Birthday maddness

Omar turned three yesterday! We had a party for him on Saturday with all his friends at a Ceramic Cafe near our house. Omar loves this place, and he was very excited! The party was pretty low key, very different than the parties we have in the US, but nonetheless, it was nice!

We were there for about 4 hours. Exhausted and happy Omar fell asleep on the way home. He didn't open his presents until the next morning.

Then on his actual birthday, we didn't do much, had birthday lunch, got calls and emails from family and friends and had birthday cake.

While I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Omar was climbing all over the couch in the living room being all silly, when all of a sudden I heard a huge bang followed by loud screaming. Right then I knew it was bad, I came flying out of the kitchen and saw Omar had fallen off the back of the couch flat on his face on the marble floor. Blood was everywhere and I tried to stay as calm as possible but after I looked at his face I knew he needed to be taken to the hospital. I called Ramy who came right away and we hopped into a taxi. Traffic was terrible that time of day and it took us a good thirty minutes. Luckily Omar's face stopped bleeding but it was extremely swollen. At the ER we were seen right away, and the good news is that nothing was broken and no teeth were loose. We got some medicine for the swelling and we were on our way back home.

But during the time I was in the kitchen I was starting to feel ill, and it got worse and worse. Back home I realized it must've been something I had eaten that day.

The next morning Omar was sick too, it looks we got food poisoning from the lunch we ordered on his birthday. What a mess! Poor Omar!

Now for some  good news, Ramy met with the realtor, and signed the contract, so we are moving on December 1! Will keep you posted.

Proud mama

I always cut Omar's hair since he was a baby, but decided to get him to a hair dresser at age one. I have blogged about it before, his first hair dresser experiences have been rather traumatic so I resorted back to cutting it myself. Omar would get so hysterical that I would always cut his hair while he was sleeping. But the last couple of hair cuts I have tried to do them while he was awake. He needs to get over this fear of getting his hair cut and realize I am not going to cut him. So after procrastinating it for about a week, I decided to do it. I told him for two days I was going to cut it so he knew it was coming. Lots of protests and that mommy should get it cut instead as my hair was longer than his.

The clippers came out and Omar went into hysterics. Then he stopped crying, got out his little chair, picked up the clippers and told me to sit down and he would cut my hair. It was quite cute but it wasn't going to work!
I told him that if he was to sit down he would get a bowl of m&m's. He threw another major fit and then realized he was never going to get those m&m's without getting his hair cut.
So he came and got me and told me he was ready. He sat down on his little chair, held the bowl of m&m's and I started cutting. Not a single cry, a bit of complaining and twitching around but that was it, he even offered me some m&m's! Now why didn't I think of candy bribary before? Besides the whole bribe part I am super proud of him for not crying, it's like a whole new milestone for me!

His best little friend from Germany, Sami, is back in town for three weeks. We met up with him at the club the other day, and Omar was super excited to see him and played with him for hours. The last time he was here was back in May. The great thing about Sami being here at this time is that he is able to attend Omar's birthday which is on the 17th of November and we are able to attend Sami's which is on the 28th of November.

Omar is super excited about his birthday. Yesterday we went out to a little french bakery and he picked out his birthday cake. Of course it has a huge train on it! Then we went to the toy store to get his birthday present. Normally I would go out and get it while Omar is at home with Ramy but things are a bit different here so I had to take him along. What a nightmare! Shopping for a kid that is with you is not a very good idea.
All Omar is talking about is his birthday, his train cake, the party and the presents. It must be so hard for him to wait!

Lovely

Yesterday we met up with the realtor who showed us all the apartments in Maadi. We had spoken to him several times over the past week and decided to look at the ground floor apartment once more before signing the deal.

The owner of the apartment was there and we discussed everything with him before heading out. As we were about to commit to this apartment, our realtor said, you do know we are talking dollars here don't you? Ramy and I were shocked as we had clearly stated we were looking for an apartment in the range of 4000 Egyptian pounds. This apartment was renting for $4000 a month. I mean, $4000 for an apartment? Our house in America which is more than 3 times the size of this apartment costs half per month!

We were both in a state of shock and I felt rather foolish, embarrassed and angry at the same time. 

For the past two weeks we have been discussing in  Egyptian pounds and then all of a sudden it has become dollars? Very un classy.

Apparently, because Maadi houses mostly ex pats, the companies that bring them over pay for the apartments, so landlords have no problem charging a ridiculous amount of money as they know they will get it.

After returning home, I was just so depressed, and then when Omar asked me 'Mom, when  are we moving to the house with the garden, I want to play outside', I just lost it.

All the feelings I had when we first moved to Egypt, how much I hated it here, how lonely and depressed I was all came back at once.

But after a good two hours of moping around I decided to not give up and keep looking. 

So now there are still options available in Maadi, but for the money we can afford, I have a feeling it will be like a one bedroom apartment or something small like that. 

After searching the internet all night long, I found villa's and huge duplexes in our price range in the 5th settlement. Not knowing where that was I asked Ramy and that is where his company has a huge project going on called Hyde Park. Reading up on this place, I found it is located in New Cairo, the air is not polluted and it seems really nice. 

So now Ramy called them today and we have an appointment on Thursday to go look. I made sure Ramy called this time so we don't get swindled with me being a foreigner.

Yesterday, after getting back, I called a ton of realtors here in Cairo, and all of a sudden I was receiving a lot of calls. I never get any calls, so it was weird, but hey, I thought all these people are calling me back!

The phone calls were from Egyptian men who did not speak English, and from the little Arabic I know, they were making fun of me speaking English. I decided not to answer the phone anymore but around 11pm, this number was calling me non stop. So I answered it in a very angry voice in Arabic, but I didn't understand the replies I was getting until he started talking to me in very dirty English. Words that can not be repeated. I was furious and called Ramy's father who called the man back, threatened him not to ever bother me again, and then called the police on him who then went and arrested him.

I am very happy as I believe he gave my number out to his friends, and that is why I was being bombarded with calls.

I am so extremely sick of the mentality of the majority of Egyptian men here, the sexual innuendo, the constant, yet subtle harassment I have to endure because I am foreign and a woman. Even when  Ramy is with me, they have no shame, they will stare, whistle, follow me, or honk if we are driving. Ramy has gotten into quite a few arguments with them over it, which almost led into fist fights but in the end they were too scared.

Another reason I am so sad of us possibly not moving to Maadi, is that I finally felt I belonged somewhere and I fit in. Not feeling anxious about going out and ordering a taxi, or simply walking on the street as most people there are foreign like me.

I don't know, will I ever be really happy here?

Maadi

On Tuesday we met with a realtor in Maadi. 

Stepping  out of the car I noticed right away the air was cleaner and the streets were cleaner too. It was also quiet and I heard birds chirping. There were lots of trees, and I saw villa's with gardens and Europeans walking  around.

The first apartment was a ground floor with a garden and patio. It was very big, four bedrooms. I loved it and couldn't stop smiling. Finally something looked right! But it didn't stop there, we saw maybe about 12 more and all of them were very big and very nice.

 The realtor was very helpful and had brought us a map where he numbered each apartment we had seen. It was interesting taking Omar as he certainly had an opinion on each of them. Our least favorite was his least favorite as well. When I asked him if he liked to live here, he said no, this one is bad!

So at the end of the day, we had picked a top 5 where the ground floor was number one, and a duplex (two floors) was number two. The reason the duplex didn't make number one is because its on the first floor and on a busy main street with not much parking. The ground floor one sits on a quiet and secured street where Omar could actually ride his bike!

So now we are in the process of negotiating. If it was up to me I would be moving yesterday, but we have a few obstacles, the main one being that when we gave our notice, it had to be for three months. Now if our current land lord sells this apartment before the three months notice is up, which is before January 1st, we could leave sooner. If we do leave sooner before he sells the place we will lose our deposit. 

I am keeping my fingers crossed someone will buy this place real soon! I am ready to move!!!

Here is a map of Cairo:

The blue streak running through the middle

is obviously the Nile river.

Then when you look at the right, you see El Nozha, which is where we live now. Heliopolis is where Ramy currently works. Nasr City is where we first lived. 6th of October is not on this map (it's our second apartment), so you can imagine how far it was from the center. Zamalek is where the club is, Maadi is where we are looking to move and Giza is where the pyramids are. So now you might have a better feel for what I am talking about!

Besides Maadi being cleaner and not as dense as some of the other places, Ramy's work will be moving there by next month, and it will be walking distance away. Omar's school is there and on the same street is the community center which is only for foreigners living in Egypt. I checked out their website and they have a lot going on! 

Do I sound a little excited? Just a bit! 

Although I am not looking forward to packing it all up AGAIN, I am confident we will stay put here for a little while.

This will be our fourth move in less than a year!

Moving around in Cairo

It has been months since my last post, which means lots has happened since May.

We finally moved out of Nasr City in June to Sheikh Zayed, which is in the outskirts of Cairo. A beautiful area, quiet, clean air but completely secluded if you don't have a car. 

We only stayed there for one month as the commute to Ramy's work in Heliopolis (two hours each way by taxi) was taking a toll on all of us. While there we had three visitors from the United States which made the time go by quickly and made me feel less home sick.

Then in July we moved into an apartment close to the airport in Nozha el Gedida, which is basically 5 minutes from Ramy's office. Our furniture arrived at the same time, so it was a very busy time with getting the apartment set up and trying to resume a normal life after months of living on borrowed stuff.

The apartment itself is very nice and roomy, but only one third of our old home in the US which forced us to put half of our belongings in storage.

Omar was very happy to have a room of his own again, he was also ecstatic to have most of his toys and to sleep in his own bed.

But Cairo is Cairo, and with living in a overcrowded city like this comes pollution and lots of dirt.

It keeps me busy, cleaning every day. My husband tells me to just get a maid, but why should I? I am home at the moment, taking care of a two year old, I can manage this!

In September Omar and I took a month long trip back to the US. It was a fantastic trip, and the month flew by. Omar and I tried to visit as many friends as possible, and Ramy managed to join us for two weeks as well. 

For our seven year anniversary we took a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas which was absolutely fantastic and would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of taking a cruise with kids. Omar had a blast and so did we. We all needed the much needed vacation and relaxation.

Afterwards we stayed in Orlando for three days and visited Disney World. Coming back to Maryland after our little vacation gave us only a couple of more days before we had to take the plane back to Egypt. It was a crazy hectic few days which flew by and before we knew it we were in the air on our way back. 

Mixed feelings of happiness and sadness engulfed Omar and I, but the fun wasn't quite over as we had a long lay over in Amsterdam.

We got there pretty early and Omar and I took the train to my grandma's house, where my brother, fiance with newborn baby and my dad and his wife were all there waiting for us.

Omar was very happy again, and did not sleep at all as he was too excited.

Later that evening we took the train back to the airport and finished our trip to Egypt.

Surprisingly enough it felt good to be back in the apartment. Ramy came and picked us up as he had gone back ahead of us. 

It looks like Egypt is starting to grow on me, well Cairo is. I still dislike it but don't hate it anymore.

While we were gone on our trip, our upstairs neighbors flooded our apartment, which they failed to mention to us, and luckily Ramy's dad happened to stop by and found the mess and was able to save our things.

Due to the nasty mentality of our neighbors and it not be the first time they did some nasty stuff to us, we decided to give our notice and move out.

At the same time Ramy told me he is being moved to an office in Maadi, which is where I wanted to live all along. So it seems things are falling into place, and I am very excited!

The apartment search is on again, hopefully we find something nice with some green around us.

After 8 months I am finally feeling a bit happy and I am trying my hardest to keep this feeling going!

Good news and bad news

The good news is that Ramy got the job! We are very excited, and as soon as he finishes his paperwork he will start his training and then we will find out which office he will be working from.
They have six offices in Cairo, I am hoping it will be the one in 6th of October as that is the nicest area to live in.
So for now we still have to be patient and wait to move until we find out where he will be working.

As for the not so good news, apparently our shipment, which arrived over two weeks ago is being held at National Security. The reason for it being there is Ramy’s sword and knife collection.
They claim it is a national threat and it looks like Ramy is planning a war. Yeah right! With the couple of swords that old and in that kind of shape. Outrageous let me tell you. They are planning on confiscating it all, so Ramy is working really hard on getting this solved at the moment.
Besides that, they now say we need to pay 30% on each item we bring into the country
which is also a big load of crap, where are we supposed to get that kind of money from?
And that is certainly not what they told us when we were moving!
I don’t know why the little bit of good news always has to be overshadowed with a lot of bad news.
Will things ever go our way or at least go as planned?

Pyramids and horses

Isis seems to be a bit better now. I took her to a vet the day before yesterday. It was very hard to find and with traffic it took us an hour and a half. There was no sign on the building or on the door of the office which was so strange. Isis got really hot in the taxi and was barely breathing, it was quite scary.
At the vet she did great, I think she was just too sick to put up a fight. The vet here is something you probably cannot even imagine if you are used to the ones in the US or Europe for that matter.
We walked in and it was small and dirty looking. It had 5 billion pictures of dogs on the wall and not a single reference to any other animal. Then a woman took us to a side room that looked a bit more like a medical room. The doctor was standing behind the examining table with a cigarette in one hand and a lighter and cell phone in the other. He seemed annoyed we disturbed him.
He asked me what seemed to be the problem, I told him my cat had a seizure yesterday and after consulting with the vet back home we came to check her out.
He lit up his cigarette, then told me to put the cage on the table. He then asked me if it was a cat or a dog. Hello? Didn’t I just say it was a cat and can’t you see she is right in front of you?
He then asked me again, what seems to be the problem? I was really annoyed at that point.
I got her out of the cage, as his assistant was scared of the cat. He then took her temperature and gave her a bunch of medicines for fever and parasites. He never even looked at her or checked her, nothing.
Her fever is gone now but she is still a bit out of it. I am not taking her back there though, the guy was rude. I asked him what he gave her and he refused to tell me. He got really annoyed and kind of yelled at me that if I take her in for the next three days he will write me a report.
Whatever. At least he didn’t kill her.


Ramy took us horseback riding at the pyramids yesterday. It was a surprise and Omar and I were very excited!
When we were almost there, some guy jumped into our taxi and told us his stables are the best. So we went there. We got two horses and Omar was really excited. I got on the horse and he wanted to get on too, so I put him on with me. My saddle had a big metal ring sticking up in front so we were really cramped and I decided to give Omar to Ramy as he had a normal saddle.
We then rode off. Omar was so happy, he was petting the horse while we were trotting, saying good boy and he was laughing the whole time.
It took us about fourty five minutes to get to the pyramids. Omar was in awe. He couldn’t stop talking about how big the rocks were. He went for a little ride on the horse all by himself there. He loved it and I am very proud of him!

There was a guy there with his camel and he tried to get Omar on it but Omar was too busy with his horse and had no interest in riding the camel.
I then took him on the pyramid with me, it was hard to climb as the big square rocks were the same size as him.

When we were saddling up to ride to the sphinx, our guide got into a fight with the tourist police that was at the pyramids. As we had gone ahead, we heard screaming and then he came riding up behind us fast. My horse got scared and started galloping which scared me as we were descending a big slab of rock. I got him to slow and then the police had ran after our guide and were trying to pull him off the horse. They were very angry at him and were trying to beat him and arrest him. They got close to Omar and his horse got scared which in turn made me panic and started yelling at them. Ramy also yelled at them and finally they let him go.
Apparently, they wanted 50 pounds as they were the tourist police and they can demand whatever they want. Our guy refused and made them very angry.
It was pretty scary! While descending to the sphinx a group of wild looking horses came by and got Ramy’s horse a bit out of control, but luckily Ramy handled it well and him and Omar were fine. I am so glad I put Omar with Ramy as I am not a good rider and we both would have gotten hurt.
Omar then got excited to see the Sphinx, he recognized it from one of his Little Einstein shows.
We chose not to go in it as we had rode for an hour and a half and we were all very tired.
It was a great family outing!

Mickey

Mickey was fun! Omar had a blast! It was so American. He sat for almost the entire show, it was well organized, started on time and we had really good seats.
Omar did not want to go at first because he insisted Ella had to go with him. I tried to explain to him that Ella lives in America and we are in Egypt. He screamed and he cried.
Thinking about it, it makes sense as we are planning to go to Disney World later this year and I told him Ella and him might go see Mickey together.
The weather has gotten a lot better too, 80s during the day 60s at night, just wonderful!

Our situation is still the same, I wish I could tell you Ramy got the other job! We got a house! Our things are here in Cairo!
Maybe next week? I am still keeping my fingers crossed. The good thing is that we are here as a family, and although we have been cramped in a bedroom for two months, we are spending more time together as a family. Omar is very happy spending this much time with the both of us. It makes up for everything he misses back home.

I finally got skype today, I was so excited! There is high speed internet at the club and the program downloaded fairly quickly. Thirty minutes instead of 6 hours. The only problem was that nobody was on! We waited to talk to someone until the battery died. Omar was a bit disappointed but I told him we will try again tomorrow.

All three of us came down with another stomach bug. I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst pain, then the next day Ramy and Omar got it. I don’t know if it is something we ate or what but I can tell you, I am tired of having stomach aches! There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that my stomach has not hurt. Ramy however has never had a stomach ache here in Egypt so he was really miserable.

We’ve had a bit of bad luck here and there, just now when we got home, I went to feed the cats and Isis had a seizure. She was in the middle of eating and all of a sudden her front paw was straight up in the air. I have never seen such a thing, I didn’t think a paw could go that way. And as she was still eating I was just staring at first until she started staggering and shaking, I thought she was choking. I checked her, but could not see anything, she was spastic. I screamed for Ramy and we rushed her to his dad. I was freaking out, thought she was going to die as she had a very scary asthma episode a couple of days before we left to Egypt where she did almost die. I needed to go to an emergency vet right away!
Ramy’s dad did not know of a veterinarian here, and the one I had found on the net earlier this week was over an hour away.
Luckily she started to become normal again, and I called the vet in America who told me she had a seizure and to find a vet here as soon as possible. These things can be fatal.
So first thing tomorrow we are in the taxi, I hope it is nothing serious!

About two weeks ago Horus inhaled a couple of pieces of dry cat food that had gotten stuck together and almost choked to death. I swept his mouth, couldn’t reach the piece, held him upside down, shook him and did the heimlich until it came out. Very traumatic let me tell you. I honestly didn’t know what to do and Ramy didn’t really seem to care so I was trying anything I could think of. I figured if I didn’t he would die anyway. And yes, there is a heimlich for cats and dogs, I went online afterwards to read up on it and to prepare myself for future accidents. Unfortunately the vet here does not live around the corner like back home. In fact, a vet is hard to find here. Apparently, for the majority of the Egyptians dogs are considered dirty, and cats, well there are hundreds of them on the streets so why have them as a pet? The only people that have pets are Americans or Europeans that live here. In Holland four out of five households have a pet. The majority of the Europeans and Americans live in Maadi or Zamalek and that is where you will find a vet. One more reason to move closer, don’t you think?

Omar has had a couple of small accidents, some black eyes and nasty falls. The worst fall was at the mall. He was sitting on Ramy’s neck when he decided to jump off. As Ramy was distracted he grabbed him too late and Omar landed face first on the floor. It was such a smack I thought for sure he broke something, or lost a couple of teeth but he was okay! His left cheeck was all swollen and bruised and there was blood in his mouth, but that was the worst of it. Tough kid I tell you!

Heat wave

We have been hit by another heat wave. Yesterday we had a high of 106 degrees. It was absolutely scorching hot!
I tried getting a taxi with air conditioning but no luck.
Omar got really hot in the taxi, he was passing out which totally freaked me out. Ramy and I have been in disagreement over taking Omar into the hot weather. He claims thousands of kids go in the hot weather each day and it is no big deal.
But I think yesterday’s taxi ride may have changed his mind as Omar was really affected by the heat. I honestly think he was close to a heat stroke. It was a scary experience. He was really out of it for the rest of the day and didn’t really become his old self until he had a nice cool bath.
Today we are going to the Mickey Mouse show, luckily it is very close to the house so the ride shouldn’t be bad.
After yesterdays experience I am really starting to hate this place. I miss the convenience of my car, the central air conditioning of our previous home and the fresh air.
Now more than ever I want to move to our own place. For my son’s sake we need to live closer to the things we do everyday.
Heat wave come to an end!

Egypt anyone?

The last couple of days have been really warm here, so we were planning on taking Omar swimming today but looking out of the window now I see nothing but smog. I guess swimming is out of the question. The air smells like burning, it is very nasty.
Besides that, Omar woke up with a cold.
I am so bummed, I was looking forward to going to the club and the pool today. Anything to get us out of the house!

When I have a moment of nothing to do, it really means I have nothing to do. Yesterday I found myself coloring in Omar’s coloring book, now talk about being bored!
Being here is so much different than home, at least when I think I have nothing to do, there is something to do like laundry, dishes, paying bills or just get on the internet.
How I miss the internet. It is so hard to get on these days, I never reply to any emails, so I am sorry for that. I can read them on my phone though but it is such a hassle to reply. Please keep sending me emails though they are much appreciated!!!!!
Once my blackberry starts working here it will be better. Apparently the Pearl is not out here yet so they can’t get my phone set up. Hopefully it will soon.

Lets talk about some of the Egyptian ways. It seems everyone here has a servant for something rather, one for cleaning, one for cooking, one for laundry, a nanny, a driver and if you can afford it, more servants for whatever you need.
When we go to the play garden I still have a hard time distinguishing the nanny from the mother, however, I have figured out that when the kid is extremely bratty and the caretaker just laughs about it, it is the nanny.
I feel it totally unnecessary to have all these servants.
Once our car comes I do think we need a driver because driving here is extremely dangerous, as there are not traffic rules or signs.

The trash gets collected by a boy or an old man on a cart being pulled by a mule. They announce at each building they are coming, but honestly, who is going to run down with the trash if you live on the 12th floor? I see them look up in anticipation and then at the door to see who comes out. When they get the trash and if there are two people on the cart, one will browse through it. I guess someones trash is someone else treasure?

There is such contrast between poor and rich. I need to get used to all this poorness around me, it breaks my heart.
The other day when we left the mall, there was a little boy begging for money, we were just getting in the taxi and he was desperate. I didn’t understand what he wanted as I was busy getting Omar and our bags in the car until I looked at his eyes. He was so hungry. He kept reaching for something and I noticed he wanted the bag from the restaurant where we ate. I gave it to him and he ran off.
I felt terrible in the taxi, he was only around 6 years old, I looked at my son and thought how blessed we are. I couldn’t help but cry.
Stuff like this happens every day, it breaks my heart.
Don’t even mention the amount of stray dogs and cats that live here. I sometimes cannot sleep from the noise they make. Especially when the dogs get in a fight and I hear one being killed. It goes through my spine.
The other day someone ran over a cat, the scream of that cat dying still haunts me.
It seems I am the only one being so sensitive to this because my husband doesn’t even look up for any of this.
Children here make it into a sport to torture the stray cats and dogs. It sickens me.
It has been hard just keeping my cats save. Besides Omar and I, I don’t think anyone else is happy they came.
When they are on the balcony the neighbors throw things at them. I am so sick of it, the next time I see them doing it I am going to throw the dirty cat litter back at them. Serves them right.

Alongside the poor come the very rich, I see teenage boys walking around with iphones and psp’s. Driving expensive Mercedes etc What’s up with that?

Now on the positive side, there is a fruit and vegetable stand on every corner, so you never run out of fresh produce. It is lovely.
There is also a supermarket on every street and a pharmacy on every block. The pharmacy is more like a doctor here without making the appointment. You go, describe your symptoms and they give you the medicine. No prescription needed.
Everything in the supermarket is surprisingly fresh, it has a date on when it was made and when it will expire.
The weather is nice year round. I don’t know why we bothered bringing our winter coats.
Certain things are extremely cheap here, then imported things are extremely over priced. A box of Egyptian made cheerios is less than two dollars where a box of imported cheerios is 9 dollars.

Not to mention the natural beauty of the country. You can’t see much of it here in the busy streets of Cairo, but when you go a bit outside of it, there are the Pyramids, and a ton of other interesting stuff. The views are incredibly amazing!

I love the little cafe’s and bakeries here. It really reminds me of Holland. Fresh pastries galore!
Not so sure if it is helpful for my waist line as I am currently not doing anything in regards of exercise, but thank God I haven’t gained any yet!
So I am a big fan of cafe’s, an afternoon cup of coffee or tea with some sort of freshly made pie always works for me.
Omar really likes it as well, he loves all the fruit drinks here which are all freshly made as well. His favorite is strawberry.

We finally found some normal diapers the other day. One of the moms pointed out that a special kind of pampers is not made out of plastic. It is two sizes smaller than what he usually wears but so far it is working. No leaks and no rashes!
I don’t see us in diapers much longer as he is really trying to use the bathroom. I am hoping and praying we will be in our own home by May so we can say goodbye to them for good and welcome the big boy underwear with open arms!

Fun stuff

We went to the movies last week and Omar had a blast. He could not stop talking about it.
We also finally met up with the kids from play group again. It has been hard getting together, but yesterday afternoon everyone was at the club and Omar absolutely loved it. He played so much that on the way home in the taxi he fell fast asleep, which was around 7pm, and didn’t wake up until this morning 6am. I had a night off!

So Mickey is coming to Cairo at the end of April and a couple of days ago I got tickets!
They had a booth at the club and a couple of people from play group wanted to go as well.
I waited for my turn, and when I was trying to get the tickets, some woman butted in front of me and bought the whole middle section! I was so mad, because there were only 6 tickets left and thus the guy had to get more tickets which meant I had to wait three more hours.
I hate this mentality here in Egypt. People just butt in, and pretend they don’t know they did it. UGH
To end a long story short, I got the tickets and we are going to see Mickey on the 24th!
I also found playhouse Disney on the tv, Omar was delighted. He got to see Tigger and Pooh in English.

We are still looking for a house. We did find a couple of places but did not make a definite yet as Ramy got another job offer which, if the salary is good, means we might move to Sharm el Sheikh which is a big beach resort on the Red Sea.
It sounds very exciting, but we won’t know until next week and then we have to make a decision.
I am finally starting to feel more comfortable here, made some friends and connections, school for Omar etc and then to leave again.. I don’t know, we will see next week.

I got a really bad stomach bug last week too which is finally starting to get a bit better. Unfortunately Omar has gotten it too.
He also got the biggest mosquito bites, they are the size of mini golf balls, it is crazy. I got some ointment for it but it doesn’t seem to be working very well.

Omar went for his first hair cut here the other day. Ramy recommended the guy that cuts his hair so that is where we went. When Omar saw the place he had a fit. He was absolutely hysterical. I sat in the chair with him and the guy started. He was an old guy and apparently not used to cutting kids hair, especially screaming ones. He took forever! I had told him, number two clippers on the bottom and scissors on top. But no, he didn’t listen of course. He did a very poor job, some parts he didn’t even get to. When we got up, I noticed a small crowd had formed at the door, it was quite embarrassing. They must’ve thought foreigners are crazy?

All I know is that I am going to cut Omar’s hair from now on until I find a decent kids place.
There is a place here somewhere where the kids sit in race cars while getting their hair cut. I just don’t know where it is. Cairo is a big city!

Small update

It has been a while since my last post, lots of things have happened which makes me not sure where to start.
We got news that our things are scheduled to arrive on the 15th. To me this is great news as I am seriously depressed at the moment and in dire need of something that feels like home.
Omar and I have been here a little over a month now, but it still feels like we are on a long vacation. You know that feeling when you have been gone too long and you are just ready to go home? It’s that, a vacation that is just dragging on.

I have come to the conclusion that without Ramy I am totally lost when it comes to doing anything here in Egypt alone.
I have lost all sense of independence, which is very depressing to me. I am trying to keep my head up but it does get to me. There are days that I just want to sit and cry but I have to be strong for my son. I am just not used to living in such a small place with little privacy and being inside for most of the day without anything to do.
I know things will improve once we move to our own place and we actually get to settle down and start living our lives the way we want to and start getting back in some kind of routine.

Looking back to when I first arrived in the States by myself, the first couple of months were very hard. Of course I was much younger then, 18 and ready for an adventure. I do remember being very homesick in the beginning too.

Omar has decided the vacation needs to come to an end because he wants to go home. He tells me everyday he wants to go to Omar’s house. I am a bit worried what he will think once he sees all of our furniture in a new home.
Obviously I am not trying to make anyone worry about us, and I usually don’t write anything that is not upbeat on here, but this is what it is.

There are positive things that happen too of course. Omar’s gotten really good with the alphabet, he recognizes a lot of words and he counts up to 20. He colors really well, almost in the lines. He also knows when to switch languages, he will speak in Arabic to Egyptians while speaking to me in Dutch and to Ramy in English.
He has also started to show interest in potty training which I am not taking up until we actually are in our own house. I hope he does not lose interest once we do though, but I don’t think I have to worry about it as the diapers here are horrible and he is very uncomfortable in them.

We went to a ceramic café last week with some of the play group. It was really nice, Omar picked out a plate and a mug to paint. He did really well, didn’t make a mess at all which really surprised me.
He had a great time painting and then playing with the kids.
I am excited to see how it turned out when we get to pick them up next week. He told me this will be his break fast cup and plate.

We have been spending a lot of time at the club, some nights have been late as we stay with Ramy at Taekwondo which does not end until 10.30pm. Omar loves it though, he will fall asleep on me around 9pm and I just hang out until it is over. I try to go home earlier sometimes but Omar insists we need to stay at Taekwondo with Papi. He loves it so much, he wants to be just like his daddy. He also loves to talk to the girls there, the other day he said to one of them: Ah, you are so pretty!
I was floored this came out of my two year old’s mouth.
Omar also loves to go play at Magic Galaxy in the mall. It covers two floors, and his favorite thing of course is the train ride. The airplanes are his next favorite thing.
He also loves the Rain Forest Café which is right next to it, so whenever we leave he asks to go to the Jungle.

This week we are going to the movies to the see Doctor Seus’ Horton hears a who?
It will be Omar’s first time at the movies, I hope he enjoys it!

Negotiation

It seems that everywhere you go here, you have to negotiate on something. If you are an Egyptian it seems like a way of life maybe, but to me, a foreigner I am still getting used to it.
I know the prices for things where we regularly go and what we regularly buy but doing it by myself is more difficult. They try to get me for as much as possible. Luckily I do know what things are supposed to cost so I need to just stand up for myself.
Yesterday was the first time I took a taxi alone. My father in law tried to get me a taxi from someone he knows but it didn’t work out so I just had to do it alone.
The ride was uneventful, the guy tried to make conversation but his English vocabulary only consisted out of a handful of words.
Going to the club from our house costs 20 pounds. If there is quite a lot of traffic you give 5 pounds more.
When we got to the club the guy got out right away and stood next to my door. I thought it to be a bit odd as he didn’t even open the door for me or anything. I gave him 22 pounds and he started yelling at me he wanted 55. I was stunned, was he kidding me? I might be blonde but I know better than that! I told him no and turned around to get my stuff out of the car, and he kept yelling he wanted 55 pounds. I got nervous but at the same time upset and yelled back at him no and 22 was more than enough.
I walked off and he left me alone. I was really upset about it. My first experience didn’t go so smooth.
Got to the club, and because Ramy wasn’t with me I just decided to pay the 30 pounds at the door. The girls from play group told me they let foreigners in on a day pass for 30 pounds.
I got out the money and the guy tells me 80 pounds. I was still kind of worked up about the previous incident so I was like, here we go again.
I said no, it is 30, he goes no it is 60. I said 30 quite loud and was really starting to get angry. Then another door man looked at me and said yes 30 pounds. The first guy was upset the other one interfered but I was relieved and walked up to the other guy gave him my 30 pounds and walked off.

Talking to the girls later they told me they will try to get whatever they can get, especially from foreigners.
Omar did not want to participate in soccer, he wanted to go to the play ground. I finally managed to get him to stay there for the hour before heading to the play ground with the group. I’ve decided I am going to wait with enrolling him into soccer until he is three. I think he might be too young for it now, he cannot last in class for an hour and follow directions the whole time without running off.
He had a blast at the play ground, he played more with the kids from the group this time, they are starting to accept him now as a new friend. Before leaving we sat down with one of the moms and had pizza. She has a three year old girl named Layla. Layla came over to give Omar a hug and then Omar went and gave her a hug and a kiss back. I thought it was very sweet.
I was actually procrastinating on getting a taxi back, but of course we had to go home at one point! Mindy, the mom told me to find a decent, big taxi and if they gave me any hassle to just give 5 pounds more and walk off.
Five taxi’s stopped before I actually decided to take one that looked ok to me. I told him in my broken arabic where I was headed and off we went. Omar fell asleep on the way home, as it took a bit longer with all the traffic.
I recognized the streets and was able to tell him in arabic where to go. I think that made him believe I was living here because he didn’t give me any hassle when I gave him 25 pounds. He even offered me a cigarette.
I was so relieved!
I think today we will just hang around the house for a bit as Omar was up close to midnight and woke up at 5am!

I discovered there are times in Egypt when it is quiet on the streets.
At 4.30am the call for prayer starts, which is very loud. It is supposed to be loud so all of Cairo can hear and people get up to pray. As we woke up at 5am it was quiet. All I heard was birds chirping. For a moment I thought I was back in Maryland. I got up and opened the balcony door and sure enough, there was silence. No cars honking, no guys yelling about tomatoes or trash collecting.
Just silence and chirping. It was lovely!
Thanks Omar for giving me a bit of home at 5am.

House hunting

This has been harder than I thought. It is not that there are no spaces available, it is hard finding the right one in the right location. First of all, it seems 90% of the population lives in flats. With a city of 18 million people, this seems like the best way to go.
For me this is not an easy thing to accept as I am used to my beautiful home in the US with lots of space and a garden all around.
At the moment we are on the 11th floor of a 12 story building. The whole street is flats, and the next street and so on.
There are places where you can buy a house with a garden but it is not close to the center of town.

Initially the distance wasn't that big of a deal but with the polution and heavy traffic a few people pointed out that it is better for Omar to live relatively close to his school and activities.
The school is in Maadi, the club is in Zamalek and we currently live in Nasr City.
Maadi and Zamalek are outrageously expensive. Sure we can get something there but it would be very small.
We have until the end of April, which is when our things arrive from the US.
I like Nasr City, as the mall and the big park are right here. But I really hate the amount of traffic.
I love Zamalek, as it is right on the Nile and there is lots to do and everything is relatively close.
I also like Maadi, but all I have seen so far is Omar's school.

If you look at the pictures you can see it is a lot different than what I am used to. This is the view out of the dining room window. It is the street we live on. As you can see there are a ton of cars, the sidewalks are crap, it is impossible to walk on them with a stroller. The middle section of the street where the grass and trees are have a little sidewalk too which is a bit better but every couple of meters is a street lantern planted right in the middle of it so you can't walk on there with a stroller either!
The worst is probably the constant honking, Egyptians like the sound of their horn. It is ridiculous really. Every few seconds that horn has to honk, can you imagine all these cars and all that honking? And this lasts throughout the night, it goes on 24/7.

Today I finally ventured out by myself. As Ramy is out of town I really had no choice but to go out and go to the grocery store alone. I had put it off for a day but could no longer. All morning I was nervous getting ready for 'my big outing'. I know, it sounds crazy but I was scared!
Foreigners get looked at, whistled and honked at all the time, and it is only worse when Ramy is not with me.
So anyway, we got out and it was nice and warm out. I tried my best to stay on the sidewalk as much as possible. The supermarket is at the end of the street which is like walking to the Bloom supermarket from my old house in the states. About 15-20 minutes?
After some honking and stares later we arrived at the supermarket right as they were closing. I forgot it was Friday prayer! Ahhh. We had to wait an hour for them to reopen.
We then walked over to the park across the street to waste some time there but Omar was not in the mood. He wanted to go home. After a while he fell asleep and I stood and waited in front of the store until they reopened. It was lovely there too, people stopped and stared like I was a white ghost or something. After dropping half the things on the floor while pushing a sleeping Omar around I managed to get to the cash register. He told me I owed him 4 and 5 in Arabic. Did this mean 45 pounds or 54 as the Arabic writing is reversed. I couldn't really tell so I showed him my money and he took what he needed. Maybe not the smartest thing to do but I just needed to get out of there! Looking at the receipt which was all in Arabic wasn't much help either.
I was just glad to make it back to the building, overall not too bad of an experience I guess.
I do need to try to make it out more as Omar and I are extremely bored here in the house. He hardly has any toys here and I have nothing to do but try to entertain him.
The one planned activity we have is soccer on Sunday. This will be the first time I take a taxi on my own. I am already nervous!

Pre-school and new friends

We’ve been here almost two weeks now. It feels like we’ve only been here a couple of days though.
Time has gone by fast, at times I feel like I have done absolutely nothing and then at times I am so busy it wears me out.

Most of our time we have been spending at the club, as Ramy does his Taekwondo there. Doing things here take much longer than at home. We don’t have our car here so our only means of transportation is the taxi. Most things are on the other side of town which requires us to spend about an hour in the taxi each way. Rather than going back and forth we just decide to stay at the end of town for the whole day.

On Monday we had an appointment at a German pre-school for Omar. Ramy wants Omar to go to a German school, as he went to a German school here in Egypt and it really is the best education here.
Getting there wasn’t too bad I thought, we arrived in Maadi within half an hour. The trick was finding the street. The taxi driver couldn’t find it, not even with the directions given directly on the cell phone. We spent another 30-40 minutes before finally arriving. This didn’t give me a very good feeling. If the taxi driver couldn’t find it with arabic directions, what would make him find it with just me and Omar in the car speaking only English?

The school was European looking. The owner, Frau Yasmine was really nice. They also had a garden outside with a sand box which Omar loved. He is supposed to start on April 1st. Classes are 5 days a week from 9am-2pm.
They only are allowed to speak German in school. They are pretty strict about it.
Omar doesn’t speak any German which obviously concerns me. Ramy thinks he will do fine, and the teacher said it will take about three weeks for him to adjust.
The reason Ramy wants him in this particular school is that it is one of two pre schools that prepares the kids for the actual German school which starts at age 4. This is the school Ramy went to and it is very hard to get into. Of the 300 kids that apply each year only 50 get accepted. Each child is required to take a test. Now, acing the test doesn’t guarantee you getting in. Children with German parents or children born in Germany, parents with a German back ground or children speaking German all have priority.
Omar is required to take this test in 2010. The teacher feels Omar will have enough time to master the German language by that time.
We will see, if he doesn’t like it after two months or if he doesn’t excel I will pull him out. Pre school is supposed to be fun not military school. This place looks like a lot of fun though, and the teachers are very nice. At least that part puts me a bit at ease.
For his first day we are only going to go for an hour and I get to stay with him, then slowly we increase the hours. So it won’t be totally shocking to him.
Will keep you posted on the whole school thing!

Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party for Ramy’s friends daughter who was turning three.
When we got there the house was full of little children and toys, Omar couldn’t believe his eyes. He was shy for about two minutes before getting into the crowd and forgetting about me.
He made instant friends with another two year old boy named Aly. The party lasted four hours which is very normal here. Most birthday parties last all day! So I have something to look forward to when it is Omar’s turn. At the party I met most of the moms, they were all part of a baby group, like the play group we have back home. I met about 9 or 10 and most are foreigners married to Egyptians. They told me they meet twice a week for play group and then twice a week for soccer.
After the party we went to the club as it was right around the corner. Omar took a nap in the stroller for about an hour before we headed to the soccer field. At the party some of the moms told me that they hired a private coach to teach their kids soccer. Normal soccer classes start at age four and because most of the kids are around age three they decided to get a private coach and split the cost.
Omar was just waking up when the class started so he watched for the first half hour. He then went over and participated for a little bit. He was pretty shy but was happy to see his friend Aly.
After soccer we walked over to the children’s area and Omar had lots of fun playing. He actually was laughing and having fun with the kids. Finally I saw the old Omar emerge. We stayed until it got dark and then went home for dinner. Omar was exhausted but happy and took a mini nap on the ride home.

For most of the afternoon I talked with Heather from Texas, another woman from the US and Mariam, Aly’s mom who is Egyptian but has a French back ground and speaks only French with her kids.
I finally feel a bit happy and not so lost after yesterday’s day out. I am glad I made new friends and am part of a play group again.
Being at the play ground with all the new kids made me miss the kids from Omar’s old play group. They all seemed so comfortable with each other, playing, and hugging. It made me so sad as this is how Omar was with his old friends.
I know everything takes time and we are one step in the right direction!

Long day

After getting back to bed this morning, I did get a couple of hours of sleep in. We went to Giza to meet Ramy's step dad who had just opened a restaurant there. Giza is where the pyramids are. It takes about an hour to get there with traffic. It is funny, on the ride over a bus with school children passed us and they were very excited to see me. The yelled at me and waved and when I waved back at them they were so happy. I felt like a celebrity!

The restaurant is beautiful, Ramy's step dad had bought a palace and transformed it into a high class restaurant. We sat in the garden for most of the afternoon enjoying the sun. Then we went up to the VIP where we waited for lunch/dinner? to be served. I am not sure what people consider lunch or dinner here, as they usually eat really late and several meals. The food was fantastic and we had a good time.

After we left the restaurant we went over to Ramy's cousin who we had phoned earlier in the day to ask for a good pediatrician. She told us she would take us there. Apparently doctors offices are open at night after seven so we were going to go then. When we got there they had a spot open for 10.30pm. Can you imagine taking your two year old to the doctor at 10.30pm for a regular visit? It is very normal here. We got there a little before 10 hoping to get squeezed in earlier. The little children waiting to be seen looked tired. We did manage to sneek in earlier and Omar thought it was all lots of fun. The conclusion is that Omar has an ear infection on both sides. He prescribed anti biotics and we were off. We called in the prescription and they delivered it to the house. We were still at Ramy's cousins house and it was getting late. Omar loved it there, she has two boys and two girls around Omar's age. Play heaven!

They ordered sushi from his other cousins restaurant which was incredible, but it was just getting so late. It was his cousins birthday and Ramy also hadn't seen her in years so we couldn't just get up and leave.

It is a bit odd for me to eat dinner at 11.30 at night. Omar fell asleep on the ride back which was great so we'd skip the crying part. Traffic was still bad, I found out that stores and restaurants here are open 24 hours, you can shop till you drop and eat when you feel like it. The restaurants and cafe's were packed, people were out shopping for shoes and such. It was strange yet exciting!

Tomorrow we are going to the children's garden, I can't wait to see what they have!

Getting adjusted

Yesterday we went to the Gezira Club. It is like a Country Club sort of. They have any kind of sport you can think of. We had lunch there and took Omar to the children’s section which is huge. It is this incredible playground that seems to never end with little places to sit where waiters will get you anything you want, surrounded with tropical trees which make you feel like you are on vacation in an exotic resort. Omar had a blast and needless to say it was almost impossible to leave.
We stayed there for the whole afternoon and left around 8pm. It was very relaxing.
The weather has also been great, it is in the low 70s during the day but in the evening it can get quite chilly.
Getting Omar to bed hasn't been easy, he would not fall asleep until 3am!
I really hope his jet lag wears off soon.

Today we went to the Club again, had some lunch and went to the play area while Ramy worked out in the gym there. It was another lovely day and I was very excited as Omar finally ate a decent meal and was fever free.
We spent most of the day there before heading to the mall to grab some dinner. I do love how everything you order here is made fresh. It does mean you have to wait a bit longer for it but it is well worth the wait.

So what do I think of Egypt so far? As I have only been here a couple of days, it is rather hard for me to make up my mind. I do like the weather, the laid back attitude, how they treat foreigners like kings and queens, and I love the food. Most of the food I get in Holland is sold here, so lots of yummie stuff!
I like how there is a taxi on every street and they cost only a buck or two. Who needs a car then?
I do not like the pollution, there are so many cars on the road, they make up their own rules on where they drive and when they go. Traffic signs, stop lights are obsolete. They turn a two lane road into a three lane road whenever they feel like it. Oddly enough nobody runs into each other, and I haven’t seen any accidents. This city has 18 million people living in it, it feels a bit crowded!
Nobody wears seat belts or uses car seats. Omar has been on my lap on every taxi ride so far.
As there is so much traffic, everyone drives slow so I am not too worried about safety. Another funny thing is that in a public rest room a toilet lady sits at the door with one roll of toilet paper. She hands out a couple of pieces of paper to you when you go, sometimes they make you pay for it sometimes I feel obligated to pay. But why they don’t just put a roll of paper in each stall puzzles me. If she wants to make money then why not put up a sign to pay 25 cents to use the facility like they do in Europe?

I am trying very hard to get Omar back in routine, gave him a bath after dinner and tried to get him in bed. He finally fell asleep around 1am, crying his eyes out. Woke up a million times crying saying his face hurts. I now think he must have an ear infection as he keeps pulling his ear and jolting his head to the side. I gave him some motrin and he is finally sleeping. I can't sleep now so I am sitting here at 5.30 in the morning updating the blog. I guess I have to find a doctor first thing when he wakes up as he is in so much pain.
I am sure this will be interesting. Will keep you posted!

We are finally here

The trip was quite an ordeal. Omar got sick the day before we left, and I was hesitant to go but as we had already postponed once, I couldn’t postpone again. Omar woke up around 1am shaking and trembling, he was freezing. I held him and rubbed him for an hour until he stopped trembling and he fell back asleep. Then an hour later he woke up with a high fever. I think he must’ve been hallucinating, he was saying the oddest things, he was very hyper too. I gave him motrin, and an hour later his fever was still 103. It didn’t go down. Finally around 5.30am we managed to go back to sleep for two hours. I got about three hours of sleep and as you can imagine I was dreading the trip now.
The last two days leading up to this were very hectic, the movers were at our house all day long packing up everything. It was stressful on all of us. On the day of leaving, my cats were very upset. Omar was just sick so I couldn’t really tell what he was feeling.
It was such a chaotic situation, but we did manage to get in the car and head to the airport without forgetting too many important things!

It took a while to get everything sorted out at the airport with getting the cats checked in, and figuring out all of the excess luggage. We had a total of eight pieces to be checked in. Crazy!
But we did manage it all, thanks to a kind manager who was very helpful and my dear friend Melissa who kept Omar occupied and me sane at the same time.
The hardest part was to say goodbye, all morning long the phone was ringing off the hook and of course I had some tears to shed. And then to say goodbye to Melissa was really the hardest.
Waiting in the security line Omar got upset that she left and kept saying where did Melissa go?
He knew we were finally going on the big airplane mommy had been talking about for weeks.
Everything went smooth until we got on the plane. Omar had a huge fit, he cried and cried, screaming ‘Mommy come back!’. His way of saying ‘I don’t want to go’.
He did calm down after we took off, slept for a little bit and then we watched Thomas the Tank Engine. He was running a fever again and he threw up as well. I wasn’t feeling very good myself and had the one throw up bag that I could find handy just in case. Luckily I started feeling better after an hour or two. The last two hours of the flight, Omar slept. The flight attendants were extremely helpful, I was the last person to exit the plane, with a sleeping child and three bags, jackets in hand etc. They helped me carry my bags got me my stroller and made sure I was well taken care of.
I love KLM!!!

Our flight arrived earlier than expected, so my dad was still getting there. I made a quick stop in one of the stores to get some toothbrushes and browsed around a bit before heading out. Omar never woke up, he was out!
Finally my dad came and we headed over to my grandma’s house. Omar woke up and was hysterical. I could barely get him in the car, let alone the car seat. I finally resorted to holding him and he threw up again.
After being at my grandma’s for an hour he finally calmed down and got happy. I brought his trains and he played with those. My grandma had bought him a dvd which he watched for a bit as well. He played trains with my dad for quite a while, he liked that my dad smashed the trains together.
Omar and I took a much needed nap, and then a shower. My grandma made us an awesome dinner and Omar actually ate!
Then it was off to the airport again. I didn’t tell him we were going there, I didn’t want him to get upset again.
I had asked him a couple of times if he wanted to go on the airplane to see daddy and he consistently said no. He was still upset with Ramy for being gone so long.

Saying goodbye at the airport was hard, it was so great to see my dad and my grandma again but yet it was too short.
After going through customs we walked around looking at the shops as we had two hours before departure. Omar got real whiny again, I got him a train in the store which kept him occupied for a bit.
At the gate we had to wait a long time, finally when it came time to board, it was a mad house. Everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get on the plane. What ever happened to common courtesy? Omar had another meltdown, I can say this one was probably the worst ever. I had to take him out of the stroller and he refused. He threw himself on the floor screaming and crying, while we were standing in this huge crowd who were shoving and pushing trying to get into the plane. Of course nobody offered to help, I had the stroller, now four bags and a flailing child. I just started crying with Omar, I felt so helpless. I even yelled at him to just shut up, I couldn’t take it anymore. Finally a flight attendant came to my rescue, she took my bags and got us to our seats. Omar threw himself on the floor in the middle of the hallway, while everyone was still boarding and the flight attendant suggested to just give him a minute on his own. I then held him and rocked him until they closed the doors. Finally got him in his seat and he was a bit calmer until it was time for take off. He went nuts when I put his seat belt on. And it went on and on... we just weren’t taking off!
They then announced we had to wait longer because three more passengers needed to get on board. So I had to hold Omar again until he calmed down. It was such a nightmare. The best part was when we circling over Cairo, waiting to land. There were lights everywhere, it seemed like it was only early in the evening instead of 3am. We took a bus to the terminal and had to wait in the passport control line another 45 minutes. The guy who gave me my passport back was real flirty and I decided to take advantage of that and ask him if I can take my cats with me now. He went to look for someone to help me.
In normal circumstances they overnight until the veterinarian inspects them and decides when I can pick them up. Horus was so loud, he was screaming the whole time. Another guy came then and asked if those were my cats, I told him yes and he told me to follow him. Then he told me I pay him now and he will take my cats out. I felt like I was in some secret spy movie or something. I told him okay unless he took all my luggage as well.
He got another guy and they got all my stuff and went towards customs. I saw Ramy standing behind the glass waiting. At the customs they were unsure of what to do, they all gathered together, having some kind of meeting about it and because I was quite loud talking back and forth to Ramy they decided to let me pass without even checking a single piece of document.
I was very nervous at the time but also very relieved I got through!
Ramy’s dad said he was very happy we got everything as the normal procedure would have probably taken us six hours at the agricultural department to get the cats back.
I only gave the guy 20 dollars but in Egypt it is like giving someone a 100 bucks!
Omar went wild when he saw Ramy, he made these weird laughing noises that I never heard before. He was so incredibly happy! The fussing and crying stopped and he transformed back to sweet Omar.

By the time we got to the house and in bed it was gone 5.30am. It was lovely to sleep and we managed to get a good couple of hours in before getting up again.
That afternoon we took a trip to the supermarket and the mall. This mall called City Stars is huge. It has seven floors and just about anything you can imagine in it.
I had no idea this existed and it is only 5 minutes from the house. They even have a Starbucks but I haven’t gone in it yet. By the evening I was exhausted and so ready to go to sleep. Omar wasn’t tired at all and he finally managed to fall asleep around 1.30am.

We are moving!

The craziness has started. Today was day 1 of packing to move. They started at 8.30am and finished around 6.30pm. I didn't realize there was so much to pack!

Omar is doing pretty well all things considering. He enjoys jumping on the packed furniture.

Today they packed up the basement and the first floor, except the kitchen. They also did part of the master bedroom.

While Omar was sleeping they packed up all of his toys, I got some of it in a separate box which I will take with me on the airplane.

I also sold the Mustang today, so it seems to have been a productive day!

Only three more days and we are on our way to Egypt. I still cannot grasp the whole concept of it.

This morning I was very sad, the movers came and started packing and I just cried. I love my home. I know to some people a house is a house, but to me it is more than that. This is my home, my place, my sanctuary if you may call it that. A place I can't wait to get to after a day out.

This is the first house we build as a married couple, this is where we had our son. It is much more than just a house. This is where the memories are.

I am being sentimental I know, but why shouldn't I?

At the same time I am very excited to see what Egypt has to offer, and how different and interesting our lives will be there.

It has been over a month since I last saw my hubbie and my son misses him terribly.

I can't wait to see the look on Omar's face when he sees his daddy.

Now that we are through day one, my concerns have shifted to the long flight, which is 25 hours and how my cats will do. I am actually really anxious about it, I know Omar will be fine, but I have no control over what happens to my cats. We leave Thursday night and arrive Egypt at 2.15am on Saturday morning. We have a 14 hour!! lay over in Amsterdam. They told me they will be in a kennel there, which made me feel better, at least they will be taken care of. When we get to Egypt they will have to overnight at the airport until the examiner comes to work the next day, which according to Ramy can be whenever he feels like it. Just that part makes me nervous. My poor kitties will be in a crate for almost three days!

A good week ending not so good

We started the week off pretty good. On Tuesday we met some of Omar's play group friends at a coffee shop in Brunswick called Beans in the Belfry. We had never been there, and I was really surprised. It was a very cool, not your normal coffee shop. It was in an old church, very comfortable with couches and stuff, and a place for the kids to play. We were running a bit late as usual. Laura and Grayson were already there. Omar was very excited to see them! Later on Melissa, Ella and Ethan joined us as well and we enjoyed a nice lunch with some good conversation that I really needed. The kids had a blast together.

Then on Wednesday we took a trip down to the aquarium in Baltimore with his friends Daniel, Alex, Ella and Ethan. It was such a different experience this time around then when Omar was 10 months old. I enjoyed his enthusiasm very much and he loved looking at all the sea creatures. Towards lunch time he did have a small melt down and we all stopped to eat. Unfortunately the dolphin show was closed for maintenance which was disappointing.

Today we had a lazy day at home. In the afternoon Omar went into the other room to play with his trains but he didn't turn on the light as he was going nr.2. All of a sudden I hear this big bang and a huge scream, I was on the phone with Ramy at the time which I dropped, grabbed him and his forehead which he was holding and walk into the living room. I felt this warmness in my neck and when I pulled him from me, there was blood gushing everywhere. I couldn't even see one of his eyes.

I completely panicked, which made him more hysterical but I totally was not prepared for all of this blood as there is nothing in the room where he was playing that he could hurt himself on. Thoughts were racing through my head as I couldn't see where the blood was coming from, I thought it was his eye. Omar kept screaming he had a boo boo and that it hurt. I finally saw the cut on his forehead and started putting pressure on it while trying to call Ramy who was not answering. I called the neighbors who were not there either. Then I called Melissa who came right over and helped me calm down. She drove us to the hospital and Ramy met us there.

Things went pretty quickly from there, we were taken back and then the doctor had a look at Omar's cut. He took something, peeked inside of it and told us it needed a couple of stitches. Omar screamed and cried so hard it was heart breaking, he kept yelling at me that he was stuck and he wanted to go home. I think the needle and the thread that was dangling in his eyes totally freaked him out.

He was okay once we got home, I was so relieved Ramy was with us, and stayed with us as it made Omar much more at ease. Now we have to go to the pediatrician in 4 days to have the stitches removed. I am already dreading it!Lets hope the rest of the week will go a bit smoother.