It is Tuesday the 27th of October and finally we have settled in our new home in Cairo!
What happened since our last post in June?
Well, we were looking for tenants for our house in Urla; we had 3 real estate agents over, 1 view from possible clients; another one from an English couple whom we knew also were interested but found the place too remote in the end, and then a phone call from a guy who had found our ad in the newspaper website, checked out our own website of the house, and wanted to see the house asap! To cut a long story short, he and his wife loved the house and we came to an agreement. As they were willing to pay the rent for the coming year up front, we could finance and finish many house related projects. On one day I had 15 workers over, really unbelievable but we managed to organise quiet a lot.
Meanwhile we spent a day in Cairo to look for a ground floor apartment in Maadi, a residential area in Cairo. The first house we saw that morning was perfect and I really wanted to have it! So contact was made with the owner to discuss rent price. Although we spent the rest of the day looking at alternative houses, I had set my mind on the first one and a contract was signed within weeks.
Also another fertiliy treatment was started in Summer time, we wanted to give it another try as we knew the procedures, the hospital, the doctor...
It was a busy and hectic period, but finally on the 28th of August the movers came to pack all our things. Femke was at the baby sitters house for the whole day so that I could concentrate on the packing. The team was very good and quick, and because it was fasting period I could not believe they could work whole day without food and water.
That night we spent at Movenpick hotel which coincidently was the Mercure hotel of 7 years ago. When we had just arrived in Izmir 7 years ago, we stayed 3 weeks in this hotel, and so we also spent our last day in Izmir there.
The next day Arthur travelled to Cairo to start working, I travelled to the Netherlands to stay with my mother but also visited Arthurs family. After 1,5 weeks I visited my friend Eva in Aviano, Italy for a few days (more details and photo's later) and travelled from Venice by train to Vienna to visit Sandra, an old friend from Izmir. I will also write something about Vienna later.
Arthur meanwhile had planned a meeting in Como, Italy, and I suggested to meet up in Como to spent as a family one week together as it was holy days in Cairo anyway. The weather forecast for Northern Italy was not good, a lot of rain and thunderstorms, the best was to go further north to Lugano, Switzerland to find dry and sunny weather. More on Lugano in another post.
And then we flew back to Cairo mid September. There we stayed 2 weeks in a hotel as our house hold stuff was not cleared yet from customs. 2 weeks was quiet do-able, and in this period our house was being cleaned and painted and airconditioners placed.
In the Netherlands the pregnancy test was positive; I am 3 months pregnant now. I have already a big belly, it feels very heavy but I did not gain weight at all. I am lucky as so far I don't have any problems, a good appetite and not too tired. We will have a check up this evening so more baby news tomorrow...
Arthur is busy at work, trying to find a way to work in an Egyptian working culture.
Femke is in a nursery, just one block behind our building, 3 days a week. She loves it, and hopefully starting next week she can stay from 8.30 untill 2 or 3 including a nap there...
So, good news from us all!! And more blogs to come as there is much to tell
