A week ago today (Columbia time) our yoga class was just ending and I was having a terrible time saying goodbye to Anne's Thursday morning group. A week later (on Cairo time), my day is at least 1/2 over and we have toured the Citadel, the Mohammed Ali mosque, visited a bazaar, been out to lunch and organized our linen/medicine closet.
Life is surprisingly calm and quiet in our section of town. We are in the expatriate area with more trees and grass than in the rest of the Cairo combined. It is almost an urban oasis. As we were touring today they told us we were within two blocks of Tahrir square, but we didn't notice anything at all and would have had no idea.
The kids have adjusted extremely well. Anna has been hanging out with two other teacher kids (girls) who will be entering 9th grade. She has taught them the word "ratchet" and a few other things. She has adopted an Australian accent when saying "hello." Elliot has 3 boy teacher kids with whom to hang out. He has played a lot of pool (an excellent life skill) and has gotten to know many of the new teachers.
We have about gotten over jetlag and are able to fall asleep at night. The other teachers are extremely nice and interesting. It is a mix of ages and nationalities. David and I are fortunate in that our positions will allow us to interact with a large percentage of the staff.
I will post some pictures soon of domestic elements that are different from our old house. I realized today that our kitchen here is laid out exactly the same way as Columbia in terms of placement of the frig, sink and stove - when you visit you will have a good sense of where the food, plates etc are located.
Good to know how everyone is settling in. Dad was so excited to talk with y'all yesterday!
ReplyDeleteAn Australian accent!? Too funny!
Sounds so exciting! Wish I were ther with you! Diana
ReplyDelete