(This is a guest post from Eric...)The house hunting has worked out better than I had hoped for. We needed a three month lease on a fully furnished place with three bedrooms...which basically doesn't exist. They charge slightly higher rents, but have much higher turnover. Anyway, I was getting used to either living in a total dive, a very small 2 bedroom, or having to live on mats for 3 months in a long term place until our stuff arrived.
None very good options.
Then after 3 days of looking last week, we found this new construction 3 bedroom home that was unfurnished. I proposed to the landlord that I'd put some money toward some of the furniture if he'd buy the type of furniture I liked...which is basically really expensive. He went for it, so we're going to have a sweet place for a few months. The stuff I need to buy, I needed to buy anyways, so it's fine. All working out...but a lot of rabbit trails to find the gem in the rough. This place really needs Craigslist. Ericslist has a nice ring to it, don't you think? We are lined up to buy a replacement Corolla. It's a 2000 model with 10k miles...sweet, eh? The "purchase" process takes about a week here as the "tax free" status I get an a newly arrived Non Profit Employee has to go through one of the ministries with a bunch of rubber stamps. I'm now in the harder search for a 4x4 that will seat 6 people (once we adopt a baby). The used ones are either really expensive (over $30k) or beat to hell. Being the cheapskate that I am, and wanting to have a vehicle that won't break down in the middle of nowhere on safari, I'm having to work a little magic with some new Pakistani friends who have the market for "vehicles straight from Japan" cornered. Never trust an analog (non digital) odometer in Africa. You should see the shape these vehicles are in after only "25,000 miles". Last week and this week has been mostly running around looking for a place to stay, vehicles to take kids to school and/or work, outfitting our home, getting a blackberry working, and getting over jet lag. Honestly, I'm looking forward to being able to focus on work after such a long transition period. I'm told someone is looking for a desk space for me...for the time being, I'm stuck in a "loaner" closet without a key to get into the office.
Our home is in a compound of 3 homes that share a gate guard, pool/bbq area, and an open playing field. All have their own landscaped front yard, gate and covered parking. It's quaint, safe, and across from a graveyard. I think we'll call it Little Tukwila. Will send pics as soon as we can get a faster internet connection. The kids are adjusting to French School just fine, but I question how much they are getting out of the teaching. I'm sure that'll change in another few weeks. Sarah's taking a French class 5x/wk for 2 hours each for 2 months. She knows more French grammar than I do already...made lots of friends in class, and found a good nanny for Oliver during class. She's amazing, and very brave to tackle all this transition with 3 needy kids (or 4?). We will hopefully be with all our stuff in our permanent place in early August. Just got word today that our container will leave on the next available ship. We found a perfect home via some Americans that are leaving in June...keeping our fingers crossed on this opportunity. It has gorgeous gardens, 4 bedrooms, a marvelous covered porch, and close to the kid's school. When you come to visit, there'll be plenty of space.
