felix rex moves to Cairo

[felix rex]

So I am more or less officially booked to move to Cairo at the end of May. Any expat advice from Eurocat or others will less obvious names but living abroad experience? (also, really looking forward to throwing that "expat" thing around).

I'll be living in the Zamalek neighborhood in downtown Cairo. Housing expenses are paid.

Employer is also paying to ship one crate of our crap over there, including one car. Have heard mixed reviews on whether to take a car, but we have a beat-up 2003 Matrix we're thinking of shipping over and then either driving into the ground or selling before we leave (we've alternately heard that we can sell it for more over there and also that we can buy a SUV cheaper over there).

Employer is also paying moving expenses and storage expenses for all the crap we don't take while we're gone. It's only going to be 2-3 years (although there's an option to extend or go to a different location after that), so I'm not planning on taking much more than a toothbrush and a change of clothes (Mrs Rex has a differing opinion on this).

While there, we also get free airfare to London once a year for a two-wk stay, so I will also be looking for some "travel around Europe" type things (we also get a flight back to the US once a year, but I'm pretty sure that is going to be locked up for pilgrimages back to the farm).

WATCHING THE CATS!: This appears that it will be problematic. Mrs Rex is in Kuwait right now and has confirmed that ESPN3 is a no go (although there appears to be a PPV alternative of some sort). Am I just relegated to justin.tv and other nonsense? Not sure if we can get ESPN, etc there on TV either (again, wife is at hotel with 2,000 channels right now, and ESPN is not among them).

Anyways, any basic recommendations on what to take/not take would be great. I have traveled around Asia a little and lived in Latin America for a bit, but have never been to Europe or the Middle East (again, Mrs Rex grew up in Beirut and lived in Madrid for awhile, but I have found we often have conflicting ideas on what's important/not important to take on these things).

[michigancat]

sounds awesome. I know sys had to watch cats games abroad. I think he figured it out, but that was a couple years ago and online viewing has come a LONG WAY since then.

[steve dave]

Sign up for ESPN3 online.  It's not expensive. 

[felix rex]

They've drug this out for several months. Now that it's basically finalized, I'm getting pretty excited 

Also, what about phones? My bro-in-law says he has an iPhone "with a chip" or something and that lets him use it internationally (both cell phone and data or whatever). I do not think my current iPhone does that. Do I have to buy a new one? Can I just buy the chip?

[steve dave]

get a phone over there.  you can get international plans on some phones but will pay a lot more. 

[sonofdaxjones]

Rex.  Can you go into detail about your survival plans should you need to suddenly "blend in"?

[felix rex]

Rex.  Can you go into detail about your survival plans should you need to suddenly "blend in"?

Basically, I plan to pretend to be my wife's prisoner while she shouts angrily in Egyptian dialect

[yoga-like_abana]

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/
this site is pretty amazing

[pissclams]

traffic in cairo is rough ridin' brutal, an american trying to drive in it would make it worse.

what iphone do you have? 

[felix rex]

traffic in cairo is rough ridin' brutal, an american trying to drive in it would make it worse.

what iphone do you have?

We're about a 10-minute drive from the office. There has been talk of cabs. I'm really not sold on the idea of shipping the car yet. On the flip side, my wife grew up driving in it. So, maybe just make her drive? 

I have the second-to-newest iPhone I think (no Siri, but has FaceTime).

[steve dave]

shipping a car is probably the worst idea in this entire move of bad ideas.  I will rank the all the ideas worst to least worst once this thread gets cooking. 

[Dugout DickStone]

shipping a car is probably the worst idea in this entire move of bad ideas.  I will rank the all the ideas worst to least worst once this thread gets cooking.

I'd rank it best.  You want a car you are familiar with over there.  Aggressive driving is the only way to earn respect short of killing some one with a scimitar.

[steve dave]

shipping a car is probably the worst idea in this entire move of bad ideas.  I will rank the all the ideas worst to least worst once this thread gets cooking.

I'd rank it best.  You want a car you are familiar with over there.  Aggressive driving is the only way to earn respect short of killing some one with a scimitar.

good point.  curved.  swords. 

[Cire]

I'd say grow a beard but a lot of the news I've seen hasn't shown a lot of Egyptians with a ton of facial hair.

[XocolateThundarr]

Rex.  Can you go into detail about your survival plans should you need to suddenly "blend in"?

Basically, I plan to pretend to be my wife's prisoner while she shouts angrily in Egyptian dialect

This is rough ridin' hilarious.........   

[felix rex]

I'd say grow a beard but a lot of the news I've seen hasn't shown a lot of Egyptians with a ton of facial hair.

I blend in surprisingly well if I don't speak. Most of my wife's friends initially just assumed I was Lebanese, too. I got really good at this in Latin America.

[felix rex]

shipping a car is probably the worst idea in this entire move of bad ideas.  I will rank the all the ideas worst to least worst once this thread gets cooking.

am sincerely looking forward to this

[pissclams]

traffic in cairo is rough ridin' brutal, an american trying to drive in it would make it worse.

what iphone do you have?

We're about a 10-minute drive from the office. There has been talk of cabs. I'm really not sold on the idea of shipping the car yet. On the flip side, my wife grew up driving in it. So, maybe just make her drive? 

I have the second-to-newest iPhone I think (no Siri, but has FaceTime).

who is your carrier

[felix rex]

traffic in cairo is rough ridin' brutal, an american trying to drive in it would make it worse.

what iphone do you have?

We're about a 10-minute drive from the office. There has been talk of cabs. I'm really not sold on the idea of shipping the car yet. On the flip side, my wife grew up driving in it. So, maybe just make her drive? 

I have the second-to-newest iPhone I think (no Siri, but has FaceTime).

who is your carrier

Verizon

[pissclams]

ya i think you'll need a new phone.  the 4s has a quad band antenna, the 4 doesn't. which means you can just load the micro sim from where ever into it and it will fire up. 

on the right hand side of the phone there's a little tray that comes out and you pop it in there.

[CNS]

Curt is in Isreal and tweets about watching all of our games.  Dscott asked him how since sometimes ESPN3 doesn't work, and he said that he "knows of another site...".  Tweet @ curt.  He could probs hook you up on where to watch the cats.

Also, if you don't have access to the site, you should raise a national stink over it and say stuff about how Egypt has to figure this out or else Isreal is better and stuff.  Make references to past issues between the two peoples and relate said issues back to this issue as much as needed to drive the point home.  I am sure this will shame the Egypt guys into providing WildWildCat viewing access.

Also, I will save SD the time:  This is a fantastic idea.  Probs #1.

[AbeFroman]

Rex.  Can you go into detail about your survival plans should you need to suddenly "blend in"?

Basically, I plan to pretend to be my wife's prisoner while she shouts angrily in Egyptian dialect

 

[Bloodfart]

If you buy a vehicle over there make sure it meets EPA emissions standards.  Pretty sure they don't have the same restrictions as here.  That is if you were going to bring it back to the states.   

[ew2x4]

I really want to meet your wife.

[Skipper44]

If your are going to be there a while, I would invest in a slingbox and a dedicated Directv DVR at a friend or family members house