Im finally here!!

And the great news is that Cairo is just as busy, polluted and hectic as I had been told.

I've been here a couple of days now and im slowly getting to grips with the fact that Im actually in Egypt, and im not going to wake up tomorrow morning and go to work in Borehamwood.

My first concern when I got here was how to extend my 3 month tourist visa into something more long term. I had no idea that all it would take would be to show my dads expired passport (not my mums obviously, women dont count in this country) and they stamped my passport saying i could stay 6 months... he also mentioned something about if i stayed any longer they'd take me into the army... but ill ignore that for now.

My mums come out with me for a week and shes introduced me to loads of random friendly people who are apparenty my family. I've also gone to the flat my mum grew up in. Its facsinating to see where my family came from, some of the streets around where they lived are proper ghetto! The flat is currently empty so i might stay there a while, depends on where i find work etc, but it would be pretty cool to stay in the flat my mum grew up in all those years ago.

For those of you who were worried about me not finding any booze out here- and i know it has caused a few of you sleepless nights- fear not! People drink in Cairo so ill be just fine. I have been warned against drinking Egypt made spirits though, brands such as "Black Table" are said to have caused blindness! And not the temporary fun kind, the permanent rubbih kind!

Right, i think i better go before I go crazy and throw this keyboard around (all typos attributed to the keyboard of course). But stay in touch, feel free to post a message, and speak soon!

Si