The Adventure Begins

"Welcome to Egypt.  Make sure you go to the duty free shop before we leave the airport."  This was our greeting from our new principal holding up a Canadian International School of Egypt sign in Cairo's airport.  After picking up the "necessities" from the duty free shop, we got in a bus for a ride to our "nice" hotel, and enjoyed a good night's sleep in separate single beds... well-deserved after nearly 20 hours in transit.  It's hard to believe that was almost exactly two weeks ago.  It has been somewhat of a whirlwind since then, combining being tourists, new residents, and high school teachers.  We hope to blog weekly so that you don't have another two weeks to miss us!

Our first few days were like a convincing infomercial for living in Egypt.  We went on a felucca ride down the Nile at sunset, with the rest of the new teachers.  Here it is before our rowdy bunch got in.

 
Two days later we saw the pyramids "in case they disappear this week" said our school director.  I was in complete awe.  They are overwhelmingly large, and tucked within bustling streets.  I am amazed at the fact that these massive structures were built from sheer manpower. 

 
We also went to a mall that could easily be mistaken for a mall in Ottawa.  Wow!  Egypt seemed both beautiful and comfortable.  That perception hasn't changed entirely, but our days as tourists have quickly become days of being new residents, a slightly less magical and more practical role. 

We moved into our apartment in Maadi (a suburb of Cairo), and started working (only administrative duties and prep) less than a week after our arrival.  Despite several challenges including a leaking fridge, a washing machine that wouldn't drain, and ants in our honey, we've kept our heads up.... okay, often down searching for any more ants... but our spirits are up.  Our landlord has been fairly efficient, and all of those problems have been fixed.

It is currently Ramadan in Egypt, a holy month of fasting and increased prayer for Muslims.  For us this has meant that most stores and restaurants are closed in several hour chunks each day, so it's been somewhat of an inconvenience.  While complaining about it one day, it occurred to me that the Muslim people are actually fasting all day in this tremendous heat... they do not consume any food or water during daylight.  It makes the slight bother of having to shop after 8pm seem pretty trivial.  Their devotion to their religion is quite admirable.  Luckily the 4am call to prayer over loud speakers in the streets hasn't woken me up yet, or I may be less positive about it all.

Our school year was postponed until after the end of Ramadan, so Tom and I have an unexpected vacation starting tomorrow.  We are headed on a boat safari with about 20 of our colleagues for a few days of scuba diving in the Red Sea, supposedly one of the world's premier dive spots.  After that, we'll come home for a couple days then head to Jordan to see Petra and do some desert camping.  We're looking forward to enjoying the life of tourists again!