Day 2: Apartment Hunting (Tuesday)

First of all, the school has been amazing with making this big move and change as smooth as possible. I’m truly amazed and grateful for how they’ve treated us and guided us through this process.

We awoke early, 3am early and couldn’t go back to sleep. Jet lag…oh well it could have been worse as a few people literally arrived at the hotel in time for breakfast before boarding the school staff bus to start the apartment search.

There are about 40 of us at the hotel part of this new teacher group. We’ve been split up into about 4 groups to go in search of an apartment. Each group has a school volunteer that’s going with us as well as a local realtor.

Oh man, these drivers are CRAZY! Blinkers don’t matter, it’s all about the horn. If there are even lines on the road, they’re not observed at all. Plus, there is NOT ONE single traffic light in the whole city that I've seen so far. The following photos doesn’t even do it justice but you kind of get the idea.

Going down a 2 way street will often find you in a predicament like this (Our bus drivers are AMAZING. This driver had to back the bus up in such a tight space to make way for other cars).

If the freeway isn't moving, it looks like this, a parking lot. In the upper left hand corner, you can see one of our white and blue school staff buses.

Apparently, this is a normal sight to see in Cairo. Yes, that is a car. Or should I say "was?"

Forget the lanes, people drive wherever they want.

I better get used to seeing a donkey pulling a cart because that apparently is a mode of transportation here.

There’s always people standing along the sides of the “freeway/highway.” There’s tons of trash along the roads. Construction seems to just move the piles of dirt and rocks to the edge of the roads. As I’m learning my way around a new way of living, I’m readjusting my level of what’s considered “clean.” Trying my very best to have an open mind.

We saw about 12 different apartments throughout the day. Many of them were at the top/above the school’s allotted housing allowance. Most of the apartments are 3 bedrooms (way more bedrooms than we need) with large common spaces with a small kitchen. It seems to be normal for the washer to be either in the kitchen or bathroom. Apparently 1 bedrooms are not normal here in Cairo so we are trying to find a 2 bedroom apartment.

In America, the staircase areas are generally clean and nice looking. Here in Cairo, it’s not what you see leading up to the apartment you focus on, it’s what’s in the apartment. I’ve come to learn it’s normal to see broken windows, floor or something else while climbing the stairs to the apartment.

We found 2 possible contenders so far but don’t feel like they’re us yet. Each apartment seems to have some “compromise” for it to suit us. Yet that goes along with having an open mind with a different culture. I’m loving this process and don’t feel stressed. Just TIRED with the jet lag.

We made it back to the hotel for dinner and have realized these teachers are like an international teacher community. Dereck and I seem to be one of only a few teachers who are teaching abroad for our first time. Most of these teachers have been abroad for years and to many different countries. They say they have come to love the experiences they’ve had especially with the opportunities to travel. I LOVE learning about them and their experiences. Everyone has been so easy to get along with and welcoming. I can only imagine what the school year will be like with the students.