Tuesday, August 10

Today we met the last two American teachers that will be teaching with us at our school. We all met for breakfast and afterward we were actually able to show them around a little bit. The rest of the day was devoted to laundry and cleaning. We are still trying to get used to that crispiness clothes get from drying on the line. The cleaning has gotten much easier after the intial overhaul.
Tonight was a nice evening so we decided to take a long walk to a new restaurant that serves our new favorite dish, Koshari. It is a mixture of pasta, lentils, chickpeas, fried onions, rice, and various seasonings. You then have your usual choice of spicy red or lemon sauces. The best part is that it is extremely cheap, even by Egptian standards. I got the largest portion and was only able to eat about a quarter of it while Emily got the medium and barely ate half. All for a grand total of $1.50. Can't beat that.
After dinner we had to arrange to have our Bowwab to start taking our trash for us. We have had a lot of concerns with his services. We have had a lot of troube determining what exactly his job is and how much we pay him. It is difficult to describe. He and his family (wife and three kids) provide any and all tasks you can think of. His regular duties include maintenence and the security of the building, but they are always doing side jobs for extra money. For example, today I saw them outside washing a tenant's car for a few pounds. Our tutor told us that you can send him to the store to pick up groceries or whatever. Seems a little strange. We want to give them money, but do not want to just hand it to them as some kind of charity case. The other day we needed a lightbulb so we had him run to the store to get us a couple. It was very strange. We are not used to having someone want to do these types of jobs for us. We are conflicted because we are not sure how they view us. We don't want to be the rich Americans who throw their money around, but we also don't want to be the stingy Americans who have everything and give nothing. I guess we will get better at judging what is appropriate with time.