In the Beginning...

...there was a lot. So much stuff has happened in the last three days. I'll try to keep it short, but consider yourself warned.

On the way over here I sat next to Charlie, an American contractor who works in Iraq and Kuwait. Needless to say, we had some difference, but I tried not to make that too big of a deal. I just let him talk - which he pretty much did for the whole 10 hour plan ride. Once he started drinking.....let's just say things were no longer PG. He said he'd email pictures of "some crazy shit" from Iraq, so we'll see what, if anything, that produces.

The rest of the trip was pretty boring. Elliott and I had a bratwurst and a liter of beer for breakfast in Frankfurt, and then we went to sleep until our plan took off. And I pretty much slept the whole flight from Frankfurt, so things didn't get interesting until we got to Cairo....

When we got off the plane, passengers from three or four flights were feeding into the concourse towards customs. Everything was shoulder to shoulder, and even though lanes were painted on the floor, there was no discernible lines. In other words, it was a perfect microcosm of Cairo. We shoved our way through customs, stopping only so Elliott could hit on some Canadian girls whose high school graduation present was a 5 week romp through Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. Once we cleared customs, we found our driver outside. His name was Muhammed Kareem. His English wasn't that great, but it was fun talking to him. He's about our age, and studying math at Ayn Shams University, which is one of the big, public colleges in Cairo.

Driving with Muhammed was an adventures. There are lanes and speed limits, but both are completely ignored in Cairo. I honestly don't think they even notice them. So, if there's a big street, say 6 painted lanes wide, there will actually be 7-8 lanes of traffic and at least a couple of lanes of parked cars. It took some getting used to, but I really like it now. It's pretty efficient, and I have yet to see a wreck. Looking around at all the cars, I'm sure they happen, but I haven't seen one. I guess what i really like about it is the fact that there's no such thing as a timid driver in Cairo.

When we got to our hotel, there were about 10 guys sitting in the lobby. This seemed really strange to me at the time, but I understand why now. The World Bank estimates put unemployment rates in Egypt at around 25%, so every place has loads more employees than they really need. It's just how Egyptians help each other out. Anyway, one of the guys took our bags up to our room, which was pretty nice given the fact that we were paying 23 US a night. Elliott goes to tip the guy, and hands him a five dollar bill. The guy stared for a second, smiled, and then left the room. Once he left, I explained to Elliott while LE5 would have been a really generous tip, he had just given him the equivalent of about LE30. But, it payed off, because before we could even sit down, we got a call asking if we'd like to move to a better room. Elliott told the guy that we'd want to see the room first. At first, I couldn't figure out why they thought the new room was better; it actually looked a bit smaller and the TV was tiny. But then the attendant opened the curtains, and I saw why we were morning. Out the window was a perfect view of the Nile, with the full moon shinning of choppy water. Needless to say, Elliott and I just stood there for a second before going to getting our bags from the other room.

The next morning, Elliott and I went and wandered around our neighborhood. We found a place to eat breakfast, Cilantro, which we realized, as soon as we finished ordering and paying, was a rip off for tourists and ex-pats. Oh well. Then we took a taxi over to ILI, where they showed us around. Nice looking place, I can't wait to start class. Then, one of the employees walked us to a couple of different flats to check out. The first one was huge, 2 bedrooms, and LE4500. But it wasn't going to be available for 2 weeks. So we asked the lady if she had anything that would be available sooner. She said she did, and walked us to the building next door. We walked up to this flat, where she proceeded to bang on the door and ring the doorbell for about ten minutes, while fiddling around with different keys. After about 15 minutes, she gave up. So Elliott and I made plans to come back the next day with Adam to check it out. Then, we walked across the neighborhood, Sahafieen, to check out another place. This one was cheaper, but the land lady didn't seem as nice and we had to pay for our own electricity, which would have probably made it just as expensive. We told her we call her, to which she responded by making a big fuss about how she couldn't make any promises about it being available. Typical Cairen.

Once we got back to the school, we stuffed ourselves on a huge lunch of rice, tomatoes, and junks of beef, plus a huge glass of strawberry juice. Sorry for the details, but it was a really good lunch. And all for only 4 bucks. (Karl, you would surely have approved.)

Later, we went and woke up Benkato, who had just gotten in that afternoon, at his hotel. Then the three of us head back across the Nile to the area Elliot and I were staying, Zamalak. We found this little hole in the wall joint, where, with the help of passers-by, we managed to order dinner. Again, amazing. We had chicken, rice, chopped liver, and pita with baba ganoosh (it's a paste made out of egg plant, like humus). All for a wopping LE12. At an exchange rate of 5.7, that means we ate dinner for about 2 dollars. Have I mentioned how much I like this city yet?

After dinner, we wandered down the street and stopped in a hookah cafe. We shared a hookah and each had a glass of teach (Arabic whiskey according to one of the locals). After that, we wandered around a bit more, and then Benkato headed back to his hotel.

The next morning, Elliott and I went and picked up Benkato and we walked over to check out this last apartment. After looking around, we decided this was the place. Three bedrooms, fully furnished, and wifi access. All for LE 3450, which works out to slightly less than 200 US a person per month. We're very satisfied. I've been thinking how cool it is that the first apartment I ever rent is in Egypt. Somewhere in the negotiations and contract signing, the Land Lady asked me my name. Somehow from Hunter, she got Honda. How, I don't know, but it looks like it's kinda stuck as Elliott and Adam have taken to addressing me as Honda

After indulging in a 5 hour siesta, we went out and Adam got a SIM card for his phone. Only one problem, his phone wouldn't work with the SIM card. So I went and bought a phone (Mom - I'll get a number for it soon). Then Adam called his uncle and they went and met up while Elliott waited in line at the phone store. After Adam and his uncle hooked up, they came and met us at the phone store. His uncle took us out to dinner at a Lebanese place and then we went and had drinks at one of his favorite haunts, a Danish place called Trionon. I had some really tasty mint tea.

After drinks, he took us on a driving tour of parts of Cairo. We drove around for about an hour and half. The city was just as crowed at midnight as it was at noon. For those of you who think you've been to a night city, well, let me just say that New York (and I suspect LA) ain't got nothing on Cairo. Anyways, after driving around and checking out millenia old palaces and aqua ducts, as well as the original city wall, we headed back to Mohandeseen (our neighborhood). As we were driving back, Adam's uncle said we'd only seen about 10% of the city.

Once we got back, Adam's uncle showed us his place. Out of a city of 20+ million people, Adam's uncle's place is less than a block away from ours. Crazy. We showed him around our place for a bit, and then he left. We messed around a bit, I made a failed attempt to call my mom, and then we hit the sack. This morning, my sleep was temporarily disturbed at about 4:30 by the sounds of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. The chant is beautiful, and I can say in all honesty that I didn't mind the disturbance in the least bit.

When we finally got up, we cleaned for a bit and then headed to Tahir square. As soon as we got out of the cab, we were approached by a merchant. I won't say what he was selling, but suffice to say that Elliott and I got ripped off, although me less so than him. I'm gonna have to work on that, or I'll have no money left. After that, we checked out AUC and then wandered around while Adam and Elliott check out clothes. I've come to realize that they're worse than women.

Alright, for those of you who wasted your time reading this far, I'll spare you any more suffering. Suffice it to say that as crowed and dirty as this city is, I'm in love with it. I'll try to keep future post shorter, so check back soon.