Notes from Al-Qahira "The Vanquisher"

I don’t know why it feels more legitimate to me to restart our blog now that we are back overseas. Life is not necessarily more interesting in Cairo than it is in Virginia, but it certainly is different, so perhaps it is that difference that compels me to think about it out loud in writing. I’m moving away from our website that we maintained for a few years, mainly because the upload speeds overseas are rather cumbersome and I found myself supremely annoyed every time I attempted to update it while I was in Jordan. I’m guessing this will likely be the longest entry and subsequent ones will be shorter. Also, now that we are second-time parents, the whole kid thing is a little less consuming, so I won’t be reporting in nauseating detail on every single movement or flash of ‘brilliance’ from our children.


We've been in Cairo for almost two months now, and for the most part, it has been a smooth transition. Much easier than I anticipated, because I have only had the ‘roughing it’ missionary experience in the Middle East, rather than the cushy, diplomat experience. I was a nervous wreck in advance of this move, having just recently gone through the life-altering experience, round two, of giving birth. Even though the second time around is light years different in terms of how drastically it transforms the contours of one’s life, there is something to be said for the sheer monumentality of ushering an entirely new human being into the world. That, coupled with a quick about-face to ready our family for yet another international transition, made for many anxious and sleepless nights and early mornings. I am so glad to be beyond that now, and to be here in our new home, settling in bit by bit. Watching Theo grow is a delight and Emma has proven to be an amazingly adaptable little girl, in spite of how much change has been thrown at her at once. I never thought I would say that about her, given our experience with her and our moves so far. She has settled into her new preschool and the Arabic immersion has not seemed to faze her. With all my Arabic fluency, I find myself lost in the flood of the Cairene dialect, and just nod and smile a lot. How she and Dan are handling this with such equanimity is beyond me.

Dan plunged into work after taking a few days to settle us in and has been working extremely hard. He enjoys what he does, but the days are taxing and he arrives home spent. Being the wonderful father that he is, he still summons the energy to take over with the kids while I make dinner and is fully present to them until the blessed hour of 8pm when they are in bed. By then, we are both largely incoherent with fatigue. It has been fun to watch the World Cup, but we have consistently fallen asleep during the first half of most of the later games.


Our main shipment of household items that had gone to Yemen and then was languishing in storage in Antwerp, arrived last week, and there has been much rejoicing. I had not seen our stuff for over two years, so opening the boxes was truly like Christmas in June. (The photo shows one of our tubs being used as a packing paper containment device.) I was particularly glad to get my kitchen back with proper pots and pans, good cooking utensils, full sets of plates and flatware, and nice, sharp knives. Given how much cooking I do and how obsessed I am with food, it has been painful for me to deal with woefully inadequate kitchens for a while.

Apropos of our cushy, diplomatic life, we have been enjoying the comfort of our spacious apartment, fabulous air conditioning and access to the commissary, which is like a fully stocked US grocery store. Sadly, coming to Egypt for its food will disappoint most people with dreams of tasty Middle Eastern cuisine. It just isn’t here. So I find myself cooking even more than I have before because we haven’t exactly found anything that would taste better than what I make at home. Having the option to purchase pork and good cuts of meat from the commissary is wonderful to facilitate that.

We live in Maadi, a southern suburb of Cairo that is about 25 minutes from downtown. It wouldn’t qualify as much of a suburb anymore, given that the city has grown so much that it has just blended into greater Cairo. Maadi is considered to be one of the nicer sections of the city. Comparatively speaking, it is, given that there are wider streets, lots of trees and some single homes, all of which you cannot find elsewhere in Cairo where huge, brown apartment blocks crowd together in congested neighborhoods of narrow streets and unrelenting noise. However, even this nicer section has its fair share of trash heaps, rubble, stray cats and dogs, various livestock herds, and general dilapidation. It was a bit surprising to me when I first arrived, but I have quickly become accustomed to it. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, just somewhat startling when it’s cheek-by-jowl with fancy apartments and villas.

There is so much more to write, but I think I will save my ruminations for future posts. My horizons are rather limited just now, which, given the eventfulness of the past months, suits me fine. It feels weird after anticipating so much change to be in a place where all I am focusing on is our two children and our home. Most days, that feels like plenty and I am okay with that. I know that I will soon get restless though and will need to find an outlet for some aspect of a professional life. I’m trying to keep my mind limber with regular infusions of the New Yorker, NPR and NY Times online and I try to tell myself daily that this is a precious time that we have, a luxury when I don’t have to worry about pulling my financial weight and I can just delight in my children at these young stages. Given that we are car-less and largely friend-less for the time being, it means for a lot of family togetherness. I think the rhythm of moving so often, while challenging, will mean a greater reliance on one another for companionship and cameraderie, particularly in the early days of adjustment and transition. That, my friends, is not such a bad thing.