Home.

So we're here, in what will become our home for the next year.

I'm not exactly sure what punctuation with which to end that last sentence, or what mood to adopt... Are we excited? Yes. Nervous? A little. Mostly just in shock, trying to process things and develop a new sense of normalcy. Oh - and TIRED.

Two future colleagues from CEOSS have gone out of their way and taken us under their wing. Picked us up at the airport, settled us into our new flat, took us out to dinner last night, and then to the grocery store. With more face time to come in the next week. A South African woman who lives on our floor has also been quite nice in orienting us to the building and neighborhood.

Our flat is on the second (read: third) floor of a building on the campus of the Ramses College for Girls, courtesy of the American Presbyterian Church. We're living here for free, which is awesome, especially given our small stipends at work. Actually, we found out they're not really that small: $200/month is not unusual. We spent a lot on initial groceries, but should be able to live within our means once we get settled.

I needed a toothbrush, so we purused the shops just outside the gates of our compound, and found one easily. It cost 3 pounds. (Conversion ratio: US$1 = 5.5 Egyptian pounds) I handed her a crisp E50 note. She shook her head. She couldn't make change. At the grocery store later that day I tried again. The toothbrushes there would probably cost more, but whatever. There was no price tag; it couldn't be that much. While looking at the receipt at home, we saw the price: 27 pounds. Over $4. Just for reference, that's the price of Milli's entree at our fancy Egyptian restaurant.

Right now, Milli and I are trying desperately to stay awake until evening, torturing our bodies into line. Our first day here, we napped most of the afternoon, were awake from about 10pm - 2am, and then slept again. Until 5pm the next day! Unfortunately, though expectedly, that made it quite difficult to get to sleep last night. We tossed and turned until after the sun came up, which left us under 3 hours of sleep. We'll see how long we can make it today before passing out...