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I’m in Cairo.

I arrived yesterday at 3:30 p.m., and after being picked up at the airport by Islam, an employee of the school, went to my apartment and started to make myself at home.

My address is (get ready for this!):

Scott Foster

Bld 53, 5^th district, Flat 4/Floor 4/New Nerco Building, Degla (or Deyla – I can’t quite tell if it’s y or g), Maadi

I have a cell and home phone, and have updated those numbers on the left. Anyone who might call needs to be aware of the country code (20) for Egypt and city code (2) for Cairo.

But, email is still the absolute easiest way to keep in touch for cheap.

Over the next twelve hours, I mixed sleep with organizing the apartment, stopped by the corner store (conveniently across the street from my apartment) to buy some groceries, and took some photos of the apartment to share. You can currently see them on the left side of this page, and can later access them using my Picassa web albums page. (Okay, there's some weird block...but if you click on the Glacier photos, you can access my Picassa web album of Glacier. A few quick clicks should avail you of my public albums, where you might find "my apartment." Sorry if it doesn't work, there's some strange blocking going on...)

I also arrived on the same plane as a teaching couple, Rich and Marci – new hires who are from Texas originally. I like them already and am beginning to enjoy hanging out with them getting used to Cairo with them. We’ve since hit a couple of restaurants and shopping centers together.

My apartment is incredible. Hayah Academy has provided me with a place that has a large dining room, a very nicely sized and cozy television room with nice couches and chairs, a great guest bedroom with a walk out balcony to view the neighborhood, and an incredible master bedroom and bath.

The living conditions match any I could expect in the U.S. The furniture is comfortable and modern; there is a mix of wood and tile floors; my walk-in closet in amazing in size and quality; and the water runs eagerly, hot or cold on demand, and appears very clear.

Cairo itself, as I’ve been accurately told, is on the dirty side. When I first arrived, I could see the pyramids from Maadi. Since then vision has been too muddled due to smog/air pollution. The wind blows frequently, which provides comfort – especially in the evenings – but also can kick up dust. Cars drive constantly, day and night, liberally honking their horns for every thinkable and many unfathomable reasons. (Today, our driver was honking a lot at another car. When I asked him why, he started laughing and said ‘they’re really old.’) I imagine if I was a smoker I might be able to kick my habit immediately and survive comfortably on the vehicle exhaust. Maybe it’s not so accurate to compare sucking on a cigarette to that of choking on a automobile tailpipe, but there ya go. (I’m not much into editing/polishing my thoughts due to the fact that this is my blog…I’ll take care to be more accurate in my memoirs.)

Last night, I chose to eat in, mixing in some yogurt, cheese and crackers, Pepsi Cola, and some tuna sandwiches I made from my store visit. Today, I began with a light serving of my favorite morning meal – toast. I was only disappointed I had not the foresight to find some peanut butter. I had to settle for jelly, but I was very happy to find I have been provided a cafeteria style tray, my favorite conveyance for getting the charred bread from the toaster to my gullet.

I ate light, as I was expecting Ayman, another Hayah Academy employee to arrive and take me, along with Rich and Marci, to lunch. He arrived at twelve and we went to the greatest TGI Fridays I’ve seen – right on the banks of the Nile. I laughed at his choice of restaurants, but I feel he’s disadvantaged in knowing me or my tastes and expectations. Rather than take a chance, he picked something he knew would be good and trusted by Americans. Fridays is a highly respected restaurant here, known for good food, and the location was cool. So I willingly broke one of my unwritten rules and ate at an American restaurant in my first week.

Supper was a little more adventurous, as Marci spied a nice Lebanese restaurant on our way home tonight. She, Rich and I shared bread, humus, kebab chicken, steak, & beef, and another plate of steak cooked differently. (I forget the name, but it was akin to the shredded steak you might get on a cheese steak sandwich, without the cheese and cooked with different spices.) All the food was excellent and I loved the meal. To top it off, I had a nice cup of “American” coffee. The waiter laughed when I asked if they had any “Egyptian” coffee as I’d really like to try it, but he offered no answer and brought me my American coffee.

All in all, I’m settling in nicely, am very comfortable, and am enjoying my first days in Maadi, Cairo. I anticipate things will only speed up soon, but hopefully I meet someone at my apartment who can discuss the possibility of internet access in my apartment. I’m certain it can be done, but interestingly enough have not yet met anyone who manages this apartment. I was given keys and a quick tour, but that was about it.

Tomorrow, Tuesday August 4, I will go visit Hayah Academy for the first time. The school will not have many employees there and is not yet ready to provide me a fully prepared tour, but I will get to set foot on the grounds none-the-less. I am eager to see where I’ll be teaching for the next two years.

I think often of Waverly (the yearbook should be/was? delivered any day), and continue to hope this move was a good one. As I speak with others here, not a conversation where we discuss school goes by where I am reminded how well I was treated by the administration, how lucky I was to have some great collegues and friends, and by how spoiled I was to work with great students and athletes. I hope everyone is doing well.

Until next time, as salaam alaykum!

Foster