While staying in The Pearl for the 4/5 days, I spent 2 or three of those days apartment hunting. Unfortunately coming in so late left me with fewer options than the rest of the teachers, but I think the realtors were a little desperate to get rid of the few remaining since no more renters would be arriving. I looked at quite a few places with Mohammed that I really did not like at all the first day, then called a different (recommended) realtor named Mostafa the next day. The places Mostafa showed me were much nicer, but a little more expensive. Luckily, through some new friends at school, I found a roommate which will be saving me a little money every month. I ended up taking a place on road 259 in Maadi. It's 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and 4 balconies. I've got a private, screened-in balcony attached to my room, and it's fully furnished. You can definitely tell it hasn't been lived in in awhile, but we're getting a maid once Ramadan is over, and hopefully she'll take care of that. For the money, it's a pretty nice place and about 5 times the size of my apartment in Jeju. Maybe even bigger, but not as new.
The people I've met so far have all been decent. A few I feel like I've been friends with for awhile, and others I just clicked with as well. It's such a change from Korea where I'd only really see foreigners at Geckos. Here, there are 'white people' everywhere. From Brits, Canadians, Germans to Americans and French, it's pretty crazy. And the whole Muslim aspect isn't too huge of a deal. Most Egyptians actually love America, and I've heard it a few times. I barely get any stares here (unlike Korea) and people have been extremely helpful and friendly. This is definitely not the Muslim world that Fox News paints for you, and I know it doesn't represent all of them, but it's still something 'Merca should know about. The people here compare Al Qaida to the KKK in the States. It's just a fringe society, that they look down on. Islam seems to be a very intense religion that requires a lot of devotion, but doesn't strict Christianity desire the same thing?
So, this entry has been all over the place, but I needed to write something. As far as my impressions to this point, I'll recap;
- This place makes me think of Gulf Storm. I've just never seen so much sand and so few trees. Luckily enough Maadi is tree-lined and that's all I see out of my windows. But if Man ever disappeared, this place would be gone in weeks.
- The people are very friendly, and I don't really feel threatened at all.
- My school is a very legit place that focuses heavily on student learning, and hires pretty good teachers...not sure what I'm doing here.
- You can order anything here. From Subway and McDonalds to Indian and Thai food. It can all be ordered online and arriving at your door in 45 minutes or less. Awesome. (Beer too)
- It's hot, but it's really not worse than an MD August, and the nights are perfect.
- The ex-pat community is pretty large and there's a ton of stuff to do. Tonight I have softball practice.