After a fairly uneventful flight to Egypt and a remarkably smooth trip through customs, our sponsors met us at the airport and drove us to our new apartment. We had a third 'extra' sponsor waiting for us when we arrived. He had been working for a couple of hours already to get us cell phones and internet on our arrival. Nothing seems to work exactly how it's planned here, so we ended up with one working phone and a somewhat tenuous connection to the internet. We are so grateful to have anything, however, and even more grateful for friends that are going above and beyond to help us adjust to life here in Cairo!
We are keeping ourselves entertained with the many things that don't seem to make any sense here in Egypt. Here are few of examples:
The first morning we tried to turn on the shower we had zero water pressure. After some fiddling around we discovered that the showers could only barely work when the sink in each bathroom had the water on at full blast. After we got (minimally) clean, our sponsor came over to take us to the commissary. We asked if he could help us figure out the shower problem and he showed us a set of knobs hidden to the side of one of the sinks that could be adjusted to make the showers run normally. But why did the showers initially work when the sinks were running? And why were the knobs controlling the showers halfway down the wall at the side of one of the sinks? We are quickly learning that the response to such puzzling situations is, 'Welcome to Egypt!'
Our sponsor also took us the the Egyptian version of Walmart to get a couple of household items, one of which was a bathroom trashcan. The options were all brightly colored plastic cans with somewhat matching lids. I picked one out and a lid that (almost) matched. It wasn't until we got to the register that I realized the lid had a bonus, 'No Smoking' sticker attached to it. Is this a common problem in Egyptian bathrooms?
The Embassy has lent us some household goods until our own things arrive. The kitchen has most of the appliances that we might need, and is also equipped with both American and Egyptian outlets. Unfortunately, the microwave and toaster do not use either American or Egyptian plugs, but are equipped with a third kind altogether! The maintenance staff has visited once and said they will come back Tuesday with a solution. Thankfully, the coffee maker works beautifully.
We are keeping ourselves entertained with the many things that don't seem to make any sense here in Egypt. Here are few of examples:
The first morning we tried to turn on the shower we had zero water pressure. After some fiddling around we discovered that the showers could only barely work when the sink in each bathroom had the water on at full blast. After we got (minimally) clean, our sponsor came over to take us to the commissary. We asked if he could help us figure out the shower problem and he showed us a set of knobs hidden to the side of one of the sinks that could be adjusted to make the showers run normally. But why did the showers initially work when the sinks were running? And why were the knobs controlling the showers halfway down the wall at the side of one of the sinks? We are quickly learning that the response to such puzzling situations is, 'Welcome to Egypt!'
Our sponsor also took us the the Egyptian version of Walmart to get a couple of household items, one of which was a bathroom trashcan. The options were all brightly colored plastic cans with somewhat matching lids. I picked one out and a lid that (almost) matched. It wasn't until we got to the register that I realized the lid had a bonus, 'No Smoking' sticker attached to it. Is this a common problem in Egyptian bathrooms?
The Embassy has lent us some household goods until our own things arrive. The kitchen has most of the appliances that we might need, and is also equipped with both American and Egyptian outlets. Unfortunately, the microwave and toaster do not use either American or Egyptian plugs, but are equipped with a third kind altogether! The maintenance staff has visited once and said they will come back Tuesday with a solution. Thankfully, the coffee maker works beautifully.
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