thread. keep it up I am learning something new again:dog: and loving it. I hope that you and Elvis get to meet and bond again real soon. patti

I fondly remember the Lebanese mezzes we used to have at the Carlton in Dubai - does that hotel even exist still, the whole place looks rebuilt from one end to the other - and I regularly make my own hummus and tabouleh, rather than buying the store-substitutes :D

The French did occupy quite a bit of land here and there, but so did the Brits, German, Spanish, Portugese ... :D but yeah, we were there! Guilty as charged :laughing: still, there are arabic words that have migrated to France as well, so I guess we're even on that score (and if you want to know which city has the largest population of Algerians, it's Marseilles (France) :laughing: so I guess the "north-african" invasion is evening out that side of things - no comparison intended to the Egyptians though!)

I'd love to go to Egypt one day. Not to laze on the beaches, too boring, but to see all the old sites!

Sarah, dont u find the tabouleh they sell in stores here (delis for example) is so :yuck:??? I used to live off tabouleh in the UAE but Im too lazy to make the big batches I'd need to satisfy me here. Every once in a while I make a whole bunch but back in the UAE it was a daily thing. My absolute favourite salad ever. Done wrong though it is so bad!

Byrd, my mom makes omm-Ali occasionally (oh what would I do without my mother? lol I realize it may soon be time to leave the nest so I now frantically write down recipes) so I can pm you with the recipes she uses. It'll probably be tomorrow though becuase all her cookbooks are in arabic and I surely wont know what a few things mean :shrug:

Here are some recipes I found online:

http://www.recipezaar.com/5476 looks good to me (ive seen my mom make it). Its very hard to come buy roqaq here so my mom uses either phylo or puff pastry.

http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Omm_Ali:_Egyptian_Bread_Pudding

http://janetishungry.blogspot.com/2007/06/omm-ali.html

http://www.egyptdailynews.com/recipes/egyptian%20om%20ali.htm

They are all essentially the same, I find the best thing is to look at all the recipes you like and sort of use a recipe that is a combination of them.

There's also loads more if you google "omm Ali recipes" :thumbs up

mmmm thanks Onster, I knew I could count on you!

Sarah: First trip I saw Giza, Saqqara, The Museum, Citadel, Cairo Tower, and a bunch of smaller non-touristy places.
Second trip was the biggy, we went to Aswan and saw both dams, The Unfinished Obelisk, Nubian Museum, Island of Philae, Kitchener's Island, then to Luxor and saw The Valley of the Queens, Valley of the Kings, Medinat (sp?) Habu, Hatshepsut's temple, the Collosi of Memnon, Luxor Museum, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Temple of Toud (off the beaten path), then back to Giza this time going into the Great Pyramid, and then we spent four days relaxing on the beach in Dahab, South Sinai (that was only a two week trip btw).
Third trip we were busy with marriage stuff but we still managed to go back to the Museum, to the Giza Sound and Light show, then to Alexandria where we went to the Roman Colliseum, Pompei's Pillar, The Catacombs, Fort Qaitby, and spent time relaxing on the beach... my first time swimming in salt water (Alexandria was our honeymoon).

As you can see, I'm one for touring the ancient sites as well. :highfive:

mmmm Egyptian food.

Here we go again drooling all over our keyboards. :laughing:

I love the traditional Egyptian pizza, the one with the phylo-type of crust on top. I went back to my favourite koshari place in Tahrir Square again too... gawd that place is so good, I wish I could bring it home with me. I went during Eid this past time, so you can only imagine what I ate!!!! :thumbs up

your welcome byrd!

and wow that is an impressive amount of things uve seen! There's an island called kitchener's island??? philae?? Ive never heard of the fort of toud either.

The others Ive head of but Ive only ever been to the pyramids and the citadel. Oh and of course the museum as well as the Pharonic village when I was a kid. Ive vowed that this summer I will explore my country, may just have to use you as my cyber guide :p. Funny how tourists always seem to know more about a place...

If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet your hubby? I always thought you probably met him over there when on vacation (most do), but it seems you went sightseeing with hubby? In any case he sounds like a great guy!

He hasn't met willow yet has he? That will be exciting!!! I hope immigration stuff goes smoothly and he's here soon :pray:

you mean fteer? (egyptian pizza)? mmmmmmmmmmmm..sooo fattening though. but oh so good.

Darnit I'm hungry again now. I wonder if my brother and his wife could smuggle me some food when they come in a week?

Yes that is definitely what I mean!

LOL I ordered a veggie pizza there expecting the Pizza Pizza veggie, however, was very surprised when I bit into what tasted like a pea and found green beans and peas on my pizza... just didn't seem to go. :shrug:

If your brother can smuggle you some food, I'm on my way there!!!!

Btw byrd, im sort of compiling a recipe book (with pictures- a sort of look and cook) for my sil and the future women in our family as my mom is a ridiculously good cook. Once I have a few more recipes I'll be emailing them off to my sil in egypt ( she's canadian) as she's been wanting to cook some egyptian/arab food sometimes. I could send you a copy if u like once the recipes have grown a bit - I just started this xmas break...I'm trying to make it as explicit as possible (even for things that to me growing up in my mothers kitchen would be 'obvious' since my sil is not familiar at all with that type of cooking)

Ah, ure too fast for me :p lol. but what to smuggle? hmmmmm..my dream list. *drool*. You should have your man learn off his mom so he can do his share of the cooking too :D

greeen beans and peas? lol that is kind of odd! Ive never tried fteer stuffed with stuff. Just plain fteer. lol ok thats it Im going to make a list of Egypt must do's.

Weeeel if you're going to be e-mailing copies of it out anyway.... :whistle:

We also had the custard fteer... mmmmmmm

Mohab is learning some stuff, but he is male, and not really allowed in the kitchen.

How does your SIL like it as a Canuk in Egypt?

Onster:pray::pray:please forward to me a recipe for tabouleh (spelling?) it is one dish that I have had made by a Lebonese friend a long time ago and really enjoyed it. I have had it in resturants and made by others but it just was not the same. the one I had if I remember correctly had a wonderful fresh lemon taste with bulgar and parsley, I think is the main ingredient? I recall that it is one dish that is so refreshing on the palate that it makes your mouth sing:thumbs up patti

For those who always wondered , this is the perfect example of a thread jack :laughing:

She's doing ok. She went through the intial "everything's great" stage when they first went over ( they live in sharm)...then she went through the "i miss my friends and family" and being able to just do stuff for myself stage and was quite upset (probably an under statement) but then she started to work too and I guess got into the groove of things. She likes it now and is starting to know more people, learn bits of the language which generally allows her to gain more of her independance back which she missed. This will be their first visit back since their wedding in July.

For those who always wondered , this is the perfect example of a thread jack :laughing:

:laughing: You've got it!!! However, he did say he didn't mind.


I really don't think I could handle moving somewhere so different from home. I would definitely have to live in a real touristy area just so that I could wear more 'regular' clothes and not stick out like a complete sore thumb.

LOL frenchy...garf said it was okay :angel::D we have to enterain ourselves somehow until we get to see elvis's pics, no? :evil:

Sure thing patti, will do soon. I know what you mean about the lemony thing..thats what gets me the most about 'fake' taboulehs...where is that tang??? Ive been known to slice up a lemon and eat it so I really need to have that lemon taste. Also the bulgar tends to be crunchy and they put soooo much of it. Yep, the main ingredient is parsley. Its basically parsely tomatoes, a little bit of fresh mint, bulgar, lemon, salt and pepper.

Byrd, yep...sharm is toursity to the max, she wears all the clothes she wore here. Definately more open there.

Btw byrd, im sort of compiling a recipe book (with pictures- a sort of look and cook) for my sil and the future women in our family as my mom is a ridiculously good cook. Once I have a few more recipes I'll be emailing them off to my sil in egypt ( she's canadian) as she's been wanting to cook some egyptian/arab food sometimes. I could send you a copy if u like once the recipes have grown a bit - I just started this xmas break...I'm trying to make it as explicit as possible (even for things that to me growing up in my mothers kitchen would be 'obvious' since my sil is not familiar at all with that type of cooking)

PLEEEAAAASE, me too, please :pray: :pray:

Onster:pray::pray:please forward to me a recipe for tabouleh (spelling?) it is one dish that I have had made by a Lebonese friend a long time ago and really enjoyed it. I have had it in resturants and made by others but it just was not the same. the one I had if I remember correctly had a wonderful fresh lemon taste with bulgar and parsley, I think is the main ingredient? I recall that it is one dish that is so refreshing on the palate that it makes your mouth sing:thumbs up patti

Tabouleh is (according to me) bulgur, chopped flat-leaf parsley, chpooed mint, chopped tomato and chopped onion (mild), plus lemon juice - all fresh of course!!

For those who always wondered , this is the perfect example of a thread jack :laughing:

Nooo :eek: oh dear ...

I liked Dahab, if I were to move to Egypt that's where I'd definitely have to live. However, my idea of a job is a 'man's job'. I would love to conduct horseback riding tours or something like that. LOL

Here's what I found: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/taboulehrecipe.htm

Nooo :eek: oh dear ...

:laughing: it's alright , you have the ok from the OP. :thumbs up

:laughing: it's alright , you have the ok from the OP. :thumbs up

Phew! Thank dawg! :D

NO NO dont stop. please keep going. this is fun. i didnt that many people liked egypt.

Yup... see.... the proof is in the pudding.... mmmm rice pudding. :p

Good save there Sarah! forget about the onion! yes onion = needed. Some people use green onions/ shallots because they are milder. Oh oh and olive oil! need some olive oil for sure.

For sure I can send it to you too once it gets a little bigger. Its not going to be explicitly egyptian though because my mother grew up in egypt, iraq, sudan and we lived in saudi, the uae...and all along the way she learned recipes from friends etc. One thing I can guarantee though is that it will be Good! *yum*.

Theres this really intersting blog I read byrd and guess what..the woman is candian was married to an egyptian (he passed away :sad:) but she continued to live in egypt and now has a farm with many dogs and horses and now runs a riding school/ tours into the desert on the horses etc. Cool eh?

http://miloflamingo.blogspot.com/

No no, chocolate!

but chocolate pudding is too untexturey. lol , yes i make up words all the time.

poor garf though his thread has been threadjacked to the max! Its all girls talking about recipes...and knowng the typical egyptian male I dont think hes in the kitchen much:p

Rice pudding is very popular with hubby.

hhhmmm so I could have my dream in Egypt. :cool:

Here Sarah, incase you're interested: http://mytriptoegypt.blogspot.com/
and http://twoweeksinheaven.blogspot.com/

Pardon all the political crap in the first one. I haven't gotten around to finishing the third one yet (http://wedding-trip.blogspot.com I have to write them backwards to that they will appear the right way when done).

Thanks, I'll have a read tomorrow :thumbs up

WOW, you guys post alot of stories!! glad my thread is growing so fast! and this is just the first of many (hopefully). however i am amazed how this went from my problem with elvis to making taboula and feteer, this is a classic example of an egyptian conversation if 2 or more females (over 30 and preferably mums) are present or are in the vicinity (kidding!, but thats the way it is in my family!) and your right onster, the only thing i can make in the kitchen is probably a reservation! and thats only because we have a phone in there!
i dont have time to reply to everything ive read right now cos i have to board my plane now but ill continue this later cos theres some interesting stuff here!

Well, we're a chatty bunch, of mostly females, so your analysis isn't totally off :laughing: It's the same in my family in France, and Lewis' family here in Montreal ... we do tend to have 2 or 3 (or even more) conversations going at the same time over the dinner table, yet everyone manages to keep the thread of each one. Try that in Norway, and everyone is lost right away :laughing:

Seems to be a Canadian thing. :laughing:

Right now I'm trying Doum tea for the first time.... not quite sure yet how I feel about it. :o

Doum tea? No idea ... what's that?

Doum is a fruit that grows in Egypt, it kinda looks like a shrivelled up kiwi. LOL The tea, tastes like Egypt, how's that. :laughing:

I bought a tea set when I was there it has Doum, Liquorice, Hibiscus, Green, Lemon, and Carob teas and came with a glass that says "Isis" which is actually why I bought it. LOL

lol garf, im neither a mum nor other 30, im 21...but I guess u have to start sometime! :laughing:

Doum? :confused: Is that the arabic name? Must look up online.