Mom Comes to Town (the night she arrives)

Going back in time to February of 2015. I called my mom to tell her Dereck and I signed our contract to work in Cairo (having previously discussed the possibility of this with her). Two days later, Mom calls to tell me she's booked a flight to come visit us during our Winter Break. I think my mom was more excited than us about going to work in Cairo.

Fast Forward to December 2015, I hired a driver to pick me up, take me to the airport, wait until Mom comes through Customs, and then drive us back to our house. The cost of hiring a driver for this was all under $20 for approximately 3 hours. Compared to US standards, this is cheap.

Had to send a picture to my siblings verifying Mom's arrival to my place safely

 Knowing that Mom was coming to town, she graciously allowed Dereck and I to purchase things through Amazon, ship it to her so she could bring it to Cairo in a suitcase of much needed American products that can't be found here in Egypt. Plus, shipping is not a good option here in Cairo as most shipments won't make to you. After all, there aren't even mail boxes for your house. We don't get any mail at our apartment. Definitely different than the States or much of Europe.

Much needed Multi-Vitamins, Fiber, Hydrocortizone creams, chapstick, Neosporan, Tampons (which are rare in Egypt due to the culture stigma about Tampons and when you do find them they're usually uncomfortable because of their differences)

I felt like it was Christmas morning when Mom arrived because we had run out of some American items we didn't realize we would treasure so much!

Exploring Downtown Cairo with Dereck and friends

There's something about always wanting to sleep in on the weekends that delays us from further exploring the impressive city we live in right now. Yet, we found out from some friends, who ride the same staff bus as us, making plans to go to the Egyptian Museum. Since they knew where they were going and how to get there, because we sure didn't know, they graciously let Dereck and I tag along with them.

We experienced riding the Metro (light-rail/subway) into the city. The cost is so cheap: 1 LE (1 pound) per trip which is equivalent to about 13 cents US. You can't beat that price!

Once we arrived at Tahrir Square, the closest Metro stop to the Egyptian Museum, we saw the square now known for its 2011 Egyptian Revolution. It's so weird to see an area on TV now in real life thinking I would never see it with my own eyes. That seems to be happening to me often during the past few months. Someone pinch me please to make sure I'm not dreaming all of this.

Tahrir Square

The pink building on the right is the Egyptian Museum.

Keep in mind there are no pedestrian crosswalks. You create your own and dodge the cars. It gets your heart pumping.

Then we went off to the Egyptian Museum. Lucky for us, we didn't have to pay the Foreigner Entry fee because of our Teacher IDs. Inside the museum, it feels cluttered, messy, and unorganized. You randomly see things and often they're not secured to maintain them for years to come. It was a vast difference having recently been to London and experience the extremely organized British Museum.

Sometimes the museum felt like a storage facility for the museum

Just enjoying the artwork

Our friend, Stacy, was a big hit with many locals as she always had a crowd following her and asking for a picture. We jokingly started calling her, "Ellen" since she's famous. 

All of these people were following Stacy around.

 Although the rest of us had people following us too and trying to take pictures, I was grateful for Dereck who, as the man, made sure we felt safe and secure. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable when too many people are trying to sneak a picture of you when you don't want it. It kind of gave me insight to how the stars feel about the paparazzi.

Diana and Dana posing for our camera

After leaving the Museum we were heading to a restaurant highly recommended by locals for its authentic Egyptian food. We got stopped by a local who told us the restaurant wasn't open for another hour but that he knew of a good shop for us to go to authenticated by the government (I think this actually is a "scam" to try to get people to shop at their store as this happened on another occurance I went to the Egyptian Museum. Similar thing happened.)

We followed the guy to a little shop by the museum and saw some beatiful artwork, explored essential oil options, and glasswork. We were offered delicious Hibiscus Tea while at the store.

Our fellow bus-mates, Stacy, Dana, Diana, me, and Dereck is hidden

Hibiscus Tea

From there we enjoyed Authentic Egyptian food at Felfela. Sadly, I didn't take any picture there but the food was yummy!!! A great day out on the town!

London

(This took place back in November the weekend prior to the Thanksgiving weekend.)

Before London:

It was Thursday (like a Friday in the states), Parent/Teacher conferences. Here, the students don't have school on Parent/Teacher conference day. The parents come in all throughout the regular school hours to meet with their child's teacher(s). Considering I teach almost 100 students, meeting with about 75% of all the parents, 10 minute maximum per meeting, it was constant go-go-go.

On a different note, I couldn't believe all the goodies the parents & students brought to give me. I'm used to homemade gifts from students. I'm NOT used to expensive store bought gifts. Especially delicious chocolate items and baked goods. I'm definitely spoiled rotten here.

We were down to about 1 hour of work left. I'm meeting with a parent I really wanted to meet with about their child. Yet the parent and I agreed we became each other's good luck charm when one of the Elementary AP's (Assistant Principal) came in to say "School is cancelled Sunday and Monday due to the upcoming elections." Whoo-hoo! Nothing like a last minute 4-day weekend.

Promptly that afternoon on the bus ride home, Dereck is searching for good deals on flights. We get home, hone in on London's good deals considering how expensive it can be, and book our flight. It leaves the following morning.

London:
Our direct flight was pretty empty (both directions) and allowed for each of us to have our own row to sleep.

It was interesting on the flight to hear a prayer before watching the emergency instructions in Arabic then in English. This whole video process took about 15 minutes before we could take off.

We stayed by the London Eye and Big Ben.

It was freezing cold. To the point it was snowing.

We explored by doing a lot of walking....

Buckingham Palace

...Dereck got his filling of Fish and Chips and I got some real bacon on a baked potato (bacon in Egypt is beef bacon, not the same taste as pork bacon)...

...and we felt completely relaxed.

Duck crossing

We went to go see the new Mocking Jay Part 2 movie it what used to be a theater.

We tried to go see "Platform 9 3/4s" at King's Cross but it was super crowded.

Big Ben

British Museum

British Museum

British Museum

Rosetta Stone information 

Rosetta Stone

British Museum

Sitting at a Cafe waiting to get an English breakfast

Heading to a local mall before flying back to Egypt

Taking local bus transit

Downton Abbey

Really?? It's time to go back to Cairo and back to work. Trip is over!

We took a red-eye flight back to Cairo and arrived at the airport about 6am, had a driver ready for us to take us directly to school for the work day. Making it to work just in the nick of time (which is what quite a few "young" international teachers tend to do).

This quick weekend trip wouldn't have been possible teaching in the states.