Settling Into Maadi

I really can appreciate what it feels like for new immigrants settling into a country where you don’t know the language or the beauracracy. Lucky for us we have some amazing new Egyptian friends who can soeak Arabic and English. Life would be 100% harder if not for them.

We moved into our little flat 3 days ago and have the BEST landlady. After we arrived with our bags she took us to a huge mall 20 minutes away to buy things we needed e.g. sheets, towels, jug, crockery, etc. When we got back and eventually got our 3,000 LE worth of shopping unpacked (in between cleaning) we realised there were a few things we’d forgotten so the list of necessities doubled and we are heading back to the mall tomorrow.

There were a couple of things that needed fixing. The hot water thermostat had blown so she got it replaced on the second day, the connection that holds the shower head onto the wall has snapped so that will be replaced in the next couple of days (baths in the meantime) and I had no idea how to use the washing machine or the oven. We spent the first two days CLEANING. The place was full of dust, we couldn’t see out of the windows and the beds had to be reshuffled (there were 2 double beds in the master bedroom -  go figure!) There’s only the lounge and dining area to finish off thank goodness.I will take more photos when it's presentable (sort of).

What do I miss so far? The 3 Ms. Milk, Marmite and Margarine (Olivani to be specific). The milk is UHT and comes in a carton, I can’t find Marmite or margarine in the local supermarket. Maybe tomorrow or the next day when we go back to Carfour (the mall) I’ll have better luck with the margarine. They do have Subway, Pizza Hut, etc but it’s the same  price as NZ and I’m sure the workers don’t get the same minimum wage as in NZ.

Third day in we organised to go to the airport with Ahmed, our guardian angel, to collect the 2 boxes of resources, etc I had freighted over. We left the flat at 10.30am and got back at 2.30pm. What a logistical nightmare! Everyone needed to be paid for their “service” and if we didn’t pay our way to getting the boxes the process could have taken up to 1 week. We were so thankful for Ahmed’s help! He’s helped with sorting out everyone's phones and finding our flat. Today he took  Tony to get the wi-fi connected in the house and is now fixing is laptop which crashed at Maadi Hotel.

New Friends

There is a group of 5 newbies that have arrived ready to start work at MAC. Anna and her husband Ahmed (our G.A) have been our guides and have made the group feel so welcome and part of a community, even having us over for dinner. They are basically our go to guys. The group consists of all Americans and me.

Unfortunately due to watching too much news on the TV there have been a few teachers pull out so the poor principal is having to fill 5 positions in 2 weeks. Some of the existing staff are not returning – ridiculous because we’ve seen absolutely no unrest in Maadi at all. Anyone want to come teach in Maadi?

The other night the principal took us to the ACE club for expats. It was pretty busy – Sudanese, Zimbaweans, Brits, Americans, Welshmen, and 1 other Kiwi teacher who will be working at MAC with the KG1s. Pork was number one choice for Tony and I as we can’t get it outside the club. I’m a bit over the Stella here but will continue with it until I’ve worked out what the bourbon is made of. Jim Beam is not Jim Beam… it’s Egyptian.

 The curfew has been shortened to between 9pm – 6am! Theoretically it should be gone completely by mid September which is a little bit of a worry because we are on a road of shops. Our spare bedroom faces the street front so if you are visiting bring those ear plugs.

These photos are of our flat pre clean up:

All the windows looked like this

 

 2 double beds in the main bedroom

 Huge cupboard space.

 

I'm looking forward to teacher orientation which starts on 1st September. It feels like we've been on holiday forever. If all the museums and tourist venues were open it would have been more exciting than cleaning the flat.