Moving, finally!

So, I got the keys to my apartment today and am going to move all my stuff tomorrow- YAY!!!! I think I told you that people are a little less, um...professional than they are at home.... but let me give you an example... Mohamed (#2) and I arranged to meet my new landlord and get the keys etc. Here is how the afternoon played out:

12:19pm:  Mohamed pulls up to the hotel... I get in. His 3 year old daughter and wife are in the car. 3 year old immediately hops on my lap. 

12:45pm: arrive at Mohamed's office. We get out. Mohamed jokes with his coworker, does some emails and drinks a nescafe.

1:00pm: Mohamed goes to the mosque with his daughter for friday prayers. Women aren't allowed to pray in front of men that aren't their husband, brother, or father, so his wife and I sit in the office and chat.

1:45pm: Mohamed and his daughter finally come back from mosque. He and his wife and daughter disappear into the office for about 10 minutes. They don't tell me where they are going. The receptionist stares at me for a while and I pretend to read a magazine. 

2:00pm: Finally we leave to meet the landlord. Mohamed's daughter has a tantrum because I am leaving (she did this last week too...I am like the horse whisperer for egyptian kids apparently!) so his wife and daughter come along to the appointment with us. 

Can you imagine a realtor bringing his family along to close a deal in Canada!? "Um sorry about the baby puke on these mortgage papers.....but just sign here". Here there seems to be no separation between work and personal life.  Why didn't he tell me to take a cab and meet him at the flat at 2!!??  Anyway, I got the keys and it looks like all the conditions of the contract have been met so I am going to move tomorrow!!

I hope you all had a great Valenteim day! I said I'd give an update on mine...It was fun, but it was a really late night- didn't really get started till about 11:30pm (and it was a dinner!)- a  dance group from Prague, Extravadansa, performed throughout the night... they were really good, but their costumes were reeeeeallly revealing..I think they might have been glued on! The people at our table were really nice and welcoming, but I was definitely sporting the least amount of "bling".  There isn't really much of a middle class here.... sort of like mexico- you either have money, or you don't, and the ones who do like to show it- one of the women had a diamond ring as big as a toonie. I'm attaching a couple of pictures of the dance group and my hair... you can see it's calmed down a little-- I still don't really like it but I think it might be okay (yes Mum, I am doing my "dad smile", but I find it weird to smile normally for a self-photo).