The school had arranged some nice events for us to enjoy some touristy things in the area and to get to know each other.

All the new staff met in our very own neighborhood of Maadi, down at the Nile for a felucca ride to watch the sunset. It was amazing. A felucca is a traditional wooden sailboat that has been used on the Nile for ages. It was really nice. I love being out on the water and was so tempted to lean over the edge and dip my hand in the water… but here you can’t do that! You would risk getting a parasite (its name I can’t pronounce) that burrows under the skin. I think I’ll pass on that! I was very pleased to see that the water was very clean. I had heard stories before coming here of how dirty the Nile is and that there is floating trash and carcasses, and that it stinks. Thankfully, we didn’t observe any of that. It was a pleasant boat ride and was very beautiful. The river is very wide. It reminds me of the Mississippi River in the US. On the shores you can see palm trees, buildings, mosques, and there is a Coptic church that looked very nice. Martin later went to visit this church. You can read his blog to find out more about it and the connection it has to the Bible. It’s pretty interesting! There are also different types of tour/rental boats on the Nile. They remind me of ones that I would see and work on as a caterer on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. You can rent a small felucca for very cheap for just an hour and have a very relaxing, romantic trip. BYOB!

Following the felucca ride we all went to dinner at Abou El Sid. http://www.abouelsid.com/  This is a very nice, authentic Egyptian restaurant. I recommend checking out their website and reading the story of the restaurant. The food was amazing. We sat at large round tables and the center of the table spun lazy Susan style! This worked well, as they serve the food tapas-style. The food kept coming. There were many dips with different breads, some fried stuffed appetizers, rolled grape leaves, rice dishes, great sauces, interesting meats (I heard one of the meats we ate was quail)- so much food! Then they served dessert. It was a great way to taste so many different local dishes. Unfortunately though we don’t know what anything was called! It was very good food. The food isn’t hot-spicy, but they definitely use lots of spices in their cooking. On some occasions people have warned us, “be careful, it’s spicey!” but to us it’s not spicy! The restaurant also had a great ambiance inside and out. I can’t wait to go back! If you plan to come visit, we will definitely have to take you there! We decided to be adventurous and walk home (rather than take the school bus) with some other teachers who live nearby. This allowed us an opportunity to see more areas of our neighborhood. It was a great evening.

We finally got to see the school. I had looked at lots of pictures online so I had a good idea of what to expect. The entrance is really spectacular. When you walk up there is great landscaping some bubbling water in a little pool, beautiful flowering trees, and palm trees. When you walk in you are greeted by three people at a massive desk with a curved staircase behind them. This is the administration building that also houses the theater. The theater is impressive too; I would say it probably seats at least 500. The stage is lined with plants to set the scene for our welcome introduction. We meet the administration, get pumped for the school-year and sign-up for staff busing according to our neighborhoods. That’s right, the school picks us up and drops us off everyday. At the end of the day, we have the choice of taking a 3:20, 4:30, or 5:20 bus. This is a great option to have. I will write more about the buses later.

We were given a tour of the school campus. On the campus are grades K-12, though primary and secondary are in different buildings. I am teaching music in the secondary building. It is 3 floors high. In the center of each building is an open-air atrium surrounded by staircases. It is really quite nice. I love natural light and I love plants! Hallways then extend out from the center atrium. My classroom is on the ground floor. The PE department gets their own building with a basketball court and has a great outdoor pool. I thought it was interesting that there was no bleacher-seating (that I noticed anyhow!) in the gymnasium. I wonder if they host any games in there. The track is lined with nicely trimmed trees and there is plenty of space for soccer games in the center. There is no cafeteria. The students eat outside in a courtyard area and there are a few different food options from which they can purchase. There is some seating, but many kids just stand and eat. They have an early break and a late break and they can eat at either one (or both!).

The school I teach at is essentially run by one woman. She seems to have lots of power in the community, and maybe even extending beyond that. We are told that if we ever get into any trouble (health, safety, theft, etc.) to immediately contact her and we will be taken care of and given better and faster service than otherwise. apparently our school badge is a powerful one around here! Anyhow, she hosted all of us new teachers and our families to a dinner at a clubhouse nearby the school. It was again Egyptian food served in the same manner and again we were stuffed-silly. But the food here is so good! The new staff members are great. There are about 60 of us, coming from all different backgrounds. I am quickly finding out that I am one of only few who are new to international teaching. The new teachers are all ages; most traveling single, though some with spouses and family. It is neat to see how quickly the kids seem to be adapting to the newness and they are making fast friends with each other. For many with spouses, both of them work at the school together.

Our next exciting adventure was with our friends Adrienne and Tyler- an evening trip to the bazar di Khan el-Khalili. We hired a driver whom Adrienne frequently hires. It helps to know good, reliable, trustworthy drivers so that you don’t have to hail a regular taxi out here. For the cost of about $17 round-trip, he drove us into the heart of Cairo, about a 30-minute drive. On the drive there, to avoid major traffic we took a side route that took us through the City of the Dead. This is a fascinating, place. It is a 4-mile long area in Cairo where people live and work amongst the tombs and mausoleums. It is a poor and sketchy area. What we were told is that originally some people lived there to care for the tombs, then their families grew, the city burst with people and they had no where else to go, and now it is accepted to live amongst/on top of/in the tombs. Anyhow, back to the Khan. The Khan is a street market that dates back to the 1300s. It is a maze of merchants with brightly colored rugs, pyramid and pharaoh trinkets, decorative lamps, spices, jewelry, you name it! You are supposed to barter here, which neither Martin or I are used to, or good at. Martin bought a nice trinket box, and we nearly bought a chess-set for way too much money. Maybe we will go back sometime and work him down on the price! It is a really neat place. It’s the type of place I would expect to find a magic carpet! We wandered for a bit and then hung out at a restaurant in the midst of the bazaar. I don’t even know the name, but Adrienne said it’s the oldest restaurant in Egypt- 600 years or so. It was packed so they seated us outside. They didn’t bring us menus but asked what we wanted. We were hoping to get food but because of trouble communicating, we kept it simple and only ordered juice and coffee and a sheesha to share. Because so few people drink alcohol out here, there is rarely alcohol available at restaurants. But there are many amazing and fresh juices, smoothies, coffees, frappacinos, etc. One of my new favorite drinks is lemon mint juice. It’s so subtle and refreshing! Our driver met us back by the front entrance when we were ready.

The following day, the school had planned an outing again for the new teachers. We met early to get an authentic, Egyptian breakfast. The buses took us across the river to Giza. Out of the blue we can see the giant pyramids in front of us from the bus. It was shocking to see them at first sight. We met at a place for breakfast, though due to some miscommunication they didn’t have the restaurant section open for us, so they served 60 teachers and their families from a to-go order window instead! We had falafel pita and fava bean pita sandwiches and sodas for breakfast. It was pretty good though I was frustrated by the situation.

Now we are off to the pyramids. I have been wanting to see them for years! You should know, in case you visit Egypt, that there are not many public restrooms. There were bathrooms prior to the entrance and we were all advised to use them as there are none in the park. You also should know that there is rarely toilet paper in the stalls, and you typically shouldn’t throw the tp in the toilet bowl. There is also rarely soap and rarely hand towels or dryers. And then you have to tip on your way out! We bought a general park ticket to roam around the area. You can purchase additional tickets to enter specific pyramids. We will have to go back and do that because we didn’t have enough time with the group. The pyramids are amazing. Everything about them is shocking. After seeing them, even stepping up on them, it’s really hard for me to believe that they were built only by men. A single brick in the Great Pyramid is as tall as my chin; and each brick was laid with accuracy down to the millimeter… thousands of years ago! It’s amazing! I was surprised at how quiet it was at the pyramids. Tourism is down so much- come visit Egypt! I compared it to the state and national parks in the states but there’s no way to compare, they just don’t have the funding for proper ropes, etc. There are signs all over saying to stay of the pyramids, yet people climb up anyhow because there’s nothing and no one to stop them. I’m sure you’d get stopped if you’d try to climb up too far. There are locals all over the area trying to hustle you for money. One of them got us good, by taking photos for us and then demanding money. They offer you camel horse-buggy rides from pyramid to pyramid- we were warned that when you do this they may charge you more to get off the camel when you finish! Also, they may demand money if you take a photo of them. I was sneaky and got a nice shot without them noticing. We didn’t have time to ride them, though it looks really fun! So yes, you can see the city in the background of the pyramids; I think this is really cool. It makes it so much more surreal. On the back side of the smaller pyramids it is really quiet. It reminded me of being in the desert in Utah kind of quiet. I was shocked to find this kind of serenity there. There are lots of stray dogs that run around the area. One of them had puppies- pyramid puppies! It is amazing to me that they are still excavating new sites and new discoveries here, when it is so old. A teacher friend, when he was walking down to the Sphinx, came upon an area enclosed with barbed wire. There was a security guard there who gave him a hard time, but then lightened up and offered him a look inside the tomb that they have newly discovered. I am so jealous! The guard told him that when they first open the tomb it smells of flowers. It’s so amazing. Oh and the Sphinx. It takes your breath away. I feel so lucky to have seen these sites. I can’t wait to explore them more. We all met up at the KFC/Pizza Hut just outside the park (which does indeed have a great view of the Sphinx!) and then headed to the Khan with the large group.

I was glad that we had gone the night before because we were exhausted from being in the hot sun all day. It is also a great spot to see at night. After tramping through the desert, Martin got his shoes shined by someone in the market- this was a big ordeal. He asked how much and the guy said “you name it.” Martin said he had 7… so his shoes were shined and Martin gave him the 7 LE and the man was so upset. He was expecting $7. I was in the middle of ordering some spices at the time but ended up having to just leave it all so that we could get away from the shoe-shiner. We bought spices further down anyhow from a better vendor. The spices are kept in jars or large canvas/burlap bags. We bought just a few- curry, mixed spice, dried chamomile petals, and dried hibiscus petals. The only other thing we bought on this outing was a touristy keychain with Nefertiti on it. We avoided the hustle and bustle of the crowded market by risking our lives and crossing the street to get food from Gad, a local restaurant. You have to be brave when you cross the street here. There are basically no driving rules, and same goes for pedestrians. You just have to put your arm down, look the drivers in the eye, and walk confidently across. We’ve been getting the hang of it. The food was good. We had chicken shawarmas and I had an orzo soup. It was great!

All-in-all it was an amazing day.

It was an amazing week. We got more settled in our flat and comfortable in our neighborhood.