A trip to the Pyramids

Here is our first group picture on our way to our tour.  We go over this bridge everyday on the way to work, but never stopped before.  In the picture is Steph, her son Luke, Semran, and I.

In this picture Semran is telling her kids she finally made it to the pyramids.  She came to Cairo twice before with her son and daughter and both times they did not want to see the pyramids.  In this picture she is telling them she made it!

Here is Luke climbing up the pyramids.  Many people were much higher up the pyramids even though you are not supposed to climb up them.  The pyramids used to have a smooth outer face of stone, but the stones have been taken away by people, earthquakes, and erosion over 1,000 of years. In the second picture below you can see that the 2nd pyramid still has some of its outer face at the top. 

People were climbing up the pyramids even though they were told not to and there were signs.  Luke and I went inside the large pyramid.  We were told not photographs inside at all.  When we went inside we saw every Egyptian group taking pictures inside the pyramid.  I even left my camera outside the pyramid with Steph.  :(  Inside Luke and I had to walk up a shaft that went at a 45 degree angle until we arrived at a room that held a stone sarcophagus and nothing much else.  Inside the pyramids there are no paintings or decoration.  It is very plain and simple inside.  We were in the room with the sarcophagus, but there are other rooms in the pyramid that help give the pyramid strength and keep it from collapsing.  We did not get to go into the other rooms.

A group picture.

Luke helping to build the pyramids single-handed!

I had to help build the pyramids too.

Semran also helped to lift some rocks and build the pyramids.

Notice how close the building come to the pyramids.  Actually driving to the pyramids there are buildings that have popped up everywhere.  Many of the buildings have been built without permits illegally.  It's interesting to see how close the buildings are because in movies they never show that.  When they have movies set in Egypt the pyramids are just surrounded by sand and desert. 

In this picture the pyramid in the middle is actually shorter than the pyramid on the left.  The middle pyramid appears to be taller because it is higher on the hill.

He are some fun pictures.

Here are the pyramids and the sphinx.  

Luke exploring around.

Semran admiring the granite walls.

Semran and I.

After the pyramids we went shopping for papyrus prints and jewelry.  

An Egyptian museum, a boat ride on the Nile, and some cool pictures.

A picture of the Nile River.

Arriving in Cairo, Egypt

The Next Chapter

When I arrived in Cairo I was greeted by my driver and here are some pictures on the ride to the hotel.

The traffic is crazy at times in Cairo.  When there are three lanes oftentimes the cars will make it into 4 lanes.  Motorcycles and mopeds will zip between cars and you also have to watch out for carts being pulled by donkeys and horses.  You have to be careful crossing the street in Cairo because the traffic can be wild at times. It's best to make eye-contact with the driver before you cross so you don't get run over.  Drivers beep their horn all the time to warn people where they are located. 

Also, cab drivers will try to rip you off all the time.  For example, on Saturday I went to visit my friends in Maadi(a suburb of Cairo).  One driver told me that he would would bring me there for 70 Egyptian pounds.  I found a guy that would run the taxi meter and the fare was 23 Egyptian pounds.  I gave the guy about a 10 pound tip for running the meter, and it was still way cheaper than 70 pounds.  Many times the cab drivers see a foreigner and then they try to rip them off.  It still isn't that much money to an American, but it's a lot of money for an Egyptian.  100 Egyptian pounds equals around $15 US dollars.  Even though 70 pounds was cheap by American standards, it was a rip off by Egyptian Standards. 

Three on a motorcyle.

My first view of the Nile River.

The Nile River at night.

 The new employees were all treated on a cruise on the Nile River the one night.  Here are some of the pictures.  The boat we were on had a large sail that helped propel it on the river.  The Nile River is dammed farther downstream so in Cairo there are many boats on the river.

wow! a beautiful sunset while sailing on the Nile River.  Never in a million years would I imagine that I would live a 3 minute walk from the Nile River.  Wow!

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Here are some photos of the Nile River as I was walked around one day. .

I have seen many cars walking around Cairo. There are many cars that have been sitting on the street for years. Someone said to me that the cars might belong to expats that have gone back to their home countries.   There are tons of old cars driving on the streets, especially VW Bugs.

There are many cats living on the streets in Cairo and they are everywhere!  The cats are nice. People will leave out food and water for the cats and they are quite nice to them.  There are some stray dogs that wander around some areas and they are also nice dogs that generally leave people alone.  They aren't aggressive.  

A cat on a garbage can.

Below was a cat at school at the staff cafe.

For a number of days the new teachers went around looking at aparments with realtors.  Here are some pictures of some of the apartments we saw.  This is actually the apartment that my friend Semran chose. I nicknamed all the apartments we saw on our journey.  I called this apartment the "Little Pony" because next door was a toy story with a My Little Pony sign.  

We also looked at a few very large places that were quite expensive.  One guy that was in our group was looking for apartments wanted to see three and four bedroom apartments in the hope that he would have roomates living with him.

Here are some pictures of the apartment I live in.  I live in Zamalek, which is an island on the Nile River. When I enter my building I need the doorman to let me into the building. In addition to the doorman there are security guards for the building.  Many of the hotels have security guards and metal detectors. Security is a main priority in the area.  At the hotel we were staying at there was a metal detector and armed guards.  The other weekend I went to the Marriot hotel and they even check the cars trunks for bombs and they have bomb sniffing dogs for the cars.  The Marriot is just two blocks away from my apartment so I just walked there to go to the British Pub at the Marriot called Harry's Pub.  The Pub had excellent music and a nice atmosphere.  The only problem was that after 11PM it got really smokey. In Egypt people can still smoke in the bars and restaurants in the area.  

 In Zamalek there are many restaurants, pubs, and embassies. In Zamalek I can walk around in the afternoon or evening and it is very safe. When we were looking at areas to live the new teachers were offered two areas to choose from.  The one area that we looked at was Maadi.  Maadi was built many years ago for the oil workers that were Egypt.  The area is more suburban and better for couples and parents of children and dogs.  I chose Zamalek because it is centrally located in Cairo, but also very expat friendly as well.    

Here is my private courtyard below. 

 

Here are a few pics of me cooking by candlelight.  No it wasn't a romantic night alone.  It was one of the many nights that we have power outages here in Egypt.  For the past year power outages have been more common. They are usually one hour and they are for one specific area in Egypt.  The problem in Egypt is that there is not enough fuel to produce the amount of electricity needed.  At home I have lost power 3 or 4 times.  Also, at school we have lost power a few times.  On Thursday last week the power was out for hours.  This was the first day that I met my students.  It was also a very hot day and the power did not come on until the afternoon.  Checking the news sources after I found out that most of the country had lost power on Thursday from technical problems.  There have been many problems with the electricity in Egypt and it is a main issue that El Sisi the President is seriously dealing with.  Egyptians are for the most part giving the President of Egypt some space to improve the situation, but they are frustrated as well.