The Grand Apartment Saga (part 2)

Where did we leave off? Oh yes, I was in despair and binging on cake while flailing about trying to find room mates, right. Well while flailing about and sending facebook messages after emails and being thrown potential roomies (who were just simply everyone and anyone, regardless of if we had similar interests or could possibly get along) by Mina I was being propped up by a steady stream of encouragement by the boyfriend and a rather large amount of processed sugar.

Then it happened—some room mates finally came along! AUC students? Yeah. Female? Yeah. Studying International Relations?! Yes! However, they were thinking of living in or near Zamalek because they have a friend in the dorms…and I had to be honest with them about how long it took to Zamalek (10-15 min walking, 20 min metro ride, 5 min cab ride), and I did tell them what I liked about Maadi, but ended up recommending they should probably live in Mohandiseen or Dokki as both are closer to Zamalek than Maadi is and a bit cheaper.

However, they were undeterred and asked me to look in to if the apartment was still up for rent. I had Mina make the calls, and then we began to commence negotiations. If this sounds like the beginning of a major undertaking, it’s completely true! We headed back to Street 200, Mina over-dressed and me rather underdressed to start arguing with the landlady (over the phone) about the price of the apartment, if utilities were included, and all that wonderful stuff. We arrived at the flat, and Sallah, the awesome bawwab, took us up so we could sit in the air-conditioned palace that I was hoping could be my new Cairo home. Then, they argued. Mina spoke rapidly and loudly in Arabic on the phone for an extensive period of time, chopping the monthly price back from the $1500 requested to $1300. We were determined to get $1200 though and Sallah knew it, so he motioned for us to shut up, grabbed the phone and started walking out on to the balcony, saying something along the lines of, “look, lady, these assholes are going to walk so you better talk business here.” He returned triumphant, and I continued just smiling and looking charming on the sofa while we haggled over the remaining bits and pieces such as when I would move in (which would prove a major point of contention later, stay tuned), if utilities were included (big fat NO there), and so on. I sat and sat and bugged Mina to keep me updated in English about the status of the arguing and pontificating.

Finally we reached a conclusion, but she wanted a substantial amount of money in check or cash form and she wanted it today, which just wasn’t possible as I didn’t have the money in my bank account at the time. Sallah offered to lend me what money he had, which was so shocking, but is really indicative of what kind of society I’ve been living in here. Sometimes the generosity of people in Egypt makes me feel like I can never leave, but I digress!

This is the snapshot of the negotiations that went on for…oh I don’t know, say like two weeks? We’d get one thing nailed down and then something else would crop up. I was supposed to “come sign the contract tomorrow,” for easily fifteen days if not more. One of the major points of annoyance was that the landlady really wanted me to move in on August 1st, but I point-blank refused to let her make me pay for that full month, which would be especially unfair to my room mates arriving later. How did we avoid the problem? Well, we stalled until it was after the 1st of course!

One thing after another prevented me from going and signing the contract on my dream apartment, and I was worrying because I wanted to assure my potential future room mates that we had a place nailed down. First I left for Alexandria, then when I returned Mina’s sister had a baby so he wasn’t available, then I got sick yet again, and then the worst of worst happened…she wanted three months in advance. In cash.

That’s right, $3600 in cold, hard cash.

I immediately recalled what “The Cairo Practical Guide” had said about banks being able to bypass your daily limit and make withdrawals, so every day for about three days I woke up at a reasonable hour, put on my tourist sandals, and trudged from major international bank to major international bank in the mid-summer Cairo heat hoping that one of them could make the necessary transaction. HSBC? No, mish mumkin. CIB? Sorry, not here. On and on and if I happened to be too late the bank would be closed and I’d grumble and make a note to try that one again tomorrow and trudge on the to the next. Nothing, nada, ziltch. By this point I was withdrawing up to my daily limit every day at the ATMs, in between being on conference calls with my (again, extremely patient) boyfriend Ramy, and Mina trying to figure out something, but crunching along restricted by my daily limit just wasn’t gonna cut it, and I wanted the apartment bad.

Finally I called my parents. I whined and complained and had them call my bank, who gave them the international number for customer service. I called my bank, and after some “oh so you’re in Egypt right NOW?” conversations I got my daily limit raised to $1000, which was an improvement but I really wanted to go sign like, yesterday. I scurried from ATM to ATM that day, but then when I went to go the next day I realized that—oh crap—they’d only put the new limit on for one day. Cue me whipping out my cell in front of yet another ATM and calling the US, because that number was supposed to accept the charges for international calls, right? Not so much…as I found out when I was disconnected once and my balance popped up revealing that this phone call had cost me upwards of 30LE, which made me grind my teeth, call back, and speak asfastaspossible to make sure the new limit was permanent.

Finally, I had amassed a huge, ridiculous amount of cash in the lining of one of my suitcases. I glared at it and counted it repeatedly as Mina for the millionth over the phone said, “okay, so we will go sign tomorrow, wait for my call.”

Banking in Cairo

I recently contacted my friend Leyla Lanty, who is a wonderful dancer, experienced world traveler, teacher at Ahlan Wa Sahlan, and general goddess of wisdom about traveling to Cairo specifically. I asked her some questions on banking, because AUC is downright silent on the subject which I described to Leyla as "beyond frustrating." Plus, financial issues are pretty sticky so I didn't want to get stuck being clueless just believing my travel guidebooks that had plainly never traveled beyond their supply chain route from the factory.

Luckily Leyla--being a fountain of knowledge and great insight and all--had some useful information on what to do about banking in Cairo, which I think could be great advice for anyone looking to travel or study there, and I wanted to somewhat edit and share with her permission some quotes of the advice she gave me:

Carrying US Dollars:
"If you've already paid for large expenses (like rent), then you probably should take a few hundred dollars in cash - mostly $20 bills and about $150-200 in smaller bills. If you need dollars for any reason in the first month or so, you'll have them. You can change them any time you need Egyptian pounds and can't get to a bank. Often the vendors in Khan el Khalili will take dollars for payment at the current rate of exchange, which is now 5.5 LE per dollar. They may round it up to 6 LE per dollar because it'll cost them to change the dollars to LE."

At the airport:
"At the arrivals area before you get to the passport control, there will be a bank/exchange open at which you can change some dollars to pounds. I usually change around $100 in order to have Egyptian pounds in my pocket. Tips for luggage carrying, if you use it, are about 5 LE each bag."

Using Traveler's Checks:
"They are more trouble than they're worth. If you need to carry a VERY large sum, like tuition fees, they're safer than carrying that much cash."

The Cairo "Practical Guide" also says that, "many exchanges--and banks--will not take [traveler's checks], or will charge a lot for doing so."

Using US Bank Accounts:
The Cairo Guide describes Egypt as a, "cash economy as soon as you descend from five-star altitude," and "the best places to change foreign currency is at the various exchanges throughout the city," which are better than the banks."

Leyla also says, "You will have access to your home bank's accounts if you have a check card with either a Visa or Mastercard logo. However , you MUST call them or visit a branch BEFORE YOU LEAVE to tell them that you will be [abroad] and give them the dates that you'll be there. Best to call the next day to double check that they have actually recorded the information on your accounts."

ATMs:
"You can use a check card with a Visa or Mastercard logo to withdraw money from your checking account from an ATM up to your daily limit. If you want more money than your daily limit, you must do it at a bank. They'll put it through as a credit card transaction which bypasses your daily withdrawal limit" Note: This last bit is a blatant lie from the guidebook, you can only withdraw up to your daily limit, end of story. I found this out the hard way. (Edit: 12/25/09)

"There are ATMs in many locations both on the street and at 5-star hotels at which you can use either your check card or any Visa or Mastercard credit can with a p.i.n. to withdrawl money. If your credit card doesn't have a password on it, then you have to go to a bank to use it to withdraw money."

Fees:
"Of course, there are small fees for all of this service - both an access fee and a money changing fee. Your bank may also charge up to $4 for each transaction to a foreign bank or ATM."

Shukran, Leyla! I'm sure we can all benefit from the advice! By the way, Leyla's CD is amazing--I higly reccomend it for performance, class, or just listening and enjoying!