We are slowly, painstakingly making progress towards getting settled here in Cairo. Egypt is not an easy country and every step takes effort and/or time to complete. Yesterday we visted the HSCB Bank to activate our new debit cards and convert US dollars to Egyptian Pounds. It took the help of a friendly and knowledgable bank employee to help us activate the cards. Nadia even received her “secure key” to make international transfers and phone banking. I convinced another employee at the bank to convert the USD despite bank policy that I needed to have my passport with me. Our passports are with Egyptian immigration officials for the past 23 days as they deliberate and process our work visas.
The owner changed the code to release the front door key to our new rental home. He did not inform the real estate agent working for us and so that caused a 30 minute delay of us trying to open the door. This occurred after the previous day being denied entry to the compound itself because our QR code was from the day before. We also had to get a couple more light fixtures (thanks Jana Lighting!) as the owner turns the home over to us without any light fixtures and stop at school to print apartment diagrams with the corrected lights.
The previous day we focused on Nadia’s classroom. We were moving furniture, measuring space for carpets, purchasing lamps from Carrefour and Ikea, etc. She always has a beautiful classroom and her kids are going to love it!
This is a Egyptian water tower, a different design to the tower in my village of Caspian, Michigan. Water towers supply water and importantly, water pressure to homes in the neighborhood. Electric pumps deliver water to the top of the tower during the evening when electricity rates are low, and it releases water during the day as needed. Peak hours are morning showers and evening cooking, and the reserve supplies water during these times without delays. Water towers also serve as mobile phone towers because they are placed on higher points of the neighborhoods. You can also see the fake tree that is also a cell phone tower. The towers are shaped like the ubiquitious date palms one sees around the city.
In the two neighborhoods I’ve explored in my morning runs, I encountered packs of dogs. They have tags on their ears indicating that they are vaccinated and neutered by local officials although observing the state of the city, I suspect it is not 100% coverage. The dogs approached me when I was walking Obi and I needed to pick up Obi in my arms and walk carefully out of their area. They were not agressive, barking, etc. but they were very closely following me. One of the new teachers reported that they ripped her groceries out of her hands when she was between the grocery store and her home. They also approached me on my run, but I threw a rock at them and they left me alone. They are a nuisance and people report them barking at night. I wonder why citizens tolerate these packs of dogs in parks or open areas?
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