Day One

After a long day of traveling I stepped off the plane in Cairo, Egypt. I waited patiently for one hour at the baggage claim to discover that my luggage was lost in New York. My spirits were quickly lifted when I saw my name on a sign: “Ms. Michelle Griffo,” which was held by my toothless driver, Muhammad. I sat in the front seat with him, and because of his missing teeth and unfamiliar accent, I was more than a bit confused at our attempted conversation. I could have been a bit distracted by the 100 degrees temperature, windows being rolled down, with sand blowing in my eyes and mouth. Muhammad had a good personality, he kept asking me where my hotel was, where to turn, and was making random cat noises that he was insisting was coming from the cat in the back seat. This is the same driver that will pick me up and take me home from work every day. He drives a large white bus, and makes his rounds picking up all of the teachers for work in the morning.

Within the first 10 minutes of our drive into Maadi (a section of Cairo that is common for Foreigners to live) I was overwhelmed by the lack of color in everything around me. First of all, there was sand….everywhere. And all the square and rectangle buildings were tan, the color of sand. There was not even a sprout of grass or green plant to contrast the buildings that blend into the sand. We drove past what looked like the projects in New York, and then houses comparable to the slums of Mexico. My first thought was: “I would never want to vacation here, and I am definitely writing an email home for my parents to meet me in Italy for vacation instead of coming to Cairo.” Then my second thought was: “I am not vacationing here, I am living here.” I instantly thought, “don’t panic, just let everything soak in.”

My driver checked me into Hotel Maadi and I dropped off my non-bags. I had to contact my friend Rachel from Vanguard so I set out to buy a cell phone. I walked down the street, bought a phone and called her to let her know I arrived safely. That night I took a taxi to her parent’s house (who have lived in Maadi for 25 years teaching at a college (highschool) and university). They let me take a shower at their house and we ate a french toast dinner. They were so welcoming and it was the perfect introduction to a foreign place…dinner with a family.