Hello from Cairo, Egypt!

First, I hope you all are having a splendid new school year. Barbara and I are eager to start teaching in our new school.

We arrived Sunday evening, Aug. 22, at 7 p.m. (about 11 a.m. Sunday your time, which makes us about 8 hours later than Texas time)  and were very tired. We left from Washington-Dulles International Airport at 5:30 p.m. (4:30 Texas time) and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, seven hours later, only to have another 5 hours waiting time before our flight to Cairo. Luckily, we were able to meet several teachers (like ourselves) in Frankfurt, which made waiting easier.

You probably have a few questions of your own, but here were mine -- with some answers.

1) What are your first impressions?

From the airplane, I noticed that Cairo looks like one of those science fiction cities that has tons of high-rise buildings stretching for miles. The difference is that mosques (places where Islamic people worship) and neat-looking buildings pepper the landscape. Unlike the US, where we might consider that to be too crowded, the look and feel of Cairo (from the air at least) seems more appealing. The buildings are part American, and part Islamic, which is quite different from Texas. Everything is packed into tiny spaces; the streets are dirty and dusty; there is sand on the sidewalk; there is a smell that makes you think of cigarettes, garbage, dust and polluted air all at the same time. Some of you who have been to the Texas State Fair on a hot day might understand how lots of different smells can mix together like that. Unfortunately, Cairo doesn't smell as good as the Texas State Fair (we miss the funnel cakes & corn dogs most).

Getting through Customs (that's where you tell the Egyptian government what you're brining into their country) was not as bad as we had been led to believe. This is probably because we were helped by people from the school. Customs agents did have to inspect our digital camera, which we are happy to say is still in our possession. It cost us $15 each (quick what's 15x2?) for our visas. By the way, one Egyptian Pound (known as the "LE" here) is equal to about 33 cents.

2) Where exactly do you live?

We live two blocks from the Al-Riqabah al-Idariya government building in Heliopolis. This Heliopolis, not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian religious center, is a Belgian-built section in northeastern Cairo. Just like you live in sections of Lewisville and Denton, Cairo is the same. Heliopolis is about the same distance from Downtown Cairo as Lewisville, Ponder or Justin is from Denton -- or maybe it just seems that way. Imagine having high rise buildings stretching from where you live all the way to Denton -- and then more--, and you'll get an idea of how large Cairo is. They speak Arabic here (not Egyptian) and also English and French. Our school is located in Nasr City (think Boss Nass from Star Wars, and you'll get an idea of how the word Nasr sounds).

Our apartment on Mahmoud Sadek (mah-MOOD suh-DECK) Street is pretty big; it is certainly larger than our Denton apartment. There is a small reception area with chairs and a TV (Sorry, but we miss being able to watch Looney Tunes anytime we please. We have instead settled on Nile TV, an international channel showing Arabic, English and French shows). We also have a dining room and living room, large kitchen, office/spare bedroom with two full-sized beds (or the equivalent) with room to spare, a large kitchen, full bath and lastly a large master bedroom with a king-sized (or equivalent) bed and wall to wall wardrobe/closet space. Our first full day was spent unpacking and getting to know the part of Cairo in which we live.

We walked four blocks to a Cyber Cafe to do our first e-mail to our family. From that experience I can tell you that the people here are FRIENDLY and HELPFUL. We were able to get shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, their version of Pepto Bismol, and glass cleaner from a neighborhood pharmacy without any problems. English is spoken here, but the people who speak it are sometimes hard to understand. We are working on improving our Arabic, too, which we use as much as we can. Those of you who remember about us practicing Arabic with CD-ROM will be interested to know that the dialect of Arabic here is different from standard Arabic. It's the difference between, say, people from Iowa and Texas. Texans say "y'all" for the plural you, or "might could," instead of "might be able to." Both are understood by the people who are listening, but you can easily tell an Egyptian by the way he speaks his Arabic.

The traffic is terrible, by US standards. There are no street lights or stop signs. Cars weave in and out of traffic. Lanes are painted, but no one uses them so far as we can tell. In some places you might have six cars (side by side) trying to squeeze into two painted lanes of traffic at the same time. Down smaller streets, it's not unusual for three cars to squeeze or scrape by each other (side by side). Think about marbles in a funnel, where only one marble can go down the chute at a time. Similarly, one might think of a bunch of children out at recess trying to get in the one door closest to the portables -- and get in all at the same time. But the drivers here, as reckless as they may seem, really do know what they're doing. The difference between the traffic here and coming in at recess is that the drivers talk to each other through a system of honks, which sounds like a herd of elephants trumpeting. While it's a foreign language to any Texan driver, who rarely honks at anything, it is an amazingly efficient way for these Egyptian drivers to "talk" to one another. A honk lets the drivers in front and behind know exactly where you are in relationship to them. Kind of like sonar, but on the streets instead of the ocean. Because the streets have no traffic signals whatsoever (no stop signs, no red/yellow/green lights, no yield signs, etc.), the driver has to be ready for anything, including ignorant Americans who want to cross. Speaking of which, crossing the street ain't what it used to be. The cars don't stop, so you are basically playing the video game Frogger WITH YOUR LIFE. All in all, we're enjoying the city -- what an exciting place to be.

3) How is Egypt different from Texas, and how is it the same?

It is HOT here, but dry. I could easily compare the temperatures to a good hot July day (July 4, perhaps?) when there are few clouds in the sky, but the need for a good deal of lemonade or Coke lingers in the throat. Notice I didn't mention water. Bottled water is in ample supply, and one could technically drink the water from the tap. But the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) warned us to boil our water first. Having no matches with which to light our gas stove [no, Cody, it's not a stove made of gas :-) ] we're out of luck there. We DID think to bring a water filtering pitcher, which is SUPPOSED to get rid of unwanted germs and bacteria, so we haven't been completely without water. You can also buy large bottles of water at the store.

Texas air is cleaner than Heliopolis, which almost goes without saying. The streets are made of asphalt, the buildings out of concrete and brick. But many buildings look from the outside as if they have not been well maintained. I would say that being poor and being religious are both equally seen here.


We're sure you have questions to ask. Just e-mail us back and let us know what questions you have, and we'll see about answering them here.

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Trivia Question: Who is Egypt's President?

Bonus Question: What was the symbol for life in ancient Egyptian art? Hint: King Tut has the answer in his full name.

Answers in the NEXT edition of Nile News for Kids Only.

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Vocabulary:

Misr = MISS-ruh = the Arabic name for Egypt
Visa = a stamp or document stating your ability to be in another country, usually to work.

PICTURES!

"NN1-0.jpg" This is how many boxes we took with us to Egypt.  There are two suitcases that didn't fit.  Some teachers only took 4-5 bags.  We had the most at the airport after we landed!



"NN1-2.jpg" We're waiting at the airport in Washington D.C.  Notice Mrs. Thomas' hair!  She decided to color it brown so that she wouldn't get stared at.  Blondes are very rare in Egypt!



"NN1-3.jpg" This is what the street looks like outside our apartment.  Looks a lot like a regular big city, doesn't it?




Ta Ta for Now!  If you are reading this letter at school, and you want to get this e-mail on your home computer, please send us a message at webmaster@thomasvillecentral.com

Bye!

Todd & Barbara Thomas :-)