Shanny is a real estate machine! She pretty much kept to the schedule and we were on time to each showing. Each of the units we saw that day were what is known here as bungalows - houses back home. They were all at least two story and some were more. Only one was carpeted and it was in really bad shape. It's really funny to see the things that make the difference between here and there. At home the emphasis is put on the kitchens and bathrooms - here those are the two areas that the least attention is paid. Most master bathrooms had little to no storage. This would be easy enough to fix by purchasing some sort of cabinet and putting in the bathroom. The problem? There was also no additional space for an additional cabinet. The kitchens are so completely different that they are almost too difficult to explain. Typically there is a dry kitchen where the food would be prepared. This is also where the stove and oven (if there is one) is located. Most of the cabinets will also be in this area. Then there is the wet kitchen which is where the sink is located along with another stove (most of the time). The refrigerator is usually in the wet kitchen but can be in either. It is not always the case to have both and sometimes the kitchen is very small and the appliances can be very old and small as well.
All of the houses we looked at that day were old but most of them had been recently renovated which was ok with us. The smallest one had 3200 sf with five bedrooms plus a room for the maid that could also be used as storage if we chose not to have a full time maid. You would be amazed at what they could do with space here! They like to build up, not out. One house even had a really cool built in display case that would be perfect for my fairies!!
Of course, the bag would have to go... =)
At one point we got a little ahead of schedule so Shanny and Lana showed us a popular store for renting furniture. There was some really nice stuff in the store and as I looked around (meaning "as I looked at prices") I started thinking to myself, "how in the hell are we going to afford these prices on a monthly budget???" So I just sat down and went into overload. Patric continued to look around with Shanny and the store owner. Lucky for me Lana kind of stayed back with me and noticed that I had the deer in the headlights look going on. She explained to me that I was supposed to take the price of the furniture and divide it by 12 - this was the monthly rental price...whew!!!!! At this, for no apparent reason, I began to cry. Right there in the middle of this furniture store I was crying somewhat uncontrollably. I say somewhat because I couldn't stop but I wasn't blubbering. Lana told me I had every right to cry and even to yell if I wanted since I was going through a huge change. Then she asked me if I wanted her to get my husband to which I promptly replied no. There was no need for him to worry at that point. Lana was amazing! She is an expat that works for the relocation company for the express purpose of helping expats and being able to understand where we are in our process both physically and emotionally. Just so y'all know, I did tell him at the end of the day about my breakdown and he is fully aware that his wife is a big baby!
Anyway, by the end of the they day we had some favorites picked. It was suggested to us that after looking at all of the houses that Shanny had to show to us that we come up with three that we like. We thought that we were doing very well having a few good choices at the end of our first day of looking. Tomorrow we will meet with Shanny beginning at 12:30 to look at more houses and see what we come up with...keep good thoughts for us!
Monkey update: day three...still no monkeys. This is getting downright depressing!
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