Back to the Beginning - The New Chapter

(NOTE: This post has been waiting, unpublished, while I tried to figure out how to add pictures. Some things, like technology, are just not quite the same as it was in the states.  Some things test one's patience!)

Good-Byes and Hellos:

A week before departure, a sweet couple with 18 month old triplets wanted to see our house.  Four days before departure, they made us an offer and we accepted! With a signed purchase agreement in hand, we made our way to the Title Company to start the process and signed over power of attorney.

The last few days were spent with friends and family. Cassandra came home from college to see us off.  We moved to my parent's house, but still had some packing to do.  Pack, weigh the bags, purge, weigh again, purge again - weigh again, move things from one suitcase to another.  At last we had it.  The last day we went to dinner with both sets of parents and then Gary still had to take the raft out of the lake (around midnight) and winterize the boat!  That's okay, we really weren't going to sleep anyways!

My whole family came to see us off. Sister Linda and hubby Dana flew in from Alaska, sister Jody and hubby Doug came in from Texas via a lot of other places, and the kids came home from Lansing. Mom and Dad surprised us all with matching t-shirts that say "Laura and Gary's Egyptian adventure"

Cassandra's BBF since kindergarten with her mom (also my Girl Scout co-leader, and these two were the last to stay in GS!)

Gary's parents, my parents, and Cassandra the night before departure

Gary tried to give Scott a refresher course so he would want to come see us and dive the Red Sea.

We took lots of boat rides on Lake Michigan before departure.  This is Cassandra and me.

Wonderful neighbors, friends, Bunco buddies, and cool kids.  We went to Fayette SP by boat, then to The Docks restaurant on Garden Peninsula.

We were so lucky to get to see Kris, my MSU college roommate and good friend from high school who now lives in Oklahoma 

Judy set Gary and me up on a blind date once upon a time.  So fun to get to spend time with her and her lovely hubby, Paul.

We were glad to be able to spend time with this busy lady and her hubby before we left!

Sharon's hubby, Jim and Gary pose in front of the CG ship that happened to stop by Esky before we departed.

Dinner at The Stonehouse before departure.  Thank-you to the UU's who provided us with a nice gift card for this delicious restaurant!

August 4, my parents and Cassandra took us to the Sawyer International Airport in Marquette, MI for departure.  We flew American Airlines to Chicago.

This is the whole airport - yep, one terminal!

From Chicago, we flew Etihad Airlines.  Never heard of it?  That's okay - neither had we!  I had heard stories about Middle Eastern airlines being very different than US airlines, but that was not our experience. From the gate in Chicago, to the gate in Abu Dhabi, 14 hours later, everything was very organized and familiar.  Like most US planes,  I sat squished in a seat that would not recline, while the seat in front of me reclined back so far, the person was nearly in my lap and my knees were pressed into the back of the seat. Etihad really does feed you well, however.  I guess they want to fatten everyone up so they are forced to buy  first class tickets next time they fly since the seats in first class fit fatter butts. That's good business!  Capitalism at its finest!

Settling in for our 14 hour flight!

In Abu Dhabi, we were surprised by how many people were speaking English.  In addition, it really made me happy that I was born in an English speaking country since anywhere you go in the world, airport signs are written in English in addition to the local language.  Our phone said the temperature in Abu Dhabi was 111 degrees while we were there.  In the air conditioned airport, it was hard to tell - but on the way to get on the plane, part of the jetway was having air-conditioning issues, so we truly experienced that 111 degrees.  WOW!


After Abu Dhabi, we flew another 5 hours to Cairo.  That's where things started to get interesting!  In Cairo, we got off the plane and immediately on to a bus that took us to the terminal.  We had barely gotten in to the terminal when we spotted a very tall lady holding a sign with our name on it.  I was confused because I was told Muhammed would be meeting us at the airport.  Anyhow, we walked up to the woman and she said "Give me your passports and $50 US money" - just like that!  No "hello" or pleasantries - there was no time to waste I guess!  Anyhow, we did as she said and she directed us to go wait in the line for immigration while she took off with our money and passports!  We would be lying if we said we weren't a little freaked out by this, but soon enough she returned with our stamps, said something to the immigration officer - and our passport was stamped and we were pushed through.  Now we waited for our luggage.  She directed us to get the free carts, told us where to wait, and she talked to the guys who were taking luggage off the trolleys to try to get ours off as quickly as possible.  As soon as all 7 of our bags were on our carts, we had to go through customs.  There was quite a long line and this was going to take awhile.  Tall lady to the rescue again!  She told us not to wait in the line but to go to a different place.  She talked a customs officer into coming to where we were.  He asked us what was in our bags, laughed, and said "Welcome to Egypt" and we were done!  Now tall lady introduced us to short lady who said she would walk us outdoors to meet Muhammed.  Tall lady quickly departed, short lady walked us out among a crowd of people who all seemed to be talking about "Americans" (as that was the only word I understood)- so I assume they were talking about the Americans who skipped through customs by making their own line!

Muhammed walked us a short way through the parking lot where he introduced us to a man who would be our driver.  Muhammed took out his wallet, counted out 50 US dollars for me, and turned around to head back to the airport and told us to follow the driver.  At the van, about 6 men and women (all who appeared to be over 50 years old) grabbed our luggage and loaded it into the van.  Then, they stood there looking at us.  One woman said "money" so I asked the driver if we should tip them because we did not have any Egyptian money yet.  The driver did not seem to speak English, nor did we speak any egyptian arabic.  Finally during this uncomfortable moment, Muhammed appeared and I was able to ask him if I should tip and how much.  He waved me off and said "No" and directed us into the van. Later I did see him call over one of the luggage people and hand her some money.  It was sometime in the parking lot or at the van that Gary's MSU water bottle disappeared off his backpack.

Now we departed for the 3 1/2- 4 hour ride to Alexandria.  It was hazy, but very warm (about 95 degrees) Because it was a weekend, traffic was relatively light we were told.  I had read blogs by other teachers here at Schutz, and anticipated the traffic - so this did not come as such a big surprise.  We only saw a glimpse of the pyramids as we departed Cairo. We were certainly anxious to get to our apartment because by this time we had only had about 4 hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours and were functioning on adrenaline.

We thought we would avoid fast food once in Egypt, but this was the first place they took us after we arrived.  This is me after a couple VERY long days of traveling!

Inside the Cairo McDonald's things looked quite familiar!

I had to try a more Egyptian option at McD's.  Gary had a Big Mac.  He said it tasted almost the same.

It was dark by the time we arrived at Schutz School.  We were driven through the gate, where a team of people were ready to welcome us, including the head of school, Tom Baker.  Tom showed us where we would come for breakfast the next morning, then lead us out the gate and across the street to our apartment building.  A whole army carried our very heavy bags.  The apartment building has marble entrance and a tiny little elevator, which Tom, Gary, and I squeezed into (along with one more person).  By the time we entered our apartment, the army of workers had managed to haul all of our luggage up the stairs!

The school was completely ready for us.  All of the lights were on in the apartment, the airconditioning was going, there were fresh flowers on the table, the refrigerator was stocked with yogurt, cheeses, fruits, bread, peanut butter, jelly, milk, and juice.  They had completely furnished our apartment with brand new furniture, area rugs, and appliances!  The beds were made and all that was left was for us to say good-night.  Before Tom left, he gave us 2000 in Egyptian pounds (approximately $200 US dollars) and directions on how to get on the wifi.  What a great first impression!!

Stocked fridge! Gary was excited to have a plate of cheese and juice to drink.

The Great Flower Adventure, Egyptian-style

After 2 weeks of being in Egypt, the flowers that graced our apartment when we first arrived had now sufficiently faded and found their way into our trash can.  The table looked a bit bare, so I started bugging Gary to buy me a new bouquet on one of his adventures around town. Each day, Gary has explored more and more of the city, first by walking, then by tram, and most recently, by the brand new bike he bought.  Today when I arrived home, I was pleased to find a dozen or so roses on the table, but not as pleased to realize that he had cut about 10 inches off of the stems.  However, I had not realized what he had gone through to get these flowers - so I feel like a bit of a heel for complaining that he had cut them too short!

If you are not from Egypt and do not speak Arabic, well, buying flowers is not quite like calling up your local ftd florist.  It can be an adventure, as Gary soon learned.

Here is the story he related:

Around 8:00am, after packing his backpack with water and his phone, he headed off on his bike for the Montaza Gardens. He had taken his time and stayed downtown through lunch, and was therefore out during the hottest part of the day. The temperature was well over 90 degrees F.  By the time he headed home, he had biked about 18 miles and was very hot and tired.  On his way home, he remembered that he had told me that he would get me flowers. He had found a place just a block from our apartment that sold plants, so he figured he would stop there.  When the shop owner approached, Gary asked for flowers.  The owner, speaking no English, kept talking back to Gary in Arabic - and Gary started using hand signs to describe to him that he wanted some cut flowers. At long last, the owner said a long sentence in Arabic where Gary recognized the word "bouquet".  Quite excited, Gary nodded and said "Yes, Bouquet!"  The man then said "One minute" and left to talk to another man.  Gary assumed he would send the man somewhere to cut some flowers from a tree or something to make a bit of money.  The other man was talking on his cell phone, walking around.  Eventually, that man picked up a cactus and gestured for Gary to follow him.  So, Gary followed him across the street, pushing his bike.  After about 3-4 blocks, the man said, "One minute" and pointed at the ground and then pointed that he needed to go a different way.  The next thing Gary knew, the man came up beside him in a Tuk-tuk and gestured to "follow me".  So, Gary got on his bike, with his backpack in his hand, and started chasing a tuk-tuk down the very busy, uneven, Egyptian road, having no idea where this man was taking him or why he was following some random stranger who had just bought a cactus.  Eventually, the man stopped at a store, where he told Gary "one minute" as he walked over to a waiting customer and handed her the cactus.  He then asked Gary, in English, "How much?"  Gary said 25 pounds (which is the equivalent of $2.50 US.  Yah, he likes me that much! lol)  He then asked, in English "Colors?" to which Gary said, "All of them".   The man then started pulling flowers out and handing them to his son.  His son was then carefully wrapping them.  Gary then gave the man a 50 pound note, but he seemed very confused because you almost always have to give exact change when purchasing things.  He then walked over to the woman who had bought the cactus and she started to dig through her wallet.  She found a 20 pound note and he gave that to Gary while she was looking for more change.  Wanting to give the poor guy a tip for his trouble, Gary just waved his hand and said his only Arabic word he knows "Shokran" (thank-you) and left.  He then carried the flowers home on his bike, one handed, through the maze of rubbish, cars, street cats and dogs, tuk-tuks, walkers, potholes, and rocks - nearly hitting a car himself.  By the time he reached home, he was drenched with sweat and exhausted.  And that was the end of his Great Flower Adventure.  Mission Accomplished!

No Rules Apply

A man was walking down the Corniche (a famous Egyptian road that follows the Mediterranean Sea) with this message on his t-shirt: "No rules apply".  Yep, that's Egypt - and yet it is not.  This is a wonderful world of many contrasts.

We have been in Alexandria, Egypt ten days now.  Well, minus a couple of days that we spent either in Kenya or in transit to and from Kenya.  It has been a wonderful, whirlwind experience thus far.  I am overwhelmed with everything I need to learn and everything that is new and different and chaotic, and yet despite the chaos, there is a peace as well as a simplicity of life here.

The first thing people seem to notice upon first arrival in Egypt is the traffic.  While I am sure there must be some rules, to an outsider like me, the rules seem non-existent.  For one thing, I have yet to see a patrol car pull anyone over for a traffic violation.  There do not seem to be any stop signs or yield signs at 90% of intersections.  The rule seems to be, "honk and go".  Yes, on the highway there are 3 lanes supposedly going one way, but Egyptian drivers pay them no mind, often driving 5 cars across.  Changing "lanes" every few seconds also seems to be a rule - never go in a straight line to get anywhere.  To make driving even more fun, Egyptian pedestrians seem to enjoy a game of Human Frogger, dodging between these 3-5 lanes of cars that are swerving and maneuvering.  Then there are the horse or donkeys and carts that are also traveling on those same 3+ lane roads, and sometimes you may see someone who decides to stop completely in the middle of a lane, when the rest of the traffic is moving at 50 mph or faster - or even start backing up or turn around completely and drive in the wrong direction.  Really, anything is possible on Egyptian roads.  Yet, somehow, miraculously, it works most of the time. (Although Egypt does have 12,000 traffic fatalities per year and many more thousands that are injured in traffic accidents)  Anyhow, I am very glad that my "commute" to get to work is a short walk across the street, the school has drivers, Uber is available, and honestly, we can walk or ride the tram to get to most things - getting a driver's license for Egypt is certainly not high on our priority list and we are very happy to let the local experts do the driving!

Just a small glimpse at what the lanes always seem to look like - whether traveling 10 mph or 60 mph.

This is not a one-way street!

On side-streets, I have seen drivers pull in their sideview mirrors just to get through, with cars parked on both sides of the road.  You might think this is a one-way road, but NO, soon enough someone is backing up or trying to find a small space in which to squeeze in order to let the other driver pass by.  Road rage?  I haven't seen it.  Somehow, through this all, most people tend to be quite respectful of one another.  Quite a contrast from driving in the USA where the slightest infraction of a rule (driving too slow in the passing lane, for example) will cause cursing and displays of the middle finger.

Another "No rules apply" situation occurred when we had to get our yellow fever vaccination in order to travel to Kenya. Muhammed, our local expert, friend, and angel said to bring our passports. Simple, right? Drive to a public hospital, show our passports and get it done. Not in Egypt!  After trying at two public health departments, we were told we needed to go to the Port Authority.  Once at the Port Authority, we were directed across the street to a copy machine where Muhammed made several copies of passports.  Then we were told we needed permission to enter the port.  Off to another location where we waited for a long time, and Muhammed was able to get his entry, but we were told that foreigners had to go to still another location to get our entry permission.  At some point we were brought upstairs to meet the head of the Port Authority who needed to give us a waiver because we did not have our plane tickets with us.  Finally, we were brought into the port health department where we were led to an office with three men at desks who seemed to all need to check out our passports and entry forms before entering our information into old fashioned ledgers as no computers were to be seen.  It felt as if we had stepped back in time at least 50 years.  After at least 5 hours,  we were given our shots.  We were then told to return the next day because they wanted to make sure we got malaria shots.  Muhammed verified this information with at least 2 people before we departed. The next time we came it would be "easy", we were assured.  So, back we went a day and a half later.  Entry to the Port Authority?  Nope - our entry documents had expired!  Special permission had to be granted again, but once inside, all the rules had changed.  Oh, no, foreigners could not get malaria medication at the Port Authority - foreigners needed to go to a different location and pay money.  So, off we went again  - a bit easier this time - but the malaria medication was a pack of pills, not a shot.

Two darling boys we met while waiting at the Port Authority.  The older boy said he is 15 and wanted to practice his English a bit. They both wanted to get my picture, so I asked for a picture of them in return.

Our new friend and overall amazing, wonderful angel, Muhammed, who figured out how to get us our needed shots in time to leave for Kenya.

For those who moan about those darn "government regulations" in the USA that are taking away freedoms for businesses to do what they want, (or even individual property owners) I don't think you would really be happy with the alternative.  Although I do think Egypt probably has regulations, it is not clear to me that those regulations are made with any specific goal in mind, with any grand plan, or sustainable.  Therefore, it seems to an outsider that "No rules apply".  Buildings are built in the middle of the night - the sense is that these are illegal buildings, often ignoring any codes Egypt may or may not have. (Some look a bit crooked and dangerous).  Some buildings may have a bit of a sidewalk in front, others build right up to the road with no sidewalk.  When buildings are torn down, the rubble sits there for kids to play on.  If you want to open a dress shop in your apartment on the fifth floor, go ahead.  If your neighbor wants to open a butcher store - quite alright - you don't mind the blood running down the street in front of your apartment building, do you?  If you do mind, I guess you move your dress shop.

But, as I have said - this is a world of many contrasts. So, although it appears on many levels that "No Rules Apply" - the minute you try to do anything, you at once realize that MANY rules apply, and you only learn them as you go.

Certainly, things are "different" here than they are in the USA.  As you read my blog, please keep in mind that just because things are different does not necessarily mean they are better or worse.  I sincerely believe that the world would be very boring if we were all exactly the same.  We all have unique personalities and talents.  In the same way, each culture and each country is unique, making for a very interesting world.  When one is not born into a certain way of life, it is hard to understand the subtle intricacies of why things are the way they are.  By contrast, when one is born into a culture, one does not even think about why things are the way they are - those things are just accepted.  As I write more blogs, this theme will reappear as I talk about the contrasts between cultures and beliefs.

SO MUCH TO LOVE!

After being in Egypt 10 days now (minus the time we spent in Kenya), I can honestly say there are many things I love about this place.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1) The weather.  Blue skies and sunshine every single day.  Temperatures in the 80's and low 90's.

2) The commute to work:  Right across the street!

The wall is my school, and I am about to turn in to my apartment. The round part on the far end of the wall is the guard house where I turn in to the school.   I actually took this picture because it shows another thing I love - horses and donkeys and carts are still used by some!

A delivery to school!

3) The flowers and flowering trees.  Absolutely beautiful!

4) The prices!  2.5 gigs of data and more texts and calls than we can use, for $5 USD per month/per phone.  5 cents for a tram ride across the city.  30 cents for a 1 liter of soda.

5) The support staff - the cooks, maids, laundress, drivers, finance office, maintenance, custodial, etc.  The support from the school has been so amazing that I will devote a full post to that aspect called "Teacher Heaven" - so more on this later!

It is so nice to come home to a clean apartment with my laundry all done and folded!

6) The swimming pool!  I have been trying to swim laps each day. We also love playing with the adorable children who are here with their American teacher parents.  Gary has been going exploring during the day while I am in new teacher training classes or working in my classroom, so he jumps in to cool off as soon as he gets back.

7) Positive Environment!!  Everyone is so supportive and so nice - and being happy, positive, and nonjudgmental is definitely encouraged!

I have started several other posts, but trying to get the pictures on this Chromebook so that I can use them to update my blog has been challenging.  I'll try to post more regularly now that I am able to use more than just my phone!