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Thursday, August 30, 2012
A very succinct pictorial review of Egypt so far
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Cairo - The first 3 weeks
So, we've been here for 3 weeks now and it's been a crazy adventure so far. The school where I'm working, Global Paradigm, was very kind and set us up with an AMAZING Egyptologist/tour guide for 3 days. We checked out the pyramids at Giza, the Cairo Museum, several mosques, including the Muhammad Ali Mosque, the Coptic Christian churches, one synagogue, and even went and checked out the market.
It's hard to know where I should start, but I guess the first thing everyone always wants to do in Cairo is see the pyramids. Wow. That about covers it, I'd say. The thought that kept coming to me, and metaphorically slamming me down, was that I am one of the few people in my family for generations and generations, going back further than we even can track, that has seen and touched the pyramids. The pyramids that were here when Jesus walked the Earth. Every world leader I've ever learned about in school has either visited or heard about this site. It's a humbling experience.
Afterwards, all of us teachers took a short ride on camels. I think the only surprise was how gentle and calm the camels were and also HOW TALL! I'm so scared of heights, like scared to climb a small ladder type of phobia, and it was a little freaky when the camel stood up and sat down. But other than that, it was a very smooth and calming experience! I'd like to do this again for a longer trek through the desert.
We also toured the Cairo Museum or Egyptian Museum as it's called. Again, Wow. The tour guide was absolutely amazing; I don't know what we would have done without him. He took us on a 3 hour tour of the museum and was able to hit all the "good" exhibits in the museum and explain them in detail. I was very impressed with his knowledge. I was also in continual amazement that I was looking at artifacts IN PERSON that I have seen on documentaries! The King Tut exhibit was awe inspiring, as well as the mummy room. I was shocked at how much STUFF was packed into this place. You could go there every day for a month and still not see everything. Who knows how much other stuff in hidden around there, waiting to be put out on display. I'm pretty sure I cried a bit when I was in the jewelry room of King Tut. It was extremely hot in the museum, too, though. No air conditioners except for a few rooms. Very stifling. That was a surprise for me.
The mosques and churches were amazing structures with interesting backgrounds, but I'll admit I wasn't as excited about this part of the tour. Maybe if I was into architecture or was Muslim, I would be very fascinated. I think we all enjoyed the market, however, even if some of us got ripped off! That was the day I learned that having blonde hair in Egypt is anything but positive. I had to haggle 2 times longer than anyone else, just to get to the starting price for the others. But I am glad we got to do this, if just to learn that the market is a rip off!!!!
The taxis and their honking. It's an art form around here. It's used for several reasons: to honk at the blonde American walking in the street so as to avoid the Mad Max type sidewalks that offer zero protection and are usually crumbly and trash-filled, they honk at you just to say, "Hey, there, mate, I have this car that you call a taxi. I can take you anywhere you want." "Are you sure you don't need a taxi?" "Come on, American, get a taxi." In other words, I'm always getting honked at for one reason or another. I can tell the honk of a taxi before I even see it, because the taxis will honk numerous times and slow down and stare as they near you. They honk at each other, too, though. I totally get it now after just a few weeks. There are no street lights, stop signs, or even lane lines in most places, so you have to honk to let the other drivers know you're there and to let them know you really don't want to lose your side mirror, to let everyone know you're driving up to an intersection, just for the heck of it while crossing four lanes of traffic in a diagonal direction, or while driving up on the sidewalk to park your car. There are literally no rules on the road in Cairo!
Thank God for the Ace Club. It is one of several expat clubs around the Maadi area of Cairo. It's funny how people will tell you one or the other is the better place to hang out. For me, it doesn't matter if there are shady Sudanese women with their OLD oil and gas Western "husbands" or if the entertainment is better somewhere else. To me, just being around people that speak English well and don't stare at me constantly is a little slice of heaven. The food is what I'm used to, the drinks are reasonably priced, they have karaoke nights and dance nights and plenty of TVs playing English speaking shows all around. It's just nice. And I love all the accents! British, Australian, Welsh, Scottish...as a Texan, I love them all! I love Cairo, don't get me wrong, but you'd have to be thrown into this chaos to understand how nice it is to sit in quiet peace for a few minutes with the smell of barbecue or pizza in the background and 80s MTV videos playing, around people who don't care if you take off your cardigan and are wearing a tank top underneath!
There are many day-to-day issues of living in Cairo that I've been trying to get used to. The wild cats and dogs are everywhere!! This is the first place I've ever been where the cats will beg for food. It's very odd. And where you see packs of dogs and, for the most part, you are safe because the dogs around here are not treated well and you know they won't bother you because they're scared of you (it's sad, but true). The call to prayer 5 times a day will probably eventually get on my nerves or maybe I will just start not hearing it at all, but I still love hearing it when it comes blaring through the very loud speaker systems throughout the city. It's very haunting and beautiful and completely exotic to me.
Hardly anyone has dryers around here. It would be ridiculous in this dry heat to sit around waiting for a dryer to dry your clothes. And wasting all that electricity, too! (The Egyptians are very aware of saving $ by not turning on lights, A/Cs, etc. I dig it). The first time I realized I had to hang out sheets from my 4th story balcony was truly horrifying, but I've gotten used to it. I also inherited a clothes drying rack, which I put out on the balcony and use for all the clothes. Everything dries here very quickly! Coming from the heat and steam of Texas, it's very refreshing. But the first time I put out my clothes to dry, I realized I would have to get used to everything always being just slightly dirty around here. The dust is insane. And we aren't even in the dust storm season yet.
Which is why I've also hired a maid. A maid. I mean, really? I'm not one to be able to afford a maid. Or even agree with the concept. But, I've made the plunge and I am very happy about it! I just can't keep up with the dust. One thing you notice in every business building you go into in Cairo is that there are workers that sweep all day long. All day long. It's truly remarkable how dusty it is. But, back to the maid...she had great references and I'm helping support her family while her family is here (her husband is earning his degree). So...it's a good cause, it's cheap, and I get some help staying on top of the cleaning!!
Overall, it seems that as a teacher in Cairo, I have the option of living a very comfortable life, which is something very new to me. Everything is very affordable here. For instance, my maid costs 100 LE a week, which includes a tip. You always divide the Egyptian pounds by 6 to figure out how many American dollars that converts to. So, to have a good maid come and clean for 3 hours costs me about $17 a week. An "expensive" shellac (nail service) costs me 100 LE (again, about $17). I had a pedicure the other day that was 40, which is less than $7 American. The list can go on and on...The only thing that is generally more expensive is clothing. At least compared to the deals I am used to finding in the states. But even then, most pants or shirts will not be more than 120 LE. And the styles are not Western in the least bit, so if I buy anything for myself or Chloe, it's going to be an American or European store, which is going to cost a bit more. For instance, I've been looking for all cotton shirts and I found a couple of cute t-shirts at the Converse store the other day. They were on sale for 150, which is $25 American. Not bad, but that's also on sale. The shoes were crazy expensive. The regular canvas Converse styles were going for 400 and up. The Nike shoes were way up there in the 500+ range.
Two weekends ago, Chloe and I and two other new GP teachers took the train to Alexandria to soak up the sun at the beach. I've never seen the Mediterranean Sea and I had been missing wearing a bikini, so I was very excited. The train trip itself was a challenge, as everything seems to be here until you know the procedures. We hired a driver through the company that the school recommends, who took us to the train station in the downtown area. When we got there, the driver was kind enough to take us to the ticket windows to purchase our tickets. Unfortunately, the next bus (at 9 a.m.) was completely full and we couldn't purchase tickets. However, it's Egypt, so no fear. We were told to get on the train and then pay the ticket collector once we were on the way. Kind of like a standby ticket. Before we boarded, we met a very nice Scottish tour guide and an Egyptian boy (I guessed him to be about 20 years old), who helped us find seats and then checked with us throughout the trip (Egyptians are VERY helpful in general!). We ended up being 2 seats short, so we alternated who sat and who stood during the 2 1/2 hour train trip. We went ahead and bought our first class tickets for the return trip at the ticket window so we could avoid all of that again! The tickets were 50 LE per person (less than $10 American). Not bad! Alexandria itself was not what I expected in a beach town. Turns out, Alex is the Egyptian beach destination, so we were literally the only Westerners out and about for miles. Not a super big deal for me, except for the fact that I was really looking forward to some sunbathing! The Muslim women were all swimming in either all-body suits (kind of like wetsuits with skirts) or in their normal clothes. Ugh! So, we went with the flow and had our Mediterranean beach weekend fully clothed. Very odd. The city was also less friendly than Cairo to me and not as clean as I would expect a resort type town to be. There was soooo much trash in the sea!! Very shocking. I was cleaning out the trash myself that second morning, until I noticed a hotel employee going around with a net picking out the trash. We stayed at the Sheraton, so we had access to the hotel's private beach, which was much better than hanging out at the very packed and very Egyptian local beach!! The trash seemed to be coming mostly from that public beach from what I could tell.
The next day, Chloe and I spent the day at Le Meridien hotel with a few of the other teachers. Now, THAT was a good day!! We were able to spend the day sunbathing in our Western bathing suits at a very posh hotel literally NEXT DOOR to the Giza pyramids. Talk about an awesome view!!
It's hard to know where I should start, but I guess the first thing everyone always wants to do in Cairo is see the pyramids. Wow. That about covers it, I'd say. The thought that kept coming to me, and metaphorically slamming me down, was that I am one of the few people in my family for generations and generations, going back further than we even can track, that has seen and touched the pyramids. The pyramids that were here when Jesus walked the Earth. Every world leader I've ever learned about in school has either visited or heard about this site. It's a humbling experience.
Afterwards, all of us teachers took a short ride on camels. I think the only surprise was how gentle and calm the camels were and also HOW TALL! I'm so scared of heights, like scared to climb a small ladder type of phobia, and it was a little freaky when the camel stood up and sat down. But other than that, it was a very smooth and calming experience! I'd like to do this again for a longer trek through the desert.
We also toured the Cairo Museum or Egyptian Museum as it's called. Again, Wow. The tour guide was absolutely amazing; I don't know what we would have done without him. He took us on a 3 hour tour of the museum and was able to hit all the "good" exhibits in the museum and explain them in detail. I was very impressed with his knowledge. I was also in continual amazement that I was looking at artifacts IN PERSON that I have seen on documentaries! The King Tut exhibit was awe inspiring, as well as the mummy room. I was shocked at how much STUFF was packed into this place. You could go there every day for a month and still not see everything. Who knows how much other stuff in hidden around there, waiting to be put out on display. I'm pretty sure I cried a bit when I was in the jewelry room of King Tut. It was extremely hot in the museum, too, though. No air conditioners except for a few rooms. Very stifling. That was a surprise for me.
The mosques and churches were amazing structures with interesting backgrounds, but I'll admit I wasn't as excited about this part of the tour. Maybe if I was into architecture or was Muslim, I would be very fascinated. I think we all enjoyed the market, however, even if some of us got ripped off! That was the day I learned that having blonde hair in Egypt is anything but positive. I had to haggle 2 times longer than anyone else, just to get to the starting price for the others. But I am glad we got to do this, if just to learn that the market is a rip off!!!!
The taxis and their honking. It's an art form around here. It's used for several reasons: to honk at the blonde American walking in the street so as to avoid the Mad Max type sidewalks that offer zero protection and are usually crumbly and trash-filled, they honk at you just to say, "Hey, there, mate, I have this car that you call a taxi. I can take you anywhere you want." "Are you sure you don't need a taxi?" "Come on, American, get a taxi." In other words, I'm always getting honked at for one reason or another. I can tell the honk of a taxi before I even see it, because the taxis will honk numerous times and slow down and stare as they near you. They honk at each other, too, though. I totally get it now after just a few weeks. There are no street lights, stop signs, or even lane lines in most places, so you have to honk to let the other drivers know you're there and to let them know you really don't want to lose your side mirror, to let everyone know you're driving up to an intersection, just for the heck of it while crossing four lanes of traffic in a diagonal direction, or while driving up on the sidewalk to park your car. There are literally no rules on the road in Cairo!
Thank God for the Ace Club. It is one of several expat clubs around the Maadi area of Cairo. It's funny how people will tell you one or the other is the better place to hang out. For me, it doesn't matter if there are shady Sudanese women with their OLD oil and gas Western "husbands" or if the entertainment is better somewhere else. To me, just being around people that speak English well and don't stare at me constantly is a little slice of heaven. The food is what I'm used to, the drinks are reasonably priced, they have karaoke nights and dance nights and plenty of TVs playing English speaking shows all around. It's just nice. And I love all the accents! British, Australian, Welsh, Scottish...as a Texan, I love them all! I love Cairo, don't get me wrong, but you'd have to be thrown into this chaos to understand how nice it is to sit in quiet peace for a few minutes with the smell of barbecue or pizza in the background and 80s MTV videos playing, around people who don't care if you take off your cardigan and are wearing a tank top underneath!
There are many day-to-day issues of living in Cairo that I've been trying to get used to. The wild cats and dogs are everywhere!! This is the first place I've ever been where the cats will beg for food. It's very odd. And where you see packs of dogs and, for the most part, you are safe because the dogs around here are not treated well and you know they won't bother you because they're scared of you (it's sad, but true). The call to prayer 5 times a day will probably eventually get on my nerves or maybe I will just start not hearing it at all, but I still love hearing it when it comes blaring through the very loud speaker systems throughout the city. It's very haunting and beautiful and completely exotic to me.
Hardly anyone has dryers around here. It would be ridiculous in this dry heat to sit around waiting for a dryer to dry your clothes. And wasting all that electricity, too! (The Egyptians are very aware of saving $ by not turning on lights, A/Cs, etc. I dig it). The first time I realized I had to hang out sheets from my 4th story balcony was truly horrifying, but I've gotten used to it. I also inherited a clothes drying rack, which I put out on the balcony and use for all the clothes. Everything dries here very quickly! Coming from the heat and steam of Texas, it's very refreshing. But the first time I put out my clothes to dry, I realized I would have to get used to everything always being just slightly dirty around here. The dust is insane. And we aren't even in the dust storm season yet.
Which is why I've also hired a maid. A maid. I mean, really? I'm not one to be able to afford a maid. Or even agree with the concept. But, I've made the plunge and I am very happy about it! I just can't keep up with the dust. One thing you notice in every business building you go into in Cairo is that there are workers that sweep all day long. All day long. It's truly remarkable how dusty it is. But, back to the maid...she had great references and I'm helping support her family while her family is here (her husband is earning his degree). So...it's a good cause, it's cheap, and I get some help staying on top of the cleaning!!
Overall, it seems that as a teacher in Cairo, I have the option of living a very comfortable life, which is something very new to me. Everything is very affordable here. For instance, my maid costs 100 LE a week, which includes a tip. You always divide the Egyptian pounds by 6 to figure out how many American dollars that converts to. So, to have a good maid come and clean for 3 hours costs me about $17 a week. An "expensive" shellac (nail service) costs me 100 LE (again, about $17). I had a pedicure the other day that was 40, which is less than $7 American. The list can go on and on...The only thing that is generally more expensive is clothing. At least compared to the deals I am used to finding in the states. But even then, most pants or shirts will not be more than 120 LE. And the styles are not Western in the least bit, so if I buy anything for myself or Chloe, it's going to be an American or European store, which is going to cost a bit more. For instance, I've been looking for all cotton shirts and I found a couple of cute t-shirts at the Converse store the other day. They were on sale for 150, which is $25 American. Not bad, but that's also on sale. The shoes were crazy expensive. The regular canvas Converse styles were going for 400 and up. The Nike shoes were way up there in the 500+ range.
Two weekends ago, Chloe and I and two other new GP teachers took the train to Alexandria to soak up the sun at the beach. I've never seen the Mediterranean Sea and I had been missing wearing a bikini, so I was very excited. The train trip itself was a challenge, as everything seems to be here until you know the procedures. We hired a driver through the company that the school recommends, who took us to the train station in the downtown area. When we got there, the driver was kind enough to take us to the ticket windows to purchase our tickets. Unfortunately, the next bus (at 9 a.m.) was completely full and we couldn't purchase tickets. However, it's Egypt, so no fear. We were told to get on the train and then pay the ticket collector once we were on the way. Kind of like a standby ticket. Before we boarded, we met a very nice Scottish tour guide and an Egyptian boy (I guessed him to be about 20 years old), who helped us find seats and then checked with us throughout the trip (Egyptians are VERY helpful in general!). We ended up being 2 seats short, so we alternated who sat and who stood during the 2 1/2 hour train trip. We went ahead and bought our first class tickets for the return trip at the ticket window so we could avoid all of that again! The tickets were 50 LE per person (less than $10 American). Not bad! Alexandria itself was not what I expected in a beach town. Turns out, Alex is the Egyptian beach destination, so we were literally the only Westerners out and about for miles. Not a super big deal for me, except for the fact that I was really looking forward to some sunbathing! The Muslim women were all swimming in either all-body suits (kind of like wetsuits with skirts) or in their normal clothes. Ugh! So, we went with the flow and had our Mediterranean beach weekend fully clothed. Very odd. The city was also less friendly than Cairo to me and not as clean as I would expect a resort type town to be. There was soooo much trash in the sea!! Very shocking. I was cleaning out the trash myself that second morning, until I noticed a hotel employee going around with a net picking out the trash. We stayed at the Sheraton, so we had access to the hotel's private beach, which was much better than hanging out at the very packed and very Egyptian local beach!! The trash seemed to be coming mostly from that public beach from what I could tell.
The next day, Chloe and I spent the day at Le Meridien hotel with a few of the other teachers. Now, THAT was a good day!! We were able to spend the day sunbathing in our Western bathing suits at a very posh hotel literally NEXT DOOR to the Giza pyramids. Talk about an awesome view!!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Now I know how immigrants feel!!
Chloe and I made it to Cairo and it is more than I could have ever expected!! We're experiencing culture shock, of course, but are having a great time. The first night was surreal. The lights went off at about 8 as I was in the middle of cleaning and I realized why there was a huge flashlight left in my flat! Then, laying in bed, I heard the call to prayer and that somehow calmed me down enought to fall asleep. But it was a very clear reminder that I'm not in Kansas anymore! I had my first experience hanging clothes out of our 4th story balcony and almost got killed several times crossing the street earlier in the day. I also had a very scary moment after the lights went out when I questioned the entire move. Just as I'd found the flashlight, I hear banging on my front door and a man is yelling at me in Arabic. Talk about feeling unsafe! I immediately called Dalia, one of the school secretaries/superwoman, who told me it was my boab (handyman/doorman/security guard) trying to make sure we were okay! Instant relief. I still didn't open the door, though!
All the new teachers/expats at Global Paradigm, my new school, explored a store called Carrefour last night at a mall in the center of town. It was insane!! I was a walking anxiety attack. There were just so many packed in such a huge supermarket. I heard it is 26,000 sq. feet. But we have all the little things we need around the flat like hangers, hamper, towels, clothespins, etc. And I have Internet at our flat now! After finishing up in Carrefour (I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly), I went over to the Vodafone store and got a USB modem. I love it. I can take it everywhere with me and it was so cheap. EVERYTHING is so cheap. Since I'm the cheapest person in the universe, I am loving it!! Then after we finished, a few of us teachers went out and about trying to find food. It was after 2 a.m. at this point! Ramadan hours are different than normal. We went to a swarmi (sp?) street vendor and it was amazing! Chloe and I had the Moroccan sauce combo. For both of us it was 38 LE, which is less than $7! The sauce was very good, with a lot of curry, Then the guy behind the counter came around and gave us this waffle like dessert that was VERY good. I immediately got nervous because they told us to avoid the street vendors at first, but it looked more substantial than the vendors you see in the city wtih the rolling carts, so I settled down. Until my stomach started cramping as I was trying to get to sleep. I was so scared I was starting to get what they call Pharoah's Revenge, but my iron stomach must have fought it off because when I woke up, it was all good. One of the other teachers, Miranda, was not so lucky. Last I heard from her, she was going to the hospital with suspected food poisoning. Gulp. Scary! After we finished eating, we found ourselves in need of a taxi and none were to be found!! There were random dogs packs running around and barking everywhere and the late night and attention we were getting combined to form a very spooky event. Eventually we found a taxi that knew where to go and we made it home! Today Chloe and I ventured out by ourselves and got a taxi to take us to Road 9 to reload by cell phone and check out the Metro Market. I found some more clothes hangers and an adapter for my straightener and curler (the one I found last night at Carrefour only works on the 3 pronged plugs).
So, that's life for now. There are cats everywhere! And they beg for food!! There was also a dead cat in the middle of the sidewalk the other day that was very odd. Oh, and we visited and then joined the Ace Club, an expat club that I will be visiting often!!!
All the new teachers/expats at Global Paradigm, my new school, explored a store called Carrefour last night at a mall in the center of town. It was insane!! I was a walking anxiety attack. There were just so many packed in such a huge supermarket. I heard it is 26,000 sq. feet. But we have all the little things we need around the flat like hangers, hamper, towels, clothespins, etc. And I have Internet at our flat now! After finishing up in Carrefour (I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly), I went over to the Vodafone store and got a USB modem. I love it. I can take it everywhere with me and it was so cheap. EVERYTHING is so cheap. Since I'm the cheapest person in the universe, I am loving it!! Then after we finished, a few of us teachers went out and about trying to find food. It was after 2 a.m. at this point! Ramadan hours are different than normal. We went to a swarmi (sp?) street vendor and it was amazing! Chloe and I had the Moroccan sauce combo. For both of us it was 38 LE, which is less than $7! The sauce was very good, with a lot of curry, Then the guy behind the counter came around and gave us this waffle like dessert that was VERY good. I immediately got nervous because they told us to avoid the street vendors at first, but it looked more substantial than the vendors you see in the city wtih the rolling carts, so I settled down. Until my stomach started cramping as I was trying to get to sleep. I was so scared I was starting to get what they call Pharoah's Revenge, but my iron stomach must have fought it off because when I woke up, it was all good. One of the other teachers, Miranda, was not so lucky. Last I heard from her, she was going to the hospital with suspected food poisoning. Gulp. Scary! After we finished eating, we found ourselves in need of a taxi and none were to be found!! There were random dogs packs running around and barking everywhere and the late night and attention we were getting combined to form a very spooky event. Eventually we found a taxi that knew where to go and we made it home! Today Chloe and I ventured out by ourselves and got a taxi to take us to Road 9 to reload by cell phone and check out the Metro Market. I found some more clothes hangers and an adapter for my straightener and curler (the one I found last night at Carrefour only works on the 3 pronged plugs).
So, that's life for now. There are cats everywhere! And they beg for food!! There was also a dead cat in the middle of the sidewalk the other day that was very odd. Oh, and we visited and then joined the Ace Club, an expat club that I will be visiting often!!!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Two more days!!
I'm feeling very anxious now as the days slip by until we leave!! I'm not even stressing about all the horrible food I'm eating because I know it'll be the last time for a year that I have American food. I just want to get on the plane and not worry about luggage sizes and weights and layovers and turbulence....
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