Keeping a Pet in Cairo

Pets can make you feel at home, especially in an unfamiliar place.  We ended up leaving our cat, Ruby behind, but if you are traveling to Egypt, you can of course bring your pet.  I’ve heard of people doing it, but unfortunately I don’t have any info about costs, as I never planned to do [...]

Seasons of Cairo

Born and raised in the midwest, I’m used to 4 seasons.  Freezing winters (we’ve been snowed in for a few days!), spring with lots of rain, warm summers, and colorful falls.  There is not as much visible change to mark the seasons in Cairo.  None of the trees lose their leaves or change color, however, some of them do [...]

Bugged Out

I am neurotic about insects.  Roaches, flies, ants.  There is no room in the house for me and them both.  I wrote about the huge roaches that come up out of the bathroom floor drain.  But during Ramadan, I had a problem with the ‘regular’ kind.  After I’d noticed a few, I figured I better check [...]

The Kids Quran School

This is the kids Quran school, Dar Abdul Warith.  The kids have been going on and off for over two years now.  The school is located in Madinat Nasr, Haya Asher.  There are classes for women and kids.  You can chose for your children to attend daily (sat-thur) or 3 days a week.   The cost [...]

Oasis in the midst of a concrete desert

One challenge of living in Cairo is finding safe places for play and recreation for children.  I really have to make myself go out nowadays, especially in the heat.  One good thing about Madinat-Nasr is the abundance of gardens around.  You really need to see some green after all the ugly concrete buildings that predominate.  [...]

Dust storms and ATMs from h%$#.

 
Last week I braved a dust storm to go get money from an ATM.  Really high winds, low visibility, dust in the eyes, etc.  Put the card in, select amount, out comes card, but no money.  Can this really be happening?  Egypt is notorious for having card-eating ATMs, I have lost my card TWICE.  Rushed [...]

Rain, rain…

A British sister and I took the kids to the park yesterday, despite me having some sort of stomach bug.  I know of at least two other families who are afflicted with the same illness.  It causes either diarrhea or vomitting and horrid labor-like cramps.  Anyway, I took my son’s bike.  Basically we had to [...]

Spring is here! (and so are the roaches..)

It’s spring!  The sun is shining, colorful flowers are blooming on the trees, the souk is full of strawberries, watermelon, and tangerines (no grapes yet!).  And the roaches are back.  Cairo is an environment for roaches to thrive in.  Overcrowded, insufficient/inefficient trash collection provide an ideal home for the yucky creatures.  Not so much of a [...]