Katie, my roommate.
I do! One of our many lovely apartment decorations...
and another
This is our 1950's t.v. set. I can't complain though, because we also have a satellite dish and we get a lot of channels, both in English and in Arabic.
I awoke to the most intense sunlight I have ever experienced pouring through the window onto my bed, making the temperature of the room over 90 degrees, despite the fact that the diesel truck air conditioner was still running on high. I checked the watch Bonnie had given me to use the night before, (my cell phone was dead, and that was my only source of time---I don't wear watches and the battery powered alarm clock I had packed was still buried somewhere in my unpacked suitcases), and I was absolutely shocked to see that it was 2:30 in the afternoon. I had slept almost 14 hours without waking up; I haven't slept that long since my teenage years!
I checked my appearance in the mirror and put on some appropriate clothes before leaving my bedroom because Bonnie had told me that my roommate would be arriving around 1:30 that afternoon, and I didn't know if she was in the apartment already or not.
I checked her bedroom and the living room, but didn't see anyone. I wondered if she had already come and gone, or if her plane had been delayed. The first thing I did after that was set out to make some coffee. I scrummaged through the cupboards for something to boil water in, (we have no microwave and the water is undrinkable in Egypt), and found one pot and one crusty looking frying pan.
Thankfully Ahmed had bought me some dish soap along with some coffee, water, sugar, jam and bread the night before, so I thoroughly scrubbed the pot and started boiling water for coffee. While the water was boiling, I took a shower, (once again I was pleasantly surprised; there was hot water and excellent water pressure!), and I felt much better after I was finished. However, despite my 14 hours of sleep the night before, I had huge bags under my eyes and still felt like I was in lala land. Ah, the joys of jet lag.
I sipped my coffee and walked around the apartment looking at the odd array of decorations. A wooden fish proclaiming "I love Egypt!" hung from one of the cupboard doors of the kitchen, an African doll statue stood atop the dining room table next to a large glass vase covered in peacocks, and an unusual mix of pictures hung from the wall. There were ocean landscape prints beside Victorian portraits and what appeared to be a large piece of Christmas wrapping paper that was hung up as a decoration on the dining room wall.
As I looked around, I thought about all of the people who had lived in this apartment before me. I truly believe that people leave a little piece of themselves behind in a house or an apartment they have lived in. I think a bit of their energy remains and is absorbed by the house, and I also think that this energy is palpable, that you can actually feel it sometimes. Does this make sense to you? If you don't know what I mean, or if you think I'm plain crazy, oh well. We all have different thoughts and beliefs; this is what makes the world so interesting.
I digress once again, but this is my writing style my friends. Those of you who read my travel entries while I was in Spain are probably used to it by now. For those of you who are newbies, you'll adjust. (hehe)
Anyway, after I had looked around the apartment and gotten used to my new surroundings, I decided to unpack and get my bedroom squared away. I opened up the suitcases and just started making piles for things...long sleeved clothes, (it gets cold here at night in the winter I've been told), short-sleeved clothes, electronics, etc. Believe me, when you have to plan out EVERYTHING you're going to need for an entire year in a foreign country, it takes a lot of forsight, and I had crammed a LOT of stuff into those 2 suitcases, (despite the fact that I had told the gaurd at the airport it was only clothes and shoes).
When I went to hang up my clothes in the bedroom armoir, I realized that there were only 2 hangers. 2! So, I decided to venture out and check out some of the little shops on my street. I had remembered from the night before that there were a couple of little mini-markets, a fruit stand, a RadioShack, (RadioShacks are everywhere here--so is KFC, it's a bit disturbing how many KFCs there are), and a few other shops that sold clothes and shoes.
I deciced to go to the fruit stand first because they had 3 types of mangos, (I LOVE mangos!), and although I wasn't hungry, I figured it would be a good snack for later. I put on a long skirt, (down to my ankles), and a long-sleeved shirt and headed out the door. It was about 110 degrees that day, and I really wanted just to leave in my shorts and a tank top, but when in Egypt, you do as the Egyptians do. When I am living in a foreign country, I think it is extremely important to respect and try to adapt to the local culture, and most of the Egyptian women are Muslim, which means they keep their arms and legs fully covered, and their heads are covered as well, (in veils wrapped over their hair, but with their faces showing). But....more on the Egyptian culture in a separate entry...
After getting some fruit, I set out to find somewhere I could buy some clothes hangers, which turned out to be another little store about 5 doors down. The stores here are quite similar to the ones that line the sidewalks of Spain. Each little store has one specialty...there is the stationary shop, the shoe and handbag shop, the electronics shop, the fruit shop, etc., no super Wal-Marts or places where you can buy everything at once. (As much as I dislike Wal-Mart, I always miss it when it's gone. You don't realize how convenient it really is). But, there are the occasional "junk stores," (as my friends and I call them), in Egypt that have a hodge-podge of wares for sale. However, the items are often very cheaply made and extremely overpriced.
I found a junk store and decided that besides hangers, I would get whatever else appeared to be lacking from the apartment, so I also bought some cleaning supplies, bowls and plates, sponges for the kitchen, Tupperware, a new frying pan that wasn't crusted, etc. There was an older man who appeared to be running the store, and an adolescent boy who was taking everything I was interested in and setting it on the counter so I wouldn't have to carry it around with me.
I hadn't been calculating the cost of the things I was picking out as I shopped because the numbers were written in Arabic and although I recognized the number 1 here or a 5 there, I didn't know all of the numbers yet or understand what the difference was between a comma and a period, or what order I was supposed to be reading the numbers in...right to left like the Arabic letters, or left to right? I wasn't sure.
The owner of the store totaled up the items on his calculator and then wrote out a receipt for me by hand. As he did so, he asked me where I was from and what my name was. When I told him Sarah, he told me his daughter was also named Sarah. Of course. He was very sweet and friendly. He told me the total in Egyptian pounds, and when I went to pay him, I realized only had 20 pounds inside my wallet, (the equivalent of about $4.00). I was very embarrassed and explained to him that I needed to go back to my apartment and get more money.
The person who helped me prepare for Egypt before I left was a guy named Haytham, who is the son of the school's director. Haytham had told me not to exchange any money at the airport because they don't give you the best rate, and that the school would exchange money for me when I arrived. However, because I hadn't exchanged any money yet, I couldn't really buy anything during my first 2 days because the stores don't take American money. But, thankfully the night before Bonnie had given me 100 Egyptian pounds, (about 20 dollars), to get through the first couple of days until I was able to go to the school and exchange my money....which may not sound like much, but in Egypt 20 dollars is plenty to get by on for 2 days.
Anyway, although I had the hundred pounds from Bonnie, in the state of haziness I had been in all day, I had only put 20 pounds in my wallet when I left the apartment. The man who owned the store found it very amusing that I was so embarrassed about not having enough money with to pay him. He smiled and shook his head and said, "Sarah, don't worry. You in Egypt now. You are a friend. You come back and pay me when you can. I know who you are." I was so touched by his kindness and I absolutely fell in love with Egypt at that moment. How wonderful to be living in a culture where people trust each other and actually help one other out. I felt for a moment as if I had been transported back in time to Mayberry, or to some distant fairy-tale place where people truly cared about their fellow man.
When I got back to the apartment, I put my purchases away and got back to unpacking my suitcases. I was almost finished when someone rang the doorbell. I looked at Bonnie's watch again and saw that it was already 5:30. I glanced out the peep hole and saw Bonnie and Mohamed standing there as I heard Bonnie saying to someone "I'm not sure if she's even here."
I opened the door, and there was Katie, my new roommate. She looked extremely tired and frazzled so I introduced myself and gave her a big hug. "Travel problems?" I asked her. "You have NO idea," she answered. "They lost one of my bags and I have been at the airport for the past 5 hours trying to get it sorted out!"
Mohamed left as soon as Katie entered the apartment and Bonnie stayed for a few minutes to chat and see how my second day was going and to talk to Katie and I about the school. She wanted me to go in the next day and officially start working, (since I'd been given a day to rest and recuperate), and told me that a bus from the school would be picking up Mhairi, Joelle and I around 8:00 the next morning. She wrote down the phone number to Mhairi and Joelle's apartment for us, and also wrote down her number in case we needed anything, and then took off. She had been so busy picking up teachers from the airport and getting them settled in that she had barely seen her husband all week.
I gave Katie a quick tour of the apartment and showed her where things were, and then asked her if she was hungry or wanted to lie down for a bit and rest. She said she felt ok, and actually just wanted to get settled in and unpack, so we both went to our bedrooms and started putting things away. As we unpacked, we talked back and forth across the hallway and got to know each other.
Katie is from North Carolina, but she went to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I was surprised that despite being raised in the south, she doesn't have a trace of a southern accent. When I commented on this, she laughed and told me she was actually grew up an army brat, so she has lived all over the U.S. Her parents have lived in North Carolina for the past several years, so when asked, she tells people that is where she is from because it is easier.
Katie looks incredibly like Christina Ricci. She has the same large eyes that shock you from a distance with their dominance to the face, but when you look at her closer up, you see that her features are actually very soft, delicate, and quite doll-like. I didn't tell her that I thought she looked like the actress, because I didn't want to offend her or make her upset if she didn't think it was a compliment. People seem to either think Christina Ricci is either really ugly or really beautiful. There doesn't seem to be an in between. However, as soon as Mhairi and Joelle met Katie the next day they immediately told her "My God, you look just like Christina Ricci!" To which Katie unenthusiastically replied "I know! Everyone says that! And I can't STAND her; I think she's SO fricking ugly!"
Katie just graduated from college this past spring, so while we were talking and getting to know each other, I was a bit concerned at first that she would be a typical twenty-something fresh out of schoo,l (read: annoying and naïve) ,and that our age difference might make our interests and views on things completely different from each other. But, Katie has spent time abroad before; she studied a month in Prague and also spent time as a Au Pair in France for a summer, so these experiences combined with the fact that she is quite mature and level headed for her age, make her an atypical American twenty-something.
It also worried me a bit while we were talking that Katie told me that she has never had a roommate before, but I will tell you that she is probably the best roommate I've ever had, and I absolutely adore her. We have already become as close as sisters this past week, spending practically every waking moment together, and I know she will be a friend I will never forget. Leaving your home, your country, and everything that is familiar and comforting in your life behind creates situations in which people form bonds much faster than in normal, every day situations.
By the time Katie and I had finished unpacking, it was almost 8:00 in the evening, and we were both really hungry. We decided to go to a place called the Green Mill that is pretty close to our apartment. I had only been here for 1 day, and I wasn't familiar enough with our neighborhood or the taxis to risk venturing off anywhere too far from home that night. I had landmarked the Green Mill when I had been walking back from Scores with Mhairi and Joelle the night before, so I was confident I would be able to find it and get us back home when we were finished. The street signs here are tiny blue rectangles attached to whichever wall happens to be at the corner of an intersection, (well, most intersections anyway, sometimes you can walk indefinitely without seeing a sign), and most of them are written in Arabic so I can't understand what they say anyway. I called Mhairi and Joelle at their apartment to see if they wanted to join us, but they were out, so Katie and I went alone.
The Green Mill is another place geared towards the foreign residents of Maadi, so I was disappointed once again that I would be eating Western food. Katie and I ended up having a pasta dish, and sat and talked for hours about our lives and experiences. Around 1 in the morning, we decided to head back to the apartment and try to get some sleep. We each went to our rooms, but neither of us actually fell asleep until much later.
This has become routine for me since then. I don't know if my body is rebelling against the time change or what the reasoning is, but I have developed a form of insomnia where I fall to sleep around 3:00 in the morning, and then I am only able to sleep 2 or 3 hours per night. Surprisingly though, I don't feel exhausted when I wake up and have been going all day without napping or resting. I'm sure this lack of sleep will catch up with me eventually. It's just a matter of time.
