Dear ECS: Our new home in Cairo

Dear ECS,

Hey sweetie, it (once again) has been quite some time since I last wrote to you.  

We have been so damn busy, so sorry about the delay.  We have (once again) been pretty much constantly in motion; mostly throughout the US visiting loved ones.  Then it was off to London for a few blissful days with dear friends and finally touching down in our new home – Cairo.

What a summer we have had, as a family, a daily/nightly cornucopia of great people, wonderfully beautiful places, deep history (both our collective families and our country), sumptuous food and drink, and a lot of late nights for you and your parents.  The lengthy list of people who have been there for us along the adventure through something like thirteen states and over twenty-five sleeping spots is a who's who's of people we feel so close with, across three generations.  Wow.

And now, after so much movement and intensity, we have moved into a different phase of our life here in Cairo.  We are nesting, setting up, and establishing routines.  We are exhaling.  You, your mom, and me all seem to revel in this new phase--loving our new, massive apartment and the super walkable and interesting neighborhood that will be home for four years. 

You are four years old right now, so your life will be pretty close to doubled when it is time to leave this city and country.  This doubling blows my mind, as our family adventure through the duration of your life to date has been so so memorable, special and enjoyable.  Thinking about running that back again, that after you living in four counties in your first four years, the next four will be just this one feels right.  That stability was something we were attracted to with our joint work opportunities in Cairo and now that we are in the nascent period of living that life, it sure feels like the right instinct.

So what does our new home look and feel like?  Great question. 

·      Home: it has only been three months since we left our last home, but somehow it feels like so much longer.  Walking into our apartment the first (late) night with a mix of trepidation and excitement, we were so happy to find a thoughtful and workable layout, one with some outdoor space, comfortable bedrooms, and big, open kitchen.   The first couple of weeks here found us slowly re-acquiring the stuff you need for a house to work, and settling into this new space.  We all seem pretty happy with where we find ourselves, and as we do fun stuff like dance partiers in the living room, or watching the moon, or nice dinners, we are slowly building on that initial excitement, filling in actual fun moments for imagined ones.

·      Food: our week here in Egypt last year on vacation was yummy, so we knew we would get a good range of foods in Cairo.  And it has exceeded my expectations, with a lot of good, healthy, and cheap food throughout our first days.  We have sampled several Egyptian staples already, and found them all yummy.  My persona favorite addition to my diet is the soft feta cheese that is ubiquitous – making everything better.  Your young taste buds don’t have quite the same feeling towards feta, but give it time.

·      Neighborhood: our area is tree lined, which is very welcome in the summer heat that has popped over a hundred degrees a few times already.  Walking in the shade, even in the heat of the day, is bearable with the shade of the old trees on so many of the streets near our house.  What are we walking to?  Well, the pool/tennis club is a great addition to our life, as well as a number of hip restaurants.  Many, many more to explore, but thus far it has been very encouraging.  I love having you get up on my shoulders and doing some exploring, that never gets old. 

·      City: honestly, we haven’t done a ton of exploring thus far.  Mom and I snuck in a trail run last weekend in the desert, which was super fun.  But my views of the city outside of our neighborhood have mostly been through a car window, and while the Nile looks lovely even at 45 miles an hour, this doesn’t really count as exploring our new, huge city. 

Thankfully, we have some time.

love,

dad