Vol 21 Apartment

Yes, it’s true. Though everyone here said it would be difficult to find a one bedroom apartment, I found one. Apartments here are quite different. They come with nothing. Ok, that’s not quite true- they come with light bulbs, air-conditioning and ceiling fans. They don’t come with a fridge, stove or washer/dryer. No blinds. No drapes. No drapery hardware. This apartment doesn’t even have a shower rod. I have to pay for water and electricity. I’m not getting a phone line because I have a cell phone, (which they call a GSM or mobile here).

Unfortunately this apartment did come with unwelcome roommates which I failed to notice when I viewed it. Cockroaches. Small and relatively few cockroaches, but still. Yuck! I hate roaches. (Lane is probably nodding right now). I discovered them when I picked up the keys last night and went and looked at it. I also discovered that it wasn’t clean. Kitchen cabinets and drawers have food bits in them. I called the property manager today and he assured me he would have it cleaned and de-bugged. He asked me to delay moving in until Saturday. I’m sure I’ll have to clean it again but if they get the big stuff I can fine tune it. You know how you always have to clean a place when you move in? I need to figure out how to ensure that the roaches don’t come back. Bring on the chemical traps I guess and keep it clean and my food sealed. Anyone have experience with roaches?

The building is only about six months old. There is a restaurant on the ground floor that looks like it will be open soon. I’m hoping it will be good. Looks like a bakery/chicken place. Astute photo viewers will have noticed the words “Ambulance Services” on a sign on the building beside mine. There are apartments on the upper floors, but the ground floor is a Polyclinic. Polyclinics are all over the place. They are healthcare one-stop-shops. General Practice MD’s, Specialists, X-ray, Lab, Dentist, Pharmacy and in this case, Ambulance. I guess I’ll pop my head in and have a look, but these polyclinics are not known for quality or even cleanliness. The hospitals operate their own ambulances and the fire department is completely separate.

My flat, as they call them here, is on the back side of the building, so until construction is completed on the building behind mine, I have a nice view of the mountains. I’ll add photos of the empty apartment after the bugs have moved out. It will probably stay fairly empty for a while. I’ll start by buying a bed and maybe appliances and add to it each month. I want to furnish it as thriftily as I can so I won’t mind selling it all when I come home. I’m hoping to buy much of what I need from expats returning home. The grocery stores have bulletin boards with notices of people selling furniture all the time. I want to paint it even though they just did. They chose peach! Peach! Gag!

This afternoon I auditioned to be a singer for a local jazz band. Piano, bass, drums and sax. It was fun and I think it went well but perhaps not well enough to get the gig. I'm not one of those people that knows the lyrics to a million songs. I know the songs but not the lyrics. I told them I'd be willing to learn the lyrics to a ton of songs if need be. They are auditioning two other women so we'll see. Even if I don't get it, it was great to sing with good musicians. And if I do get it I'll have a little extra money to spend and a creative outlet, something which I am sorely in need of.

I never told everyone how the haircut with Eman's stylist went. In a word: poorly. So poorly, in fact, I cried. While still there. One minute into the haircut. He is Egyptian and he doesn't speak English. He started cutting while she was still translating what I wanted and in the blink of an eye and before I could yell "Stop!" he chopped off a 3 inch chunk of hair at my right temple. He didn't get the whole "I like it longer on the right than on the left" concept. Then I cried. I let him trim the ends of the rest of my hair so it wouldn't look completely retarded but for the last month I have looked funny anyway. I seem to be the only one who notices so maybe it's not that bad. Tomorrow one of our American patients is going to try to fix it for me. She's here with her husband but is a stylist back home. I have my fingers crossed because I'm actually starting to look quite scruffy. My friend Annette, (Hi Annette!), hasn't cut my hair since mid December. I should mention, the Egyptian stylist felt terrible and didn't charge me for the cut. I was a bit embarrassed that I reacted with tears but as I told Eman, since my hair is so fine I feel like I only have 12 hairs on my head and I must protect them.

I took one shirt to be copied to Eman's tailor but he took my word for it that it fit well and so he didn't take my measurements. Then he had trouble copying the shirt because it was cut on the bias and so the chiffon fabric it's made from stretches. Anyway it ended up being a bit too small for me. But it's gorgeous so I gave him the rest of the fabric and told him to go to town. Eman and I designed a bunch of stuff that he is going to make for me. Two dresses, 5 blouses and a skirt. I'll send photos when they are done in a few weeks.

My Word problem is solved. A friend gave me a copy of Office 2007 and I'm back in business.

It was 42 degrees Celsius today. That's 107.6 Fahrenheit. And I'm handling it just fine.