In Egypt, all houses are monolithic-frame and in winter they are colder than outside.

Once, when I first got to Egypt and got into conversation with the locals, I told them that we live in small apartments. For example, I live in a studio apartment of 30 meters. The answer was raised eyebrows and a comment: thirty? you probably meant one hundred and thirty?

Yes, you won't see small studios and one-room apartments here. Cheap labor, available land and thousands of kilometers of endless sand make construction in Egypt relatively inexpensive. Therefore, they build here, although very densely, but the apartments themselves are spacious, even in popular districts.

All houses here are monolithic-frame, the foundation, columns and floors are made of reinforced concrete, and the walls and internal partitions are made of red brick. This technology is used everywhere, even in those places where they build according to the experience of a neighbor and without the help of an engineer. They have no panel houses at all. Once, in a conversation with local engineers, I asked - why? After all, they are cheaper, and Egypt is not at all a rich country. In response, they just shrug their shoulders and confidently declare: no, panel technology is not cheaper. You probably have the production of panels on stream, but ours will turn out to be more expensive than a monolith.

The warm climate leaves its mark on the construction. The walls are erected in one layer of brick, both external and internal, their thickness is only 10 cm. They act according to the principle: thick walls will not save you from the sweltering heat anyway, and in winter we will warm ourselves. The first winter in Egypt was not easy for me, during the day I constantly went out well to warm up. Surprisingly, it is warmer there during the day. Egypt is the land of the eternal sun, and the air warms up quickly during the day. The nights are longer, and the houses cool down quickly, the temperature drops to an average of 10 degrees. During the day, they do not have time to warm up, and the sun rarely looks to anyone, since the buildings are close to each other, and the eternal twilight is the usual reality of Egyptian apartments.

There are no batteries here, and it is not customary to use air conditioners, even if they have a heating function. It is customary to simply warm up, put on a few pants, sweaters, put one blanket under you, cover yourself with two, and sleep without undressing. It sounds funny, but the Egyptian winter is still a challenge even for us, who are used to severe frosts, but not used to cold houses without batteries.

Which is better - the eternal sun on the street and a cold house or gray clouds and warm apartments?