The beginning of my Egyptian adventure.

View of Alexandria from the roof at Schutz American School

After just 7 short hours of sleep, I was awoken by my parents in an attempt to get me on the correct time zone as quickly as possible.  We began with a tour of the school my mother works at which is just across the street from our apartment. The school is an oasis in the center of a large bustling city. The school has one of the largest grass fields in the city and is much less hectic than the rest of the city. This particular time of year the school was even more quiet than usual as most of the teachers had left for Christmas break to various destinations all around the world: India, United States, Italy, Palestine, Israel or various other cities in Egypt.

            Upon leaving the school, we walked to the San Stefano, a large, four-story shopping mall with a movie theater, food court, grocery store and Starbucks. The mall is contained within a large Four Seasons hotel located next to the Mediterranean Sea. As a white family with blonde individuals, we got a lot of stares, waves, and welcomes while walking there.

San Stefano/Four Seasons.

 Although there is an American school in town, the high population density and the fact that most Americans get driven to their location instead of choosing to walk resulted in quite the spectacle in the streets!
          The Americans usually drive not because of laziness but instead because walking down the street in Egypt is quite the cultural experience. Walking down the street is truly walking down the street. You walk in the dusty road with the cars, tuk-tuks driven by young children and aggressive motorbikers. In fact, it is likely safer and easier to walk in the street than on the sidewalks. The sidewalk is normally only large enough for a single file line of people moving one direction. Furthermore, people throw their trash, dirty water, etc. from their balconies so being on the sidewalk may mean getting hit in the head by falling items. Additionally, stray electrical wires, business merchandise overflowing onto the sidewalk and frequent overhead construction make the road feel like a much safer location.

Typical looking street in Alexandria

Crossing the street can be even more of a challenge as stop signs don’t exist, stop lights are rare and rules don’t really apply. The Corniche, a large ~5-6 lane road in each direction, is situated directly next to the Mediterranean and can be the most daunting to cross as cars travel at high speeds. 
However, the views of the Mediterranean and the fresher air on the other side make the cross worth it. Recently, a few lights have been put up to allow for an easier crossing but that doesn’t stop the people from pressing their luck and dodging traffic to get across 30 seconds sooner.

By the end of day one I had already begun to learn a lesson that continues to prevail throughout my time in Egypt: you can’t assume. You can’t assume that a red light means cars will stop as they generally do in America or that a car won’t suddenly start backing up on a major road. Here in Egypt, assumptions that we make every day in the USA are literally dangerous.

Sunset over the Mediterranean on my first evening in Alexandria