House Hunting in a Far-Off Land
Part One
You probably will agree with me that house hunting is a stressful activity. You have to consider price, style, cost, size, location, and a whole slew of things. Add to this the need to do all your negotiating in a foreign language, a really hard foreign language like say CHINESE, and ... well, let's just say you will want to start off the process with low blood pressure, because it is likely to rise while you are house hunting.
I found a decent apartment last week. Unlike most places I've seen, it has a nice kitchen (see photo above). Although you can't see clearly what's under the ventilation hood because a sliding glass door is in the way, I will tell you what is under it. NOTHING!!! You might expect to see stove burners under a stove hood, but that would be YOUR way of thinking. I pointed out this problem to the real estate agents, and they tried to make it sound normal.
I shouldn't have been shocked to find that in the bathroom shower stall, there are no water faucets for actually taking a shower. (What? I should pour buckets of water over myself.)
Alarmingly, there is no method of heating hot water for the kitchen or bathroom. Wow, cold showers! Fun!
Most shocking is the fact that this, so far, is the top-rated apartment on my list. Obviously, some things have got to change before I sign on the dotted line. I'll keep you posted.
Part Two
The organization I work for has rules limiting the size of apartments their employees should have. They also have rules that say we should live in unfurnished apartments (i.e. we should furnish them ourselves). On a worldwide level, this is an equitable arrangement, and should make for a cheaper rental fee. It sounds really good on paper.
But I live in a place where the rules don't fit. In a city of many millions of people, and with eight real estate agents working on it, I have found a sum total of ZERO apartments that are unfurnished.
My real estate agents call and say, "I found a place that is unfurnished." We get there and it is full of furniture. The agent says, "I'm sure the landlord will move it out." The landlord refuses. They can't afford to put it into storage. A wasted trip for me. This has happened at least 15 times, probably more. I lost count.
Some landlords propose that I use my furniture and theirs together, simultaneously, as if my goal in life is to live in a storage room, serving their needs at my expense. "Hmm, yes I think I will put my sofa on top of your sofa, a double decker!" One guy says I can just take his two king-size mattresses and stand them up along the wall for 2-3 years. Ah, yeah, well, not quite my idea of stylish decorating. (The bad news is that this place currently ranks second on my list.)
One couple suggested I sell all my furniture so I can use theirs. (This would be different than what my company wants, but I can't really explain this to the landlords.) I alternately suggest that the landlords sell their own furniture since I plan to stay there a long time. They look at me like I am an idiot. "We can't sell our furniture! It is too hard and there is not enough time!"
Uh, hello! You are natives of this city, know where all the furniture markets are, speak the language fluently and won't get cheated for being a white-skinned foreigner. It's too hard for you, but you think I CAN DO IT?!!!
Part Three
The very largest apartment I could rent is 148 square meters. I usually have one about 130 square meters. I tell the real estate agent my limit.
She takes me to an apartment that is 160 square meters (and has furniture). I got there, saw the size, and told her it was too big. She said it was the slightly cheaper than the one we saw the other day that was the smaller size. I said my company had rules about size. She looked at me like I was crazy. What company would not want to save money? A bad one obviously. How could I tell her that avoiding the appearance of ostentatious wealth was valued by my company; monetary values are certainly to be considered, but they are not the only values in the world. But she wouldn't understand this.
She suggests we lie about the size of the apartment on the contract. Well, I know she is trying to help me out, but you know, I'm thinking that lying to my organization is not an idea that was hatched on holy ground. I told her that people in my company could take one look at the apartment and know it was too big, and if their eyes failed them, they knew how to use a tape measure.
The next day she took me to see another apartment. It was 178 square meters. Obviously my real estate agent and I are having some disconnect. I'm not using her anymore.
Summary
Take a cold shower! Own your own furniture storage business! You don't need to eat! Rent a mansion!
Sometimes I don't know if I should laugh or cry. So far the chuckles are winning out, but I don't know how much longer that will last.
This (above) is the view out my small kitchen balcony. I am looking towards the east.
The photos above and below are taken from out of my larger balcony off my living room. The balcony faces south.
The people in the above photo are elderly folks doing their daily exercises, some with fake swords. Although this was not taken in the morning, exercisers meet every day at 6 a.m., unless it is raining. I enjoy their chatter and noises, although I am always still in bed when I hear them.
