Leaving Egypt, but for what and where?

Today, somebody came to look at our apartment, pending a move at the beginning of next semester. It made our leaving Egypt a lot more real than has all the talk about it lately.

Although our contract was originally for three years only, since the academic job market is so bad this year (less than a third of the usual number of jobs available), we decided somewhere around Christmas that it would probably be best if we stayed in Egypt another year. Although the offer to stay was never written in stone, we knew there would be a need for *at least* one position, and that most people in the Husband’s department would be happy to keep him on for another year. Now, with cost-cutting and restructuring of the university, it looks like instead of offering a new position, or even keeping up with changes in the department (replacements), the university is cutting back on the Husband’s department. We have not heard anything - for certain - yet, but we have also not heard of any offers, and it’s late enough in the year that it’s probably safe to say we’re most likely shipping out at the end of the summer.

What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? Despite of what feels like hundreds of job applications, we still don’t have a new job. So, I don’t know where we will end up or what we are going to do, although we are certainly coming up with the one emergency plan after the other. We still have enough time that I’m not scared, but I’m discouraged by all the rejections we’ve had – although I don’t blame them; why choose the guy with a degree from a European university you can’t pronounce the name of who lives in Cairo, over someone who got their doctorate from Yale and then did a postdoc at UCLA? With so many applicants and so few jobs going around, there’s simply no room for taking chances.