First Cairo Impressions

Now I am in Cairo, writing this from the 13th floor of the restaurant in my hostel in downtown Cairo, over looking tall apartment buildings, unfinished top floors, mosques jutting upwards, banks, one church, and buildings with Arabic writing going up it. The city is endless, and the smog makes it so you can see faint silhouettes of sky scrapers, but nothing more. It is hot, but there is a breeze coming through the window. There are a dissonance of sounds; Arabic prayer coming through a loud speaker, honks from the traffic below, the buzz of air conditioning.

I just finished my breakfast. Two pieces of bread, jam, butter, and tea. I treated myself to some extra chocolate that I bought in Switzerland though.

The trip from the airport to my hostel was supposed to be painless. In less than 20 minutes, I landed, bought a visa, changed some money, and grabbed my bags to find someone waiting for me with my name. This was the assistant to the lady who was helping me to find an apartment, chosen because it was much trustier than just a normal taxi. Instead, it turned into a mini disaster when the car broke down on the sixth of October bridge. This is the largest bridge in Cairo, and it stretches over a large number of slums in the city. Yes, the car broke down, and the three of us in the car were behind it, pushing it, trying to get it to start in the midst of honking and traffic. It started once, but that was a tease because 300 feet later, it broke down again. We ended up pushing it off of the bridge for a good half mile to a place where I could take a taxi with Ahmed, the younger guy who came along. We made it to the hostel just fine, and he helped me buy a cell phone. This was key, because without it I wouldn’t have found the bus to the school the next morning.

The next day, orientation at the school where I will be teaching until June started at around 9:30, after being picked up by the staff bus in a downtown square (Tahrir Square) at around 8. It was definitely overwhelming the first day; to meet a number of people, my bosses, see my classroom, begin to learn the rules of the school, and knowing that what you are learning is just the tip of the iceberg to all of the little things that go into being a foreign teacher. Fortunately, everyone at the school is very pleasant, and there are also at least two others in my position, so people have extended themselves to being very helpful.

I now have the next two days off, maybe three, depending on when Ramadan decides to begin. The first day of Ramadan is when the Crescent moon shows itself, so it could start on either Sunday or Monday. There is no way of knowing until Saturday night. Tomorrow I will look at apartments, and I have a large amount of material to read and prepare. The way I see it, this whole time in Cairo will be a mental test; challenging my threshold to the complete foreign and my resilience to it. In work, it will be doing the best job that I can.

I am sure that part of me is going through culture shock, but that has been the plan all along. I know that this will be tough, but my goals are still the same, to learn Arabic, make friends, to learn about myself, and to find meaning in the Middle East.