Our time in Tassie was a reality check- still no family nearby, but our kids were now 4 1/2 and 6 years old, so life was a lot easier.
However, we bought a fixer-upper and while Nick worked at a private school as deputy head, I painted the house and tried to renovate both it and the garden. After not having any land in Hong Kong for 10 years, I went overboard with composting, worm farms, and homegrown vegetables.
Why Egypt?
Nick was invited to help Rob Graham, his friend from Hong Kong, help run the Search Associates fair in Sydney. It was while he was chatting to recruiters that he met Martin, a Head of School from Egypt. Nick begged me to meet with him as he was looking for a Head of Primary (Nick) and a Reception teacher (me). I was aiming to move closer to Melbourne at that stage- Geelong sounded nice, and Egypt could not have been further from my mind or Melbourne! Martin was incredibly persuasive, however. He talked about lifestyle- diving, desert trips, antiques, ruins, wonderful people, cheap food, and a great school, and before I knew it we were saying our goodbyes again and heading for the cradle of civilisation.
Acclimatizing
What a culture shock. I knew what to expect and had seen plenty of photos, but reality overwhelmed me. The trip to our apartment from the airport was intense. I tried to ignore the donkeys on the freeway and the cars going backward (and the wrong way down main roads). Unmarked speed humps popped up out of nowhere. The dust and lack of greenery were so different from peaceful, rainy Tasmania. At school however, everyone was so helpful and kind. I wondered how I was going to recognise any of the ladies when their hair was covered and they all looked the same. As time went on I realised that this is possible!
We spent our first week sightseeing and setting up our apartment and classroom. I loved the fact that I could hang out the washing from our kitchen balcony and it would dry in an hour. I didn’t love scraping off excess rubble and mortar from our tiled kitchen floor when we arrived. That was a sight to behold as it was completed in 40 degrees in my underwear and much complaining was done by all. The weather cooled significantly in winter and I could contemplate cooking while clothed again.
Sightseeing
Egypt was amazing- the markets, sailing feluccas on the Nile at sunset, the variety of fresh food and delicious juices, the many tourist sites, and the welcoming locals. After visiting the first pyramid ever built- the step pyramid at Sakkara, we broke down outside the tourist police station. We hung out with the friendly police in the gutter while Liam checked out the M16 at the feet of the young cop. Tom offered around a huge bag of dates we had just bought for 50 cents. For entertainment, we counted the number of people traveling in each car during the 2 hours we were marooned. The winner was a jeep with 19 people in it, or maybe the bulldozer, driven by a young boy who was carrying another boy who was standing in the scoop.
We travelled to many wonderful holiday destinations in Egypt and many friends and family from home came to visit. The coastal resort of Dahab near the Red Sea is stunningly beautiful and the water is warm- a great place for learning to dive. Mt Sinai (think Charlton Heston in 10 Commandments, home of St Catherines and the original burning bush) was climbed during the night to see the sunrise and we drove to beautiful soft white sand dunes where the boys skim-boarded all day. We only got bogged down twice and were able to slowly maneuver out. We saw the Whalebone desert valley, hiked in beautiful wadis, and camped in the desert.
Learning about the culture
We learned about the call to prayer at 5:30 am, which eliminated the need for an alarm clock. 9 mosques in our area broadcast the call to prayer at the same time. The holy month of Ramadan brought its own special highlights…an hour-long prayer broadcast around 8 pm from all the mosques and no traffic on the roads during iftar. Also, no people to serve you in a restaurant, (as everyone eats dinner after fasting all day). We lived so close to the school that I could get from the kitchen to my classroom in 2 minutes. I often ran home to do my laundry at recess. The highlight of our apartment were the toilets- they had a butt washer which you activate to squirt a small jet of water up your rear end. The consumption of toilet paper by the Kendell family was halved! This particularly came in handy when dealing with the ‘Pharaoh’s curse’. I also appreciated the delivery men who came by selling gas, and food, and the ironing man, who charged 20 cents apiece, even if it was a sheet!
Family Connections
We had more family time at the beginning of our time in Cairo as the tv/ internet connection took a while. After the slow start, Nick was happy to hook up to free cable and watch as much TV as he liked. Our son Liam (9) on the other hand, became more spiritual. He combined his understanding of Buddhism from Hong Kong, Catholicism (from us), and Islam from Egypt and created a shrine in his room where we were encouraged to pray as a family before bed. He had a box inside which there was incense, a Chinese dragon, a Tassie devil, a bible, and snacks. He wanted us to pray 5 times a day like our neighbors but we managed to restrict it to once.
Christmas in Cairo involved singing carols and drinking mulled wine- 2 things I didn’t expect to see. I did wonder about the Muslims singing along to Silent Night, but in an international school, it appears all things are possible. We borrowed the school Christmas tree as there are not a lot of real ones growing over here!
Staying safe
Security, even before the revolution was intense, especially in the bigger malls and hotels. To get into the car park at the Intercontinental Hotel the car was sniffed by an old-looking Labrador (bomb dog?) and a guy checked under the car with a mirror. A metal fence descended into the ground and we could drive in. Then a man stopped us and asked ‘What’s your reason?’ We couldn’t believe we had to tell him ’ dinner and a show’’ until we saw his gestures and realized he was actually saying ‘Where’s your license?’ We had to give him Nick’s Tasmania license and the car license, which we received on the way out. As we walked into the hotel, we had to pass through a metal detector, which always beeped when Nick went through. No one ever questioned him for some reason.
The locals
It was a lot easier to pick up Arabic than Mandarin/Cantonese. It made life so much easier, knowing a few words, and the locals were entertained and supportive when we tried to converse. Being clueless about the local culture means you don’t get star-struck or tongue-tied when you meet the famous locals. I saw Omar Sharif at his grandson’s birthday party. Nick was thanked for giving an informative meeting by a lovely gentleman whom he later found out is Egypt’s most famous singer. Our other ‘brush’ with ‘fame’ was the news that ‘Stomp’ was going to perform on our school oval. Women teachers were all a flutter till we were told that their music speakers weren’t working and they couldn’t come. I thought they made their music from rubbish bins and brooms!
Celebrations
We enjoyed celebrating Muslim holidays. The dips, meat, and sweet desserts were amazing. Eid involved the sacrificing of many animals in the streets… Our neighbours sent us steaks from the cow they slaughtered in their front yard- talk about fresh! Our boys played with the cow’s head and watched a sheep being blown up to skin it. They became vegetarian for a total of three days. My wonderful teaching assistant Sara often took me out after school. Being with her was like having been blind and then being able to see.
This short video shows our school NCBIS 30th anniversary celebrations at the pyramids. You can see Nick on the microphone at the end. He made 17 trips to the pyramids in his first year there to prepare for the event and got to the stage where he was sick of going!
Click here to read about the revolution: Out of Egypt