“Dar zwina yak? Dar zwina?”
“Makaynch bit lma.”
“Kayn! Chuf, tmma.”
“3ad glt lik, bghit lbit lma F ddar, machi BRRA ddar.”
This was the third house of the day. And like every other house on every other day, it was missing a bathroom.
“I know there are houses in Khemisset with bathrooms. I’ve seen them.”
“Yes, the last house had a bathroom, remember?”
“It also had a giant crack in the ceiling that leaked rain water and caused mold, remember?”
It was the middle of January and six weeks into my house search. I had started downtown, near my host family’s house, and had been gradually moving outward. The apartment we were at now was a thirty minute walk from the city center, but it was nice; it was tiled, had windows, no cracks, no leaks, etc. The only problem was that the bathroom was downstairs, in someone else’s apartment.
This was pretty much par for the course: mold, missing toilet, missing shower, shared kitchen, no windows. I hadn’t seen a house that had all of these problems, but I also had not seen a house that was devoid of all of these problems. When I found that house, I would live in it.
“This is a big city; lots of people. If you want a nice house you have to pay for it.”
“I’ve told you already it’s not my decision. They give me 900 D’s. Safi.”
“Well then you should ask for more.”
“No shit Shakir.”
“I told you, I am Hamid.”
“Look, you got any more places to look? Otherwise I have another samsar up the road that I need to talk to.”
“No, no, no. I have another house. It’s very nice; bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, toilet, everything.”
“Sounds expensive.”
“1000 D’s. You can ask your organization to give you a little more. It’s a great house.”
I sighed
“Ok, let’s go look.”
And with that we walked off into the brisk winter air, moving farther away from downtown and closer to my dream of living alone.
1 comment:
Don't give in to that 1000 D's! You gotta rastle him down!! RASTLE him I say!!!!!
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