Our New Sandcastle!

So it has taken me six weeks of hard work, Kiwi cunning and a little 'patient perseverance' to get us into our new home.  And boy has it been worth every second of the sweat, the tears and the worry.

We are now firmly implanted in our villa; A55 of The Village, in Asharej, Al Ain.  When you describe it to anyone (particularly delivery people, television technicians, internet technicians and home delivery (yes it is FREE here) people) you must also add that it is near the Tawam Roundabout and right beside Abella (our local  little superette).  As with all places in this lovely country you actually have to describe your abode not by its number or street address, but by the landmarks that surround it.  Only then will people know exactly where to find you.  Even Karen (our GPS in the car) struggles to take us home each day.  For some strange reason she thinks that we are driving on an 'unpaved road' when heading home.

Can you see the flag?

The Village even has road signs that lead us home.  You will drive along the main road in and out of Al Ain and there is the sign for us with an arrow pointing in the appropriate direction.  We feel quite special.  Actually, Jason and I feel bloody special - given that we're over the moon to have found ourselves living in this place.

View from door

Admittedly our old place at Al Muwaiji Village was lovely.  We were not unhappy about the location or the building itself.  But if we'd had to remain in the tiny space that was our apartment we would probably be home in NZ by now (according to Jason).  We could barely move in our living area, and true, it would have been impossible in the heat of summer and thereabouts to have survived in such a small environment.  The bedroom areas were great, but the living space was ridiculously small.  So I worked on our local housing man by turning up to his office every morning before I went to work.  7.45am to be exact. Sometimes he was just opening his office door when he saw me arrive.  I have to admit that he retained good humour and a pleasant nature.  However, his resistance to help us out of the apartment and into the villa saw me dangerously close to losing both of those things.  By the time I had hurt my back and was in extreme pain each day I had become quite determined to get us something more appropriate.  An injured and sore Jacqui is not to be messed with.

Up the stairs

So after 6 weeks of 'encouragement' I finally got somewhere.  Through working the system and strategically playing one off against the other (an unfortunate necessity) we received keys to our new place.  It had been left abandoned by its previous owner.  Here we call them 'midnight runners'.  That's of course a euphemism for someone who has fled by plane back home without informing anyone.  Unfortunately this owner had left furniture for others to purchase inside the villa.  Those (in)considerate ones who purchased the fridge decided in their infinite wisdom to take out all food products and leave them on the floor of the kitchen.  For whom?  Well one wonders how many brain cells these people operate with on any given day.  Enough said. When Jason and I walked in 4 weeks later the place reeked.  The maintenance people had been informed a few weeks earlier that the place had been vacated, so why they hadn't done anything about it begs a question.

Dining room/children's play room

BUT we didn't care.  Well maybe some.  But the maintenance people went in and cleared out the entire place, repainted and we went in and spent days drenching the place with Chlorox and all other cleaning products known to man.  I think Jason cleaned the kitchen from ceiling to floor about 5 times!  A few days later we moved in.  Boy what a difference this place has made to our respective lives.

Upstairs lounge

It is beginning to feel like home.  We are gradually purchasing furniture and putting our stamp on the place.  Jason has drawn up a little picture of what he wants to do with the little courtyard out the back.  We had no room for furniture in our old apartment, but now we can go mad.

Our villa has 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 lounges, kitchen, balcony and courtyard.  It is huge.  It has 9 air-conditioners and 3 flights of internal stairs.  The 4 main bedrooms are all huge, and then the fifth is considered the 'maid's room'.  It is much smaller with an ensuite bathroom that we are using for our laundry area.  I pity any maid who has to live in such a confined space.  We have been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time again in purchasing an 8-seat dining table and chairs, a 5 burner gas oven, a big stainless steal fridge and a 3 seater and 2 seater lounge suite from a family leaving to go home.  For 1900 dirhams we got the lot (just over $600 NZ).  I've been back to the carpet souks and put the haggling skills to the test again and come away with some great bargains.  There's a few things new that we've bought too, with a view to shipping them home in a couple of years.


But what is best about this new place?  Firstly, we're still not far from our Al Muwaiji friends Ange and Pete.    Next, it is a quiet place with no road noise and light from streetlights.  We have an abundance of children for ours to play with.  And mostly it is the lovely neighbours that we've come to know and made friends with.  We count ourselves lucky every day to have secured this as our home.  We love it.  It's sheer size will make those tremendously hot 50 degree days of summer more bearable.  One day the gym and the pool and the playground will be finished.

Balcony view of the neighbours

We can now see ourselves staying here for the two years we committed to.  As every day comes and goes things get better and we become more positive.  No one ever said it was going to be easy, but boy we weren't prepared for how hard the first stages of this journey would be.  We've got over some pretty big hurdles but are grateful that we've managed to climb over them.

The only way is up and sometimes you just have make it happen yourself.  I've discovered lots about myself in all of this; my tenacity, my sheer determination to follow things through and my ability to thwart accepted conventions when necessity dictated that I had to.  It is amazing what you'll do when your back is to the wall and someone isn't listening.  In all of it I'm proud to say that I kept my good manners and demonstrated much patience.   As I'm finding out, these are things that other visitors to this land could do with a little more of.