A Walk Around Old Cairo

Let's face it, since moving to Egypt, I've hardly blogged. I really want to get into it again, but I'm so far behind. So, I'm just going to pick up from this point forward. I may come back and write about what we did for the past 4-5 months, but maybe not. So, here we go!

Today, I was lucky enough to be able to take a walking tour of Old Cairo. A guy that I work with is a wonderful photographer, and he sets up these walking tours occasionally and invites other teachers to join him. It's neat to walk around with a small group of people who share an interest in taking photos.

Approximately ten of us started at the base of the Citadel and walked the streets of Old Cairo. We then we went inside the Mosque of Al Rifai and the Mosque of Sultan Hasan. After that we walked the streets to the Bab Zuweila, the last remaining southern gate of the wall of the Old City of Cairo. Then we walked through the Tentmakers Market.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our walk.

Desert Camping

At the end of October, we camped out in the desert. I had no idea what to expect, but it was definitely something I want to do again!

We were gone for one night and two days, but we packed so much into that time. We took a van to Fayoum. We stopped to get a light lunch before heading into the desert.

View from where we ate lunch.

After lunch, we packed into vehicles that were able to drive in the sand. Our first stop was Wadi El Hitan (Whale Valley). This place contains fossil skeletons of whales. I had a hard time wrapping by brain around the fact that millions of years ago, the place where we were standing, was under water.

After visiting the museum, our drivers played around in the sand!

  Leaving the main road to drive in the sand.

Driving up and down the sand dunes.

When we got to the campsite, we did some sand boarding before it got too dark. We were provided dinner and entertainment. Instead of sleeping in the tent, most of us just slept under the stars in our sleeping bags. The wind was insanely cold, but it felt so good to sleep outside.

Sand boarding

Windy

Campsite

Sand boarding

Sunset

Sunrise

An oasis in the middle of the desert

Sights from the desert.

A fairly long video of us driving in the desert.

The Sights of Driving Through Cairo

No, I don't drive here in Egypt; I wouldn't want to. It's not a system I understand, and I'm okay with that. The constant honking of the horns doesn't make sense to me. Not staying in designated (or un-designated) lanes doesn't make sense to me. Not stopping at stop signs or stop lights doesn't make sense to me. And that's okay! It doesn't have to make sense. It seems to work, for the most part. I don't HAVE to drive in Egypt, and I am more than okay with that. I'll just leave it up to the "professionals" - the Egyptians.

Our school has provided buses for us to take to and from school everyday. There is one "early" bus that picks people up at 6:00 am. We usually get to school around 6:25 am. The "normal" buses come at 7:00 am and arrive usually no later than 7:35 am. School starts at 8:00 am. Then, for after school, the buses leave at 4:00 pm and the late bus at 5:00 or 5:30 pm. It usually takes about an hour to get home, if not longer.
**It's roughly 16 miles from school to our apartment.**

Before coming to Egypt, I had no idea what it would actually look like to live in a desert. Would I see anything green? Would I see sand for miles? It was just really hard for me to image what it would be like. It's also one of the biggest questions I get asked by people back home. What does living in the desert look like?!

Luckily, being on the bus for long, we get to see some really interesting sights. So, I thought the best way to share with you what living in a desert looks like was to take video of our drive home. I have two videos for you. One is almost 6 minutes long and the other is about 3 minutes long. I hope they don't give you motion sickness like the actual bus rides do sometimes.

Trip to Giza

I have uploaded a very poorly made video from our trip to Giza. The quality is bad and it ends very abruptly, but it's short!

Enjoy!

Our Apartment in Cairo, Egypt

We've been in our apartment just shy of 30 days now. I guess it's about time to post a video of our apartment.

We arrived in Cairo late on a Thursday night, and the very next day we set off apartment hunting. Our school gives us a housing stipend, but we had to find our own place to live. We were put in groups of about three couples. We had a realtor and a returning teacher (or two) with us and we were off, looking at apartments in an area of town called Maadi (pronounced: ma-dee). We looked at several apartments and found one we liked on the very first day. All of the places we looked at were fully furnished, and ours was no exception. The only thing we needed to buy to be able to stay our first night was bedding, towels, and toilet paper!

Let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the tour!

Egyptian Money

The title says it all. Watch the video to find out more!  ;)

Call to Prayer in Cairo Egypt

Besides going to school, there is one other constant in our lives here in Egypt - the Call to Prayer. I'm not going to write much about it because I honestly don't know much about it. I do know that it is a call, letting people know that they need to pray. It happens five times per day. The times are always changing due to the Islamic calendar. Other than that, I don't know much about it. I would, however, like to learn more.

Anyway, our apartment is right across the street from a mosque. It's call the Thakanat El Maadi Mosque. Like I said, the Call to Prayer happens five times per day. Right now, those times are basically 4 am, 5:30 am, 3:30 pm, 6:15 pm, and 7:40 pm. That's right, we can hear the Call to Prayer at 4 am!! Sometimes we wake up, sometimes we don't. It's becoming just an everyday thing for us; sometimes we notice it more than others. I honestly don't mind it all that much. Though when it wakes me up at 4 am, I kind of get annoyed.

It is super easy to look up what the Call of Prayer means. Basically, it is saying that God is good. We need to pray. It really is kind of beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a video of the Call to Prayer that takes place across from our apartment. I didn't record the whole thing, but it only lasts a couple of minutes.