Some Rooms of Our House (David)

All continues to go well.  One more day of work until a long weekend.  It will be good to rest and to set up the house a bit.  As you will see, we need to get some things up on the wall and move some furniture around.  We will probably explore a little too.

Our home is great.  Lots of space, outside space, and light.

Dining room and livingroom. Hall way to kitchen and bedrooms. Door on right to first bath.

Close up of living room

Diningroom from living room.  Closed double doors are the main entry.  The open door goes to office/den.   Door to the right goes to a front porch.

Doors to front porch from livingroom.

Front porch

Front porch

Hall way to bedrooms and kitchen and a back porch.

Master bedroom

View of doors to back porch from the master bedroom

View of master bedroom from back porch

Back porch

Back porch.  The door on left is the French doors to Anna's bedroom.

Ore photos to follow later ... And maybe a video.

More Photos of the School

The school is incredible.   It was created by combining four city blocks.  There is a master building plan with renovations to the high school remaining.

Wall outside school as we walk in

The wall again

Inside high school.  Open two story atrium with classes on both sides

High school class

High school cafe where Anna can go during one of her two 20 minute breaks!

Anna's schedule

Path

High school lockers 

Another coffee/tea cafe on campus

Quad, elementary school on left and admin on right.

Weight room

Pool

Field and elementary school

View from atop elementary school

Elliot's schedule

Elliot's meal options

Elliot's cafe

Middle school lockers

Math/Science for Elliot

Middle school class

Middle school class

Neighborhood

Another fine morning from Cairo.   Lost power last night for an hour.  No problem though.

Took some photos during our walk to school yesterday, so here is our neighborhood.

A "roundabout garden" 

The big street we have to cross

First day of work/orientation

Sunday - (which is the new Monday)

We had our first day of orientation today and since we work Sunday - Thursday today was "Monday."  I did not realize how culturally loaded Monday and Friday were until the work week changed to Sunday to Thursday.     

We started our day by meeting our housekeeper named Miriam.  She worked for the couple who previously lived in our flat for 29 years, and in this flat for 24 so she pretty much knows where things belong and how they work.   This was most evident when we returned home and some of the dishes we had put away had been moved.  Seems we didn't put our dishes in the right place, but hey, habits are hard to break. 

Work was good with lots of general information. The kids spent the day in the pool with the other teacher kids and are quite sunburned as a result.  At 4 pm they took us to Carrefour (think Walmart) and it was insanely busy as it was the hours right before they break the Ramadan fast for the day.  We got essentials and took a taxi home.  

The whatsapp  app is working like a charm for those of you who enjoy texting.  Elliot reports Kik works as well.   

Our house is coming together.  Most clothes are off the floor.

Oh, we did see a protest about a block from school as we walked in the morning.  Elliot asked to go closer and David and I about knocked him over with our emphatic "NO."  Once we entered the walls of the campus we forgot all about it.      

I just keep thinking Anna's college application essay is getting more interesting by the day.   

Tomorrow we get our cell phones activated and meet with our divisions.  I am going to start with the Middle School people.  

A Good Day

Yes, all fifty boxes are unpacked.  No, everything is not where it should be, but getting there.  Beds are made with our soft sheets.  Figuring out how to make a good cup of coffee.  Got to a the local fruit and veggie store called the Green Grocer.

Found a regular grocery store too with everything you could want, and at much higher prices.   Went through our "settling in allowance" pretty fast.  Even had to borrow from our Superintendent already!  I think our schedule says we do banking things on Monday.

The school is amazing.  Elliot quickly found the sprinklers and cooled off.

View of field, track and PE building in back.

View of football/soccer field and high school in back.

Elliot.

On the theater stage wi Superintendent.

Amy at her desk.

A dinner with new staff members last night was nice.  We all tried to sleep after that and wasn't really successful until midnight.  We are suppose to walk to the school in an hour and have our first day of school orientation:  welcome, tour, staying healthy, tech day 1, and a trip to Carefour.  Pretty good.

A Long Day that Ended Well

We are safe and sound in Maadi.   A long day of flights yesterday/Thursday.   We think about 30ish hours of travel door to door.  Good byes were hard as we left Columbia!  Dinner in Atlanta and watched Elliot's friend on Jeopardy win!

And off to Paris

Flight to Paris was long, had a little cafe, quiche and eclair before boarding to Cairo.

Sun setting as we came into Cairo.  Yup, the Nile.   Big, huge city.

A short bus ride and we were quickly met by two representatives of the school and travel agency.  Off to the VIP lounge as they process passports and get luggage.  Love it!  The most relaxing way to enter a country.   

And a wonderful entry to our new home.   Clean and spacious.  Our boxes are here.

And we get to enjoy unpacking and settling in.   So glad to have brought lots of "us" from Columbia.   

Today we have a little "get to know" our neighborhood, a swim at the school and a dinner early tonight.  

Storage

That's what is left!