First Weekend and the first hunt.

To one and all!
Egypt is beginning to grow on me. But I’ll explain everything in full detail…
First impression of Maadi – very dirty. And I’m not even being the least bit overdramatic. There is garbage on the street, there is sand EVERYWHERE, and the buildings are old and worn down. People can’t seem to get this whole organizational thing down - cars are parked and then double parked, and I have yet to even see a parking garage or lot. Even outside the grocery store. Cats roam everywhere, and a few dogs as well. There is a sense that there is a chaotic structure that I don’t yet understand.
Surprisingly though, I have seen a lot of people washing their cars. It isn’t that people don’t take pride in their belongings, its just that they don’t seem to care about things that aren’t their belongings. Trash is thrown onto the street, and garbage bins just don’t seem to exist. It isn’t too bad, its just a lot to get use to.
Speaking of things to get use to, there is a call to prayer at specified times of the day. One of these times is 4 o’clock in the morning, when someone announces over the loudspeakers around the city. Apparently there is one very close to my bedroom window, so that is always fun. I haven’t been sleeping very well, but I think its just being out of a schedule. I’m hoping once I get into a routine, things will of be different.
Food wise, I haven’t been overly adventurous yet. I’ve had a couple of burgers, pizza and I did have a pancake today. It was more like an elephant ear or funnel cake then what we might call a pancake. I’m biding my time with the food adventures…I’m just not ready enough. Though I have been going out to eat a lot with the other teachers of my school, and they said that there are a lot of American restaurants. One girl orders from KFC (they deliver here! Who knew?), and I’ve seen ads for pizza hut and, as always, McDonalds. One thing that is completely different about their restaurants is that they have hookahs everywhere. They call it something else, but basically that’s what they are. People smoke them while they are eating dinner, and they sell them in the markets. I haven’t tried it, and I’m not sure if I will, but a couple of the other teacher do smoke them during their dinners. I find it bizarre.
As a side note, I have figured out a way to watch a few of my shows online…so HA Mom. They do have American television here, but it’s a few seasons behind.
I also bought a phone today, so I might be able to text people, but I wouldn’t bet on getting very many of them. But it was driving me crazy not being able to communicate with anybody since the phone in my apartment doesn’t work at all, and our apartment is the farthest from everybody’s. I’m getting pretty comfortable in the apartment , and the street we live on is just off of the main road, so its not too busy, but the taxi will still come down here.


Now I need to tell a story about mine and Erin's adventure today.
So Erin called me this morning to see if I wanted to go to a local mall with her. In this mall, there is a supermarket, which is interesting in itself. Erin had decided to cook dinner tonight, so she made a list and we scoured the whole place for this list. Pretty basic ingredients. But it took forever to find anything in the store, mostly because it was organized in a way that we didn't really understand. But the first thing that we couldn't find was celery - which we quickly gave up on because we had other things to find. The next items on the list that we couldn't find were stuffing or croutons and sour cream. We must have asked at least ten people in this store where we could find them, and no one knew what we were talking about. Finally, we asked a manager, and he said that the sour cream was 'finished'. They didn't understand what crutons were, so we left (and went to Starbucks ;)). We went to Erin's apartment to drop off the groceries and then headed over to my apartment to pick up some things that her parents had sent with me. On the way to my apartment we went to two more grocery stores, in which the same thing happened...the workers didn't understand what we were talking about, and the managers (yes, plural, like three in each), once they understood what we were talking about said that it was 'finished" but to come back tomorrow. Sunday is the start of a new week here, so apparently a new shipment was coming in tonight. We wanted it for tonight, so we left and went my apartment, where my roommate recommended two grocery stores nearby. SAME THING happened in these, but we did find stuffing there, which was nice. The one stock boy told me it was coming at nine that night, which was nice, but no help to us.
So lesson of the story: Do not grocery shop in Egypt on a Saturday night. Ever.

Also, I am now keeping a list of things you cannot find in Egypt:
Sour Cream
Celery
to be continued.....