The day my driver got arrested

Leen is coming to Egypt!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!

Her flight arrived in the middle of the night, which was perfect ... better than arriving during the day when I am at school.

I called the Yellow cab, which was recommended by a friend; before I go on with the story, I have to say that every time I get in a cab, I get anxious - will I make it to the destination? does this driver know how to get there? is he going to rip e off?

Well, my driver did not know how to exit Maadi and I kept looking at the meter... Then, he takes the corniche way, which I do not know very well, because I always take the Autostrade. Anyway, I tried telling him to go on the Autostrade... but he didn't seem to listen to me. I gave up thinking he is the driver, he should know better and I should stop annoying the poor guy! We made it to the airport; I asked him to drop me off at terminal 1 arrivals; he took me to the departures parking when I thought to myself: "I am in my pyjamas with no bags, where does he think I am going?" Then he points to one little door that says arrivals.... to give him credit, I went in there just to say I checked, although I knew that was not the place.

Then I walk back to the parking and tell him it is not there, so I need him to take me to the proper arrivals. he tries telling me he cannot, when I get impatient and tell him I always go there with cars and you can get in. He is telling me the police won't let him! This is all in Arabic.... sometimes I wonder how I manage this. he takes me to talk to the police guy... In my PJ's, looking not very "official" I start just like a nagging woman telling the police guy I need my driver etc. He shuts me down! Oops!!!

He speaks no English and talks to this other man (because by this point we have quite the crowd there) who translates for me..... Hamdulillah!!!!!!!!!! The words are as following: "Madame, this driver - PROBLEM! Cars can go there, this man NO! Police is going to take him!". I am loosing it .... "What am I supposed to do? I need a driver!"; they immediately come up with solutions - their cars are there and they can take me to Maadi. bekem?? 90 pounds!!!!! WHAT?????????? With a meter it's 50 pounds! I leave being fed up with drivers, taxis, men ....

So here I am walking to the right arrival ... it is quite the walk so I decide to call the taxi company and start bashing them on the phone.... it took the worse out of me... I demand to be sent a taxi within the next 10 minutes and of course I tell them the whole story of my arrested driver.

I find Leen waiting for me and then we wait for the taxi ... and we wait...and we wait... and wait. While waiting there's at least 4 telephone conversations that I am having with the taxi company when I lost it completely and started shouting in the phone, that the whole airport could hear me! The guy wouldn't listen to me; he kept saying: Terminal 1, yes ok, ok! The taxi is coming... and I am like: "Hold on, listen... terminal 1 is big!!! There's 3 halls.. how will he know which one to go to, if I don;t tell you?" No... I was talking to a concrete wall....

It took about 40 minutes for the taxi to arrive ... we made it home eventually; while in the taxi I called the company again; they knew my name: "Madame Gabriela??" YES!!! It's me again! I want to complain... Response "yes, tell me now on the phone, what is your complaint?"..... No comment!

To give them credit, 2 days later somebody called me to officially apologize on behalf of the company... this does not happen very often, but I was happy they did! I advised them to keep a record of their drivers, so that they wont get arrested anymore.

Finally in Egypt!!

Greets!

I've been in Egypt for a little more than 2 weeks, but i never had the time to update my blog due to house hunting, cleaning, school starting etc.

I arrived on a Sunday evening/morning; i left my house at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, got the train to Bucharest; my flight was at 00:40, but luckily Cristina (my friend who lives in Bucharest) picked me up at the train station and i got to spend some time with her before leaving. She was so happy for me as Egypt has always been her favorite country.

Got to airport at around 10 pm ... there were many Arabic people there and one thing i couldnt stop looking at was this family of 5 + mother in law =6; the husband was sitting next to his mother 2 chairs from his wife, who had to handle 3 little girls plus 3 huge carts of luggage. That was my first encounter with the Egyptian culture.

I was very tired and i thought i will get some sleep on the plane, but there was a large group of teenagers who seemed to be having so much fun and they were so noisy!!!!!!! In the end i decided i wanted a coffee and i didnt sleep at all.

After 3 hours we were above Cairo ... i was dissapointed at first thinking it is such a shame not being able to arrive during daylight, so i can see the city ... but it turned out to be such a great view at night!!! The city is huge and there were lights everywhere!!

Once on the ground i had to fill in a form asking for my name etc, plus the person/family i am visiting and the address i am going to live at. Everything was simple. After that, i went and payed 15 $ for a visa..and that was it!

I got throught the customs faster than i thought ... they didnt open my suitcase or anything; the only thing htey asked me was if my husband is in Egypt, and then i pointed to my finger showing i have no ring, meaning i am not married. Next question was if my parents are in Egypt... which they're not; last question but not the least was if i plan to marry an Egyptian; i started smiling and eventually i said no. it was very funny to hear them speaking English as i couldn't understand a word of it!!!

The Himes arrived a little bit later, which was my suggestion in the beggining thinking it will take a while to get out of the airport.... so i just sat there trying to keep calm and wait for them. We took a taxi and headed home.

I slept from 5 am to 11 am ... That afternoon they showed me the area, and introduced me to so many things that i already forgot!!

i was excited to meet Nichole, whom i have been in touch for a couple of months before arriving. I met her 2 days later as she was in Dahab with some friends. She is lovely and i am happy we are living together.

I lived with Kathy a very nice lady who works at a different school here; she's been very kind to have me at her place for the first two weeks!

Nichole stayed at Wendy's, in a big building at the 17'th floor, wt a gorgeous view over the Nile and you can see the pyramids from there too!!

We live in Maadi, a nice suburb of Cairo .. very green compared to the rest of the city; Maadi is bigger than i thought ... but it is a safe area and i love it here. There are many shops where u can buy everything u need, there is a club with swimming pool and many other things to do during the weekend.