Cairo, Egypt – Day 1

I’ve been stressing you out for a looong time and finally I’m here! I’m in Cairo, Egypt – my dream destination… Arrived on Sep 1st, late at night, with a one way flight. Who knows what’s going to happen? In the meantime, I have started my daily routine. And this time there was no shock. I so feel at home. It feels so good!

Yesterday it was my first day. I slept until the muezzin prayer started (around 11.30 am) – that was my wake up call! And that’s how I realized where I was. The previous night I was too tired to understand. So the first thing I did was smiling. Isn’t it great?

I went out and walked until the nearest Vodafone store, got a new sim card and activated the BlackBerry services. Ok, that made me feel so much better! Then after 1 hour in a supermarket trying to figure out things, I got a tameya (falafel sandwich) on the street at Gad for as little as 1.25 EGP – less than 0.20 € … I love this place!

I needed some towels and stuff for my apartment so I went to Khan el Khalili (the big suq district of Cairo) and got everything I needed… and you know what? All this felt so normal! What’s happening? Am I becoming an Egyptian? Hope so!

The best part of the day was meeting my friends again! We met at a nice cafe in the Mohandessin neighborhood (where I live), and had some delicious fruit juice and shisha together… I have been so dreaming about this for such a long time!  I still can’t believe I made it, and I would never go back!

My plans for the next days are:

1. having fun (having a party at my place tonight… good start!) and
2. wait for the end of Ramadan to look for a job. Unfortunately now almost everything is closed during the day and it’s not the best time to apply for a job. But I’m happy I can live the Ramadan time: after the sunset Cairo is crazier than ever!

Ok, this was just a quick post to tell you that yes, I did it, I’m here! I’ll keep you posted with all my movements and news… And I’m so happy! This is the greatest news to me.