Hi,
This is another installment of my blog on living in Cairo. That's Cairo in Egypt, not somewhere else in the world. I believe there're a couple of Cairo's in the US and probably elsewhere as well. No this is Cairo in Egypt and I live here since just under 4 months, together with around 11 million other people. Some of which arrive in Cairo with me on January 3rd, 2010. Some of them arrived later and most were here before me.
Cairo is a huge city, a dirty city but most of all an interesting city. But that's not what I'll be blogging about this time around. This post is all about living here and leaving there. And by 'there' I mean Almere. As you may or may not know, I'm from Holland, and living there with my family in Almere. I'm married and have two sons, 3 and almost 5 years old. I visit them every other weekend. Fortunately I realized before signing my contract in Egypt that the Egyptian weekend is covering Friday and Saturday, instead of Saturday and Sunday like in Holland. So I arranged that I can spend every other weekend a Dutch weekend with the family. Meaning that I fly on Friday to Holland and fly back to Cairo on Sunday. And because the flights are all red-eyes, I get to spend the whole of Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my wife and the kids. Meaning that of every 2 weeks, I'm 3 days in Almere.
This also means that I am leaving them behind once every two weeks. Initially our oldest son was the one who missed me the most. Asking me if I could stay longer, telling me that he was going to miss me and although not really the most hugging boy in the world, actually not really a hugging boy at all, made darn sure that he left an imprint on my cheek every time they dropped me off at Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport. He would ask me every time, if I could ask my bosses if I could stay a bit longer next time, until Wednesday. Because on Wednesday he's having his swimming lessons, so I could see him swimming. My heart's been ripped out of my chest more than once by this little boy.
But lately he seems to have accepted it and he still misses me and wants me to stay, but he also knows that I've got to go and that's that. Although last time I was with the family he asked me if there is more work in Cairo than in Holland. And maybe I should consider a career change and switch to a job that is more common in Holland. Because than I could work in Holland again and consequently live with them again.
Our youngest on the other hand, has always been very much okay with me leaving but was extremely happy when I got home again. He is the hugging kind of kid, very emotional and expressive. He was always very happy to see me, but after an hour or so, all was back to normal and all that joy was gone and he was back to normal, as if I'd gotten home after a day of work. But lately he's been asking a lot for me. My wife calls me a lot so he can hear my voice and all. And last time I was home, he was asking me all the time if he could come with me to Cairo. Everytime we're on the phone he asks me if I come home tomorrow. Last time, he was hugging me all weekend long, wanted to sit next to me and all these little, very big things.
It's all as if our oldest has realized that it is the way it is and that's it, while our youngest has just started to realize the fact that I'm home for a few days and than gone again. Fortunately there's Skype and Skype's online number. This is cutting phone bills to fractions of what they would be if it hadn't been for Skype. I've got a local number for Almere now, so my wife can call me for free, as we've got a flat-rate phone-plan in Holland for landlines. And I can call any land line in Holland for a flat-rate of just under €5 a month. Or we Skype over the internet with video. This makes it a lot better and at least we can get in touch when we want to.
Still, living thousands of kilometers apart is quite something. Even with plenty of flights going back and forth and internet to help stay in touch.
Iwan
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