The First Few Days in Cairo

We moved from the hotel to our apartment 3 days ago, currently our internet is down so I haven’t been able to call my Mom yet (we have a Texas based Vonage number through the internet) or check my emails, pay bills, etc. I feel so disconnected. The kids are glued to the TV right now watching Playhouse Disney so I decided to write a post on Word to copy on my blog when the internet is working again.
Jackie had her Kindergarten assessment yesterday at the American school. We were told they would email us soon with their decision. Decision? Jeez. I would think the bar would be pretty low for acceptance into Kindergarten. So we shall see if Miss Jackie is accepted or not. If she isn’t I don’t know what Plan B is yet, since we were pretty much counting on her getting into this school.
Cairo has definitely been an eye opening experience thus far. It is a gritty, loud, old city. Oh, and the humanity! How can I not mention the sheer humanity of this place. Wow. There are a lot of people who live here. I think I read somewhere the city is home to 20 million people*. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it sure does feel like a city of 20 million.
The kids are adjusting ok. They do miss home and their friends, but I think mostly they miss the routine and conveniences of Texas. They are creatures of comfort and ask for things like popcorn from Target and hot dogs and Chick-Fil-A. There is a McDonald’s here and a Pizza Hut, so they like that and the food tastes virtually the same as back home. I think the biggest adjustment for them is going to be food-wise. They are picky to begin with so grocery shopping here has been a bit of challenge. So far they have found they like the yogurt, and fruit, and they seem fine with the bread and cheeses and juices. They haven’t tried any meat except the nuggets from McDonald’s.
We miss home a lot, but we are still adjusting and haven’t quite settled in yet. I think once our shipment arrives we will feel more ‘at home’. Until then we are staying upbeat and trying to enjoy this crazy ride!

*According to Wikipedia the current population of Cairo is about 17 million. I was kind of close!

Now that we have the internet up and running I will post pics soon, I promise!