![\"marriott.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ogleearth.com\/marriott.jpg?resize=250%2C183\")
<\/p>\n<\/span>First, I joined a gym — the one at the Marriott<\/a>, Zamalek Island’s swankiest hotel<\/a>. The gym is basically a large garden with a huge pool in the middle, half covered and half outdoors, with a weights room attached. You have to apply to the gym, though the main criterium for acceptance seems to be an ability to pay. In any case, I didn’t have to wait for a response to my application; I was allowed a provisional swim and workout. This did wonders to my increasingly bedraggled physique. Cairo is many things, but a park it is not.<\/span><\/p>\n Also today I paid a deposit reserving my room in a shared flat, into which I will move as soon as I am back from my trip to Sweden and Budapest at the end of March (for meetings). One flatmate is a Croatian woman studying Arabic; the other is an Italian woman. The languages we all have in common, more or less, are Italian and English, so I am looking forward to resuscitating my ailing Italian skills.<\/p>\n The apartment is massive by Swedish standards, on the first floor of a four-floor building in a very short street and quiet, across from a small local hospital. A week ago, I would have called the state of the building dishevelled. But that would have been before I arrived in Cairo. Now I think it is clean.<\/p>\n Tomorrow, I will make another commitment: I will order a 2-mbps broadband connection for the apartment, which conveniently will take as long to install as it will take me to move in.<\/p>\n So, how much does all this set me back? Here it gets interesting (sorry if it wasn’t before) because the prices are a good indication of Egypt’s relative scarcities: For the gym, I will pay EUR 110 per month. The shared apartment? EUR 150 per month. The broadband, which is the absolute fastest you can get here: EUR 90 per month. A grand total of EUR 350 per month.<\/p>\n Comparing to Stockholm: Apartment: EUR 700. Gym: EUR 65. Internet: EUR 30 (and for a godlike 100 mbps). A total of EUR 800. That leaves EUR 550 extra per month i savings to spend on flights to Europe, which I might if work weren’t paying for those.<\/p>\n I intend to get a tutor for learning Arabic, but my main constraint is time. There is so much to do, both for work and outside it, and just 24 hours in a day.<\/p>\n I know, I know, no photos. I will remedy that at the earliest opportunity, and georeference the pics in Google Earth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I made two commitments yesterday (March 5), and I’m feeling much better for it. First, I joined a gym — the one at the Marriott, Zamalek Island’s swankiest hotel. The gym is basically a large garden with a huge pool … Continue reading