Ok! So here come the pics of the apartment they don't really do it justice but you get the point! Sorry for the mess it was mid unpack...:) First is my bedroom...

 My closet...

 The rug in my room- I really like it- it may come home with me...

 My little make-up table

 Our kitchen...

 The living room..all of those couches pull out into beds! Visitors welcome!

 the view into the dining room

 our door and fireplace

 the view out our windows

 our delicious falafal lunch!

Sorry for the lame descriptions but I am tired! Heading to bed but going on some adventures tomorrow and will have plenty of stories to share!

Cairo Time

We finally made it!! 24 hours after our goodbyes we were finally on the ground. And boy it was hot, well hot for 11pm anyways. As we were herded onto the bus to the terminal it hit me- we are actually here. No more planning, no more research, no more wondering…it is time to live it...and live it we did.

Since I know you are wondering about every little detail of our first 24 hours in Cairo- here they come…EVERY SINGLE DETAIL (well the boring ones will be filtered out but know now there are very few of those).

Purchase of an Entry Visa: There were four or five exchange booths that sold entry visas. Clearly I wanted to go to the one with the cutest man but he had a line so we went to the one next to him. He was very nice, we handed him $15 and he handed us a Visa.

Immigration: Easiest immigration I’ve ever been through…not a word was said, I handed over my passport and entry visa, he stamped it, passed it to a lady then she gave it back to him, he gave it back to me and I was on my way.

Baggage Claim: Our bags were there ready for us so it was just a matter of lugging them off the belt. Lets just say Lee Ann struggled a little bit, was even offered help from an old lady in a wheelchair.

Then we were off to look for the sign for the school, there were lots of people and lots of signs but we found it. So these two nice men holding a sign for our school said hello, and began to help us with our luggage we crossed through a parking lot and then looked at each other and said, “is this who we are supposed to be following?” we both kind of shrugged and kept walking (not the best thing to do in retrospect- don’t worry mom it won’t happen again). But then we saw the van and it had the name of our school on it and we were handed a cell phone to speak to a coordinator from the school (in English).  So we were reassured. A semi-hectic 25-minute drive later we were picking her up and heading to our apartment. 

Our apartment: It’s huge. It’s amazing. It is looking for some friends and family and visit. It needs some decorating but it will be great (and its air conditioned).

Now for the adventures. There was a knock at the door excited to see who our visitors were we rushed to the door. Could NOT get it open. Apologizing through the door and fumbling with the locks (there are multiple) we finally realized we needed to put the key in the door to open it. Good thing we figured it out cause it was the guys here to fix the air conditioner!  The next knock at the door was not as great, a boy who we thought was here to pick something up that the repairman had forgotten wasn’t here for that reason luckily we called our soon to be Egyptian BFF and had him give this boy a talking to. Long story short- we learned our lesson make sure you know what the person on the other side of the door wants.  Our third visitor of the day was the phone man – here to fix our landline. He could not have come at a better time- right as we were trying to order food and struggling to provide an address he was here.

As for the rest of the day we will be taken to get cell phones, the air conditioner guys are coming back to put in a new (bigger) air conditioner and hopefully our food will arrive!

Everything so far is going well, now all we need is to figure out how to work the toilet….

Halfway there...

What a start. Everything was going great, saw the Golden Hawks bus at the airport, saw a hot Egyptian man in line for check-in and was checked in by a nice lady from Scotland (which did nothing but make me Scotland sick).  Got through security- no problem, spent too much money- no problem, got to the gate- no problem, flight delayed- no problem, flight delayed a bit more- a little bit of a problem but who cares things could be worse. Then we board…great seats just the 2 of us with a lot of extra leg room to the side and front. Could not be happier. We get ready for take off, begin to accelerate, lift off the ground…and POP some overhead bins pop open, other than a bit of a startle not a problem. The incline is bumpy then it happened- the masks that they say will drop in an emergency drop, you can feel the sense of overwhelming panic in the plane (I should mention only 4 masks fell). But that led to a bit more panic- wait do I not get saved? Needless to say since I am writing this everything was fine and the panic subsided except for the little unease that came over me every time I looked over and saw them hanging there- the whole flight.

In Heathrow the day could not be longer. There’s only so much sitting a person can do. We went for breakfast, tried to nap on some chairs while eavesdropping on some workers discontentment rants about their jobs and catching them looking at us every once in a while.

Now sitting here listening to all the flight announcements thinking about all the places I could have chosen to go and I start to wonder- was this the right choice? I hear announcements for flights to Toronto and think about how for granted I take Toronto when I’m there and how sucky it is to leave all my friends and family. Then I hear announcements for Edinburgh- oh Edinburgh I love you….there’s something about hearing it’s name, thinking about it, talking about it that just feels right. I have always said I see myself settling in Toronto but maybe I jumped to that conclusion too soon. Or maybe I don’t want to be in Toronto or Edinburgh but they feel safe and easy. Who knows? Maybe I am just overtired, still a little drugged (from the gravol and melatonin) and I hate to say it but scared…

Scared or not- Cairo- here we come! (after a couple more hours waiting around Heathrow) 

One Week Away.

Well, here I go. Again. A new adventure. A new country. A new continent. I make the move to Cairo one week today. How do I feel about it? Anxious, excited, nervous, sick.

Before I say anything more I will answer these common questions for everyone (well, for all 5 of you who I think will read this – and I’m being generous saying 5!)

Egypt? Yes.

Is it safe? I don’t know.

Are you crazy? I’d be crazy not to embrace this opportunity.

Are you sure it’s safe? I’ve registered with the embassy, I’ll make good choices, use my head and whatever happens, happens.

Now the hard part- third year leaving the country, third time making seemingly endless to do lists and hardest of all third time saying goodbye. I recently was given a new way to look at goodbyes- don’t say goodbye unless its forever. Say goodnight, have sweet dreams, and see you in the morning. In this case the dreams will be 9 months long but I hope they will be sweet for me, everyone I meet on my travels and everyone I know and love back home, and I will see you all in the morning. The morning of June 2^nd that is!

Another thing people always ask me is what am I going to miss. The obvious answer is my friends and family- but we’ve gotten good at keeping in touch through Skype and e-mails. Now when I go somewhere I miss things about all the places I’ve been- things that I miss even when I’m home. I miss going for dak galbi in Bupyeong and drinking Irn Bru on the Mile. I miss what makes a place unique- the moments that can never be recreated and never should be. Going away reminds me to treasure my experiences and memories but never let them stop me from experiencing the moment.

It’s simple. It’s how I live my life. For better or for worse. Carpe Diem.