Meg in Cairo: Ahlan wa Sahlan! (Welcome)

Here’s the scoop on my first day and a half in Cairo:

I landed in Cairo at three in the afternoon and came out of baggage claim to see Rahma with a big smile and some lovely flowers for me. We chatted for a bit (about things that my jetlagged brain doesn’t even remember) while waiting for the car to take me to the apartment. After arriving I was given the grand tour and met the suitmates who had already arrived. We have a big six bedroom apartment (eleven girls total) on the 16th floor with a wrap around balcony with views of the pyramids, Cairo Tower, the Nile, and the Citadel. That’s just mildly exciting, especially for someone who whose passions include watching sunrises

from different places on a regular basis.

After talking a bit with some suitmates I met up again with Rahma and friends and headed for a dinner of shawarma (the first thing I thought about was Tony Stark in the Avengers). We then went to a juice stand (which is basically the equivalent to fro-yo) and got mango juice that was so good it tasted like it could have come from Arua, Uganda. And that’s saying something. I can promise you that I will be at these juice stands quite often.

After returning home I talked some more with the suitmates. Each one of them has their very own unique story and I’m excited to get to know them. I went to bed that night around midnight and finally woke up at 2:30pm. Recital week + moving out and packing in under two days + 21 hour travel time + jetlag = 14 consecutive hours of sleep (apparently). After finally unpacking my suitcase, Rahma met me at my apartment to help me navigate through the streets and metro system to her house. I met her parents and ate an amazing lunch prepared by her mom. Their English is more limited than Rahma’s so it was a great chance to see just how little Arabic I actually know. But hey, I tried. They were lovely in speaking slow with me and teaching me the Egyptian words for things (since I only know the Jordanian words). It’s one thing to be sitting down and writing out sentences and having a dictionary to look up words when you want them and it’s another thing altogether to use them in a conversation with native speakers. Words that I have known and used on a regular basis in class for months would not even come to the front of my brain and I kept mixing up words that sound like each other. But I know that after eight weeks of this I will greatly improved and I’m excited to climb that mountain full speed ahead.

After being stuffed with delicious local foods and cake and watching part of Home Alone 2 with Arabic subtitles, Rahma and I headed back to my neighborhood to meet a friend at McDonalds. Yes, I know what you are thinking, “McDonalds???” I'm gradually learning that McDonalds has different contexts in different countries. I was told that McDonalds is the place where all the “cool” kids hang out in Morocco and here, well, it’s a nice sit down restaurant with food much higher quality than in the States.

This has been a very basic outline of my time that doesn’t even scratch the surface of all that I have been able to absorb so far. More of that to come. Tomorrow is orientation and the first time I will be meeting the program managers and the other students who don’t live in this apartment. Thank you everyone for your encouragement and prayers and good vibes that you are sending me! Keep in touch and I’ll post again soon.

I haven’t pulled out the camera much but here are a couple: