Well deserved one for Mr Harres!

So here it comes, the well deserved post about our Handy-Man. Poor guy, I still don't know his name!

First of all, he is Egyptian and he lives on floor -2 of our apartment block. Yep -2. On the intercom of the apartment I have a button so I can call him directly should I need him - ok a bit difficult as I can't explain what I need or want but, he quite happily seems to find his way up to the 1st floor where we have a small dicussion with our hands and also quite often a giggle cause we don't understand eachother!

So Mr Handy-Man is called a "Harres" in Arab (pronounce Harry's like in Harry's Bar) and he takes care of the building. He floads the stairs when he needs to clean them and takes down the garbage for you, 10 times during the day should you need it, you just put it out in front of the door and poof suddenly it's gone. To give you an idea here is a small list of things he has done for us: removed some of the furnitures we didn't want, moved others because I wanted them in an other place. Need a ladder? he brings one. Need a meter? he brings one. Need a srewdriver to put some batteries into Bib's toy? he takes the toy and does it. Arriving with the luggage he'll carry it, the same for the groceries. Just call him and he is there. Amazing. Ah forgot! Need something from the small nearby so called "supermarket", he'll go and buy it. All this for 150JD/per year. Ok and then because we feel bad and are not used to all this we tend to give hime a little something here and there - and he always looks as surprised when he gets something - so I guess it is not the norm.

Thumbs up for Mr Harres!

Let's be fair!

So yes there are things not working so well in Jordan - but it's everywhere isn't it? So let's be fair and talk about the things I really find makes things a lot easier, yes yes there are things like that as well...

For exemple, this morning I had a coffee table delivered. Not only did they call me yesterday to confirm that they were coming between 10am-12pm (not like 8am-5pm in the uk). They were actually here on time and the best of the best they were 3 guys and they asked if they should mount it. It took 10 minutes and they were out again. Oh yes, the delivery and the putting-the-table-together-thing are free of charge! I know labour is cheap here but still, some stores back in Europe could learn from that, instead of making money on their customers back all the time. I don't know about you but in Europe I always have the impression that you do the shops a favour by shopping with them, whereas here it is still the opposite, and I hope it will last!

The other thing is also absolutely amazing: Friday we went to do our groceries in Miles (very nice supermarket located in Mecca Mall) and this is what I love: first of all Valet parking when you arrive. Ok it's 1JD but it's nice! When you finish your groceries and you arrive to the till: there is somebody to take the things out of the trolley and put it on the belt, then the packs everything for you; and he even seperates the different sort of items: fruit and veg, cleaning products... Say that you are jealous! but it doesn't stop there: you can even have somebody to push your trolley up to your car and load it. And when you get home you have your favourite "Mr Handy-Man" to take it up to your apartment for you. And if you have a maid with you well she pushes your trolley when doing your groceries and puts the things in the fridge when you come home... Don't worry I can still manage to push my trolley!!

Nothing is never easy in Jordan...

I grew up in South of France where NOTHING is easy - you have to work yourself through the administration for the smallest thing, the plumber says he comes at 10am and your are lucky if he shows up the next day at 4pm - ok i am exaggerating a little bit, but not too much. Well welcome to Amman it's the same story! Some examples:

- When you land at Queen Alia Airport: need to queue to exchange some money, because nobody tells you that you need 10 JD/per person to queue to get the visa; then you queue with immigration... and finally you queue to show your passport... Don't you just love it??

- If you are to be resident you have the whole blood test/police station thing - which I am sure must be a pain in the butt (excuse my french) should you miss one tiny piece of paper... I wonder when we will get ours. Nobody can really say how long it takes, I guess it all depends if Bob's employer pushes for it or not. And then to get your things out of the port of Aqaba, should you have send some, is probably very interesting as well! We have somebody from the hotel doing it for us, otherwise it is a drive to Aqaba (about 4hours with a baby) and some lengthy talks with somebody who goes through every single thing that you wish to bring into the country and one to pay import fees. I know somebody who was asked to pay 2000JD to get their stuff, they bargained it down to 800JD, still to get your own used things...

- Our dishwasher has arrived! Youpi! well it is still in the middle of the kitchen because it wasn't the right tap, and though the tap has been fitted now, well I don't really know when the guys who should get it up and running, are going to make a reappearance!

- When we moved in 3 days ago the heating was still not quite working, we were told it could take some time because the floors are so cold - good thing we are in Jordan and not northern Europe! The central heating button was on, but one day, two days went past and the floors remained stubbornly cold! So this morning an engineer from the hotel came and... the valves were not open. And as you can see there are a lot of valves. I guess there is one for every room/bathroom/cupboard in the apartment!

- We have a little red light that shows that the water level is low in the building. Well it as been on since we moved in... and last night no more water! So we call our favourite handy-man (and yes the guy-without-a-name will get his own post soon, he really deserves it) and up he comes, Bobs shows the tap: goes no water?? and he bla bla bla in Arabic (Mr Handy-man not Bobs)... Off he goes and 5 minutes later he is back and so is the water. Well apparently the tank was closed! Why don't know?!? And there is just so much one can understand when taking with the hands.

And finally this has nothing to do with the administration, or the apartment... When you are going grocery shopping: 2 things... First don't assume that because a supermarket had something last week that they will have it next week: if you like it, buy it!! and... people just randomly stops in an random aisle and speak with random people (no ok they probably know the persons they stop and talk to): so there you are heading for the tomatoes and suddenly you have these 2 guys chatting away about random things in front of your tomatoes...

Patience, patience is a key word in Jordan!

Preparing the move

6 weeks today that we arrived to Amman and finally we are moving... today, tomorrow... don't know but it is happening and that's fabulous :)

Yesterday as I was packing, Bibs was looking very couriously at me while one toy after the other went back into the suitcase. She must have been wondering, what's happening now? Why are they disappearing ... again! So nearly everything is packed, just waiting with the last few things. They had some trouble starting the boiler - so we are waiting for the hot water to reach the taps and then we are out of here!

We have been to Carrefour to buy some pots, pans and other necessities we need until we get our things delivered, which should happen on sunday. Price wise: Tefal pans are between 15-20JD depending on the size, pots the same. I bought a mixer/blender for 33JD (promotion), for cooking accesories like wooden spoons and things like that, count between 2-5JD depending on what you want. Food wise prices are not terribly expensive except improted cheese, creme fraiche, ham... for exemple the tiniest pot of creme fraiche (1dl I guess) is 3.5JD and then wine as well: don't think you get a bottle under 10JD. Carrefour doesn't sell alcohol. You have a small shop inside Cozmo or you have to buy it from liquor stores - I haven't seen many but there is one at 5th circle. No special licence is required (like in UAE, for exemple).
I have to say it was quite a feeling to put things in cupboards and the fridge again. Simple things of life can make one very happy.

Thought I would share a couple a pictures of the apartment. As you can see it is not fully furnished -some things have happened since I took the pictures: the furniture in the right place, some plants, a coffee table... but still it gives you an idea.

The entrance to the building

The living/dining room

What is now Bibs' play area

Living Room 2 - and the TV was already there...

Kitchen - dishwasher supposed to arrive today! Oh and the tap is up as well!!

And I have to add that the pantry does have windows as well - I was exagerating in my previous post! I absolutely love all the sliding doors, that was one of the things we nearly all the apartments we visited - the apartments in the older buildings tend to be a bit dark.

I won't have an internet connection to begin with - apparently we have to wait for our residency to get it installed so it may take some time. So I don't really know how I will manage to get my posts online. Will have to find a cafe somewhere where there is Wifi!

House hunting in Amman

This week-end (please notice here, that it’s Sunday yet the week-end is already over! and yes it takes a while to get used to…), so I was saying this week-end has been rather uneventful, as we haven’t really visited anything, so I thought I would share with you our house hunting story! We have been in Amman for a month now and are still staying at the hotel. We have found our apartment but haven’t signed the contract yet and there are still a couple of things which need doing before we can move in. But it took us a while to get here! Just want to add they have met people for whom it took 3 months to find something they liked... So I guess that a month is not so bad!

The hotel put us in contact with Abdoun Real Estate, one of the leading agencies and we started visiting straight away. We were looking for a furnished apartment and let’s say it is not an easy task to find something that suits our European taste! Some of the apartments we saw were very nice but the decoration a bit overwhelming. The apartments are generally large – compared to European standards - and with an impressive amount of living area (and sofas) as well as bathrooms! After 10-12 visits we finally found one located in Abdoun (the area in Amman where many expats live) – not very large compared to others but this one was furnished in a modern way! After a couple of weeks of waiting for the contract, the owner suddenly said that there was an issue with the lift and that it was too expensive to repair it! no lift = no apartment – with Bibs getting heavier and heavier there is no way that I was saying goodbye to the lift. So we lost a couple of weeks (bouh) and we were out looking again...

At the beginning of our search we had visited an apartment through somebody at the hotel. His nephew (lucky or not??) was supposed to get married but didn’t after all so there he was with a not totally finished apartment – however he asked for a little bit too much so we had decided not to take it. But then we thought, let’s try again… and this time he was willing to discuss the price :) whoop whoop!!! after a couple of days of bargaining we finally agreed. And let’s be honest we got a bargain here! Ok there are a couple of things we need to take care of, like there is no tab in the kitchen, but that is the biggest problem, the rest is just some lamps to buy and a little bit a furniture. In the end it’s probably better this way we can start buying our own stuff as well. Bobs just called me to say that he got the keys, that’s another Whoop! we just need to sign now…

In every apartment building there is a “handy-man” – don’t know if it’s the right term. I have been told that they are generally Egyptians (don’t know if ours is) and they are paid directly by the tenants on a monthly basis, don’t know how much either :) Lots of don’t knows there! So the handy-man might get his own post later on, when I know more about him! Well I know one thing, that’s that his English is very bad!!

Rent wise (in the nicer part of Amman): you should count between 8K to 10K for a 2 bedroom apartment furnished, up to 15K for a 3 bedroom... but as I have said they are large, a 3 bedroom is easily 220square meter, sometimes bigger. You don't need to go through an agency to rent. If you drive around Amman in the night you can easily see what is available as it is custom to leave all the lights on! Then you just need to find the "handy-man". There are plenty of signs on the balconnies as well.

When you are looking at the descriptions of the apartments, sometimes you see "maid's room". It is very usual here to have a live-in-maid. When we visited our "soon-to-be" apartment with the owner, he walked into the kitchen and then straight to what I would call a pantry and said: "this is where you can have a washing machine and the maid". A tiny room, there is just space for a bed, no window and there is a tiny bathroom (with no door in between the room and the bathroom). I just smiled and said we won't have a live in maid! That's something he didn't understand... Difference of culture.
Furniture wise there are some options: in Mecca Mall there is a shop called “Home Centre” – On Mecca street there are lots of furniture shops, I know some of the mums I meet have had some things made – which might actually be a cheaper option, as there is no IKEA around the corner! For the lamps it’s a good idea to go to Cosmo (on Mecca street) they have some ok things and you can easily bargain the prices as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that most owners will either negotiate the rent or will be willing to change some furniture, buy something you might think is missing. In Amman, when they say furnished, they mean it: it is possible literally to arrive with your luggage. There is everything – even in the kitchen: microwave, coffee maker, kettle, glasses, cutlery...

Wow! I can’t wait! I am soo looking forward to move into our new “home” and getting our things which are still in Aqaba waiting to be send to Amman.

Oh and…
Kung Shee Fat Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!