My Dream to Be Free

by Juergen Stollin

  A friend of his parents was in England for six months and he had left the keys with him and had given permission to let someone live there.

  I asked the young man how much it would cost per month. Astonished, he replied that the apartment would not cost anything. Mimi and I were speechless.

  Was the boy taking us for a ride to get some more drinks? Of course he got his drinks, I wanted some too. It was now 11 pm. Together we drove to our hotel and got our stuff. Then we drove to the said apartment. It was a full six-room apartment with four bedrooms and two large living rooms. I could not get over the amazement.

  Since the Hilton was located opposite, one needed to only go over the Nile. So we decided that we would go to the bar again. We had a lot to talk about. It was fun to talking to this young man. When he heard that I was a cook, he had another idea. He knew someone there, who wanted to open a Piano Bar and was on the lookout for a cook.

  And the most incredible thing was that I got to know him at once. We called him and announced our spontaneous visit. A little later, we were sitting in a taxi and driving to the said future piano bar owner. Just as everything had been a bit extreme so far, so was this man. We chatted till 6 am. We were told to come in the afternoon around 5 pm once again to him to work out more details.

  Our new apartment was huge.

  In the morning we first had to explore the whole thing. What a joy that we were able to cook our own meals.

  Meanwhile we had learned from our young friend that the guy whom we would meet again in the evening was a well-known ex-actor.

  His name was Achmed Ramzy and he was Omar Sharif's friend. Ahmed received greater recognition in Egypt than Omar.

  Ahmed Ramzy was the karate hero in the whole of the Arab world. And since he was so well known, he had an idea for the Piano Bar. I was to administer and manage this bar. Ahmed in turn, had a friend who was the Area Manager of the Hilton chain for North Africa and the Middle East.

  In addition, he was General Manager of the Nile Hilton Hotel. This friend wanted Ahmed to ask me what salary would be acceptable with me. I could also get job-related advice from him.

  Ahmed suggested to me not to undertake anything till he told me when I could start. We had an apartment and we could cook for ourselves, we also saved money for restaurants. So we could hold on for some time. The days passed and nothing happened, except that we hung out with Ahmed or in a hotel bar; sometimes we also drove to the pyramids.

  One day we were on the way to Saqqara and we passed watermelon fields on the way and I stopped at a farm and wanted to buy melons. But then I saw something that I simply did not want to believe. Mimi pointed it out to me. While I was negotiating with the farmers about the price, I now saw what Mimi had called my attention to.

  A worker of the farmer was busy spraying the melons with a syringe of water from an irrigation channel. Of course I did not buy any melons!

  Instead Mimi and I disappeared from the field of the farmer because he had realized what we had seen and I thought the farmer would kill his worker.

  Not because he had sprayed the contaminated water in the melons, no, he was to do it, since it gave him more money by weight while selling.

  But the reason was that he had been so stupid and had done it in our presence. Ever since that experience, I did not have any desire for melons.

  Eventually I turned off the spending tap and told Mimi that she too should look for a job. But Mimi preferred to fly to Austria to her mother to come back later again eventually.

  Ahmed had a daughter who wanted to celebrate her birthday in Ahmed's apartment. She lived alone in the city and had just a small apartment. She had studied in the university and was a paralegal. There was a huge kitchen in Ahmed's apartment. Since he was a very good hobby-cook, he needed this large kitchen, he said.

  I was assigned to cook food for the birthday celebration. I was to cook for about thirty people, which I wanted to do, I was told to conjure up the best of the best.

  Many influential guests would arrive. For two whole days I was in stress and conjured up things.

  Ahmed's daughter as well as her guests were completely satisfied with my food and full of praise. That made me proud of myself - also considering that it was only good for my reputation, which later on turned out to be so.

  Every now and then, I had to think of the Sadhu, the holy man from India, who had predicted my future. I would become rich through a woman but then I would not live long after that.

  What nonsense!

  This saying was so imprinted in me that I did not look for a rich woman but always for a willing one. But Pakinam was certainly not the right one. I needed someone more like Mimi. I would certainly not become rich with her or through her but I also not get old. Whether she would return again? If not, it would not change much in my life. Let her stay at home, I would definitely find something else. Yet I had not searched seriously for a replacement.

  Ahmed had given up his plan to open a piano bar. But he had not forgotten me. He arranged a meeting with Mr. Nahas, Director of the Nile Hilton, who sent me to Sharm el-Sheikh at the Red Sea.

  That meant I had to travel by an extremely narrow bus in Sinai for eight hours. So I packed my things and left Cairo.

  I was told to meet a Frenchman, in Fayrouz Village, who was the hotel manager there. It was a holiday resort and was managed by the Hilton Group.

  The young, likeable director explained to me about the hotel and the tasks that I would have to cope with. He also made no secret to me that the hotel was not yet officially opened, but I was already the third cook.

  I wanted to know how that came about and the answer was not very reassuring.

  So I came to know that the first cook completed his international premiere here. But either he was too homesick or he thought he was not up to the task. In any case, he committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. Since they had found a farewell letter addressed to his mother, accident or murder were ruled out.

  The second cook had taken the night bus to Cairo and had flown home very quietly from there. But that did not deter me and I wanted to stay.

  After the necessary formalities were done, I was introduced to the rest of the management. My director directed me to the lady housekeeper who showed me my room. It was quite a normal guest room in a chalet, which always had two living units. This room was now to be my home for the next two years, because that was the period of the contract.

  My service would start in just three days. In the meantime, I had to familiarize myself with the localities.

  The next day I was sitting at the pool bar and Ahmed Ramzy’s daughter joined me.

  She thanked me once again for the delicious food that I had prepared her for her birthday.

  The manager, who also just came to the pool, saw how we warmly welcomed one another. This attracted his attention and he wanted to know from where I knew this pretty woman. Very quickly I told him the facts.

  He was full of admiration for me that I knew the most beautiful girls in such a short time and asked me shaking his head, where it would end. He also asked me to step into his office for a moment.

  He offered me a deal there. He wanted to absolutely get to know this Egyptian girl, if I did not object or did not have any claims on her. He had a Japanese woman, whom he wanted to get rid of and I could have her. He had plans to have a party in the evening and I was told to come there with the Egyptian girl. The Japanese woman would also be there, whom I should take care of. He would take care of the Egyptian girl. This got off to a good start already. Of course, I was willing to do anything that my director wanted. The party was a success, my French hotel manager got the Egyptian girl he longed for and I had a Japanese woman, who barely spoke English.

  I wouldn’t have thought that the Japanese women were so overly polite in bed as well. It was strange to be asked in certain situations in bed, whether it was right, if it was pleasant, if she may touch this or that, if I also did not mind if I could do this for her ... She eve
n wanted to know why I was so hairy, and if all Europeans had this hair growth on the chest. I thought the Japanese held a question time and not a time of lovemaking in bed.

  Then she really focused on the reason why we had landed in my bed together in my bed. One thing surprised me very much: She did not miss the opportunity before we went to bed and also after we had finished our lovemaking, to get into the bathtub, although we bad been in the sea all day long and in the evening during the party.

  The bathtub tic had to be a Japanese ritual, not only because of cleanliness. That could probably be compared to a Muslim woman’s prayer before she came to bed. I had experienced it in Port Sudan that a sex worker first prayed before she was ready to fuck.

  My three days of acclimatization were over. To my surprise, I had to attend a training course for two weeks at the Hilton in Singapore to familiarize myself with the local cuisine and also to know more about the management. My director told me that I did not have that much experience in gourmet cuisine. So it was as well and I could also do some sight-seeing in Singapore and its surroundings because the work was not strenuous but very casual. The city-state was a concentrated load of life but unlike Cairo. There were fewer tourists, instead, many businessmen from all over the world. The staff were very nice to me. The chef was a German, who taught me a lot about the management of a large-scale kitchen.

  I could only marvel about the vegetable carvings and the artistically prepared melons or what could be formed out of margarine or ice; that could be produced only by an Asian.

  There were special kitchen artistes, who were responsible only for showpieces.

  They did not have to teach me cooking, I could do that.

  But I was not able to produce these works of art in this short time. I just had a little idea of all that was possible.

  But after twelve days, I had to leave this particular town of the ‘Lion’. "Singh" stands for ‘lion’ and "Pura" for ‘city’. I remembered that the Indians wearing turbans, the Sikhs, who wore turbans, were all called "Singh", which means ‘lion’. My friend at the India-Pakistan border had explained that to me at that time.

  Back in Sharm el-Sheikh, I first came to know that the Japanese woman was no longer there. She had left because she had made a fuss because the women had been swapped. I was not very sad about it.

  To my surprise, my director had registered me again for a course. This time it was announced it would be Vienna. Again, it was the Hilton, Hilton am Park where I had to spend my internship period.

  I made a mistake and phoned Mimi and told her that I would come to Vienna. Of course, I also got a guest room in Hilton and had Mimi as a subtenant. They were very generous in the hotel and allowed us to live as a couple in the room. Normally only I had full boarding but had to pay for the second breakfast. Lunch and dinner were free for me. Lunch was served in the staff-dining room. I could have dinner in one of the hotel's restaurants. Mimi went home after breakfast and came back only when I was free from work, and that was never before 11 pm.

  But my work started only at 10 am. It was also a good time that passed all too quickly. With my director's permission, I applied for a leave of one week and visited my family in Germany.

  At home they were very happy that I now had a steady job. I had many letters from different offices, who all wanted something from me. But mother had neither sent back the letters nor forwarded them to me. She had tied all the letters nicely together in a bundle and handed them now to me. The letters were so old that I did not need to respond. Of course I promised the girls that they could visit me in Egypt. Even Mother wanted to visit me but that did not happen.

  Chef at Nobel Hotel

  Back in Sharm, I began my work as Chef.

  I had signed a two-year contract.

  My salary was paid in dollars.

  I also had health insurance but not a social security.

  I had to take care of that myself. I had to pay it in Germany, which I did not do. Who thinks of pension, when life is just so good? In addition, my excuse was always that I would never reach the said age due to my way of life.

  Mimi came and got a job in the hotel as a guest relation manager. But she had the wages of a local person and was paid so. She got food from the canteen, apart from the boarding in my room, while I was allowed to eat in the restaurant. By working with the Egyptians at the front desk, she quickly found a "stud". Of course, the guy boasted about it to his colleagues and they in turn came beaming to me with the news.

  How could Mimi have been so stupid?

  The result of course, was that she was thrown out of my room. She cried a lot: she said I never had time for her and she had of course made a mistake and that she was sorry!

  I stuck with the banishment from my room and so the Egyptian had her by the throat. Only he could not have her in his room because it was forbidden. I had no idea where she was sleeping, I also did not care. My ego was very offended, my pride had suffered to have been supplanted by an Egyptian! To this day, for me it is heart of the matter that counts.

  Of course, I worked some days in the kitchen for twenty hours from morning at four o'clock till after midnight. But it was necessary to keep my job. The building was under construction and there were still a lot of disorder. Sometimes there was no water in the whole hotel. The chefs cooked the vegetables, potatoes and pasta in seawater. Even the dishes had to be cleaned in salt water and then rinsed with bottled water later. Also the kitchen was cleaned with bottled water. The employees from the housekeeping section brought water for flushing toilets from the sea. This was something unusual for a Hilton Hotel.

  Fortunately we did not have so many guests yet at that time. The ones we had were tough. I had no idea how the hotel manager managed it. Even the procurement of supplies was not the best. There were many things that were just lacking. The purchases had to be done in Cairo and then be carted 500 km to Sharm.

  Vegetables and salad were already wilted at the hotel and had to be thrown away at once. But slowly everything got a new profile. Day by day it got better with the organization. After three months, there was a desalination facility and we did not have water worries any more.

  An office had been set up in Cairo, in the Nile Hilton, from which all necessary things were ordered and were delivered to us by our own refrigerated transport vans.

  I was allowed to address my director with his first name, which proved how well we got along with one another. I would like to assert that we were not like director and chef but more like good pals. After six months, we had the hotel under control. All who were there from the beginning, could be proud of what had been accomplished. We had a turnover of one million and the hotel was booked up to 100% after six months.

  We received commendation from the headquarters in England, as a result of which my director arranged for a celebration for the staff.

  But I had an entirely different plan. Since my stewards, cleaners and the kitchen helpers did not earn more than 80 Egyptian pounds on an average, which was 40 DM after conversion per month, I fought for an increase 100 pounds.

  After much pestering with my director, I was able to push through with my director that the minimum salary for all, who worked in the hotel would in increased to 100 pounds.

  That gave me a good reputation among my co-workers. They respected me and there was no backtalk when I ordered for something.

  But they got me into difficult situations from time to time. For example, a dinner was announced once again for top VIP guests. A German hotel chain owner, Mrs. Steigenberger and very high Egyptian civil servants were to have a super dinner. During the same time, we also had many statesmen staying in the hotel. A peace conference was in full swing in Sharm el-Sheikh. There were statesmen with their entourage in the hotel. All were top VIPs and accordingly there were also strict safety precautions.

  There were spies and personal cooks not only in the whole Naama Bay but also with me in the kitchen as well as security services from different countries. It was ve
ry difficult to keep track. For some reason, I had to go to the director to his office, and food was served for the German hotelier’s wife and her guests during this time.

  Subsequently when I was back in the kitchen again, the hotelier’s wife came to me and said that the food was very good. But she also criticized that I had not removed the bacon and the twine from the steaks before serving. So their guests had seen that the fillet steaks were wrapped in bacon, which had been very embarrassing for her. This was because they were Muslims. But to her surprise, all had eaten the steaks without complaints.

  I reassured her and told her that this did not mean much. The "fine people" would not be so particular about it. They also drank alcohol. But she knew that already.

  Once I was with the family of Estee Lauder, the cosmetics family and their friends from Israel for a week as a private chef on a yacht. I prepared for the meals for eight passengers and their security officers. I had cooked for many important and rich people. No one had ever complained and there was always a good tip. The Lauder family promised me even a packet of perfumes. It was to come from New York. But they had forgotten about that, because I am still waiting for it to this day.

  I think you have to keep your feet on the carpet, if you work as a cook in particular houses and for well-known celebrities - incidentally even for a certain Omar Sharif, Mubarak or any other important man or an important perhaps even a beautiful and rich woman. I could also be marveled in several Egyptian television shows. This was due to my profession.

  If all the important people went away, you could hear the sigh of relief in the whole hotel. The staff at the hotel had to work 24 days straight and then had a week off, which they spent in Cairo with their families.