Apartment Tour

Ok guys and gals - Don't be super jealous of the apartment I live in - It is quite flashy so try and contain your "evil" eye stares! 

 My big, bed with a FIRM mattress.  New sheets I picked out with my rocky arabic from a teenager who was laughing at my attempts the entire time.  My red comforter is at the cleaners currently because it was a bit dusty and would not fit into my tiny washer.  Note the awesome pleather red wall behind my bed.  It has a textured pattern on it.

My built-in "wall-closet" with a vanity.  I love it!

 The only piece of art in the entire apartment.

 My black out curtains, TV I do not use and air-conditioning wall!  There is a lot of beige color going on throughout the whole apartment - it reminds me of sand!

 My bathroom - Let's just say that taking showers without a curtain has been interesting i.e. water sprayed everywhere!

 My tiny washer.

 My "laundry" area - I had to go get a drying rack before I could do any laundry - The balcony washline was not going to cut it.

 My massive wooden door and a "chotchsky" cabinet currently empty that holds my awesome "Amerka" and London shopping bags.

 My nice kitchen.

My terrifying oven/stove that I have only used once.  I have to turn on the gas and stick a lit match into a tiny hole to get the oven working. Note the goose utensil holder and goose salt/pepper shakers.

 My "dining" area.  I will tell you about the awesome stuff on it in a bit.

 My "salon" area

My stacking coffee tables that came with petrified wood?

A second TV I will never use and a mirrored stand that I have displayed my non-working telephone and my two postcards I got from the Giza Art Weaving Village on.

My apartment also has some pretty funky/fun lighting.

 In the living room.

 Kitchen

 Laundry

 Bedroom

 My purchases made today at the Maadi Grand Mall at a store called "Collections"  which is like an Egyptian Dollar Tree for homegoods.  I bought a giant Chinese knife, a cutting board with veggies and bread on it,  a set that included salt/pepper shakers and oil/vinegar bottles, a tea "infuser", more hangers to add to my collection, and a pocket hexagon screwdriver in case I need to adjust furniture at school (and because it cost 74 cents).  Not pictured - an 70s-style bathroom rug set.

This was an awesome "Welcome" basket I got from school officials today.  Teachers that moved to school housing in Sheikh Zayed got theirs last week, but because I chose my own housing I got to lug this baby home in my Eagle shopping bag.  The basket had chips, chocolate, instant coffee, hand sanitizer, coconut lip balm, TOILET PAPER (which you have to carry around if you are going to use public WCs), water and a few other assorted sundries.  Plus it came in a great container that will be a trashcan in my apartment. 

 I think they got it at "Collections."

Saqqara, The Khan, Giza Plateau, Al-Azhar Park

Phew! It has been a busy few days!  I officially start work tomorrow so my "vacation" is over!  I am going to have to become a morning person because I am getting picked up every morning at 6:45 a.m. for my almost hour-long commute every day.  It is worth it though to live in a neighborhood where I can walk around.

On Saturday, Walther (our school director) took us to Saqqara to see the oldest complete stone structure in the world.  I thought I had visited Saqqara twice before one horse back, but turns out there is a lower Saqqara with a stepped pyramid that is not as old as the original Saqqara.  So, once again, felt slightly ripped off, but it was my fault for not questioning why a 5,000 year-old pyramid had only one tourist policeman present to guard it.

 Saqqara

The Red and Bent Pyramids in a few miles away in Dahshur.

 I can't believe the paint is still there after 5,000 years!

 The oldest religious texts in the world.

Feeling like Indiana!

On Monday, after recovering from the brutal heat at Saqqara for two days, a group of us went to Khan El Khalili, one of my favorite spots in Cairo.  We successfully navigated the stalls for the most part and avoided getting ripped off or sucked into buying something we didn't need.  We finished the night at the Egyptian Pancake house where I caught a tourist trap.  The waiter gave me an Arabic menu which I read to my friends, but upon my asking about the meaning of the one word I didn't know (which turned out to be a different word for butter), the waiter gave us an English menu.  The English menu had about a third of the items listed on the Arabic menu and the prices were almost double what the Arabic menu said. At this point, I demanded they give us the Arabic menus!

 One of the many entrances to the "Khan"

 

Standard kitschy tourist stuff - Magic lamps and the like

 Egyptian section of the Khan - I bought Egyptian Tang and Hibiscus Tea

 The Egyptian section of Khan

 

Lit up at night - the last night of the Eid celebrations

The next day, I met up with Justine, Chris, Mariko, and Brandon and took them to my old horse-riding stable.  I was excited to remember how to get to the stable and all of the men working there remember me.  "Hey! You are the one that fell from the horse!"  which I kept having to point out was their fault since the saddle I was on was not strapped on properly!  Mohsin, my horse guy, was still working there and happy to take us for a night ride to the Giza plateau.

 The pyramids at night.

 They have added a cafe/dance floor in the 4 years since I have ridden up there.  They even had generator-powered lights and a booming sound system!

 

The light pollution of Cairo

Tonight, we went to Al-Azhar Park, a lovely green space on the top of a hill in Cairo that overlooks many sections of the city.  We met up with our compatriots from the other school campus for dinner at the Citadel Restaurant.

 There were hundreds of Egyptians there relaxing on the last night of the Eid break.

 The Citadel and Mohamed Ali mosque.

 The Citadel restaurant

Impromptu Egyptian dance party while we were waiting for our bus!

Maadi Madness

Warning:  This post is pretty wordy with few pictures - Read at your own risk.

After searching for an apartment for two days, I signed for one and am a bit mixed up right now on my feelings about it - more on that later.

The first full day I was in Egypt, myself and two other teachers went looking around Sheikh Zayed, a newly developed area where the school is also located.  While I saw many nice flats, they were expensive for me because I am living on my own and would have to pay for everything myself.

The real estate found me an awesome two-story apartment with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, roof access and located directly across from the school.  It was within my price range, but a Syrian family made a higher offer on it, shooting the price to just out of my price range.  The two other teachers I was with ended up making a higher offer themselves, so I didn't end up with that apartment.

The real estate agent, Ahmed, was super nice and helpful and kept trying to find me a place withing my price range.  I told him of my desire to live in an Egyptian neighborhood where I would be forced to speak Arabic and where I could walk to many places - for groceries or to hang out with friends.  In Sheikh Zayed, I would have to get a taxi to go anywhere - including to get a cup of coffee or go grocery shopping.

We found a place in Al-Aghouza which is close to Mohindeseen (another very crowded neighborhood), but the school does not have a bus stop in that neighborhood.  My friends Chris and Justine told me about a one bedroom apartment in Maadi that was cute, had a new kitchen, and was a 5-minute walk to the bus stop. 

Another agent named Wiam took me the next day to the apartment.  It was a good size for me and within my price range so I said yes quickly because I felt pressure to find something because we had to check out of the hotel the next day.  I signed the contract  (with the promise that it would be cleaned before I moved in the next day) and my landlady offered to give me a ride back to Sheikh Zayed after she ran one errand.  One errand ended up being QUITE a few.  We went and got flowers for her daughter, went grocery shopping, went by her daughter's apartment to put the groceries up, and then to her husband's air conditioning business to give Eid gifts and money to the employees.  She spoke a little English, I spoke some Arabic, and we got along great.  By the time I got back to Sheikh Zayed, the phone shop was closed again for the third day in a row.  So at this point (Thursday), it has been 3 days with no phone, I had just gotten my lost luggage at 2 a.m. that morning and I had been stressed so I did feel some pressure about signing when I should have checked it out some more.

On Friday morning, buses came to take us to our various neighborhoods with all of our stuff.  I rode in a school bus by myself with two school workers, all of my bags, and Chris and Justine's bags because they were signing for an apartment in Maadi that morning.  I get to my apartment with my keys in hand and open the door to find dust on absolutely every possible surface in the apartment.

Now, at this time - I had no Egyptian phone, it was around Friday at noon (when EVERYTHING closes for the noon prayer), and I did not know where anything was in my neighborhood.  I found a Vodafone place around the corner from me so I walked around for an hour or so waiting for things to open back up.

As freaked out as I was at my tiny, dirty apartment, I really like the neighborhood I'm in.  It has a lot of trees, neat shops, and I can get anywhere in Maadi by taxi in about 5 minutes.  Justine and Chris came to my apartment to come get their stuff and I accompanied them to their place because I was a little freaked out at how alone I am at my new place.

I called my landlady with their phone and she promised to have someone come that afternoon to clean.  I finally ended up buying the cheapest Nokia phone available because my unlocked phone won't work right now.  I called my landlady when 4:20 rolled around and no one had shown up.  She said she can't track the cleaning lady down.  Normally, I could live one night with a dusty apartment, but because it is the Eid weekend, many people are on vacation and I am worried that my apartment will be crusted in dirt until Monday or Tuesday.

I went on a Felucca ride  with the other new teachers on the Nile.

It made me feel very relaxed after a stressful day!

The high school principal (Dr. Robert) and elementary school principal (Johnnie) are on the left.

Walther (School Director) and Chris

I'm back in a familiar place!

 Chris, Justine, and I ended up getting a taxi to my place where we bought groceries, and then they took a cab from there to their place.   At least I have food in the fridge - a fridge covered in dirt!

Update: The cleaning lady showed up last night and did a fantastic job - tour photos after I finish unpacking!

Cairo Craziness

My flight to Cairo started off well. I saw two American couples standing in the boarding line and one of the men was wearing an orange Denver Broncos shirt. We were told to wear orange to identify each other as AIS West teachers. I chatted with them for awhile before boarding.
The flight to Cairo started off fine - I ended up sitting by two teenage boys coming back from summer school in the States. I fell asleep for awhile, but then was woken up by a lot of voices and flight attendants running up and down the aisles. It turns out that an Egyptian man 3 rows behind me was deeply unconscious and they suspected him of either having very low blood sugar or a seizure. All of his vitals were fine, but he refused to open his eyes. Men around him were shaking him and he was pushing back at them, but he would not say anything and he was squeezing his eyes shut.
The captain ended up landing the plane in the Greek island of Rhodes where an ambulance was waiting.

Landing on the island of Rhodes

As soon as we landed the man "woke" up suddenly and said he was fine. He refused to get off the plane for a medical check up, so then the police were called in. In true Egyptian fashion, almost every man on the plane came up the aisle to talk to the guy, trying to convince him to get off the plane so he wouldn't get tazed and then bodily removed from the plane.

The Greek police coming to bodily remove the passenger.

The captain even threatened to disembark all the passengers and then have the police remove the guy. Eventually, the other Egyptians lied to him and told him he would have a 20 minute check up and that the plane would wait on him.

He was forced onto the ambulance.

As soon as he was in the ambulance, we took off without him. I hope he eventually gets to Cairo and that he was fine and really just wanted to sleep!
After getting to Cairo an hour and a half after we were supposed to, we went through immigration and then to baggage claim. My bags, of course, did not arrive. I stupidly removed all of the emergency clothes from my carry-on in order to put my heavy shoes and books in it. Everyone in the teachers group now knows my name because they had to wait 30 minutes for me to fill out paperwork on my missing luggage. I was the only one to lose my luggage!
Myself and another teacher went to the Mall of Arabia so I could buy some toiletries and a few clothing items. I ended up going to Spinney's, a grocery store to find an affordable shirt. I have my orange shirt now!
Everyone from AIS is so nice! They handed us envelopes with settling in money, contact sheets, a sim card, Internet plans, etc. we are staying at the Novotel in 6th of October for a few nights. I am apartment hunting today and tomorrow.
Hopefully my next post will be an apartment tour!

Location:Novotel

Little Rock to Frankfurt

As I always do before an important event, such as an impending exam, research paper due date, or international relocation, I waste my time doing activities no sensible person would do the night before.

After a lovely iftar at a family friend's home, my sisters and I decided to go see the Will Ferrel/ Zach Galifinakis movie The Campaign. My logic with seeing a late night movie when I wasn't done packing was that I wouldn't get to see it in Cairo as they only get massive blockbusters such one of the Batman movies or a Pixar film. We returned home at about 11:45. My sisters went to bed while I stayed up sewing the Picture Book Cover Garland to decorate my KG classroom in Cairo.

Once I was finished with that, I pottered about until about 2 a.m. My dad woke me up around 5 a.m. to say goodbye before going to work. I gave him a half-conscious hug and kiss and went back to sleep until 7 a.m. when I shot up in a panic and proceeded to rip open all of my vacuum sealed clothing bags and removed another 5 lbs. of clothing, telling myself that I could get stuff in Cairo.

I weighed and reweighed my checked bags and panicked when I saw the needle on my travel scale waver between 49 lbs. and 51 lbs. My biggest worry before I left was that they would not accept my massive 35 lb. backpack as my "small" personal item.

After a tearful goodbye with my cousin Tiba and her adorable twins Mohamed and Miray, Hanna and I drove to work so I could say a quick goodbye to all my former coworkers (and also so I could print my itinerary.).

Once at the airport, we made it over to the makeshift United Airlines desk that was unceremoniously draped in black plastic sheeting and surrounded by exposed concrete walls. The family ( a muhajiba and her two kids) in front of me was having issues getting all the weight down on their luggage, so the agent ended up coming around and hand-weighed my luggage, claiming it felt like 50 lbs. I was very excited to not have to shift things around!

Hanna and I said goodbye and tears were almost shed.

Once at my gate, I set up my "office" while waiting for my delayed plane to board. The family that was in front of me were also at my gate and I ended up recognizing the woman as a T.A. that I had for a few classes during my first semester of Arabic in Fayetteville. Manal and her kids were moving to West Virginia so she could teach Arabic at a university there. I ended up hanging out with them in Houston and helping them move their many, many, MANY bags to their gate in Houston. Her kids were very sweet, but I could definitely see how hard it is to travel with kids! I have a newfound respect for my mom who traveled alone to England for her nephew's wedding with a 7-year-old, 5-year-old (me!), 3-year-old and newborn. I would like to have a video of that.

I boarded my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt just in time and was pleasantly surprised to have a whole row to myself so I was able to stretch out and take several naps.

I was about 2 hours from landing in Frankfurt when I realized several things:

1. I'm possibly allergic to recycled air.
2. German seems like an easy language to pick up.
3. Oh my God! I'm actually moving to Egypt!

This will be the first time in my life I will be living more than a 3-hour drive from my family for an extended period of time. When my mom suddenly passed away in a routine surgery during my freshman year, I was so grateful to be able to be with my family quickly. The first time I studied abroad, my dad had to have emergency bypass surgery for a clogged artery. I freaked out because if anything happened to him during the surgery, it would take me 20 hours to get there. It's hard to feel so helpless in a situation like that.

When I land in Frankfurt, I will be meeting up at a McDonalds with around 20 other teachers that will be at AIS West. I am excited but I can already predict how awkward my first encounter will be... "Hey Y'all! Moving half-way around the world too?".

The one thought that is keeping me sane and calm about the whole move is that I've already lived in Cairo twice and have fully accepted the craziness of Cairo. The smells, the sights, the sounds, the traffic - it is like a direct assault on all of your senses.

Sorry this post is so long. I haven't been able to sleep well and the movie selection is terrible so I just keep adding to this. Next post, I will be in Cairo!!

Update: arrived in Cairo alive and well but had a very eventful trip getting here! New post tomorrow detailing the craziness!

Leaving on a jet plane...tomorrow!

When I woke this morning, it was with a queasy stomach and reeling thoughts.  "I am leaving for Cairo in 24 hours!"  I thought to myself - a city that I consider my "other" home, a city I haven't been to in 4 years, a city that has experienced so much change, both good and bad, in the past 19 months.  

When I tell people I am moving to Cairo to teach for 2 years, they inevitably ask the same questions, so I thought I would start off my first post on this blog (I can't believe I started a blog!)  answering some of these questions:

Will you be safe in Egypt? 
I've lived in Egypt twice before (for two consecutive summers while studying abroad in college) and not once during those times did I feel unsafe.  But that was when Hosni Mubarak was in power and there were police/military figures standing on each street corner.

 I was younger then (stupider then) and more likely to go off "adventuring" in areas of Cairo I probably shouldn't have been.  But those adventures were always with at least one other person or a group of people.  This time, I will be going to Cairo on my own and because of this, I will definitely be more "street smart."
  
- I will be living in the "burbs" of Cairo.

My apartment (when I find it) will be close to the school I am teaching at which is in an affluent area of Cairo called Sheikh Zayed City.  It is a 30-40 minute drive from Tahrir Square, where the revolution took place.  It is an area that was being newly developed when I was in Cairo 4 years ago. 
 

- I will not talk politics with Cairenes.

Four years ago, I would rattle off my opinions to taxi drivers at the slightest provocation.  We generally agreed on American politics, except for the time that I told the driver my dad was from Iraq and he said "Oh Saddam good!  Thumbs up!"  

This revolution is an Egyptian revolution and as an American, I am a guest in their country.  I will try to avoid offending anyone, even if I do not agree with their sentiments.

- I will travel with others when visiting other parts of the city.

Four years ago, I wouldn't bat an eyelash at gallivanting around the city, but now that I am older and wiser, I will be smarter about outings.  Cairo is the largest city in Africa and the Arab world with a population of 17 million people.  It is a city with a low-crime rate in relation to its population, but like any large city, there are areas and elements of the city that need to be avoided.

Where/What are you teaching?

I have a two-year contract teaching at the American International School West Campus.

http://www.aisegypt.com/page.cfm?p=444

I will be teaching Kindergarten II (which is the same as kindergarten in the states.)  The majority of my class will be Egyptians and I will be teaching every subject but Arabic.

Will you travel while you are there? 
Yes! Yes! Yes!  This is one reason I wanted to accept this job.  Because Egypt is right smack in the "middle" of the world (from the West's perspective), I am hoping to travel to Turkey, Morocco, Jerusalem, and parts of Europe, among other places. 

How will you keep in contact?

 I will have Skype (username: bethibrahim), Magic Jack ( I will share the U.S. number later), Viber (if you have the app, you can call my cell for free when I have a wifi connection), an Egyptian cellphone, Facebook, and hopefully I will maintain this blog.  So I think I'm going to be ok on the communication front!
  
Can I mail you stuff?

Nope!  Unless you ship it through FedEx or DHL (which is really expensive),  the mailing system in Egypt is pretty unreliable.  I've been told that customs will hold your packages/letters ransom unless you come in person and pay baksheesh or a bribe to get it back. These bribes can be much higher than the worth of the actual package.

When will you visit home?

Because I am teaching at an American school, I get the same breaks as I would back in America, in addition to Muslim, Christian, and Egyptian holidays.  Many of these breaks are too short for it to be worth a trip back home.  I get a 2 week winter break, so my coming back depends on whether my family comes to visit me or if I have a really bad case of homesickness.  During Spring Break, I hope to travel.  I will get a 2-month summer break when the school pays for me to fly back home towards the end of June.

Can I come visit you?

Yes please!! I will have a 2-3 bedroom apartment by myself, so you would have a place to stay if you came.  I will gladly take you on a tour of Cairo!  Just let me know!  

Hanna and I visiting the pyramids in 2008.

I have to finish packing now!!