Apartments

You want to know about apartments.  It's really different from the US.  There are hotel apartments which are pretty neat if you want to live in the city.  They are completely furnished with things in the kitchen, pots and pans and stuff.  They have 24 hour security and doormen.  A maid will come in a few times a week and clean for you.  Some of the hotel apartments have some pretty good perks.  One here will supply all of your water and soft drinks and once a month you can get a complimentary night at a hotel in Dubai.  That's pretty cool.  Some of them have underground parking or parking passes, but many also had very little parking available.  A few may have a workout room, and maybe one might have a pass to a pool at a nearby hotel.  I may be wrong, I've seen so many of them.  Usually the hotel apartments I've seen have one bathroom, one bedroom and small kitchen and a living/dining area.  They also come with all of the appliances already installed.  Oh, yes, and usually utilities are included in the rent, and once in awhile, internet.

The apartments are an entirely different deal.  They range from all sizes and all prices. Usually, they are unfurnished, with no appliances.  So, once you obtain an apartment and keys, you have to find your own appliances.  Also, a big plus is if you find an apartment with built in wardrobes, or cupboards.  There are usually no closets.  Usually there are lots of bathrooms.  Many of the apartments I looked at had a bathroom for each bedroom, which is pretty cool.  Often I've noticed parts of the apartments can be closed off.  Heavy doors are on each room.  I'm assuming this is for conserving energy with AC.

It seems like the further out away from the city you range the bigger the apartments, or rather, villas, become.  Often landlords are splitting up huge villas into several apartments.  But, we have to be careful when we rent because now each apartment needs to have its own utility meter.  There are certain regulations that have to be followed, and we aren't always aware of them.

I am currently awaiting approval for my housing.  We found a place and then had to get paperwork from the landlord and then submit it to our employer.  Now, we are waiting approval from our employer.  Once that happens we are hoping we will get our furniture allowance and a key to get in.  Over here employers have to provide housing for legal employees. It's kinda cool.  But, if both spouses are employed, only one can get the housing allowance. 

Now that we have gone through our orientation, this week we are are preoccupied with getting our housing approved and finding things to put in our apartments since most of us arrived with 2 suitcases filled with who knows what?  Some people opted for teaching supplies, some for clothes and some for a bunch of shoes!  Personally, I chose mostly clothes with a few choice teaching materials, and, um, yes, uh, shoes.  Shoes can be more difficult to find if you are up in the size 9 range, like me.  The Emirate women seem to be very beautiful, and very petite.

So, Inshallah (God willing) our housing is approved, we will scramble around to purchase appliances and a bed.  I think laundry soap and towels are going to be high on my list of necessities and probably a drying rack and iron and ironing board.  The dryers here mostly just spin out most of the water.  The washer I'm looking at is a washer/dryer combo all in the same appliance.  It's kinda cool.

My hope is that I can get my apartment this week and get it all stocked up and livable, and then my next big challenge is going to be to find transportation to and from work.  My school is out a ways from the city, and so is my apartment Inshallah. There are many other LT's who will be working near me, or beyond me and we're hoping to find spouses who aren't working to make a run delivering us to our schools and then picking us up at the end of the day.  We are learning to share resources and information in order to live conservatively and economically until we become settled.

Last night was fun.  My hotel room is on the 2nd floor and I have a small patio that runs into a large patio with lounge chairs and benches.  It's quite different from the normal balconies that most of the LT's have here.  So, a group decision was made that since I had the coolest digs that I should host an evening get together.  Since resources are getting slim here, we all decided to bring whatever refreshements we had available to us and to gather in my room.  It was quite fun.  We had a gathering of five ladies and we pooled all of our goodies together and actually ended up with quite a feast.  We exchanged stories and experiences and had a few giggles.  Good times, good friends, good food.  I still think the best is pretzel sticks dipped in Nutella.  Yum.