The trip: We made it, the trip over was long but went smoothly. We moved over with just 7 luggage bags. We had an 8 1/2 layover in Frankfurt, Germany. Kristal's Dad had just spent the week in Germany for business and we were actually all in Germany at the same time for a couple hours but unfortunately in different airports. We met up with another new teaching couple in Chicago airport and another younger couple that just got married 5 days before us too at the Frankfurt airport. Seth and I are the only new couple that hasn't done any international teaching before. We arrived in Alexandria, Egypt around 2:30 a.m. Egyptian time (we are 8 hours head of Kansas). We were met at the airport by 4 other people that were already at the school and were surprised when our new Headmaster sent us back inside the airport to make sure we got our 4 bottles of duty free liquor. I think we'll like her. We tried to get a few hours of sleep right at sunrise when they were starting the call to prayer that is broadcasted on loudspeakers from every Mosque in the city. That was interesting. It is just the new people on campus right now; there are eleven of us including our new Headmaster and Principal, for orientation. It just happens that they hired all couples this year and now single people so there are actually 4 open apartments this year so there is plenty of space for visitors so start planning your trips to see us now. Our apartment: We were very impressed and love our new apartment. It's not too much smaller than our house was. It has huge 20 foot ceilings and windows with lots of natural light. We have a nice front and side balcony with a nice breeze and a view across the city. We on the top (fourth) floor with the other young newlyweds. The fact that they put the youngest and newly married couples on the top floor has not gone unnoticed! We will defiantly get our exercise around here with all the stairs we have to do around campus. American with Disabilities Act defiantly doesn't apply here, no elevators or escalators. Our apartment is much bigger than what we had expected and very nicely decorated and supplied. We felt at home right away. Our kitchen is small, but I was expecting that and we really don't have to use it since our meals are all cooked for us. We have so much storage space that when we unpacked we didn't even use half of it. We've seen some of the other people’s apartments and we are all amazed how different they are all.
Our day:
We woke up early after about 2.5 hours of sleep trying to adjust to the new time zone. Had our first meal in our dinning hall and met the chef’s who are so nice and eager to please. We had the best French toast made from home made bread that they cook fresh every day. Then we went and unpacked our luggage and arranged our apartment. After a very good lunch were I had some extremely good stuffed zucchini, we met up as a group and took a tour of the campus and found Seth's new room and took care of some business and financial stuff. The campus is going to be fun to explore. As the school has grown over the last 90 years it had created some interesting architecture on the campus there are so many interesting buildings with many nooks and crannies and secret places to explore. After our tour most of us donned on our bathing suits and enjoyed our swimming pool, I think we will have use that a lot. We will enjoy our new staff/family. We seem to have a very active staff and should have lots of company to run and swim together. We checked out the gym equipment and they are trying to put together a bigger gym room for us. After dinner of meatloaf with made-from-scratch BBQ which would compete with any Kansas City BBQ we took a walk to the Mediterranean Sea. There is a huge resort close with a three story mall inside and a movie theater which plays some American movies. We sat at a Starbucks and enjoyed the view of the beach and sea. It was kind of a novelty since Seth and I have never been to a Starbucks but go to our first one in Egypt! As we went to bed exhausted last night Seth and I couldn't believe that we had not even spent 24 hours here yet and have already done so much and feel so close to our co-workers already.
We woke up early after about 2.5 hours of sleep trying to adjust to the new time zone. Had our first meal in our dinning hall and met the chef’s who are so nice and eager to please. We had the best French toast made from home made bread that they cook fresh every day. Then we went and unpacked our luggage and arranged our apartment. After a very good lunch were I had some extremely good stuffed zucchini, we met up as a group and took a tour of the campus and found Seth's new room and took care of some business and financial stuff. The campus is going to be fun to explore. As the school has grown over the last 90 years it had created some interesting architecture on the campus there are so many interesting buildings with many nooks and crannies and secret places to explore. After our tour most of us donned on our bathing suits and enjoyed our swimming pool, I think we will have use that a lot. We will enjoy our new staff/family. We seem to have a very active staff and should have lots of company to run and swim together. We checked out the gym equipment and they are trying to put together a bigger gym room for us. After dinner of meatloaf with made-from-scratch BBQ which would compete with any Kansas City BBQ we took a walk to the Mediterranean Sea. There is a huge resort close with a three story mall inside and a movie theater which plays some American movies. We sat at a Starbucks and enjoyed the view of the beach and sea. It was kind of a novelty since Seth and I have never been to a Starbucks but go to our first one in Egypt! As we went to bed exhausted last night Seth and I couldn't believe that we had not even spent 24 hours here yet and have already done so much and feel so close to our co-workers already.
