I have told you before about Sahad, uncle Sahad as everybody calls him. He has been the guard, the maintenance guy, the receptionist, the bin man, the mailman and the bread delivery service in the building for thirty years, every day of the year, no holidays.
He is such a simple, religious (you can see the dark mark on his forehead because of so much touching the floor with it when praying) and proud man. He literally guards the building day and night. During most the day he sits in that chair controlling everybody going in and out of the building. Nobody he does not know will pass without a whole explanation of why is he/she coming, what flat is he/she going and any other question that he finds relevant. For example he will not let pass any girl to our flat, cos no girl is supposed to come to visit us!!!. When he is resting or eating during the day, he does it in a room of his basement flat where he can still see and hear when anybody goes in or out. Even in the night he closes the fence in the entrance to the building, so he will have to wake up every time anybody wants to get in. In the middle of the night you will have to call him: "Aam Sahad! Aam Sahad!", you will hear him waking up very slowly and muttering in Arabic meanwhile he finds the key and walks to open the door. I feel guilty for interrupting his sleep, so i always tell him asif (i am sorry)...he always responds with something intelligible that i freely translate for "is ok". He does not speak any English (well, just "hello") and he talks to me in Arabic like i am proficient, but his dark benevolent eyes and his broad honest smile speak an international language...god bless him and might his socks keep him warm!
PS: i dont know who is the woman in the photo, but she sits there all day long too!!!
Fact of the day: Alexandria´s streets are all in continuous work, i have not seen many "finished" ones...the joke in here is that the major is looking for the lost treasure of Alexander :)
He is such a simple, religious (you can see the dark mark on his forehead because of so much touching the floor with it when praying) and proud man. He literally guards the building day and night. During most the day he sits in that chair controlling everybody going in and out of the building. Nobody he does not know will pass without a whole explanation of why is he/she coming, what flat is he/she going and any other question that he finds relevant. For example he will not let pass any girl to our flat, cos no girl is supposed to come to visit us!!!. When he is resting or eating during the day, he does it in a room of his basement flat where he can still see and hear when anybody goes in or out. Even in the night he closes the fence in the entrance to the building, so he will have to wake up every time anybody wants to get in. In the middle of the night you will have to call him: "Aam Sahad! Aam Sahad!", you will hear him waking up very slowly and muttering in Arabic meanwhile he finds the key and walks to open the door. I feel guilty for interrupting his sleep, so i always tell him asif (i am sorry)...he always responds with something intelligible that i freely translate for "is ok". He does not speak any English (well, just "hello") and he talks to me in Arabic like i am proficient, but his dark benevolent eyes and his broad honest smile speak an international language...god bless him and might his socks keep him warm!
PS: i dont know who is the woman in the photo, but she sits there all day long too!!!
Fact of the day: Alexandria´s streets are all in continuous work, i have not seen many "finished" ones...the joke in here is that the major is looking for the lost treasure of Alexander :)
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