We have been in country now for about 48 hours.
Some random thoughts:
we picked a great neighborhood:
- 2 good size grocery stores in easy walking distance (and they will carry your groceries home if you want for the equivalent of less than $1US)
- Lots of restaurants within walking distance. quick take out, good pizza, upscale dining and EVERYBODY delivers. Some places outsource delivery to a delivery company that runs scooters. Other places have their own delivery boys.
- Lots of shops for other stuff: clothing, electronics (VERY expensive here and some of it is of questionable quality. You will see “soni” and “panysonyc” knock offs)
Weather: it is hot. It is humid in the morning and evening. Sort of a marine layer off the nile. If you are sitting or standing still in the shade, it isn’t that bad.
Apartment: our apartment is nice. Well furnished. need some art work for the walls but otherwise fine. It is odd living in an apartment again, hearing footsteps in the hall etc.
Social: everybody is very friendly, very helpful. The faculty and staff of the University and hostel have been great. They are almost too nice.
Everybody has a cell phone. sometimes 2.
the traffic and taxis take some getting used to.
Today we made our first solo taxi rides. we have been relying on our welcome buddy, Matt, to get us around. Matt is in the Arabic Studies faculty and speaks pretty good Egyptian Arabic (afaict). Today we struck out on our own to run some errands. Sounds silly, but it was an important milestone for us.
Tomorrow is Friday, which is the start of the weekend. gonna unpack and maybe do some more shopping for odds and ends.
Orientation starts sunday. Woot!
3 replies on “48 Hours”
How do grocery prices compare? What about meals?
Looking forward to pictures, glad you guys made it and everything.
-ted
Love the pix and am so glad you guys made it there safe and sound!
Prices: Domestic items are really cheap here, as is anything labor intensive.
Meals range from REALLY cheap to mildly expensive depending on what/where and how fancy.
We had chinese delivered (EVERYBODY delivers. Every single restaurant or store will deliver to your home. EVERY one. No really, KFC delivers.(not that we would eat there, but just an example) and we had 2 entre’s and an appetizer. I think it was 65 LE (Egyptian pounds) with the delivery charge/tip. Thats around $12 US.
A “fancy” meal out for two will run about $15-$20. One could really splurge and spend about $30 for a couple.(no alcohol)
Groceries are very inexpensive. We mostly shop at what is called a super market here. It is about the size of W. Seattle Thriftway rather than a large QFC or Albertsons.
These supermarkets tend to be slightly more expensive than the “shops”.
The “shops” are little shops for specific purposes:
Green Grocer
Butcher
etc.
The supermarket is good for about 80-90% of your day to day stuff. We haven’t cooked yet, but when we do I will probably strike out to the butcher to get my meat. Most likely lamb or beef.
Poultry is a different market
Fish is yet another market.
Pork is available in some restaurants (the local really good pizza place has ham and salami pizza) and i have been told that there are butchers in the “Coptic Christian” part of town that offer pork (bacon, ham, chops etc).
Haven’t made it to that part of town yet.
But the short answer: (i know too late for that…) is pretty damn cheap.
Anything imported is more expensive.