First Break In Ever.....

Since I've landed in Egypt, I've experienced many first things…… first baba ganoug ever, first pyramid ever, first mountain climb ever, and first dip in the Red Sea ever. So now I guess it was about time I had my first break in ever….

Before you start panicking don't worry, everyone is ok, though Tom and I got to experience an Egyptian Drama.

After a long day of work and walking, Tom and I decided to head home, grab something to eat and head off to Kotteiba and Mona's party (housemate and girlfriend).

I climbed up our three flights of stairs, got the key out of my bag, and was about to put it into the lock when the door just swung open……. We then see the lock on the floor and stood there shocked!!!

The first thing that came to mind was that the lock was not properly installed, and that somehow the wind force blew the door open ( a bit of background; our security paranoid housemate had just changed the lock a couple of days ago, and we were not sure if it was done well)…… but after a detailed examination we then discovered that our door was forced open, thus kicked open by someone.

We then ran to the most valuable thing in the house, Kotteiba's computer and discovered that it was no longer there, I then checked my passport, jewelry and money and found all was still there….. so I then just hoped that Kotteiba had taken his computer with him to the party….. We then called Kotteiba, and over a crackled phone call explained to him that his computer was no longer there - this was obviously not good news, as Kotteiba then screamed and shouted, and told us to go and warn the land lord that he is coming with an axe to chop his head off…..

At this point Tom and I were a bit scared!!! We knew that Kotteiba was a bit weird and that he had most of his life on that computer, but we did not know how far his insanity would go…

I then decided to go to the landlord's daughter's house and speak to her, girl to girl, in English about the situation…….she ran to her father and they came in the house examining the damage…. Then left…

In the meantime we got several calls from Kotteiba threatening to kill the landlord and his son with his axe. (the suspect was the landlord's younger son, who is supposedly – according to the doorman - the black sheep in the family and a drug addict).

We also decided to give Shady a call, just in case things get bad and we'll be chucked out of the house, at least an Egyptian friend would know what is happeneing and would come to our rescue!!! The funny thing is that the concept of 'break in' in Egyptian is non-existant!!! People do not usually break into other people's house!!! So we had to explain to him that people came into our house and stole, the conversation went the following way:
TOM 'Hey Shady we need your help'
SHADY 'What's up man, you're in trouble'
TOM 'Sort of, someone broke into our house'
SHADY 'Your house broke down?'
TOM 'No, they broke into our house, the came in our house and stole'
SHADY 'How did they come in? they had the keys?'
TOM 'No, they kicked the door open'
SHADY 'How do they do that?'
TOM 'Shady do you know that certain movie …… where the police kick open the door to look for the guy?'
SHADY 'Yes'
TOM 'Well that is what happened to us'
SHADY 'The police came to your house?? Who were they looking for!!!!'
TOM 'No Shady listen…..'

Anyway he finally understood, though he explained that it's not at all common in Egypt and that is why it was strange for him…

Anyhow, after 10min from the last time we saw the landlord, the daughter came in again, giving the news that the computer was found and that apparently the son's 'friend' was the thief and that they will be bringing the computer in a bit…

We then tried calling Kotteiba to assure him that all was ok, only to find out that he is in hospital with a nervous attack being drugged, and this his father's friends, National Security people were on their way to our house!!!!!!!

Ahhhh what a night!!!

It turned out well in the end, the computer came, drugged Kotteiba had a conversation with the landlord, the national security guys and another guys, where they came to the conclusion that son was actually the thief…. The landlord begged not to prosecute him….. it's quite a shame for the landlord, especially as he is one of the most respected man in the neighbourhood…..

Tom and I were actually excited at this Egyptian Drama, and actually amazed how things could be solved within the family….. as there was no way we could understand what's happeneing as it was all in Egyptian we also enjoyed our nice dinner of pasta which we made so we could be out of everyone's way during the whole drama!!!