Moving to Egypt

Yes! Time To Move From Canada To Cairo

Posted on by lovetotrav

The world of travel is unbelievable.

Monday, I am living in the familiar. My world in Canada.

By Friday, I will be living in the unfamiliar. My new world in Cairo.

Hard for me to comprehend beginning the week in one country and ending it in another.

You step on a plane and a mere 12 hours later, you exit to a different life.

So as we get ready to make the move, I want to thank you all for supporting me and my family!

I can’t wait to begin sharing our Egyptian adventures with you as soon as we:

  • finish Canadian check list ( I can always hope, right?)
  • drag our 5 bags and 2 of the heaviest carry-ons the world has ever seen to the Toronto airport
  • find (hopefully) our 5 bags on the Cairo carousel happily waiting for us to retrieve them
  • drag said baggage to our furnished (thank goodness) flat in the heat wave
  • unpack baggage, sleep, and try to find something to eat and drink with their currency
  • begin to make the new Egyptian check list which (from what I have read) will be never ending!
  • and when I accomplish my first task (Internet), you will be certain to hear from me from Egypt!

So until then, have a great rest of the summer and be happy and healthy 🙂

Talk to you later from Cairo,

Cheryl

(PS. A special thanks to my husband for the going away gift. He grew the sunflower for me. It looks like he has successfully replaced me after all!)

Uhmm… I Have A Few Bags To Check

Posted on by lovetotrav

photos for blog from feb to july 2015 417

Today is official unpack and repack day since the whole packing thing is not going so well.

I am wondering if Egypt Air would notice if I showed up with a few extra inches and a few extra pounds here and there. I wish there was a way to distract Mr.or Mrs. Egypt Air so they didn’t notice.

Any ideas on how to get away with the above? If so, please let me know pronto. 🙂

Abby’s Words

Posted on by lovetotrav

It was one of those days.

You know those days when you feel overwhelmed and want to pull the covers over your head and wait for the next day to arrive?

Until…

Precious sweet words uttered by my stepdaughter, Abby.

You know there is a special clock on my phone that tells me what time it is in Cairo?

I didn’t know that Abby. 

Well, I downloaded it so I will always know what time it is in Cairo when you are away so I can text you. 

And then my heart filled with gratitude.

Words do make a difference.

Three Things Thursday: Egypt, Blogging and Friends

Posted on by lovetotrav

1. The Practice Run

When we went to the Toronto airport to pick up Abby, we happened to see the Egypt Air flight leaving Toronto bound for Cairo. As my husband watched it go down the runway, he decided he would do a practice run to see what this will feel like when we fast forward to August when Jade and I are actually on that flight.

After the flight took off and was out of sight, Chris reported that the practice run didn’t go too well. 😦 On the positive side, we know that we will be dearly missed and loved while we are away. 🙂

2. Abby’s New Blog

My stepdaughter, Abby loves photography and has just started her own blog Just A Quick Snap. This means sunsets, sunrises and a whole new view on looking at the world. Special moments like eating sub sandwiches by the waterfront as we look for photo opportunities make life extra meaningful. Doesn’t the small and simple stuff always stand out in the end? Even if it has to take place at 5 AM in the morning?

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3. A New Friend

When did making friends become like dating? I am sure when I was in school, there was zero thought about how to make friends. As you get older, this becomes more complicated. Will we have anything in common? What should I wear? What if I get something caught in my teeth while I am eating? What if we have that awkward silent moment? Anyway as I was going to meet a new friend yesterday for lunch, I realized that my students have it so much easier. Oh to be back in grade 3!

(A special thanks to the wonderful blog, Nerd in the Brain who is the mastermind of Three Things Thursday.)

International Paring Down Day

Posted on by lovetotrav

Did you know there is a National Hug Day, A Purple Day (and I have been missing out on this for years and I am obsessed with purple), A World Turtle Day, and even An International Left-handers Day?

So I have decided to declare June 15 to be International Paring Down Day.

I usually love to pare down, to minimize, and to declutter my wardrobe on a regular basis.

Two words…cheap therapy.

Well usually…

Unless the paring down involves what will go on a trip and what will stay behind. And when it is not a trip and more of a move, this whole paring down thing begins to suck.

Unlike the old days when I could sweet talk the person at the airport counter into looking the other way at the amount of luggage I came bearing, there are rules now… and strict ones at that.

So no suitcases are going. Only hockey bags for all that hockey my daughter and I play… NOT!

And even though Cairo has 4 seasons sort of, I have deemed their winter not a true “winter” in my books, and have pulled the plug on all those bloody thick sweaters that take up way too much room.

Yay! Back to having some space.

Now what am I going to do about these boxes filled with my wonderful teaching crap materials? I can’t teach without this stuff, whatever it is!

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Out goes more clothes. Books out rank clothing any day! Unless you are talking about anti-bug clothing which my daughter wants to take.

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Just kidding 🙂

Are you a pro at paring down when you move/ travel or do you struggle and resist? Have you ever been stuck paying extra charges at an airport for overweight luggage?

When Saturday Becomes The New Sunday

Posted on by lovetotrav

When Thursday is the new Friday and Sunday is the new Monday, then hump day becomes Tuesday.. – Cheryl

Confused? Me too.

In Egypt, the school week ends on Thursday and begins on Sunday.

You know how many times I have taught the calendar in Canada? Colouring it, labelling it, playing with it in Grade 3 land? I have this calendar thing totally memorized.

And now… at the ripe old age of (be kind), I have to relearn it?

Chris and I have been practicing. When it is Sunday, I remind him that I will be working. When it is early Saturday afternoon and his weekend is just underway, mine will be ending. The more we practice, the worse I get.

I simply can’t imagine beginning my work week on a Sunday.

I guess Mondays are going to be a whole lot better!

And Tuesdays which are no big deal in Canada have now been upgraded to a much higher status.

And no more TGIF.

It is all about TGIT.

That has a good ring to it.

Yikes! It is Saturday already. My weekend is almost over 😦

(Thanks to My Spanglish Familia who sent me a ticket to quote land. I have had fun travelling there. I may not come back.)

What is your favourite day of the week and why?

From Quote to Real Life: The Gift of Travel

Posted on by lovetotrav

The world is waiting for us. – Cheryl

Being a teacher and having a creative daughter who loves surprises, I gave Jade an envelope filled with letters to unscramble. When she unscrambled them, she understood what it meant.

We were moving to Egypt.

Excited and overwhelmed with emotion, she, like myself, seeks the gift of travel.

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It is moments like this that make us reminisce.

When Jade was younger, she was obsessed with Egypt. She always asked if we could go and I would respond, with some hesitation, that we might. She knew that it wasn’t in my top 5 or even my top 10 of places to see, so little by little, I heard less and less about Egypt.

Over the years her list of countries she wanted to see would change, but the one common denominator remained. As long as I am always traveling with you. What more could a travel obsessed mom ask for?

2015-03-30 11.23.26A very special THANK YOU to a wonderfully talented woman who writes a blog called My Spanglish Familia for passing on this challenge to me.

I’ve agreed to partake in a challenge in which I post a quote – mine or someone else’s – for 3 consecutive days.

Rules

~ Thank the person who nominated you
~ Pass the “golden whisk” on to 3 people

Transitions In My Life

The Snow Melts Somewhere

When In Turkey

In Training for Cairo

Posted on by lovetotrav

So it just hit me.

This Cairo move might just require some practice.

So as I walk downtown in my town of 18 thousand people, I try to imagine a city of 17 million. So for every person I meet in my town, I need to add 944 people to that person.

Ok. That didn’t go so well.

I try to encourage people in my town to honk like crazy, ignore all traffic rules, and drive in multiple lanes going in every direction.

That didn’t work too well either.

I just read that flying ants and big butt spiders are par for the course in Cairo. Yuck!

But no polite request to my ant hill in my front yard results in any flying ants so I am out of luck there as well.

Apparently sand coats everything and constant sweeping is required to get rid of that gritty feeling on the floor.

I try to get my dog to bring in some dirt but she just looks me and goes back to sleep. So nope that didn’t work either.

In Cairo you haggle and bargain for a lot of goods such as fruit and veggies in the market.

I try to negotiate with the clerk at the grocery store and she looks at me like I have 3 heads. That didn’t go down too well.

I have read that I will need to lower my expectations when running errands. I guess one errand per day in Cairo is a lot.

Yay! Finally I meet with success. I am totally capable of running only one errand a day. That sounds just like me!

Oh? You say that one errand can take all day to complete and tons of patience? And maybe some Arabic thrown in? Darn! I knew there would be a catch.

So much for the training. I will be winging it I guess, along with the flying ants!

(On the bright side, Cairo has a delivery culture where almost everything can be delivered… so maybe we will just stay inside with the sand, the flying ants, the big butt spiders and have everyone come to us instead. That would make for a very exciting travel blog. NOT!) 🙂