Back online

So, yesterday right after I wrote the last post we were without internet for most of the last 36 hrs...apparently a cable under the Mediterranean that 'brings internet' (I'm sure it's more technical than that..) from Europe was damaged in a storm and wiped out the connection to much of Egypt and the Middle east. It was pretty disruptive for us since during the pre-opening we have to be in constant contact with Corporate in Toronto and our regional office in Dubai.... oh well, it seems to be fixed now!

So, I laughed pretty hard when I read my last post... how naive the Cat of yesterday morning was....filled with hope and confidence about my new broker! I learned quickly that wearing a suit and being from an international firm DOES NOT = professionalism! Yesterday morning was a comedy of errors, but the most shocking/funny incident occurred when we were driving: Mohamed (the broker) was reversing at about 40km/hr, and came too close to a parked car- he scraped his car along the full length of it and caused easily $3000-$4000 CAD damage in body and paint work. Two older men were about 100m down the road and witnessed the entire thing...they started yelling and running towards the car...I suspect that the car either belonged to them, or someone they knew, because even though they were screaming in Arabic, I could tell that they were definitely not happy about something (perhaps it was the way they were pounding on the window!). There was some rapid Arabic between Moh'd and his colleague, and suddenly Moh'd just backed up, did a U-turn and started driving quickly in the opposite direction...the two old men were still screaming and shaking their fists as we drove away. If that wasn't bad enough, neither of them apologized to me (the client!) afterwards...besides a joke about his bad driving later, they barely even acknowledged it. They acted like the whole thing was a perfectly normal...the sad thing is, I think it probably was.

Anyway, despite everything I found a flat that might be okay. I need to think about it a little but it's definitely the best one I've seen so far. It has 3 bedrooms so if I take it I'll have lots of room for visitors (that means YOU!).

Okay I'm going in search of dinner. Miss you all!

C

still raining and the apartment search continues...

Not much to report. Cairo is still freezing....around 7C and rainy, which makes traffic really bad- the city can't cope with water at all- it pools on the side of the road and city workers try to sweep it (with brooms!!) to an area that has enough soil to absorb it or into the river....not very effective, as you can imagine. Despite the weather, things are going pretty well. My co-workers are really great and it's been fun getting to know them- we are a very international team- between 10 of us, we represent Egypt, Canada, England, Lebanon, Belgium/Luxembourg (the same person!) and the Phillipines.

The apartment hunt continues...I now have a broker helping me-- he seems a little more legit than the tracksuit/upper egypt team from last week- he wears a suit, plus he is from an firm I know from home, so I feel a little more confident in his abilities. The places I've seen recently are a small improvement, but still nothing I actually want to live in. I'm going again today though, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Okay gotta go, miss you all!

C

Missing pictures!!

For some reason, two of the pictures from the last post didn't upload properly.... so here they are...the one overlooking the Nile is from my balcony ....the gold building in the background is the new construction site- the two towers are already finished and are office buildings, the shorter one in the middle is the hotel.  The other one is a poorer area of cairo further back from the Nile...

Yesterday I crossed the road all by myself!

If you could see the traffic here you'd be impressed...there are no crosswalks anywhere...you just have to wait for a small break in the vehicles and literally sprint across the road. Granted, I did it on a friday morning when most people were at Mosque, but it was still twice as bad as Douglas Street in rush hour. Baby steps, right!?

I finally got the internet working in my room so here are some pictures. I haven't really been anywhere too exciting

 yet,  but there is a shot from my balcony looking out over the nile. The tall gold coloured building is where I'll be working...the two towers are already complete and house offices and a luxury mall, the shorter structure in the middle with the cranes on it is the hotel and in still under construction. The other cityscape is a poorer area behind the hotel. We also have a few interesting items from the refreshment center (aka minibar)..."Borio" cookies, and my new favourite flavour of Lays...Mushroom & Cream....YUM :P  The sticker with the arrow is a sign found in all hotel rooms showing the direction of Mecca (Muslims must pray facing Mecca) and the bird, I saw yesterday when I was reading by the pool (in jeans and a sweatshirt...it's still only about 15C here!)  Okay that's all for tonight, hope you're all well! 

C

 

Maybe I will just live in the hotel for the next 2 years.....

So, today our GM's driver took me to look at apartments. He picked me up and we drove to the area where he'd heard there were some vacant places which is actually an island in the middle of the Nile. It is directly across from the construction site but it took us almost half an hour to get to because of the traffic. When we got there, we stopped at the side of the road, the driver whistled and a young guy in jeans and a tracksuit top jumped into the back of the car...they began speaking in rapid Arabic and every so often, tracktop guy would emit a high pitched giggle...it was odd. I finally asked the driver who the guy was... he said he was a "broker" with some sort of real estate firm, (basically a guy who helps you find an apartment) then we drove a bit more and picked up a new guy...he was dressed in an outfit that the driver said was common in Upper Egypt (which is actually to the south...but at the top of the Nile....sort of like upper and lower Canada in relation to the St. Lawrence) anyway, upper egypt guy and tracktop guy are now in the car....still talking loudly and giggling but now smoking too, which is always nice. We drive a little more and the driver yells to another upper egypt guy...apparently these guys are the doormen of the buildings and have the keys to let us into the apartments. We go to the first one and I almost cried...it was huge, but was furnished with items from the 60's...and not in a cool vintage sort of way...but in an actually-been-there-since-the-60's sort of way....the kitchen was as big as a closet and had no oven and only a beer fridge. I asked the driver where I was supposed to cook, and he pointed to a 2 burner hotplate that was sitting on the counter...I'm sure that would be excellent for baking cookies (which, as most of you know, is one of my favourite pass-times)...the bathroom was worse if that was possible...it had no bathtub and I don't think I would have wanted to stand in the shower with bare feet..the next 3 places were no better, but one also featured the added bonus of a constant smell of cat pee... the whole experience was pretty disheartening, but I'm told this process takes time so I'm not too worried (yet!). Next week I am going to look in another area, a little further away, but I'm told that the buildings are much newer and better cared for. Let's hope so!! Besides that, I had a few interviews today, it's been almost a month since I've done any so it was nice to get back at it.... and tomorrow is the "weekend", which will be spent sleeping and at the gym I think...maybe if I get adventurous I will take a cab to the mall....

Okay, must go, people are pacing again waiting for the free internet.

Send good apartment hunting vibes :)

C

Day 1...

So, I forgot to mention one important detail in yesterday's post-- it is raining here...it is actually the exact same weather as when I left Victoria. The main difference is that Victorians are used to rain....Caironians(?)/Cairoites(?) are NOT!! Yesterday the main highway was closed because of the rain, and today all my coworkers were complaining about how cold it was (it's about 10C)- it was pretty cute! At one point some of my new co-workers took me to the construction site, which has no windows and they stared in disbelief when they learned I didn't bring a jacket with me today- the guys chivalrously tried to force me to wear theirs..I just told them not to worry because I was from Canada...they seemed impressed.

Anyway, apart from that, my first day was pretty good- our offices aren't quite finished yet, so we are sharing some space in the neighbouring tower... today I worked squished with 5 other people in a tiny office-- the wireless internet came and went throughout the day, but all in all it was pretty good. I got a better sense of the concepts of the restaurants, and saw some "mood boards" for some of the decor for the outlets and rooms-- it's going to be pretty spectacular when it's all done.

People are eying me again to get off the computer so I will sign off here and hit the gym.


*****

It's a few hours later and I'm back from the gym...when I got off the computer earlier I apologized to a guy who seemed to be waiting that I had taken so long....he told me not to worry and that he was NOT planning to use the computer and advised me to go and change all my passwords because it was more than likely that someone had implanted tracking software on this SHARED computer...he was about 300lbs and his accent sounded like he was from somewhere in the south.... I am quite confident he is a Hukabee supporter....anyway, I thanked him his advice but made some joke about how big brother was probably not interested in my boring emails. Nevertheless, if someone steals my identity, I suppose I was warned!!

After my chat with Mr Paranoid I headed for the gym and went on the treadmill for 24 minutes (those of you who remember the the treadmill incident of '98, know what a breakthrough this is for me)!! After that, I did some weights...really light ones just like Jazz said, but I can already tell that I'm going to be sore tomorrow.... okay I'm really going now....

I miss you all!

C

Finally here!

So, after 4 airports, 3 flights and about 23hrs I finally arrived in Cairo yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Although long, the flights actually went pretty smoothly-- I can't believe I'm saying this, but Air Canada was really great- every person had their own little touch screen tv and there were tons of movies, tv shows etc to choose from (I watched the Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller, and most of the Nanny diaries- the first was pretty funny!).. it made the time go really quickly. The other two legs TO- Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Cairo were Lufthansa and were tollerable but not quite as nice...especially sitting next to the man with BO who snored. That was a lot of fun :| When I arrived in Cairo, the airport helpers (yes, that is their actual job title!) had my name on a sign and got my visa cleared, miraculously all 6 pieces (including my bike and trainer) arrived together and in one piece for the most part--- a small part came off my bike box but it's fairly superficial and easy to replace I think. Our GM's driver, who I had met in the summer, met me once we had all my luggage and drove me to the hotel that will be my home for the next month (or however long it takes to find an apartment)- it's in a great location, about 2 minutes away from my office and I can watch the progress on the construction site from my balcony! I am also staying on the executive floor and get to use the executive lounge... I am currently attending 'happy hour' and taking advantage of the free drinks, snacks (which will be my dinner) and internet...I hope the company appreciates my thriftiness ;)

I will put some pictures up once I get internet working in my room (Since my charges are being direct-billed to the company, they didn't ask for a CC and I think they have put my account as cash only and consequently, nothing will post to the account- I have tried to explain this to someone, but I don't think she understood....I need to brush up on my arabic!)

I meet my boss tomorrow morning and he will show me the office and introduce me to my new coworkers etc, I am looking forward to figuring out what exactly I'll be doing for the next 2 years! A bit scary but exciting at the same time!

Okay, I should get going I don't want to get a reputation for taking up too much free internet time!

C