Apartment Hunting

August 9, 2008 · Filed under Dubai Reflections · Tagged apartment, apartment hunting, Bhangra, Bollywood, Burj Dubai, Dubai, Dubai blog, Dubai life, Dubizzle, Nagada Nagada, Tum Se Hi

Last Saturday my husband and I made the decision that it was time to get our own apartment.

While we are eternally grateful for the generosity his company CEO and family have displayed towards us by letting us stay in their gorgeous sprawling marble and fountain-laden villa, living with your boss, coworkers and household staff (irregardless of how awesome they all are) is not exactly the environment most newly weds envision for their first accommodation post-marriage. That said, I am going to miss a few things about this household and the neighborhood around it:

• First off, I will most certainly miss the household’s resident Pakistani driver. Despite his few years of formal education, A (specific names will not be mentioned in this post) has impeccable “street cred.” He not only completely understands the winding ever changing streets of Dubai, but A is also able to seamlessly navigate through the world of UAE business and social situations. When I couldn’t get my mobile phone service to start (even after 5 phone agents swore to me and my husband that it would), A took my phone back to the store and demanded that it work immediately (within 5 minutes I had a dial tone!). When my friend complained of being cat called by local workers on her way to the office, A taught me what to do in that type of situation—take down his license plate number and threaten to call the police for indecent moral behavior. A knows where to get the best Lebanese food (delicious zataar and mint sandwiches for $1.50), how to process visas, whom to contact when the local taxi service’s system has gone awry, etc. To boot, on his minimal (but certainly competitive) income, he not only supports himself here, but a family of at least 10 back home. Impressive, especially for a man that is only 26!

• Second, I will miss the creatures of this green desert oasis—the cute green lizards that dance across our walls as we get ready for bed, the bats that brush my ears while taking 9PM bike rides around the neighborhood compound (we ride at night when it is 95 degrees, as to escape the 115 mid-day heat), and the families of wild mini cats that inhabit the local environment (as if they were the infamous squirrels of Central Park).

• Finally, I will miss the Indian gate guards that smile widely at me (large sunglass-clad) as I roll up in the company Jaguar. They tell me they are happy and surprised to see me (a Westerner) rockin’ out to past and present top Bollywood and Bhangra hits. I can’t help it, every time I hear Nagada Nagada and Tum Se Hi, I have to hum and dance along! As a result of these tunes and others, I decided to enroll in a local Bhangra dance class so that I can eventually shake my hips and shoulders with the best of them!

Moving on…

Last Sunday, I sat down armed with my laptop and working mobile phone in search of a little piece of Dubai we could call our own. I spent hours sifting through ads like this one, “FURNISHED STUDIO FLAT, C.A/C in Deira, with sharing kitchen, broad band internet, to be shared with another, available for Indian non- Muslim, executive bachelor,” as well as hundreds of adverts on Dubizzle (think craigslist minus the personals). I called countless brokers praying that they would answer (I have yet to call a person that has voice mail) and once I was able to get in touch with a broker I had to assure him/her that I was married (apparently landlords are trying to crack down on any situation that might look remotely like prostitution). My husband and I then spent the next four days looking at buildings across town to find a place we could call home. As to be expected, we saw the place that looked like Motel 6, yet covered in mounds of dust, the one bedroom that smelled like sewage and the perfect apartment (that would mean a horrible commute)… Along the way, my husband kept assuring me not to take this hunt too seriously, “It’s not like in New York, where people pick neighborhoods that embody their self-perceived image” (In NYC, you aren’t likely to find an Upper East Sider apartment hunting in Bushwick, nor a Williamsburger in Park Slope)… Loosening up, I agreed–no need to take these things too seriously!

Finally, about 10 apartments in, we found “the place.” The moment our sultry broker opened the door, I was in love with its view. Every morning we will be able to wake up to a view of the Dubai skyline and watch this city develop literally overnight (much construction occurs in the post midnight hours here)! Plus, the apartment is in a quite international neighborhood, so hopefully it will be a good place to meet friends from all over the globe. So, inshallah, we will close our lease on the apartment within a week. The tricky part about renting here is that you have to lay out 6 months to a year of rent before moving in, so payment can be a bit sticky. In addition, one’s visa situation has to be just right. The visa rules changed literally a week ago, so we are still figuring out whether we need to go to Oman for a quick visitor visa refresh, or whether we have to fly back to the States until everything gets processed for our residency visas. Perhaps, A knows. I will ask him!

Well, the time has come to wrap up this post! I look forward to the coming week as I continue my job search (I decided to turn down the offer from the company I mentioned in my last post), figure out how to get a car (having our own place means giving up the company car), start scoping out Arabic lessons and gear up to start cooking again. I had to laugh the other day when I went to Carrefour. The cereal section was hilarious as the cocoa cereal took up nearly half the section. In the land of 80% expats, Carrefour has decided to carry about 5 different cocoa cereals from each country of origin!

From a desktop in Dubai,
A

P.S. To see photos from our apartment search this week, click here and here.

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