Our First Real Adventure

Today was a day full of adventure. We have been in Cairo for nearly 2 weeks and have been busy getting settled and establishing a routine here for both us and our kids.  Our school days have been shorter than usual but they have been very busy with the process of getting set and ready for the first day of class.  Setting up for class here is different than some places because the week before school starts is the end of Ramadan and it is a holiday called Eid El Fitr.  So, we get a 5 day weekend which is great, but, it gives us less days to set up.  Immediately after the Eid weekend parent meetings begin and school starts on the 6^th.  So, needless to say, we are busy with the school side of things.  With all that in consideration, my course load may change as well as Hubby’s.  So, it makes it especially difficult to prepare for classes that you are not sure you are teaching yet.  We should receive confirmation on Sunday (which is like a Monday here).

On another note...today we ventured from 6^th of October and headed out to Maadi.  Maadi is a very lively subsection of Cairo where all the majority of the teachers live.   Maadi is a bustling area with people of all kinds.  The adventure began by loading into a cab.  Our regular driver was unavailable.  We got to Maadi alright, but once there the driver had no idea where he was going.  There are no street signs and every street is named after a number...258, 135, Road 9.  So, our driver asked for directions about 20 times until we got where we needed to be.  Immediately upon stopping the vehicle young girls were trying to sell us Kleenex and others were asking for money.  We were whisked away by some friends that met us at our location and showed us around.  We experienced the normalcy of calling and ordering groceries for delivery and waiting way longer for them then quoted.  We saw tiny little huts of produce shops and people selling goods on a cart pulled by donkeys.  We ate at a restaurant (also a first for us here).  But, the main reason we ventured out to Maadi was because that is where the church we are planning to attend is.  

We have been blessed that there is another couple here that are also church going folk so we went with them.  The service was outside, we were immediately greeted by people, the senior pastor and other kids.  Princess immediately connected with another little African girl and it was incredibly cute to see them running around together.  Princess can be aggressive with other kids and this little girl was not shy to push back.  The kids both enjoyed the Sunday School program and the service was good.  It will take some getting used to because it is different from home, but it was a little glimpse of heaven to be at church with people from so many different nations.  It was like the song He Reigns come to life!  It will be challenging to attend there regularly because Maadi is 45 minutes away from 6^th of October.  Living in Egypt it is impossible not to think about and recall the numerous parts of the Bible that occur in the Old Testament.  Today we drove over the Nile and immediately thought of baby Moses being place in a basket amongst the reeds.  Now, I may be naive, but as a child and even as an adult at times I think of that story and imagine a narrow little creek that Moses drifted along before he was eventually was found.  I have seen the Nile before and for some reason I still imagined this little narrow creek.  The Nile is not narrow, it is actually quite wide, and the reeds on the side are actually quite huge, so it is quite a miracle that little Moses was found in one piece in his little woven basket.  This was just one of the many thoughts that ran through my head yesterday, it shows that what we are taught as children can stick!

We also experienced a touch of the nightlife in Maadi.  It gets dark pretty early here so we were exploring in the dark.  The meal was lovely, the kids devoured their meal and the juice.  On a side note...if you are ever in Cairo you need to order the following three juices somewhere...strawberry, mango and orange.  It is like they put a full pieces of fruit in the blender and served it as juice.  So delicious.  It was a challenging meal however because they were exhausted after all the change of scenery.  It was then time to go home and attempt to find a cabbie that would take us that far and not rip us off.  We found someone who got us home in one piece despite the crazy driving conditions.  We passed one 5 passenger car that had 10 people in it and trucks with cargo in them and people sitting on top of the cargo.  Sometimes things here remind me of Tanzania and the packed full cars is one of them.  

So, we are home now and happy to be here.  It has been an busy day and it was nice to walk back into our house.  The kids woke up briefly when we walked upstairs but fell back asleep quickly.  There has been so much change and transition in their little lives lately I cannot imagine what they are thinking.  Dimples seems well adjusted, but he is younger and cannot tell us what he is thinking.  Princess struggles with some aspects of the culture because she knows that it is different, although she has grasped on to components of modesty which will be valuable to her in the future.  She was wearing a sundress around the house today and upon hearing that we were going to be leaving ran to get her leggings to `cover her legs`.  I am glad that is not much of a fight and that she loves her tights.  Princess is having difficulty adjusting to the women wearing hijabs and veils.  I do not think that it is because of the hijabs themselves but some of the first ladies wearing them that she met wanted to touch her and hold her and they were kind of grabby which made her uncomfortable and so she affiliates all people wearing a head covering to be those ladies.  Hopefully that is something that will pass because so far she wants nothing to do with them on a one on one basis.  

So, tomorrow will bring a day of relaxation, laundry and some preparation.  Then Sunday it is back to work and we will have 2 days to prep before our 5 day weekend.  Not sure what we are going to do on the 5 day weekend yet...perhaps we will do some more exploring!

The First Few Days at the School

We have been in Cairo for almost a week now and it is hard to believe that we are already getting set up for school.  The new teachers arrived a week before the other teachers to get settled and established in the school before general meetings and school set up begins.  Yesterday we had all kinds of meetings about the school policies and got a tour of the school.  The school is beautiful.  It is only 5 years old and although there are construction projects happening on the school grounds the area is very functional.  The school is in the shape of a pyramid with three major hallways and an inner courtyard.  There are four floors...of course my class is on the top floor.  I think that I will be in very good shape by the end of the school year because other than my classroom, everything I need is on other floors.  The good thing is that my classroom is near the bathrooms so if a student is "in the bathroom" for more than a couple minutes I will know something is up.  Students are the same everywhere...especially in classes they like to try and get out of...like math. (Which is one of the classes I am blessed to teach here to my grade 7 students!)

The school is great, the staff is great and everyone seems to be very helpful.  It has been a wonderful transition to the world of teaching here and I cannot wait to get started!  I would love to see my schedule and class lists, but there is a glitch in the scheduling, so hopefully I will get to see that by the end of the week...I want to know what all teachers want to know.  When is my prep...and mostly I want to know how long classes are and if there a splits and doubles so that I can better prepare for my days in the coming weeks.  My brain is an abundance of ideas that have no outlet at the moment...although I did start a bulletin board today.  The "store" was open today and I got to go "shopping" for the supplies that I needed.  We have to sign out every supply that we want to use and the clerk keeps very close track of everything that we take and we cannot take more than one box of staples otherwise he will get after us.  It is an interesting process.

Tomorrow we meet with all the returning teachers.  There will be more review of policies and procedures and everything else that goes with opening year staff meetings.  At some point tomorrow there is going to be a resource feeding frenzy apparently.  Being an overseas school there are limited resources in terms of Atlases and math manipulatives and since items are organized by subject and not by grade people grab what they can get.  So, that should be an interesting adventure tomorrow.  I know what I need and I do not intend to grab more than I need.  That just seems irresponsible.

This is the entrance to the school...with security guards and all!

The school courtyard

One of the major developments for us in the past 24 hours is that we found out the best way to get internet into our apartment and have successfully set it up.  It is amazing how quickly you can feel connected to the world again with the power of one little internet stick.  I am very thankful for this little internet stick, it truly is a wonderful blessing.  Now to figure out how to get Wireless and we will be set!  Today we are hoping to get our cell phones.  That has also been a challenging process.  

Since it is Ramadan at the moment, most stores and shops close from approximately 3 PM until 9 PM.  The owners and employees head home to wait for the bell to ring so that they can eat and once the feast is over they head back to work from 9 PM until 12 AM.  We work at the school until 2 PM and then by the time we can arrange a driver and get to the stores, the owners are usually gone.  So, today Hubby is off on his own to try and find some phones for us to use.  We will see if he comes back triumphant.  It would be nice to have instant communication to our friends here instead of waiting until the next day. 

So, as we are settling in here in 6th of October we are finding it to be more like home. One thing that we have found is that if there is even a single morsel of food on the floor, in the sink or on the counter it is inevitable that we will find ants; and not just a couple...it is a swarm of ants.  It does not take long to get rid of them, but it is a nuisance nonetheless.  One of the more difficult adjustments is not having the convenience of the dishwasher and the dryer.  Loads of laundry are done everyday because our washer is small and we have to air dry everything.  The dishes have to be done immediately otherwise
the ants will come...and if possibly cockroaches.  Cooking takes longer on average because we are cooking over a gas stove with really thick pots.  I think it took 20 minutes to get the water to a boil yesterday.  I do miss the dishwasher though. I am however experimenting a little more in the kitchen and I made samosas the other day...my very picky little boy loved them and all 30 were gone that day.  Princess and I also made donuts...and all that without my KitchenAid stand mixer.  I really can live without that appliance.

 On another note...some cereal has hit the floor and it is time to get the vacuum out AGAIN!  The joy of having children in a country with lots of ants!   I am attaching some pictures of the school for you to all see and enjoy.  I hope to add some more in the coming posts and I hope to update the blog every other day if time permits so follow us and get updates on our adjustment to life here in Cairo!

Grocery Shopping and More

With all the traveling Hubby and I have done in the past, I have seen every type of grocery store and market around.  I have seen little huts on the side of the road and I have seen typical western style grocery stores and everything else in between.  For those that know me really well you know how much I struggle to grocery shop for more than a couple days at a time.  This largely has to do with the fact that when I lived in the Czech Republic you could not shop for more than a couple days at a time because the food spoiled quickly.  I was hoping that grocery shopping here would be similar to the Czech Republic.  I loved going from one place to another to get my fruit, then to get my bread and meat.  Of course in the Czech Republic I could always go to a western style supermarket if I wanted, but I always enjoyed stopping at the specific shops on my way home.

I had no idea what to expect when I went grocery shopping today.  Since we are in Africa I was leaning more towards specific shops or an outdoor bazaar...but I was completely shocked when our driver pulled up to a store called Spinney’s that was inside of a giant mall.  We grabbed a cart (also a surprise for me) and walked inside.  The store was huge.  I could not believe it.  It was like Superstore to the extreme.  The store is only a couple months old and is top of the line.  The floors were marble and the aisles were immaculate.  There was triple the staff available and working in the store then at home.  Although I had originally hoped for the individual shops, I was glad that we were at that store.  Even though it was completely overwhelming it was nice to be in one spot because I could compare and contrast a little better.  The store actually reminded me a lot of a store I shopped at in the Czech Republic – Interspar and Globus were both huge supercenters that had everything from groceries to books, cell phones and clothes. 

We forgot what the exchange rate between CDN dollars and Egytian LE was so we went with our gut and got what we wanted.  The selection was incredible.  The store had more options than any grocery store at home.  There was local Egyptian product, European product and Western product.  I was thrilled when I encountered various items that I had all the time in the Czech and could not get in Canada.  You can be sure that those items ended up in our cart.  As much as possible we tried to purchase things that were locally made because it was way cheaper.  However, in some instances we bought brands that were familiar to us, at least to start off with.  The thing I was most thankful for was that pricing labels were all in English and Arabic and the numbers were all English numbers.  If the numbers had been in Arabic we would have had no idea what we were paying for anything.  It was a great experience and I am sure that is where we will be going for the first little while that we are here because it is familiar to us and the prices are reasonable. 

Produce will prove to be the problem for us because it seems to spoil quickly and needs to be washed and cleaned thoroughly.  Also, it needs to be inspected for dead bugs because it is very common.  But, the produce has more flavour than we are used to and the cantaloupe is green inside...not orange.  That was a surprise and I had to twist Princess’ arm that it was actually cantaloupe.  It did taste slightly different, but it was still juicy and sweet and she at almost the whole thing. 

Cooking here also takes much longer than at home.  Although the rice cooked more quickly, the meat took longer.  Our stove is fuelled with butane and needs to be lit with matches.  But, my first meal turned out well and although I did not have any seasonings to make it taste really good, most of it was eaten.  I wish that I could have spent more time to actually look around at the store, but with Princess and Dimples with me it was not really an option. 

The transition for the kids has been interesting.  There have been moments where they have meltdowns for no apparent reason, but we know it is because they are tired and everything is different.  Princess says she likes her new home and her room.  She slept past 9 AM and has not taken a nap today, so she seems to be adjusting really well to the new time zone.  Hubby and I are also doing pretty well with the jetlag as we slept all night without getting up to eat.  Dimples has kept to his normal schedule with his two naps and sleeping through the night.  That is a blessing.

Dropped in the Middle of Nowhere

When we first arrived in Cairo, we were taken directly to our apartment.  We met our landlady and her nanny who are completely awesome.  We are one of the only new teachers to have an apartment already and for that we are completely grateful.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to go apartment hunting with our two kids in a different environment.  We are living in a different part of the city than all the other teachers too.  There are many good things about living close to the school.  One thing that we have noticed however is that since we were dropped off we have had no contact with anyone from the school.   We do not know how to get to the school from our apartment and we are feeling completely isolated in our apartment by ourselves.  We knew there was supposed to be a meeting at the school today.  We did not know what time it was at, where the school was and if the meeting was still happening.  This is the disadvantage to being far away from the other new teachers and all the other teachers that currently reside in the same area as the new teachers.  Another downside is that we have not been to a bank yet because we do not know where they are and we have  no cell phones or internet access.  If we had access to the internet we may be able to find out some more information but since that is not an option we resorted to something more traditional. 

We packed up the kids and went for a walk.  The school was supposed to be a 10-15 minute walk.  We had to guess which direction to go.  All the buildings here start looking the same despite the architectural differences because they are all pretty well some sort of beige.  There are no real sidewalks so we walked on the street.  There were very few people out and the people that were out were sitting in the shade because it was hot out.  After about 20 minutes of guessing where to go we stopped and asked people where the school was and they gave us directions.  They were being polite though because the directions they gave us were not accurate.  After about 40 minutes of walking aimlessly we turned around and went back home.  Thankfully we kept track of where we had made our turns by certain landmarks like the water tower and the dumpster because we may not have found our way home!  The walk back took about 20 minutes because we knew where we were going.

We did gather some information on our walk that will be useful.  We found a pharmacy, a bank, and a cafe.  We located the local mosque which was really close by.  Most importantly however, we realized that no matter how short our walk is going to be, we need to bring water.  We did not do that today and we should have.  After about 15 minutes of walking I was drenched in sweat, but I did not feel hot or tired until we walked up three flights of stairs back to our apartment.  I have never seen our kids drink water so quickly!  The second thing I realized was that we should have brought the address of the school with us.  That may have helped the people that we were asking directions from...and at the very least we could have asked the dozens of cabs that drove past us where it was. 

When we arrived back at our apartment we ran into a couple of drivers and our doorman as well as our landlady’s nanny.  The nanny speaks very good English and gave us directions to the school.  Turns out that once we made our first turn we were going completely the wrong way to get to the school.  If only we had turned LEFT!  We would have found it if we had turned left.  She was on her way out with one of the drivers and Hubby went along and they were going to drive him to the school.  So, the good news is that we will now know how to get there and hopefully he will gain some access to the internet.  We feel very disconnected from home right now and hope that our families are not too worried because they have not heard from us yet. 

I am thankful for our experiences overseas at this point because I do not feel uncomfortable with the unknown and the component of not knowing what is happening.  Although our walk did not accomplish what we set out for, we did learn something.  The people here are very helpful and we are thankful for that.  I just wish we had contact with the school!  We really need to get some phones so we can contact whoever we want, when we need to.  But until that happens I will be content in my home with my kids.  I am sure that things will get very busy in the coming days. 

The weekend here is on Friday and Saturday, so tomorrow is a “day off” for us.  I am not sure what is in store, but our landlady wants to take us to her other home to take the kids swimming which will be excellent for them.  The climate is certainly conducive to that type of activity and I know that the kids will love it.  So, have an excellent weekend everyone!

We Are Here!

What a trip!  I am so glad that the traveling is over.  The journey from Halifax to Egypt went better overall then I expected it would, yet not without its challenges.  We maxed out our luggage with every bag reaching capacity weight and two that were overweight.  We packed up the van the night before so that we would have little to do in the morning even though we would not be rushed as our flight would not leave until the afternoon.  BUT, in the morning we were so anxious and ready to go we wished that we had things to do because just sitting around and waiting does not calm the nerves it makes it WORSE!  So, we left early for the airport and took our time.  There were many angels along our journey and here is list of some of them.

1)     We were thankful for the man that helped us take our mass of luggage to the check-out counter before we met up with Hubby’s parents and sister.  We had two luggage carts and a stroller to push quite a ways and he certainly made that easier.

2)     1) The ladies at the check-out counter.  They were very helpful in getting our bags set to go, and helped calm our nerves as they asked numerous questions about our travels.  The check in could have gone in two ways, good or bad.  This experience was better than good.  Even though they asked us about Visas, it did not seem to matter...and those two very OVERWEIGHT bags...they did not charge us for them.  Like I said...better than expected.

3)       

2) 2)The Customer Service Agent in Toronto that helped us locate the iPad after forgetting it on the first plane.  She was excellent...knew all the right people to call, and after a 45 minute wait had the iPad back in my bag 15 minutes prior to departure.  Customer Service Agents often have to deal with very angry and upset people when they really had nothing to do with it (I saw at least 3 very angry people yelling at them over my 45 minute wait at the counter).  They are awesome and need to be recognized.  So, CSA in Toronto that helped me, THANKS...and to the CSA that dealt with the angry lady going to Tel Aviv, you exhibited great patience.

4)  

    The CSA in Frankfurt that paged us so we could meet up with Hubby’s long time friend that is a flight attendant and was about to fly to Calgary.  And to the same CSA that gave us a new baggage claim ticket for one of our bags that lost its routing tag...and I guess the person that knew where it was supposed to go and got it a new routing tag. 

5)      The flight attendant on the final leg of the flights from Frankfurt to Cairo that found Princess’ passport and backpack.  We were simply exhausted by that flight and hubby dropped the passport trying to find our seats on the plane.  The backpack only had a few toys, but Princess would have missed them none the less.

6)      The man who sat beside me on the plane to Cairo who quickly found Kleenex and paper towel when Dimples got sick on the decent and landing and also found a bag for him.  Dimples getting sick was the last thing I expected, but it was a turbulent landing with many dips that made my stomach jump!

 7)      The lady at Custom’s in Cairo who let us just pass right through without asking any questions or asking for any documentation.  We had all the necessary papers, but it was nice not to have to get them out and justify our case to get into the country.

8)      The random man that found our two big bags full of our teaching materials.  All our luggage came out quickly except those two which were arguably the most important bags in the load. 

9)      The other TEACHERS that traveled with us that helped watch Princess when she needed other people to keep her entertained or when she was really bored waiting in line or waiting for luggage.  That made the trip a lot easier.

10)   To the drivers that picked us up and welcomed us to Egypt!  They got us to our new home safely and efficiently through the crazy TRAFFIC!  More on that later.

11)   To the doorman that helped haul all the luggage up to the third floor of the apartment building.  It was so incredibly great that Hubby did not have to carry it all after the long journey.

As you can see, we did have some challenges along the way.  But none that were not met by the kindness of others.  To the people listed above we are eternally grateful because you made a tricky trip that much easier. 

So, we are in EGYPT!  We made it.  We arrived at 2 PM local time and were quickly whisked away from the airport in one of the school vans.  My first impression of what I saw when I got outside was that it was very sandy.  Sand is everywhere and not much green. Of course I knew that we were going to a desert land but nothing can prepare you for the change of landscaping.  When we flew over the Nile Delta it was very lush and green, but not right at the airport.  There are palm trees and cacti but that is about it.   Hubby’s first impression was that the weather was awesome as it was only 32 degrees Celsius with NO humidity.  Our family traveled in our own vehicle as we were going directly to our new home which is in a different area than all the other teachers that traveled with us.  The traffic here is unlike any other I have EVER seen.  The roads look the same, pavement with 4 lanes painted on which you would expect people would drive in...but the lanes did not really mean much to the drivers.  There are no traffic lights and turning signals and the drivers just honk.  It is very noisy traffic and at times I think there were actually eight “lanes” of traffic.  The drivers all seemed very calm, even in the gridlock.  Most of the vehicles were older which resulted in a more polluted trip.  The drive was an excellent glimpse at various communities on the way and probably the most spectacular thing we saw was the Pyramids of Giza on the horizon.  They were massive from far away, I cannot imagine what they look like up close!  I speculate that a trip to the pyramids will be one of our first “touristy” things that we will do.

When we arrived at our apartment we were met by our landlady who is simply amazing!  She had our fridge stocked with basics that we would need for the first 24 hours and quickly showed us around.  She arranged for a dinner to be prepared for us which was the last thing we expected.  It was brought to us by her nanny and daughter and it was delicious!  The rest of the evening we started unpacking and making the apartment our new home.  The kids have taken quickly to the house and have claimed their space and there are toys everywhere already!  Princess and Dimples are most excited by the fact that the landlady has 3 dogs that are completely safe for them to play with.  They live in the building and roam freely throughout so we frequently hear barking and if we leave the apartment the dogs come running.  Princess in particular is thrilled that one of the dogs is extremely friendly and has no problem when she picks her up and carries her around. 

It is now 5 AM and the sun is starting to rise.  There is a foggy haze over the horizon...probably from the sand blowing around, not from fog.  The surroundings are all different here and the workers for the construction site next to our home are beginning to arrive.  It is very beige here, lots of sand, not much green.  The lush green grass at our home in Winnipeg seems like a distant memory now and although we do have a “yard” in the back of the apartment building the grass is not the same.  Our home is great.  We knew what to expect as we had seen pictures of it, but even the pictures we saw did not do the home justice as it is much nicer than we expected it to be.  The beds are bigger, the rooms seem bigger and the kitchen and bathroom a great!  It will be an excellent place to call home.

Our landlady has proven again how awesome she is going to be.  She knocked on the door this morning and said that her mom was coming to pick us up to go to the grocery store and that she would take us swimming on the weekend.  Princess and Dimples will love that.  It seems like we have met an awesome ally for us as we adapt and adjust to our new surroundings.  I am sure that there are many more challenges to come, but none that will not be embraced as part of our new life here.  I am not certain what the next few days will hold, but today I know that I am going to the grocery store and that may be culture shock enough for one day.

The final days in Canada

The last few weeks have come and gone in the blink of an eye. I can hardly believe that we left Winnipeg over 2 weeks ago and now we are going into our last full day in Canada. We still have quite a lot of work to do in the next 24 hours to prepare for the plane ride, but it is all coming together as planned. We packed our bags in Winnipeg without much regard for the weight of the suitcases. We have come to realize that some of our bags are much too heavy for the plane unless we want to pay for them. Tomorrow will be a day to pack and repack our bags for what seems like the 20th time.

One of the most entertaining things that has happened here in Nova Scotia is watching princess interact with her cousins.  She met them all when she was one month old so she has never had the chance to play with them and get to know them.  Her two older cousins took her to play and were so compassionate and generous with her she just loved them.  She also has a cousin that is 10 months older than her and watching them play was priceless.  They grew quite fond of each other.  It is neat to watch her with kids her age and how social and adventurous she is with them.  It was hard to watch her say goodbye to them because she won't be able to see them again for another year. 

August is always a busy time for our family as hubby and princess have birthdays one day apart. This is always exciting...especially for princess who has come to the realization that having a birthday is a pretty good thing for her. We spent the day with grandparents, aunts and uncles. She played at the park and visited Peggy's Cove. She really enjoyed climbing all the "rockes" and kept saying how fun it was there. We really have to keep an eye on her because she is a very adventurous little girl and thinks that she is bigger than she actually is and can get herself in some very precarious situations. Hubby's birthday was also fun with a trip to Halifax, lunch and walking along the pier.

Hanging out in Truro at Victoria Falls.

Dimples is developing quite a personality and really hams it up for the camera.

Princess and Dimples enjoying the ocean view at Peggy's Cove.

So here we are in Nova Scotia enjoying the calm and peaceful environment before we depart for the biggest transition in our lives. We are excited, nervous, anxious and just ready to go on this part of our journey. It will not come without it's challenges, but in time we will adjust to our new surroundings. I just cannot wait to see Egypt with my own two eyes...documentaries can only show so much. This will probably be the last post until we arrive so if you think of us on the 15th and 16th we will be on the plane and beginning to get settled in our new home.  Here's to hoping the kids will enjoy the flight and not be too loud for the other passengers and that the flight seems to go quicker than it actually is.  Hopefully the kids will sleep from Toronto to Frankfurt and that they will enjoy the airplane food.  Also hoping that jetlag will not be too terrible for anyone and that we will settle into our new home quickly and easily.  A lot is about to change for the Bishop's and the kids hardly see it coming!  Egypt here we come!