Day Trip to Rehab

First of all, no I did not go to "rehab". It's pronounced ra-heb! ;) With the three other new teachers at Dover (we're fast friends), I ventured into a nearby city for a day of shopping and internet access! 

We called a Madinaty taxi service and waited outside the apartment complex for about 5 minutes. In an exciting turn of events, our taxi driver pulled in the wrong way into the u-shaped parking lot. It would've taken us all of 10 seconds to get into the car, but another car full of middle aged men drove up and the driver got out and started yelling at our taxi driver about being on the wrong side. He was clearly looking for a fight, and a very nice man from the apartment building had to physically grab him and make him walk back to his own car. As were were watching all of this happen (slowly backing up to go back inside), a lady on the first floor poked her head out the window to see what all the commotion was. We tried explaining, but our lack of Arabic made this difficult. Fortunately, she figured it out and shook her head, pointed to the men, and said "stupid"! Clearly we were on the same page. After that little experience, we hopped in the taxi and made our way to Rehab (about 20 minutes). 

thank you Costa Coffee!

Upon arriving in Rehab, it was nearly time for Friday prayer, so we quickly made our way into Costa Coffee to have some (heavenly!) iced coffee. I finally felt mildly alert for the first time in a week, ha! After prayer time was over, we headed to Coffeeshop Company for some food and WiFi. I was FINALLY able to FaceTime with my mom and dad, which made all the difference in the world! :) Though my situation is still not what I was expecting, talking to them made me feel infinitely better. Jayde, one of the grade 1 teachers, and I are planning a trip together over the October holiday Eid. We're leaning towards Vienna, Austria so if you have any tips or advice, please send it my way! We spent some time looking up flights and accommodations (on Airbnb) on my iPad before heading to the mall to shop. Unfortunately, Jayde and I did not feel particularly well after our meals, and Tiffany and Jenna were also tired, so we didn't quite tear up the mall as expected. I did finally buy some towels and a tupperware to bring lunches in to school! Exciting purchases, I know ;)

mall selfie!

too ironic not to share ;)

After the mall we headed back to the food court to another coffee place called Cilantro. This coffee shop has a much more U.S. feel to me, but the WiFi wasn't very strong when we were there. After drinking some juice, we stopped at McDonald's before hailing a taxi to take us back to Madinaty. Upon earlier counsel from other expat teachers, we knew not to pay more than 60 Egyptian pounds for a taxi back home. The first taxi that stopped wanted 100! We walked away. The second taxi wanted 80, but we bargained him down to 60! Pretty impressive, right? And check out this beautiful sunset as we were leaving Rehab...