I spent 4 days last week in Sharm with some of my friends. The hotel (Delta Sharm) has 6 swimming pools and was beautifully laid out. Days by pool, evenings wandering shops and restuarant in naama bay and old market. wonderful! 
Love my life.
Photo of my pals in the pool;
On the afternoon of my birthday the girls had bought me an ice cream cake and we ate that with champagne in the sunshine after a day by the pool. What more could a girl ask for?
well- except that one of my friends got very sick later that night... and ended up sampling the local hotel clinic, which blew us all away- VERY well equiped and well run with the latest technologies and even a lab on site to do blood testing etc etc. Couldn't have been better really. She ended up getting 3 drip bags, a ton of meds and care that made her feel comfortable and better. Unfortunalty it wasn't cheap- 2500le !!! Thankfully she did have good medical insurance!!! Unfortuantely she still felt unwell enough to continue the rest of her holiday and flew home directly from Sharm. That was the worst bit about the trip!
so....... if you are in sharm and have medical insurance go to delta sharm resort- if you dont have insurance go to sharm hospital which is also fairly new and seemingly very good, as well as a LOT cheaper!!!!
I came back to Cairo on thursday (with a 2 hour delay on flight- grrr) and hit the ground running. Work EVERY day....... which is great. I have had some lovely audiences and been working on some new songs with my band too so it's all good. On saturday I had a photo shoot with Amera el Kattan (of pharonics costumes) so I couldn't perform the lunch time sail - but my riend Marte covered for me and seemingly it went really well! Well done Marte!!!
The photo shoot was fantastic. I was there with my friend Zsofia and we were the only 2 girls there to model who were not Russian! Was strange being surrounded by all these girls and not understanding what was going on! We modelled LOTS of costumes- and as soon as the shots have been put onto Amera's website I'll let you know ( or maybe you can let me know- since I cannot access the website from within egypt- a measure added to prevent other designers copying ideas!!!) .
There were 3 photographers AND a video camera. I have no idea what its all going to look like- but it was a lot of fun! The new saaidi and melaya costumes especially were stunning and a lot of fun- I'll be going this week to put my order in!!!! Not sure why almost EVERY costume I had to model was chiffon. I am NOT a chiffon fan and therefore wafting this full skirt about wasn't my thing at all... however posing with the sword was a lot more fun!!!
Oh- and I went to a wedding on saturday night with a friend at the Semi-Ramis Intercontinental. I got there after work expecting to have missed a great deal- but by 12.45 the bride and groom had only just entered the ballroom and Hakim had just started his set! The dancefloor was packed- but hardly anyone other then the bride and groom actually danced! How could you NOT dance to Hakim singing live???? I didn't but only becuase I didn't want to attract attention away from the happy couple!!!!
Then came Dina... stunning. She looked the best i have ever seen her and she was fantastic with both pleasing the crowd and with crowd management.... one wee girl ran accross the dancefloor mid Dina performance and almost got a slap (not intentionally!!!). Her entrance was seriously lacking in dance moves but packed with energy and attitude. She did a lovely baladi which actually had people standing and watching quietly- drawn in for a change rather than just trying to grab her attention! She did her job very well... and the only problem was the guest contunally trying to crowd the floor, which meant she couldn't move and no one else could see. Frustrating! I thnaked her afterwards for a lovely performance and she was fairly chatty... doubt I would have been after an hour of fighting of people! One wee boy was totally chuffed with himself as he handed her a flower from the side of the the stage and she rewarded him with the biggest smile ever. He walked about with his chest puffed up high all night after that!
I assumed Dina was the final act, but no- then came the Moroccan singer Ganet. She was very sweet. With a lovely voice. Not the same crowd control or stage presence as Dina, but then she is probably half her age and experience!!
It was a fabulous night- I left at 4am when Ganet was still singing... couldn't keep my eyes open any longer!!!
So its been a busy week. Sharm, work work work, modelling. wedding.... and of course wee 13 day old kitten (we still dont have a name for it!!!) has finally opened his/her eyes last week and is now developing a huge thirst, an inquisitive personality and demanding lots of attention. Marte is a fabulous mum1 and I try to do the mum2 duties as best i can! This is him/her at what we think was 4 days old!! (cotton bud for scale!!!!)
On the afternoon of my birthday the girls had bought me an ice cream cake and we ate that with champagne in the sunshine after a day by the pool. What more could a girl ask for?well- except that one of my friends got very sick later that night... and ended up sampling the local hotel clinic, which blew us all away- VERY well equiped and well run with the latest technologies and even a lab on site to do blood testing etc etc. Couldn't have been better really. She ended up getting 3 drip bags, a ton of meds and care that made her feel comfortable and better. Unfortunalty it wasn't cheap- 2500le !!! Thankfully she did have good medical insurance!!! Unfortuantely she still felt unwell enough to continue the rest of her holiday and flew home directly from Sharm. That was the worst bit about the trip!
so....... if you are in sharm and have medical insurance go to delta sharm resort- if you dont have insurance go to sharm hospital which is also fairly new and seemingly very good, as well as a LOT cheaper!!!!
I came back to Cairo on thursday (with a 2 hour delay on flight- grrr) and hit the ground running. Work EVERY day....... which is great. I have had some lovely audiences and been working on some new songs with my band too so it's all good. On saturday I had a photo shoot with Amera el Kattan (of pharonics costumes) so I couldn't perform the lunch time sail - but my riend Marte covered for me and seemingly it went really well! Well done Marte!!!
The photo shoot was fantastic. I was there with my friend Zsofia and we were the only 2 girls there to model who were not Russian! Was strange being surrounded by all these girls and not understanding what was going on! We modelled LOTS of costumes- and as soon as the shots have been put onto Amera's website I'll let you know ( or maybe you can let me know- since I cannot access the website from within egypt- a measure added to prevent other designers copying ideas!!!) .
There were 3 photographers AND a video camera. I have no idea what its all going to look like- but it was a lot of fun! The new saaidi and melaya costumes especially were stunning and a lot of fun- I'll be going this week to put my order in!!!! Not sure why almost EVERY costume I had to model was chiffon. I am NOT a chiffon fan and therefore wafting this full skirt about wasn't my thing at all... however posing with the sword was a lot more fun!!!
Oh- and I went to a wedding on saturday night with a friend at the Semi-Ramis Intercontinental. I got there after work expecting to have missed a great deal- but by 12.45 the bride and groom had only just entered the ballroom and Hakim had just started his set! The dancefloor was packed- but hardly anyone other then the bride and groom actually danced! How could you NOT dance to Hakim singing live???? I didn't but only becuase I didn't want to attract attention away from the happy couple!!!!
Then came Dina... stunning. She looked the best i have ever seen her and she was fantastic with both pleasing the crowd and with crowd management.... one wee girl ran accross the dancefloor mid Dina performance and almost got a slap (not intentionally!!!). Her entrance was seriously lacking in dance moves but packed with energy and attitude. She did a lovely baladi which actually had people standing and watching quietly- drawn in for a change rather than just trying to grab her attention! She did her job very well... and the only problem was the guest contunally trying to crowd the floor, which meant she couldn't move and no one else could see. Frustrating! I thnaked her afterwards for a lovely performance and she was fairly chatty... doubt I would have been after an hour of fighting of people! One wee boy was totally chuffed with himself as he handed her a flower from the side of the the stage and she rewarded him with the biggest smile ever. He walked about with his chest puffed up high all night after that!
I assumed Dina was the final act, but no- then came the Moroccan singer Ganet. She was very sweet. With a lovely voice. Not the same crowd control or stage presence as Dina, but then she is probably half her age and experience!!
It was a fabulous night- I left at 4am when Ganet was still singing... couldn't keep my eyes open any longer!!!
So its been a busy week. Sharm, work work work, modelling. wedding.... and of course wee 13 day old kitten (we still dont have a name for it!!!) has finally opened his/her eyes last week and is now developing a huge thirst, an inquisitive personality and demanding lots of attention. Marte is a fabulous mum1 and I try to do the mum2 duties as best i can! This is him/her at what we think was 4 days old!! (cotton bud for scale!!!!)
Love my life.
2 comments:
I am jealous! I have been to Cairo and know that it is a challenging place to live, but so glad you had a great birthday. I have been thinking about taking belly dance lessons, but I think my belly is too big!
NO-ONE is ever too fat, slim, old, young, too anything in fact, to be able to take up bellydance.
You think Egyptian bellydancers are slim??????? NO WAY.
In fact the biggest critism I get of my dance is not about my dance at all but because i 'don't eat enough' !!!!!!
go dance- and enjoy!
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