Living in Cairo

Living in Cairo has been interesting.  Primarily because it wasnt anything like I expected.  I am living in the suburbs of Cairo, in a gated community, where children play outside on grass and women walk around in Western garb with their hair uncovered.  I have heat and hot water, I have a microwave and a stove.  And I have a souq.

The neighborhood marketplace.  Of course, across from the food market is the neighborhood hair salon,

Because I am "living" in Cairo, I am not in the tourist areas, so there is no English.  Except for the random words in English that are used to denote a cool place to be.  Like, the City Stars mall.  Or the Suncity gated community.  They did that in Spain when I was living there.  Everything young and fashionable was in English.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  But the reality of Al Rehab City is a mix of old and new culture colliding.  Some people are dressed as I expected, the women covered from head to toe and the men in traditional garb.  Some people are half dressed- their hair is covered but they are wearing western clothing.  And most are in western garb.  But we are in what is considered the upper class neighborhood, so being western is fashionable and they can afford the extra price.  So in addition to the souq, we also have the mall. 

The first time I went into town, leaving the shelter of the gated community, I made sure I was covered.  Sure, no one cared in gated community Cairo, but what would happen in the heart of downtown?  So I went prepared.

Of course, the ex-pats shake their head- at my head scarf and the fact that I am freezing in the 60 degree weather. 

We go head to church in Heliopolis, which is an older part of Cairo.

And then we head to the giant mall, Citystars  (think cruise ship center on land with stores) 

To go to the Egyptian version of Walmart.

Then we left the mall and headed to the bus stop to go home. 

Did I mention there are no traffic signals in Cairo?

As you can see from the picture of the apartment complex, we made it back safely.  And I am still alive.