Arrived!

We landed at Cairo International Airport at 10:30 pm local time (on a MUCH more comfortable flight by the way) and were met by a smiling middle-aged man carrying a sign reading “Li Hawad.” I’m not sure who he was (and he wasn’t sure who we were), but he negotiated our way through customs, getting us into the baggage claim area within a half hour. He first said we needed $40 for our visa, then, after he had spoken with a tall, thin, unsmiling man a few times, came back and told us the cost was $30. I’m not sure what happened to the $10 left over, but I assume it went to a good cause. At the baggage claim we were joined by a second, less jovial man who helped us retrieve our two suitcases. They then took us outside and past a crowd of people, among whom were two younger looking Egyptians, one of whom was holding a sign saying “Heliopolis American International School, Group A.” Fortunately I noticed them, and, figuring they HAD to be there for us, we made a u-turn and introduced ourselves. It turned out they worked for the school and were, in fact, wishing to retrieve us. Their names are Amr Barakat (the Human Resources person at our school), and Sharifa Mohammed (who works with the school’s finances). A short time later (and after our new guides had a couple conversations with the two men we encountered before) we were in Heliopolis (which is not far from the airport) and in our new apartment. On the way, we experienced our first taste of Egyptian-style driving, and though it met many of our expectations, it was not nearly as scary as we had anticipated. (But more on that later.)