One of the exciting things about living in a foreign country, especially a developing nation, is that you never know what to expect.
Just simple things sometimes. I went to get my baggage out of storage. It looked like there had been a small quake followed by a dust storm. Boxes and luggage were stacked on top of each other. There was no way to reach some of the luggage so I had to leave a bag in there to be found later. What I did have was now covered in dust, and one of the bags had been on in Arabic. Grease pencil? Marker? Who knows. That's why I bought it at Goodwill, just in case it need to be easily disposed of.
While it's not that much fun to pack, unpacking is kinda fun because you find all this stuff you forgot about. Glasses, dishes, silverware.
You really don't need that much to set up household.
A bathroom sink really needs a bar of soap and a hand towel.
Papyrus is awesome because you can wet it and get the crumples out to put it back up as a decoration.
There was supposed to be an International Student Orientation today, but the Ring Road (one of the city's major highways) was slowed down to four-hour commute partially because there are two large trials starting today: one for Morsy, who was released from jail after Mubarak's fall; and one for Mubarak, who had previously jailed Morsy. Now they're both in one kind of jail or another and on trial. Note to self: do not, under any circumstances, run for office in Egypt.
The chairs are just as hard, poorly designed and uncomfortable as I remember. The sheet is pilly enough to be deemed what I call "an exfoliating sheet."
The gym is open, the small grocery store had eggs, cheese, yoghurt, bread, fruit and vegetables. Do you need anything else?
The staff are just as helpful as I remember. Make friends with them because they can give you a top sheet (which they don't really use here for some reason) or an extra pillow. They can also remove the defective lamp plug, and put in a screen above the bedroom window. When cooler weather comes, I can open the window and take naps as the breeze blows in, no bugs to worry about.
Mr. Friendly in the room next to mine is actually pretty friendly. Ollie from Australia (no jokes, please). We've only just crossed paths and I have taken up all the shelf space that I can, so my job as a Leo is really done for the moment.
The Occidental Tourist
Just simple things sometimes. I went to get my baggage out of storage. It looked like there had been a small quake followed by a dust storm. Boxes and luggage were stacked on top of each other. There was no way to reach some of the luggage so I had to leave a bag in there to be found later. What I did have was now covered in dust, and one of the bags had been on in Arabic. Grease pencil? Marker? Who knows. That's why I bought it at Goodwill, just in case it need to be easily disposed of.While it's not that much fun to pack, unpacking is kinda fun because you find all this stuff you forgot about. Glasses, dishes, silverware.
You really don't need that much to set up household.
A bathroom sink really needs a bar of soap and a hand towel.
Papyrus is awesome because you can wet it and get the crumples out to put it back up as a decoration.
There was supposed to be an International Student Orientation today, but the Ring Road (one of the city's major highways) was slowed down to four-hour commute partially because there are two large trials starting today: one for Morsy, who was released from jail after Mubarak's fall; and one for Mubarak, who had previously jailed Morsy. Now they're both in one kind of jail or another and on trial. Note to self: do not, under any circumstances, run for office in Egypt.
The chairs are just as hard, poorly designed and uncomfortable as I remember. The sheet is pilly enough to be deemed what I call "an exfoliating sheet."
The gym is open, the small grocery store had eggs, cheese, yoghurt, bread, fruit and vegetables. Do you need anything else?
The staff are just as helpful as I remember. Make friends with them because they can give you a top sheet (which they don't really use here for some reason) or an extra pillow. They can also remove the defective lamp plug, and put in a screen above the bedroom window. When cooler weather comes, I can open the window and take naps as the breeze blows in, no bugs to worry about.
Mr. Friendly in the room next to mine is actually pretty friendly. Ollie from Australia (no jokes, please). We've only just crossed paths and I have taken up all the shelf space that I can, so my job as a Leo is really done for the moment.
The Occidental Tourist
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