Together Again

We woke up to our first morning together in Cairo after a pretty darn good nights sleep. Seth had warned me that the sound of traffic continues late into the night so I had my ear plugs on hand but didn't need them after all, it wasn't too bad. We slept in a bit as Seth had let work know that he would be coming in a little late today. After breakfast together I walked with him to the subway so I could begin to get a feel for the neighborhood. The subway station is about 1.5 blocks away from the apartment, not bad at all. Already at 7:45 am the streets were busy with people and traffic (very different from Tbilisi). This is a view from our small balcony:



Dust. Lots of it. There is a film on almost every surface in our apartment and Seth has dusted already since being here. This morning I opened the glass door leading to the small balcony and saw a puff of dust blow inside when I did. That said the air is noticeably easier to breathe out here in Ma'adi (our suburb) than it is downtown. It was actually a little tough to breathe on the drive home from the airport last night until we got out this way. I noticed sand on the side of the highway during the drive. Speaking of the "side of the highway" there were guys hitchhiking and just plain walking along the side of the ring road (imagine the Beltway in DC with 8 lanes of traffic in each direction and a small shoulder).



The apartment building we are in reminds me of Melrose Place with all the hallways opening out to a courtyard in the center and palm trees all around. There is a basketball hoop set up in the center and a bunch of little kids bikes (covered in dust...not from lack of use) in a bike rack downstairs. The guards at the gate called me "Miss Meg" when I came back from the subway walk this morning. These are some photos of our temporary apartment. We are currently living in the building that has only Americans in it. Our moving day is December 28th into our permanent building which is about a 15 minute walk from here. Seth & I will take a walk on Friday to check it out from the outside and scope out the neighborhood.





I commented to Seth this morning that I am having some of the same feelings that I had when we first moved to Georgia...unsettled and a little uneasy. Not in a negative way, more in the "my antennae are up and are taking in everything because it is all new" kind of way. I like feeling this way, it is exciting, kind of like I'm on my "first date" with Cairo. I told Seth that what makes this different from the way I felt on my first days in Georgia is that, having that experience under my belt, I know that I'm going to love it here and that 6 months from now all this that feels so strange and new, will be completely normal. We are so lucky that we get to have these experiences!

I am going to spend the morning doing laundry, putting clothes away, cleaning (dusting) a bit and wrapping some Christmas gifts. Later this afternoon I will call a woman (spouse of one of Seth's co-workers) who will take me around a bit to see what's what.