Our move to Egypt has turned out better than we could have ever imagined. While moving here wasn’t ever in the plans nothing we’ve ever done has been. We worked for an oppressive boss in Kuwait and decided to make this move without really telling anyone. Until we published this article about us moving we hadn’t really released the information to the masses.

Our transition into life here has been easy and that is mostly due to the school we choose to work at. Finding a work environment that truly supports you is kind of like finding a pot of gold and a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow. Lucky for us we found all of that and a bag of chips with this amazing school.

August

Getting to Egypt

Getting to Cairo was a hassle in itself. Traveling in the USA in the summertime is difficult due to a number of weather problems. Luckily the school purchased our plane tickets. Our routing was great. It should have been MCO (Orlando) to JFK (New York) on JetBlue and JFK to CAI (Cairo) on EgyptAir. 13 hours in total. Unfortunately for us, our flight leaving MCO was 6 hours delayed which would cause us to miss our connection in JFK. Fine no big deal. We called the airline and they rebooked us on Etihad out of JFK.

Our flight gets delayed some more which means we are in danger of misconnecting again. We decide to take the risk and still fly to JFK but once we land the connection is only 30 minutes.  Not only do we have to change airlines but we also have to change terminals. If you have ever been to JFK airport you know what a monster it is and how this would seem impossible to mere mortals. 😂 Long Story Short we ran our hearts out and made the connection. Even the gate agents at our next flight had written us off and removed us from the flight. Imagine their shock as we come barreling down the terminal.

I used to joke that the only time I ever got a workout was running through the airport. Although we travel less now that’s still true.

Not surprisingly once we landed in Cairo our bags were not with us. Filing a claim was difficult since no one spoke English. We showed the agent this picture so that helped a bit. Eventually, we got through it and left the airport. Imagine you’ve just moved countries and everything you brought isn’t there. The same thing happened when we moved to Thailand and we didn’t receive our luggage for 3 days. It’s all good we decided to roll with the punches.

We Made It To Egypt

Our School was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport and provide free hotel accommodations for 4 days. They put us up at the Renaissance Hotel. A 5-star hotel. For freeeee. Can you say *FANCY*

During those 4 days, we met with a real estate agent to find us an apartment. We lucked out and got the apartment we wanted. A huge 3 bedrooms 2 bath flat. On the 4th day, our luggage arrived and we were able to move into our place. It is the biggest apartment we have ever had and I’m not sure we can go back to living like peasants.  😂

We have done quite a few renovations to the apartment since we moved in, so be on the lookout for that video in the near future. Should Have Seen This Coming

Right before the start of classes, Mr. Ward was playing basketball at the school and he got seriously injured. This was our first taste of hospitals in Egypt. After waiting for hours all they could tell us was that he hadn’t broken anything and that the swelling should go down soon. Mind you he couldn’t really walk at all so we got him some crutches to help him out.

Since I had torn my ACL and meniscus before, I wasn’t convinced that he had been seriously injured.  Our director told him to go to a specialist for a second opinion. Turns out I was wrong. Mr. Ward had torn his ACL, meniscus AND MCL. He likes to one-up me so this shouldn’t have been a surprise. He also had to go to the hospital right when we arrived in Thailand too, so this is kind of his thing.

The doctors said he would need surgery to repair it ASAP. As it turns out our school was starting right around the corner. The doctor said he needed to miss work for at least a month. He postponed the surgery date until we had been in school for 2 weeks so he could build a relationship with his students and parents before being out.

We also went on a Felucca ride. A Felucca is a small motorless boat that sails on the Nile. We saw a perfect sunset to cap off this month.

September

On the 2nd of September, we started school. I am teaching Kindergarten 2 while Mr. Ward is teaching 4th grade Math, Science, and Social Studies. My classroom is huge and I only have 20 students. In Kuwait, I had 30 students with a room a quarter of the size. Mr. Ward has 43 children spread over two classes so the class sizes are great. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mr. Ward’s Surgery

After going back and forth with the doctor’s assistant about price Alejandro would have the surgery on September 19th. The assistant explained that the surgery would run around 50,000 Egyptian Pounds(le) or $2,800USD. That morning we got to the hospital and had to pay a down payment for the surgery. Once we paid the 10,000le ($558USD) he moved into a room. The doctor’s assistant came to see us and told us we had to pay the remainder (44,000le or $2,450USD) of the surgery IN CASH! Obviously, we didn’t have that type of money in cash. The assistant told us that if we could not pay for it then they would have to cancel the surgery. When we asked him why he didn’t tell us in the beginning that we needed cash he said “This is Egypt, of course, you have to pay in cash” Ummmmm what?!?!?

The Scramble

At this point, Mr. Ward was already prepped for surgery and he was talking about canceling. In anticipation of paying for this surgery, we moved a large chunk of money into one account to cover the cost. There was no way our US banks would allow us to pull out that type of cash from one account before cutting the card off. But we had no choice but to at least try. I went downstairs in search of an ATM. I’m pulling out as much money as possible off of three different cards and transaction after transaction, I’m just crossing my fingers, praying and hoping that the payment will go through. Between three separate cards, I completed 14 transactions. I was able to pull out just shy of the amount that we needed before the banks cut off all of our cards.

I go back upstairs to the room and ask if we can just pay this amount to just have surgery today and he agrees. To be honest this whole story deserves a post of its own so I’ll save it for another day. But long story short he had the surgery and it was a success. When we tried to check out they said we owed ANOTHER 16,000le ($895) bringing the total a whopping 20,000 more Pounds than we were originally told. How rude!!

Mr. Ward ended up missing a month of work. His students and parents were nice enough to purchase him flowers and presents. So sweet.

October

One weekend, I took a road trip with some of my coworkers to Mount Sinai. We stayed at this campsite at the base of the mountain. While I did not mind camping, my friends did not enjoy the “camping.”

The first full day we had there we visited St. Catherine’s Monastery. This monastery was built around what is believed to be the burning bush that Moses spoke to God through in all of the Holy Books.

Early the next morning we climbed up Moses mountain where it is believed that Moses got the 10 Commandments. It was long and arduous for me. I almost didn’t make it. More than once I seriously considered turning around.  I had to get on a camel to make it up the mountain and the whole experience really kicked my butt. I know I’m super out of shape but it was rough. We made it to the top right in time for sunrise. If you want to read the full account of what happened, go read ALL THE MISTAKES I MADE HIKING MOUNT SINAI. 

*Photos from Mount Sinai shot by Christian Reynolds*

November

November was an exciting month for us. We finished redecorating our home just in time for my family, my Mom, Dad, and Brother Marcus, to come into town. While we were in school, they went to see the Great Pyramids and Saqqara.

We also took them on a Felucca Ride.

The day before Thanksgiving we took a day trip up to Alexandria. Since we left late we didn’t get a chance to see much. What we saw of the Alexandria Library and the Citadel were really interesting but we will for sure have to make another trip back.

On Thanksgiving Day we hosted 13 people at our house with 19 different dishes of food. It was nice to get together with the friends we have made here. Dinner was only 30 minutes late so I was proud. The day after Thanksgiving my brother and my dad went back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our wedding anniversary was on November 29th. We celebrated 4 years of marriage.

December

My mom ended up staying with us for a few weeks. We were more than happy to let her stay and even joked that she should move in permanently. She really found herself right at home and found an art studio. We went to a painting class one night and this was our result. The perfectionist in me wasn’t all that thrilled about my work but the people who ran the place had nothing but praise.

Prior to my parents coming to Cairo, Mr. Ward and I had decided that we would attend a gala. Since my mom never got to go to her prom we turned this event into her “Adult Prom.” We got her hair, nails, and makeup done. She looked amazing and had an even better time dancing the night away.

After the dance, my mom went home. We really didn’t want her to leave.

At this very moment, we are in Germany living our best life. See more about that on our Instagram @MeetTheWards_

Even though we had quite a few ups and downs we had a great last few months and we can’t wait to see what our future in Egypt looks like.