Week one in Mumbai has flown by, but I think I'm now settled into a local sleep schedule (I'm going to be trying to be a night owl instead of a early bird for the next few months...eating dinner at 9 pm or even later already feels normal).
I've looked at some apartments, which is an interesting process here. In Chicago, I'd just go on Craigslist and find a few places that look good, call or email the landlord, and arrange to see them. Easy and very do-it-yourself. Here, everything is done through brokers, which on the upside means you have someone showing you a bunch of places with your specifications; but on the downside it means a lot of salesmanship, pressuring, and an extra month's rent to pay to the broker for their help. At one point this week while looking, there was a place I really liked, so we went to talk to the landlord -- and "we" means three brokers, my friend Reema, and me. And I did very little talking -- it was mainly the brokers and the landlord discussing the financials (rent, deposit, length of stay), Reema speaking up when need be, and me sitting there fascinated that renting a place for 4-5 months could be so complicated. In the end, I didn't get the place because the landlord didn't want a short term tenant. But fortunately, I have since found a great place for exactly the right length of time, so in the next couple of days I'll hopefully have the details sorted out and be able to move in a couple of weeks.
Aside from the adjustment and logistics of apartment shopping, now that I'm emerging from the jet lag stupor, I'm really happy to be here. I'm very, very happy right now, and some of you who read this know exactly why. I'm looking forward to more of that, picking up more Hindi (maybe I'll blog with some of my phrases when I have a respectable amount), being more self sufficient, and getting settled into a little bit of a routine. More to come soon...
I've looked at some apartments, which is an interesting process here. In Chicago, I'd just go on Craigslist and find a few places that look good, call or email the landlord, and arrange to see them. Easy and very do-it-yourself. Here, everything is done through brokers, which on the upside means you have someone showing you a bunch of places with your specifications; but on the downside it means a lot of salesmanship, pressuring, and an extra month's rent to pay to the broker for their help. At one point this week while looking, there was a place I really liked, so we went to talk to the landlord -- and "we" means three brokers, my friend Reema, and me. And I did very little talking -- it was mainly the brokers and the landlord discussing the financials (rent, deposit, length of stay), Reema speaking up when need be, and me sitting there fascinated that renting a place for 4-5 months could be so complicated. In the end, I didn't get the place because the landlord didn't want a short term tenant. But fortunately, I have since found a great place for exactly the right length of time, so in the next couple of days I'll hopefully have the details sorted out and be able to move in a couple of weeks.
Aside from the adjustment and logistics of apartment shopping, now that I'm emerging from the jet lag stupor, I'm really happy to be here. I'm very, very happy right now, and some of you who read this know exactly why. I'm looking forward to more of that, picking up more Hindi (maybe I'll blog with some of my phrases when I have a respectable amount), being more self sufficient, and getting settled into a little bit of a routine. More to come soon...
No comments:
Post a Comment