Moving to Cairo

first thing u should get a car as soon as u can, public transportation is not a good option in Cairo. However u can use Uber if u don't wanna drive. About customs u want to follow, this depends on where u r going to live. Places like Maadi, Zamalek, new Cairo are nice and people there are used to live with foreigners from different places in the world.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask any question.

I was told we will live in the 6th of October City. Is this a good place?

October is a city near Giza Egypt. Close to the pyramids. There are lots of residential compounds there. And lots of malls. Actually I don't know much about it as I live very far from there.

Best,

You can look for a job as a teacher in a multinational school, they pay lots of money to foreigner teachers. And by the way, there r lots of multinational schools in 6th October.

Hello Melanie,

first of all within 24 hrs of being in Cairo you should visit the nearest immigration office and stamp your passport , a stamp validating your stay here , even if you are married , anyone who enters Egypt should stamp his or her passport with this stamp , ( within 30 days ) just better to make it next day after arrival , cause many forget and it affects all their immigration file during their stay in Egypt.

1 usd is 17.3 Egyptian pounds almost  and going down,  meaning you can get  17 times easier here as merchandise  than what you get in states, and almost double the price or triple and harder to find ( if you are buying an American product  that you used to buy from states before )
so either to get dollars on you or obtain it from here, just it will be 17 times more difficult than in states

find your living equation same like other foreigners who lived here and living, some prepared it and used it from 1 st month and others are still trying to find even after 8 years of living.

Here are some tips for you as a present from Egypt for you as a member in expat.com  its the feast here so  giveaways all around   

As a Cairene from downtown Cairo, I can tell you some info about 6 of October city to imagine it well its 40 km from Cairo center, it's huge! it has two part industrial and residential adding to more than 30 different private residential compounds, it contains over 12 neighborhoods rent ranges between 150 USD a month for 2 rooms un furniture, normal apartment, maybe in the 12th neighborhood.

there you can find all kinds of living needs, hospitals, universities, a smart city like silicon valley in states, over 200 nurseries and maybe 100 schools in the range of 1 hr driving if you will settle theirs! you will be moving around in the area, cause reaching downtown where is the American embassy, for example, will take you around  45 minutes to 1 hour to reach, if you are moving with your car driving. if you will use public transportation you will reach in 2 hrs, of course, forget about transportation in states here is the same but without bus options, that's all

streets are wide and clean ( our level of cleanness ) restaurants are open 24hrs and cafes may be 16 hrs a day open.

since your husband already has an apartment there or settled their so you don't have to think about other places that are far from 6 of October, it will just confuse you and better to focus in the area.

I'm sure that your husband will manage somehow to settle the family right and in the best options available.

Away from being married to an Egyptian , as an American in the middle east you can say legally you can police stations attention and care after providing them your American passport, just in situations that you are not guilty of something  or you needed help, ( like landlord disputes if you will be a renter or any conflict, just don't show off too much cause it turns the other side with authorities and some of the less educated minds you can say from the public   )

no need for political discussions or nationality escalations unless it's an emergency case.

Egyptians appreciate American standards of living, country, and people.

in case of any legal action the American embassy won't be able to interfere in courts, police stations or with any local authority, the embassy will ask you to follow the legal steps to obtain your legal rights
the embassy doesn't help with rescue or securing residency or escort to airport or so , but in high  emergency cases that may affect your safety or life , the Egyptian police will rescue you and can find you very fast and deliver you to your embassy safe , even though the embassy can provide you a flight ticket back to your country of origin, upon your request and filling an application that needs an approval from the console himself, by the way, to visit your embassy you need to schedule a meeting and in normal cases it takes 10 to 30 days, in emergency cases you can call them, they don't offer material help except for flight tickets, under any case you will need to help yourself internally in case .

socially we follow the states in all that the states have good, but politically you won't find the same appreciation , you won't need to speak about politics here , its more relaxing than in the states, as bill payments and taxes you will be minus 60 % of the social stress you have in states , but you will have here another kind of mental stress when dealing with some citizens in different sectors of life but by time you will adapt and you will know how to avoid Egypt  unidentified reasons of stress  "dilemma " 

Egypt is 95 % more than in states as safety, so you won't have street crimes, hurricanes, earthquakes, gangs in neighborhoods, excess in organic food here and sweets, terrorist attacks and dealing with dumps are deadly here, so avoid these.

there is no reason for terrorist groups to enter 6 of October cause there are more than 7 million living in the area and over 30 million within 30 minutes from your area  youngsters and school kids will kick them out. they attack mostly police here, just avoid churches in religious events  better to pray home ))

pollution is 6 of October is 80 % less than in Cairo,
Cairo is the world first city in pollution level, over 200 times the normal level that a human can resist   get as much as you can from antibiotics and medicine from Walmart that covers you up to 6 months.

get copies of all your personal documents and legalize copies from them, cause getting, for example, your birth certificate will cost you 2 months rent to reach you in Egypt.

all international schools and nurseries and international corporations seek American native speakers, qualified and not, as an image for the school and nurseries and so on, so if you will join teaching, you can start to gather recommendations and obtain some certificates of teaching to non natives , you can find it within 30 minutes of where you live now , you can get a certificate that you joined teaching to non natives English language , it depends on your past experience and qualifications ,.

comparing to the western countries, people here are trippy nice you can say, and women are scary friendly comparing to the ways of welcoming and feeding ceremonies ))

all are offering help to welcome you or to get you into a deal and others just offers help and being nice and friendly to tourists and foreigners, scammers to are all around but since you are not alone and there is a man responsible with you, you will be away from scammers.
schools pay from 300 USD to 1500 USD a month. it depends on a school level and area, private tutoring starts from 6 USD to 20 USD it all depends on which society level you will be involved with or living within.
that was the Egyptian way of explaining things or offering help in general  ) falls of information )

by western style, I can tell you shortly :

in general, 6 of October is a good area for living, safe and there are work opportunities around as schools, nurseries and private tutoring.
Don't socialize too much  except with us here  ))


good luck