The journey to work is indeed an important one. The journey though is not so clear for international school teachers when they are looking for jobs at schools in cities/countries to which they have never been. So let’s share what we know!
One of our members, who works at theAmerican International School in Egypt (New Cairo City, Egypt), described her way to work there as follows:
As I leave my apartment in El Rehab, I don’t know exactly what I will see. Life in Cairo is always interesting and sometimes unpredictable. One thing that is typical is the sunny weather, and today is not any different. The first place that I see from the car I am driving is the El Rehab Mall 2. I go there sometimes to go to the grocery store as it is only steps away from my apartment.
After Mall 2, you will see the first of many roundabouts. The right-of-way is actually with the car that is entering, NOT the car that is already in the roundabout.
En El Rehab, you need to exit the area through a gate. There are guards there to keep the riff raff out. You need to show a card that you live there to enter through the gate.
After you get outside of the gate, then you have a few more roundabouts to go through. Today I saw a group of children with brooms on the side of the room cleaning the streets. Well at least it looked like they were cleaning the streets. I wonder if they were getting paid to do so. It was the first time seeing them on my journey to school.
Another common sight on the journey is seeing many abandoned housing developments. They are all over Cairo. I still haven’t received an official explanation for this. I can only imagine that there was enough interest and money to get these projects started, but then the money and interest went away for some reason. It is really strange!
With 30+ million people living in and around Cairo, you are bound to see a number of people sitting on the curbs on most streets. So many interesting characters with I’m sure VERY interesting stories to tell.
Around one of the roundabouts, you can find a number of men apparently waiting for work. Many of them are sitting around with sledgehammers next to them. I guess they get picked up by people needing some construction work done.
There are a number of billboards around the city advertising the many international schools in Cairo. In the other places I’ve lived and visited, I’ve never seen this done before. I guess these billboard advertisements are contributing to the fact that a number of international schools have high numbers of local children attending them.
There are a number of people selling things on the side of the road. Mostly fruits sellers, but there is a plant shop as well.
What looks like a jail is actually a police academy. At certain times of the year, you will see many young recruits standing around the outside of this place. It is definitely a sight to see!
Finally, I arrive at the school in about 15-20 minutes from El Rehab. The school is located all on one campus.
Here is the gate you enter to get inside. Of course, there are guards to let you in.
Once you are inside you can see the fields and playgrounds to the left.
To the right, you will see the many schools buses that bring the children and teachers to school every day.
The school has a nice terrace part with a cafe!
When you leave out the other gate, you will see a guard that has been working at the school for decades. He definitely has some stories (and secrets) to tell I’m sure!
This Journey to School article was submitted to us by guest author and International School Community member.
What to know more what it is like to visit and live in Cairo? Check out our blog article in our Traveling Around category about Cairo.
So what is your journey to the international school you work at? Earn one year free of premium membership to our website if you participate in this blog series – ‘The Journey to School’. Email us here if you are interested.
