New Eras or at Least Intermediary Times

Ya habibi has gone.. for two months he will be out of Cairo and we said goodbye only half an hour ago. I have never been in this city when he is not here. It feels strange. I will miss him very much and who is going to do all my translation and handyman jobs!!!! :-)) But I have a huge bunch of great girlfriends to get stronger with and go explore this place and have parties (as I've discovered the studio is a fabulous place to dance) :-))

Sooooo.. ArtHome news.. Theopisti has landed an exhibition at Darb 1718 in April!!!! Mabrook Theopisti!!! I introduced her there and Moataz liked her work and thought it would fit in with an upcoming show. Her and her husband, Sheridan, have gone to Alexandria for two days now and I am musing as to whether to go to the oasis.. hmmmmm.. Other than this there will be a Japanese writer, Azumi, coming to stay in April and inbetween artists I will be scoring more funky bedsheets, household plants and fairy lights :-)

I met Hamdy Reda from Artellewa a few days ago. Amira (Hanafi - artist who stayed weeks ago) brought him round and we had a great chat. I'll go over there in a few days with Theopisti; maybe she'll get another show! Maybe I will! But it was good to talk with Hamdy about the residency as he is experienced in the arts and venues (having one of his own)and I left the conversation feeling that expansion for ArtHome at ARC is definitely available. There are some days where it just feels a bit scary as one watches the money going out and not that much coming back in.. but then I'll get more writing students or an artist will book in to stay and an equilibrium is found once more.

Mashy... I best get my pink lipstick on and get in a cab to Lorna's! Girls' afternoon :-)

Rooftops, Fire & Leopard Spots

Last night I went to the Rooftop Studio downtown with mon amour and the two resident artists staying here at the moment; Thomasina and Roland. It was a Collaborative Multichannel Video Installation called 'Windows'in collaboration with the Townhouse and AUC. The space down at (or should I say 'up at')the Rooftop is fantastic; really spacious with a big roof terrace and various indoor studio spaces. Ahmed Hosny, the initiator of this project, and I, talked about mutually beneficial ways of working as the Rooftop has studio space but is non residential and I have residential space but limited studio space. 'Windows' was presented well and gave a feel of something edgy; the Rooftop is one to watch most definitely.

As we were about to leave (wanting beer at Stella bar)I noticed a fire and smoke coming from the roof a building opposite; it was the Hyatt and I have no idea what the story was but it certainly led people's attentions away from the video screens and towards the city skyline!

Next week sees a week of DOGMA films being screened at Darb 1718; an event I am looking forward to attending and the next ArtHome at ARC residents; Theopisti and Sheridan arrive midnight tomorrow; their leopard print bed awaits them!

Cairo Variations

Cairo! If it doesn't kill you it will make you :-)

Thomasina and Roland are on the 3rd day of their residency and yesterday I took them over to Darb 1718 and after looking at the latest exhibition and the art space they then walked around the potters' area (they themselves are potters). They are uncoiling to the pace of Cairo; it can take time; and another hot water plumbing problem here at ARC has been a 1st hand taste for them in Cairo infra-structure and working practice :-)

Theopisti Stylianou - photographer and her husband, Sheridan, a writer arrive Thursday night for a stay of 12 days. You can look at Theopisiti's work on: www.theopisti.com

I have to say that if I had a Christmas card list, if I celebrated it, that Madame Afaf (my landlady) would not be on it. One does have to live with a plethora of idiosyncracities in this city and ArtHome at ARC is not a 5 star pad. But I have created it and intend it as a little treasure and an ambient and loved creative space and having hot water come out of the taps at all times.. or at least most of the time, is pretty much necessary. Anyway.. shwaya shwaya, slowly slowly, the plumber is coming and it shall be resolved, inshallah.

Last night I went to a dinner hosted by the director of the arts division of the British Council in Cairo; held in a very plush pad with full power hot water at a million miles a minute I should imagine! I met some great people and built some links for ARC. The wine was also good and a lovely change from my usual Omar Khayyim brand :-)

So... I sit waiting for the plumber.. and working on editing a private student's novel and tonight I have my Tuesday writing class and then an opening show at Rooftop Studio, downtown.

Bye for now!

Beds and Irish myths

I can't believe how much beds are in this country!!! It seems such a strange thing that in more 'western' countries one can find cheap furniture; second hand and new; one can even get free stuff very easily. But here, due to the difference in system and part of that being that many people live off the throwaway items and the rubbish, it seems very difficult to find cheap furniture. So.. I am faced with the prospect of having to spend about 2000 LE today on two double beds. I have to have them as artists are arriving and at present I only have two single beds (which will remain also). Then after the horror of spending that amount of money and with no income in sight for the forseeable (until I get more writing students)I have to arrange getting them here and up 7 floors and the bawab no doubt will be wanting to know who these beds are for and why do I need them..

Sometimes I wonder what I am doing. It hasn't reached existential places yet :-) but I have set up this artist residency on no budget and the income from renting rooms will not cover the rent of the place and I have no idea when the money from my next writing students will be and arriving artists have many requirements it seems and I am just a poet, discovering my way in Cairo and with a dream to share and create a space that nourishes the creative soul for myself and for others.

I feel that some people will love it here and some people will not. But I know that whatever I do and however it is, it is in truth and without pretence. I want to make people feel welcome and to share ideas and flow. ArtHome may not be 5 star and it is starting small; but it is genuine and also I have to say very affordable for those wanting to come and explore Cairo!!!!

So, today is St Patricks. I don't observe it but the thing about Irish myths is that sometimes I do wonder if the Irish blood in my veins (my father is Irish) makes me just go for things with Celtic fire and not consider the consequences too much. Otherwise what on earth am I doing here in this city, renting a place that I cannot afford and without a proper job???

Crazy! Magnoon!!!!! :-)

Time

is a precious noun in this country.

Everyday I go to the studio space and look through my swathes of paper; ensuring lesson plans are in place for the three writing groups that I have running and looking through notes made on the work of my private writing students' who are writing deserving novels. I check my emails and do admin throughout the day responding to enquiries about ARC and bookings. I poke around for the various lists on lined note paper that have all the things I stil need to get and to do to get ARC shipshape for residents and then attempt the gigantuan task of finding the corresponding shops to get said things; this is one of the hardest tasks; without knowledge of where these shops are located and without the language to ask for what I need if the needed thing is not obvious to my eyes. Yesterday I got printing done but gave up on trying to find hydrogen peroxide for my contact lenses after four failed attempts. Even having the cleaners in is work as they themselves made a list of items they wished me to have; which then had to be translated and having bought the items they are either running late (but then that is normal) or they may not come at all.

The items on my lists irk me. It is so mundane and yet so crucial it seems but I find the mundanity of it blanches my spirit and it is not the most scintillating activity to ask mon amour to help with; yet help he does; two poets reduced to asking about breadboards and lightbulb fittings. Yet the creation of the space; of ARC; of my home; needs a practical application.

Time spent on such situations leads me away from my beautiful time; the time to write; the time I saw for myself in this move to Cairo. Yet it is this very utmost feeling of present time, of time being taken up right now, that also gives the feeling of being alive. There is litle refection and little musing on future; now is the time and it makes one live.

So today is Friday and I got up early and gave a private lesson working with one of my student's on her wonderful novel and now I am waiting; waiting for late or no show cleaners, waiting for mon amour to return after some days away, and maybe tonight we will go to a friend of mine's book launch 'Diary of an Egyptian Spinster'; though the spinster in this case, Abeer Soliman, is a young and attractive woman. Abeer has had a newspaper column and an online prescence with this diary for some years and found some fame within Egypt and the Arab states. It is a contemporary and candid work.

Next Saturday two potters from Cornwall; Thomasina Bates and Roland Bence arrive for one week's residency and then the Saturday after Theopisti Stylianou,a Cypriot photographer, and her writer husband will come for two weeks. They will be followed by Anne Devine and Tinka Bechert who will work throughout April on their project involving walking and text inspired by the Giza plateau. Then May brings a family of four who will be exploring Cairo for two weeks as part of a grand tour.

Busy times ahead indeed!

The Great Unwashed

or.. 'That's Just How It Is'.

Soooo... 7 days in ArtHome ARC and there has been much to do. Amira Hanafi, the resident artist, leaves tomorrow after her one week stay and she has been taking some amazing photographic documentation of the city via her walking project.

I have been mainly working on getting things for the flat, beautifying the space, starting new writing classes with a fresh intake of students, eating some delicious cake/biscuits and continuing with the existing class (shokran Hind for the laziz biscuits!!)and trying to sort out various plumbing issues (plumber on his way again as I type). It seems that the modus operandi in Cairo plumbing is to take several days fixing something, then go away and that thing breaks down again after 30 minutes. There are small horizons of hope that then plummet;forced to be The Great Unwashed; living up to stereotypes of the British.. though my teeth aren't black and cragged (yet). Anyway I am drinking lime so as to combat any dormant, ancestral scurvy.

The week ahead is busy, the city is awaiting and the heat is building...

Bawabs, balconies and Day 2 in the New Place

Wellllllll... I am shattered. I need B Vits!!! Shelagh post me some asap! So.. I moved into the new place about 1am and didn't get to sleep until 6am, then had to be up the next day early as Madame Afaf (landlady - and her name means Chastity..) informed me the telephone man would be coming anytime between 8am and 6pm. So.. after less than 2 hrs sleep I put 'answering the door clothes' on (remember.. it's Egypt.. one has to present decorum)and then got confused about 'was that the door or wasn't it?' as my doorbell happens to be the sound of birdsong.. low birdsong.. in one short low flush. On top of this there is a lot of real birdsong from the front of the house as I am on the 7th floor and look out over some very lovely trees. Put into the mix that at the best of times I have a certain phone phobia, then bring in general artistic neurosis.. Madame Afaf then phoned to say the telephone man would be on his way.. this was at about 1pm.. a few hours having gone by of lying on bed in clothes trying to discern real birds from electronic ones. Finally at about 3pm the telephone man arrived along with the bawab Nabil (whose name means Noble.. and I realise later should not have accompanied him in and was only there to snoop.. as they do..). The telephone man did very little.. he complained and looked sulky.. and then the bawab said they had to go in another of the rooms. I tried to act composed.. for mon amour was the bedroom and for anyone reading this who doesn't know the Egyptian ways; an Egyptian man in the bedroom of a woman is considered VERY non-decorum.. to the point of some landlords forbid this unless the couple are married. Yes, welcome to medieval Cairo.. This alone is an issue.. and even though nothing has actually been said to me prior to taking the flat.. I know enough about the culture to try not to 'flaunt' the fact that I have an amour. Sooooo.. heart beating I asked them 'fein?' (where?) and to my relief they said 'shumel' (left .. and opposite my bedroom) But the whole time I was thinking 'but there's a wire in my room too.. what if, what if..' and when they went back into the living room I went to mon amour and said 'they are looking in the rooms'. When I came back out of my room I saw that they had returned to the room opposite and the bawab was sat on the bed looking directly at me and therefore had most probably heard me talking to 'someone'. Anyway, finally they left, having done a total patchy job on the phone and only fixing one socket which is in the spare room and therefore now needs a very long cable. When I returned to the bedroom, it was in darkness and I couldn't see mon amour anywhere.. then I realised he had hidden himself on the balcony.. ohhhhh.. what will become of us :-))