Good Bye hot Cairo, for now!

This past academic year was supposed to be our last in Cairo, Egypt. The current job market, however, is very tight, and despite a large amount of job applications - anything from one-year teaching positions in Idaho, to tenure track positions at ivy-league schools across the world – we got nowhere to go. Spring semester was coming to an end, and we started making departure emergency plans, still hoping something would come up, but planning for the worst. We would stay here as long as we could, and then go back to the States, live off our savings, and hope that Courtney could pick up some adjunct work somewhere, while we kept trying to find a job. This was our sad, pathetic plan until the Provost here at AUC offered Courtney to stay on for another year. It was not at all what we had expected – it was always understood that our contract was non-renewable – but of course we were very grateful and relieved. We could ask for our deposit back on that cardboard box we had set out for, somewhere in Nowhere, USA. We could start making summer plans, buy tickets, and structure our time.

But then, that same week, we heard from another job, a nice one – and Courtney went to Lebanon for an interview. Now we knew we were going to be OK, but what if this other, better job came through? Then we wouldn’t get any home leave money, AND we would have to organize a move. We decided that it was best to wait with our summer plans until we knew where we were going to be in the fall. If we were not going to receive any home leave money, we couldn’t really buy tickets to go to the US anyways.

This past week however, seeing summer slip between our fingers, and Cairo heating up by the minute, most people we know gone; I decided I couldn’t just wait around anymore. Czech Airlines had a really, really good deal on tickets to Sweden, and so, I bought them. A trip to Sweden we could afford, it’s not too far, and it’s the perfect place for us this summer. Courtney needs to work on his book, I need to relax, and the boys, all three, need a safe space to play. My mom’s house is pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a fenced garden for Abraham to run free in, and a forest in the back for the boys to play in. In the meantime, everything will fall into place, insha Allah.

Tonight we fly out, leaving a very hot – 45C/117F – Cairo behind for a few weeks. Whatever the future holds, we will stay cool for the next month; literally and metaphorically. See you up north!