Water, Fish

Door Detail
Mausoleum and Madrassah of Nasr Mohammad Ibn Qalaqun

(note: the pictures and ensuing post are not currently coinciding in subject matter)

Fact: Among the 25 most populous countries in the year 2009, Egypt is number two in the list of most water limited/water scarce nations, says the United Nations World Water Development Report (for those of you wondering South Africa ranks number one, and Pakistan number three).

Personally, I've never had a problem with water in Cairo-
Okay, this might be a small white lie.
My friend Caitlin wrote a post about the shower situation in her apartment that sums up my showers that you can read here, but our water complaints generally involve things like "Hey, have you noticed that our water heater hasn't been getting our water hot enough?"
I've never actually run out of water living on an island on the Nile.

Of course Zamalek is often referred to the "Expat Enclave of Cairo" and the cushy living that I'm used to is nothing like the squatter settlements ten minutes north of Ma'adi like Stabl Anta.
Last Wednesday night though, our Moho-style-living at Burg-Al-Metro had probably one of the most fascinating episodes of apartment grief I've ever experienced.

I returned from an Arabic Study Session to Claire's furrowed eye-brow and the words "We've got a small problem in our bathroom."
Quick backstory: One of our bathrooms has been spewing fecal matter from the pipe in our toilet onto the ground. Needless to say we have no longer been using that toilet any more.
My initial internal reaction: "Erg, more fecal matter?"
No. Our bathroom sink was giving off the worst stench.
I walked in, took half a breath, walked right back out.
Claire: "What do you think that is?"
There was no doubt about it
Me: "A dead fish."

Who knows how long that fish had been rotting in the u of our sink's drain pipe.

Ten minutes later, Claire stepped out onto the balcony.
"I need to get some clean air to get the smell out of my nose."

You know there's a problem when you're voluntarily taking gulps of polluted Cairene air and calling that clean.