I am finally settled into an apartment. What a nightmare that was. My friend and I had to get a simsar (sp?) or a flat broker. The only thing this man had on us was that he spoke Arabic. We walked around on Thursday in the neighborhoods that were desirable to live and he simply asked the building boabs (doormen) if there were any vacant furnished apartments. We saw many terrible places that were certainly decorated by Saudi king wanna-bes: gold furniture, oriental rugs of various colors and designs, mustard yellow and pink walls, black marble tiles, and filthy. People have maids here that they call servants, but these maids only wash dishes, clothes, and floors (and that is not done well). For instance, I was at my friends' apartment last night who has a maid come twice a week, but his toilet is gross and his kitchen looks as if it's never been cleaned - what gives?

Nevertheless, we found an apartment in Mohandiseen, which is located right across the Nile from the island of Zamalek where I had been residing. On Friday morning we went to sign the lease and I brought along Tadros to make sure everything went smoothly. The old-lady landlord and Ashraf (the simsar) were quite surprised to see we had back-up, so to say. Many things were not as described when we first looked at the place, and this did not surprise me at all. Unlike real estate agents in the U.S., simsars are not on your side. They are clearly on the landlord's side because if they can negotiate a higher rent, then they gain some of those profits. So the electricity, water, telephone, and boab are in fact not included, as was stated previously by Ashraf... It was nice to have Tadros on our side. I won't bore you with the details except one. I had the mind to inquire if visitors, especially male, would be harassed by the boabs who are often nosey and inquiring of strangers. The landlady said male visitors were not allowed unless a marriage certificate could be produced and this too, did not surprise me. My roommate and I were prepared to cease negotiations because she has a boyfriend here in Cairo and I have friends coming to visit me throughout the year. The disagreement was only resolved when the landlady's son got involved. He assured us foreigners would not be harassed, however any Egyptian male visitors were not allowed. Funny, huh? I guess they are very concerned about prostitution, and according to many Egyptians, American women are easy. I'm not going to try and persuade them otherwise as it's a waste of time. But it's not only that, Egyptian kids live at home until they are married for the most part. I have met Egyptians in their 20's who are studying at university and still live at home - that's the traditional way. I moved out of my mother's home when I was 17, so it is difficult for me to deal with such a nosey landlady who places restrictions on what I am allowed to do. She badly wanted us to use her same cleaning lady, but she clearly wanted someone on her side that could spy on us. Sounds fantastic, but it's true!

Our apartment is on the 3rd floor and the balcony directly faces the minaret of one local mosque. That could be romantic for a time, but surely the call to prayer five times a day will get annoying. Another potential problem - my roommate and I had only been to the apartment during the day. When we finally moved our stuff in, it was midnight and oh my, what we discovered. Our building is on a street that has three of the busiest cafes I've ever seen in Cairo. But don't picture lovely European cafes that I should be excited to frequent. They are all-male sheesha establishments that spill onto the street under our balcony with hundreds of patrons that do not leave until early morning. Oh the excitement of Cairo...