TO OUR NEW HOME WE GO.

We weren’t really sure what to expect when we got to our apartment building. We heard a few horror stories about apartments in Kuwait, along with a few “well…..you can make them look nice” stories, and even some “you’ll spend most of your time at the club, anyways” stories. So – when our new Egyptian friend (WEIRD, RIGHT?!), Mohamed (haha), unlocked apartment 14 – we were FLOORED!

Our new apartment is the MOST MASSIVE APARTMENT that I ever seen, EVER! And I don’t just mean in comparison to my tiny little apartment in Kingston, or our tiny little apartment in Cairo….I mean in comparison to BIG. We have: 3 bathrooms (one with his and her sinks), a large living room, a storage room, a kitchen with brand new appliances (BRAND NEW = STILL IN BOXES), a master bedroom for us to share (I know what you’re thinking…”obviously”), and a separate bedroom/office/craft area/sports den EACH (THAT IS RIGHT – I HAVE A CRAFT ROOM!!!!). In addition to this, we have a 32’ tv with 1000 channels (even though most are in Arabic!), two little balconies (one is IN MY CRAFT ROOM!!!), central air conditioning (Phil is in heaven), and all new furnishings straight from IKEA! Can you believe it? We still can’t. Haha – I wonder what will go wrong…..

Our awesome apartment building also comes with 7 other teaching couples, from young to not-as-young. Our first impression says they’re all super and so far we’ve bonded over the fact that EVERY SINGLE APARTMENT owned by each couple is IDENTICAL. Yes – get this: EVERY SINGLE APARTMENT IS STYLED WITH THE SAME FURNISHINGS, in EXACTLY THE SAME SPOTS!!! Honestly, unless you know what your apartment number is, you may believe you’re in your own home! Haha….you will believe me when I say that we spent a big part of the day unpacking and rearranging – just to make ours look SPECIAL!

We can’t wait to post photos and share our IKEA mansion with you! This place is a GREAT first home and we are darn lucky to have been assigned here! Apparently the “singles” were given an older building…..and we were instructed to keep things “hush, hush” about the quality of apartments on the “couples” side of things. I sense a rivalry has already begun....haha. We’ll keep you posted!

(Written August 28th)