Aussie girl moving to Cairo

[masr8]

Originally Posted by chattabox22

Hi,
I'm an Aussie girl looking to move to Cairo in November. I'm hoping to make new friends and contacts before I arrive to hang out with and help with whole transition period. I have a few questions:
I have been to Cairo a couple of times and spent my time in Dokki and Mohanessin. Are these good central places to live? Can you recommend anywhere else.
[COLOR="red"]These are nice places to live but [also look at compounds such as in Rehab, Kattameya etc /COLOR]
What is the average rental for an appartment per month?
Very expensive in Maadi, Rehab, but heliopolis more reasonable - jobs usually should sort out your accomodation. I agree that you should get a job here before you come as the average Egyptian wage is very low and you could not survive on less than 1500 dollars a month. You pay foreign prices
What is the social life and security like in Cairo?
SOcial life is excellent - go to the website yallabina or cairodining also look on facebook for groups
What is the average cost of living?
high - you never pay the same as egyptians.
What is the average wage for westerners?
varies
I was planning on coming to Egypt to teach english as a second language but would prefer to work in an office environment. How hard is it to get a job once arriving in Egypt?
Do a TEFL etc before coming through connections you would make here you may move into the office industry. Also try BP. In addition be aware that the wages they offer highly qualified egypitans with arabic and english language about 2000LE upwards a month. You could not survive on this try TES or HAYSAny tips or advice anyone can provide is greatly appreciated.
If you need any help just ask.:-)
I hope to meet some great ppl and start an amazing new chapter in my life.
Cheers

By the way you will love egypt - good luck :-)

[Philomena]

Hi, I am an Australian living in Cairo (married to an Egyptian) for the past 8 yrs. You simply can not consider just moving here without a work contract, this must be obtained in Australia. If you want to live and eat as well as any Australian can do in Australia then the cost of living is HIGHER HERE THAN AUSTRALIA. I am not just talking and guessing this is a factual comparison. If you want to rent a decent flat in a good area, the minimum you will pay is 4,000 LE per month. Shopping at a supermarket such as Metro, will cost you a minimum of 300 - 400 per week. A good wage without a contract is 3,000 LE per month, you should know basic Arabic if you want to work in an office. If you wish to earn good money then you should look for an employment contract/package before you leave Australia then they pay all of your expenses including accommodation. By the way, the only way to travel around is by private car or taxi and I pay 60 LE per day for taxis. Egypt once was a relatively inexpensive place to live, however this is no longer the case, if you are lead to believe anything else you would be disappointed. To live well here you need to earn a minimum of 8,000 LE per month. The only well paid teaching jobs are with international schools and to do this you need to be a qualified teacher with a BA and a Dip.ed.

Hoping this helps, and the above info is realistic and accurate.
Philomena

[khater]

these rents seems to be really high,u can get ur own appartment with 3 bedrooms in agouza for about 4000 pounds or even less,and thats a good furnished place with 3 ACs.or u can share an appartment with other female expats as a lot of forign students come to study here.about salaries dont expect much from a full time job i duno ur qualifications but lets say 2000 to 3500 pounds but from teaching english in pvt classes u can earn 75-100 pounds an hr neednt to say its preferedly to give classes to females only.
if u wana c the country and mix with people u can do it but with some conservatives,u dont have to stay in expats places,u can c sights or go to cafes,culture centers or whatever on ur own waering adequate clothes or wth local guys or girls,u never face trouble if ur hanging with locals,they know their way
guess no social or emdical insurane for expats here unless included in ur package

[MaidenScotland]

Khater an Egyptian might be able to get an apartment at that price but believe me a foreigner can't at least not in a good building and with nice furniture and appliances.
I was flat hunting with a friend very recently and I was appalled at the apartments shown, they lacked even being clean! The furniture should have been in the dump.
What and Egyptian can get for one price a foreigner has to pay double or triple for. FACT

[khater]

for sure u guys pay more but its alol about bargining,anyway still i think u Maidenscotland was ripped off,u can try expatraites.com or cairo.criaglist many people wana share appartments or wana offer appartments for rent for prices i mentioned earlier

[MaidenScotland]

How can you say I was ripped off, I don't pay rent my apartment is part of my package, but to be honest I couldnt afford to live in this building if I was paying rent

[bellej]

Hey, I am a foriegner and lone female, and got a relatively good apartment off-season (signed in Feb) for LE2200 in a good part of Heliopolis. And it's a coooooool part of town and serviced by metro and tram. There are foriegners here, though not in obvious quantities like Maadi or Zamalek. For sure the apartment's not to my Aus standards, but it's clean, sunny and it's not a disgusting building - I have been shown truly disgusting apartments, so know what the alternatives are. But you should rope in a friend to help negotiate if the landlord/lady doesn't speak English. Having said that, my last two owners did speak English. Khater knows what he's talking about.

Friends share an apartment and they pay 2200 between the three girls (two expats, one Egyptian) so I think LE4000 would be damned unlucky. You can put a note up on the AUC noticeboard.

Re: shopping, I find fruit and veg much, much cheaper than Australia and if you're buying in season, awesome quality. Sorry Philomena, I don't shop at Metro anymore unless I just can't find the product elsewhere, because I found them a total rip-off when I did price comparisons and the meat bad. I use an Egyptian supermarket which is friendly, cheap and doesn't do outrageous delivery charges (I don't have a car).

Aussie girl, I have said on previous posts (and apols if I got snotty about it), I use minibuses and metro to get around Cairo and I have had no hassles. Everyone's willing to help, it just takes a bit longer sometimes to find the right bus. For metro, it whups the taxis if you're crossing town and it costs ONE POUND. Man, I wouldn't live in Rehab if you want the feeling of living in Cairo. If you like parks and chain restaurants, then that's cool. Sometimes it's nice to do it for a change.

Get travel insurance that will let you stay out of Aus for one year. It's better than nought. Good luck, b.

[MaidenScotland]

Now that is where we all differ, my apartment is the standard I have in the UK and because it is the rent is high high high, but then I don't pay it so it makes no difference to me. I for one could not come to work in any country and lower my standards in the way I like to live. Bellej if you dont get hassle then I would say you are the exception not the rule, Egyptian girls complain constantly about getting felt up in Cairo especially on microbuses and even just walking downtown, just read the papers, and recently one female reporter managed to take a harasser to court and I believe this was a first in Egypt.

[bellej]

Originally Posted by MaidenScotland

Now that is where we all differ, my apartment is the standard I have in the UK and because it is the rent is high high high, but then I don't pay it so it makes no difference to me. I for one could not come to work in any country and lower my standards in the way I like to live. Bellej if you dont get hassle then I would say you are the exception not the rule, Egyptian girls complain constantly about getting felt up in Cairo especially on microbuses and even just walking downtown, just read the papers, and recently one female reporter managed to take a harasser to court and I believe this was a first in Egypt.

For sure MaidenScotland that's the key point that I'm not on an expat package. I understand your position about not wanting to lower standards.

But you know, my place isn't a huge jump into revoltingness, and it does have almost everything I would have in Aus, and is three times bigger than my apartment there, as has been the case with every single apartment I have rented (ok, one was only double the size). Then again in Aus I could never have afforded a cleaning lady, my rubbish there is collected weekly, pedicures are three times the price (the priorities!) ... there is an upside to living in Cairo, warts and all.

For sure everyone gets hassled and I know the sexual harassment case you're talking about and think it's about time, so it's either my magic aura (knock on wood!) or if women use the women-only carriage on the metro, its perfectly safe. I'll use taxis at night (at a tenth of the price), like I would in London and Sydney-Melbourne, which I think, having lived extensively in both, are far less safe cities than Cairo.

For sure I'd love a private car and driver, but that's not how I live at home. I just want to point out that it is possible to live well in Cairo as a foreigner without a generous expat package, which sounds like it's shaping up as the original poster's position.

[khater]

i agree with u bellej,ur a newbie but seems u found ur way out here better than others who stayed for yrs,
forgot to tell u guys about call centers its booming busin es now in cairo and they like hiring native spoeakers spoecially for european languages
try orange in city stars and xceed in smart village
good luck