The sun rises early here in Cairo. The sun pops up just after 5:30 and Dimples often wakes up with the rising of the sun. As I mentioned earlier we are in the midst of a 5 day weekend celebrating the end of Ramadan and it is generally quiet around our apartment. A thought that has crossed my mind once or twice is that for a city of 16 million people, it is very, very quiet. In the middle of the day it is so hot that people do not really walk around, so when the Bishop’s load up the stroller and head out for a walk they tend to think that we are nuts. We walk to school in the morning and walk home in the afternoon and the local people often comment that we should take the bus now and wait until October to walk when it is cooler out. But, we enjoy our 10-15 minute walk at the end of the school day and will continue to enjoy it for at least a little longer.
Today we did not have to walk to the school, instead we walked to the swimming pool. There are many gated communities in the area where we live and although we do not live in one of them, our landlady has property in one of them. This property has an amazing pool and playground that the kids enjoy. Our landlady has been a wonderful blessing as I have mentioned, and she has been wonderful to us again by allowing us access to the pool whenever we want to. The security guards greet us when we arrive without questioning our reasons for being there. It is nice to have a pool so close by. In a climate like we enjoy here in Cairo occasionally it is nice to jump into an cold pool. The pool is 5 minutes further than the school. We hope to make frequent use of the pool. Every time that we have gone to the pool there have been very few people there so it is a good opportunity for the kids to burn some steam. Although we did not stay long today, the kids were clearly drained because they both had excellent naps.
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| Dimples just likes to run around the pool. |
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| Taking a break from the pool. |
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| Princess is gaining more independence in the pool every time we go swimming. |
Another thing that we experienced today is that there is a website that arranges delivery from some of the restaurants in the area. Just jump online, pick a restaurant, order and it shows up. So today we ordered pizza for the kids and although the time quoted was 30 minutes but took an hour it was interesting to experience something here that we can easily do at home. This is one of the major differences from our time in Tanzania to our time here. Cairo is very modern and very urban. Things can take awhile to happen, but there are a lot more western conveniences here than at home. I mean really, McDonalds delivers here. How strange is that?
Timing is something that is taking some getting used to. Yesterday we were waiting for an electrician to come to our house to fix the water heater. He was supposed to be here at 3:30 and by 5:30 had not arrived so we headed out for the evening. While we were out we received a call saying that the electrician had arrived. It was almost 8 PM. Some things just take time and since it was Ramadan, he was simply enjoying his dinner. By 8 PM it was “business time” as he said. Thankfully our bowab (doorman) let him into our place and supervised the work of the electrician. They were both still here and we had a good time joking around with them. We have really appreciated our bowab. He does a lot to make our lives here much easier and the work he does is often thankless. Bowabs typically do all the building maintenance as well as taking care of the tenants. If we needed milk he would go to the store for us. On another note, our bowab`s wife is expecting a baby in the coming year and they really do not have a lot of extra money. If anyone has some old baby clothes or small toys, feel free to contact me and we can make an arrangement to bless this small family.
The nightlife in Cairo is very busy. It is cooler and it is dark, so people are out and about. We opted to enjoy dinner out before our shopping adventure. So, in essence we enjoyed the evening with all kinds of people. There was a play park for the kids and Dimples learned how to climb a ladder. I can see why singles and young people really enjoy the nightlife in Cairo. There is a lot happening everywhere. Perhaps that is largely because of Ramadan, perhaps not. Only time will tell. As a young couple with two kids we do not spend much time outside after dark because the kids head off to sleep and hubby and I are quickly putting together our lessons for these new courses we are teaching.
So, we seem to be learning something every day here in Egypt. We are growing more and more comfortable here and it certainly is starting to feel like we are at home. We do miss Winnipeg and our family and friends, but as we become more involved in life here the more comfortable we become. It does not come without its frustrations and challenges but it is all a part of being away from home and living in a different culture.
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