Moving on

We have changed our mind about every other day…sometimes multiple times per day…for the last 3 months or so about whether or not we should move.  For a 1 bedroom in Khalifa City A (KCA), we really do have a great set-up with a large semi-western kitchen and a decent sized bathroom with counter tops and room for storage in the bathroom.  We contacted our landlord a month ago with an offer to renew our rent and we were told that our rent rate wouldn’t be established until July.  So Paul called back in early July.  They did decrease our rent.  But not to what they should have.  And they decided to increase our amount for utilities.  Paul talked on the phone to them to no avail and set up an appointment to talk to them in person.  Two mornings in a row he went into their office and the guy didn’t show up.  Paul called ahead the next few days and the guy was out.  Finally we both went and met with him last Wednesday but they still wouldn’t budge.  Oh well, that’s their choice to make.  The mindset of landlords out here is amazing.  I think they just got so used to housing being in such short supply and demand so high that they do not know how to readjust to a declining market.  They really don’t seem to comprehend the impact of having an empty apartment for a few months while they try to find a new tenant vs getting someone to renew.  Oh well.

So we went apartment hunting on Friday…Yay!  NOT.  Actually it wasn’t that bad.  We saw a few decent places and then settled on a 2bedroom (more like 1.5 though).  We negotiated a bit and then decided to sleep on it and checked out a few more places Saturday morning.  Wow!—did we see some jewels.  I think the low was what I’ve nicknamed “Candy Land.”  It was advertised as a 1BR with a  private garden and a shared gym near Etihad plaza.  Sounded nice.  Of course no photos online.  When we showed up we walked into the open air compound to an overgrown courtyard that was surrounded by alternating red and white 2’ high picket fences.  The fences had gates at each of the doors to the various apartments.  The shared gym was a 12’x12’ room/shed in the middle of the courtyard whose door was open so I stepped in wondering why on earth they would leave the door open in this heat.  Well that’s because it wasn’t air conditioned and the “equipment” was all older than me (and most of the people I work with which is saying something).  The apartments just weirded us out.  Of course this is the one place that the landlord wanted to know why we didn’t like the place.  After ignoring his questions the first few times we finally said that it was just that the complex was older than we were looking for.  He replied with “it’s only 2 years old”  HAHAHAHA.  Paul responded with "Well that must make me 3"  You had to appreciate his sense of humor in the midst of this situation.  This basically sealed the deal for the place we found on Friday.

We met with the real estate agent at the Pink shops and negotiated a bit more.  I think we ended up getting about a total of AED 8,000 (~$2,000) off from the initial price we were told--and AED 5,000 less than the other landlord was trying to charge us to renew.  It's good to know that someone can think for themselves in KCA, and not just go straight repeater mode on you (Sorry boss, can't go any lower, sorry boss)

My husband made sure that he looked nice for when we went to go to the bank to add him to my account and negotiate the rent on our new place.

Backtrack: While we were waiting to meet the real estate agent to make the deposit, we decided to go into the bank branch at the pink shops which we’re trying to switch our accounts over to (for many reasons).  I had set-up the accounts the week prior with an online form and then an agent met me at work to sign the 80 lines and give him copies of every piece of official and semi-official paper that I have ever been associated with my entire life—but I’m used to that so I was prepared; I even had all of Paul’s info because we wanted to make them joint accounts.  Well, of course we couldn’t make it a joint account without him there even though I had asked this very question multiple times before the agent came.  So I set it up just for me and he said we could just go into the local branch and add him later.  So back to Saturday, we go to the branch and eventually speak with the customer service agent who tells us that their policy changed months ago and they can no longer “add” people to accounts.  It must be set-up as a joint account from the get-go.  Yes, this is our life in the UAE.  He even went on to describe about how it is frustrating because their agents on the phone and that come meet us keep telling people that you can do that.  Well, yeah, I would say that’s frustrating—so why don’t you fix that?  Ok, so I’ll just cancel my account and start over with the joint one.  Nope.  If you close it before 1 year you get an early account closing fee.  These things don’t even phase me anymore (or Paul who is deep into a game of solitaire on his phone during this debacle...).  So, we decide to come back next weekend to open the joint account and we’ll just have 2.  Meanwhile, I get a call from the phone agent who is trying to finalize the last step in setting up the Savings account (which I didn’t really want in the first place but was getting because the agent that came to the site made me fill out that form first and then realized that I filled out the wrong form and made me fill out another one for the “current account” aka checking account.).  I tell him to just cancel it because it is a single account which I don’t want.  He goes back through all the promotions which he has rapid-fired at 1,000 words per minute in his think Indian accent about 8 times before.  I keep cutting him off, but the second I take a breath he just starts back in.  Finally I think I have him all straightened out and explain that I’m frustrated with what I was told about opening a joint account.  His reply?  “I can set up a current account for your husband, just call me back when you have the information”  Did you hear anything I just said????  I don’t want single accounts!  I just told you that you cannot open single accounts and then add someone!  Why would I want to open another single account just to not be able to add myself???  Ahhhh!
Sidenote:  I don’t know the whole reason behind the issues with adding someone to an account—I’m guessing that it just has to do with fraud (Paul thinks it has to do with the polygamous lifestyle).  But, it really is interesting people’s views here on bank accounts that are governed by Islamic banking.  If Paul were to die, the government would immediately freeze any and all accounts that have his name on them—including any joint accounts with my name on them.  Then after months, they divide up the money according to sharia law where I think most of it goes to his family and the wife maybe gets 1/4 – 1/3 (although this varies depending on how many wives a guy has).  For many reasons we don’t keep large sums of money in our accounts here, but this is just one more complication.  I still think it’s easier to have our names on both accounts, but if I didn’t have money back home it would be scary that I would have no access to money if something were to happen to Paul.

Sorry for the long rant.  I just thought that it might be enlightening to give some details on a typical experience that has to do with any bank, utility company, customer service rep, etc. in this country.  You really do get used to it.  You learn to just expect nothing to work the first 3 times you try.  Then if it does work out earlier, you find yourself so giddy you just don’t know what to do.

Back to the housing.  We decided to go back to our new apartment to just take another look at it and really remember how to get there.  This is what we saw when we walked in…

This is what KCA is all about

At least we know that the living room is good for napping :)  We were walking around and talking normal.  They didn’t even budge.  Not a sliver of an eye opened or a twitch of an arm.  Nothing.

Here are a few more quick photos of the apartment.  This is one of the most “finished” apartments that we saw (or that didn't look like it had been harboring pedafiles for the past 20 years).  Most of them are either still under initial construction or are being modified to break the large villa into multiple apartments, so you walk in and they’ll say “this door will be a wall, and here is the door, and here will be a wall, etc. etc.”  Now I know that with my construction background I should be able to visualize this, and I usually can.  But it really doesn’t help when the apartment is already laid out in an odd configuration—it just makes it hard to get a feel for how the apartment will flow.  We have a lot less counter and cupboard space in the kitchen and there isn’t really any counter space in the bathroom, but other than that I think it is about on par with our current apartment.  Plus it has the “2nd bedroom” which I’ll put my desk and sewing supplies in and there will still be room for the blow-up mattress for all you potential visitors!

Guest Room / Office

2nd Bathroom off of the living room and guest room

Master bath and bedroom

Master bath - when we first saw this paul just started staring at the mess, the agent just winked and said it will all be cleaned before we move, "no problem, no problem"

Kitchen complete with empty bottles of Miranda (aka Fanta), some food,  and a pair of shoes