Downtown, Where All the Lights are Bright

Today 3 of my teaching colleagues and I took the metro into downtown Cairo. The metro here is HOT (like Cairo itsself) and crowded, but costs only 1 Egyptian pound - which is less than 20 cents in American dollars. There is a women's only car which is far less crowded than the mixed gender cars, so Ciara, Sarah and I rode in the women's only car and Steve took the mixed car.

Getting on and off the metro was the only true challenge. People simply push through each other just like back home to get on and off, but the doors shut so quickly that my skirt got caught the first time! Fortunately, we learned from the experience and adopted a first-on/first-off policy whenever we could!

Downtown was more crowded and far busier than our little suburb of Maadi! Crossing in traffic was a true challenge...you wait for a slight break and just walk into the traffic and keep a steady, brisk pace as you cross. Cars will not stop for you, but they may slow down or swerve around you. It is the ONLY WAY to cross (unless you are at a major intersection where a traffic cop is stopping traffic), you need to be very alert!

Walking out of the metro, the first landmark we found after the Egyptian Museum was...wait for it...KFC. That's right, we turned left out of the metro and the first thing we saw was Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ah, the Americana!

Then, like a depression era film where a roustabout might convince a wide-eyed tourist to give away all his money, so too were we taken in. A man stopped us and asked us if we needed help. He DID offer some helpful suggestions about crossing the road and the lights, but then insisted we should go to the "Government Shop". On and on he went so we followed him. In the "Government Shop" (read: TOURIST SHOP) we were were shown how papyrus is made, persuaded to smell several types of oils, offered complimentary tea and soft drinks, and given a hard sell. The glass perfume bottles shaped like camels, hookahs, and elephants were very spindly and pretty; but expensive and surely would break before I got them home.

After what seemed like an age we wandered out into the heat and walked around. Shoe stores were everywhere, as were tons of stalls selling knock-offs of Prada and such (again like New York), and finally, after a quick lunch, we headed back to Maadi exhausted.

Tomorrow we begin our training for school and it is also the beginning of Ramadan, which will bring its own new challenges and posts.

Boats and Horses

The last two nights we have had sunset events arranged for us by the school. On Thursday night we rode in a felucca and last night we took a horseback ride at the pyramids at Giza. These were both lovely activities to "get-to-know" our fellow teachers and have a bit of fun.

I have a few notes on both events:

1. Before one can go on a felucca ride, one must be in the correct boat!
2. Feluccas are only wind-powered, they have NO MOTORS, so a windless night is a poor one for a felucca ride.
3. The Nile, at sunset, is unforgettable.


4. Horses are BIG, SMART animals
5. Horses are BIG, SMART animals that run very fast if you let them
6. "Yee Haw" is not something you want to hear your guide say!
7. The desert, at sunset, is equally as unforgettable as the Nile.

Another Unique Apartment Experience

My bawab, Sayid, came to fix a few things in my apartment 2 nights ago. The biggest thing was to rewire a light switch to take a halogen light off a dimmer and put it on a switch.

Sayid rewired the switch using a KNIFE AND FORK and WITHOUT TURNING OFF THE BREAKER! Apparently this is the common laissez-faire attitude towards electricity in Africa. I kept offering to turn off the breaker but Sayid would just laugh and say "no no no." After a few pops & sparks the switch was re-wired and working correctly...but I don't advise trying this at home! Especially since I think we are on a lower-voltage current here!

Moving In

There are so many things to write about from my first 5 days in Cairo (the driving, the sights, the tummy problems!) but I think I'll start with the very Egyptian welcome I had at my apartment.

On my third day here, the school provided a van and a veteran teacher to myself and five other teachers who would be living in Maadi to take us to our new apartments. Finding each apartment was an adventure! The roads in my neighborhood are very narrow, winding, and crowded with parked cars...and despite being numbered they don't always proceed in numerical order! The house numbers can also be confusing as number 53 might be next to number 32 which is next to number 12A. Mine was the third apartment and took the longest to find as we didn't understand why the apartment number was hyphenated; turns out my building is BEHIND another building down a small dead-end street but is numbered as if it is on the main road. Confusing? No, no, no - just Cairo!

Once we finally found my building, the driver and some other staff helped me lug my bags up 4 flights of stairs only to find out that there were TWO staircases and we went up the wrong one! I felt really terrible for the driver, who was carrying my 50 lb suitcase on his back (he simply refused to drag it up the stairs and use the wheels despite my protestations). When we finally arrived at the apartment I was looking forward to sitting quietly for a few minutes and letting the sweat roll off in some peace and quiet after the hectic morning but that peace was not to be found - the landlord, her husband and son were all waiting for me in the apartment!

The landlord spoke only a few words of English (and my Arabic is deplorable for someone meant to be living here) but had brought me lunch (I'll expand on Egyptian Fast Food at another time) and showed me how the washing machine, lights, and air conditioners worked. Unfortunately, her overzealous turning on and off of the air conditioner blew a circuit!

Shortly after the short, two more men walked into the apartment; my real estate agent Tasso and his friend who was an engineer. The engineer quickly got to work repairing the air conditioner. Without turning off the circuit breaker, he took apart the switch to the air conditioner with a pair of metal pliers just feet from where I sat in my new living room with my company. Each spark and pop made me jump with alarm while everyone else sat calmly chatting about Maadi and the apartment. Finally, much to my relief, the engineer turned off the breaker before replacing the copper wire that had shorted out.

I walked around asking questions and trying everything out to make sure it worked. It was now after 2pm and in my exhaustion everything looked fine. I missed a few little, typical "new apartment" problems, but they are all being fixed tonight by my bawab (doorman/handyman), Sayid.

Finally, just before everyone left the landlord pointed to the kitchen window and said "NO OPEN!" and her husband came up behind her "Yes, you no want open, you get..." and he made a little motion with his hands in front of his mouth and made a little noise. "Critters?" I asked "Bugs?"

"No!" The landlord replied, and then, with all the drama of a mystic from a black and white horror movie she stood perfectly still, her eyes got wide and she said in the most ominous tone, "MICE!"

Just 10 Days!

Oh just ten days! I know I need to finish packing, hand the kitty off to her new family, and move out...but it still doesn't seem quite REAL!

Also, Miss Crutch has been just AWFUL about doing her homework! I've only made it to lesson 4 of my Arabic CD's (lesson 4 is on how to ask directions to the Train Station and how to direct the cab driver...guess I'll be doing a lot of walking!)

Next week I'll be stopping by DMJ one last time to help Miss Scheff set-up for my old students this fall. I'm sure I'll see the JROTC gang (Jameria, Dominic, Amber, Frank...that would be you!) as they are always at school the week teachers go back to help them carry boxes and practice their drills.

And then, I guess, it's off to Cairo!