Sunday, July 22, 2012

The Apartment

Ramadan Kareem! (Happy Ramadan or Ramadan is generous)

Hey guys,

Ramadan has begun, which means the locals will be surly until nightfall and lots of places will be closed most or all of the day.  Good times.

So when we got into the apartment I was astounded.  I knew it would be bigger than our townhouse in Arlington, 4/3.5 vs. 2/1.  But dude, I love it.  Here follows a tour, please excuse the bad pictures.  A photographer I'm not...

First off, here's the formal living room, those double doors are our front entrance.  In this building there are 4 apartments, one on each floor.  So we've got the whole floor to ourselves!  And outside space too, since we're the ground floor.  But that's another post for another day, so onward with the tour!


For some incredible reason, we got all brand new furniture!  The government issue stuff gets circulated for about 12 years (I think) so we're super fortunate.  After living with my grandma's Heywood Wakefield for the past 8 years I'm so excited to break in some new stuff.

Next up, more formal living room, with happy Benjamin...


And then sad Benjamin...


Then some more chairs, and the dining area (all one big space).



I'm hoping that we can meet some cool people and make friends so we can have them over for dinner.  I mean, it would be a crime not to use all this space!  One thing I'm concerned about is keeping the furniture in good shape, so I might have to order or borrow some tablecloths.  I think mine got packed up in the storage load, but we'll see.  Hopefully our big HHE shipment (household effects) will get here soon, two months seems to be the average.

Okay back on topic.  So from the formal living/dining room you go through double doors to a vestibule-type hall, with a half bath and laundry on one side and double doors leading to the elevator and staircase (which we won't need to use, but it's nice to have anyway).



On the left after the mirror/drop zone is the kitchen.  I made a happy noise when I saw it, it's huge and great.  No dishwasher but I'll learn to deal.  And possibly hire some household help.  We have a regular, American-style range and fridge (same with the washer and dryer) and we also have a standalone freezer.  I think when you find a good buy on meat, you're supposed to just buy all of it, because stores won't always have the same thing week-to-week. 




Ahhhh, even though I'm not a great cook and hopefully we can find a part-time maid who will, I'm just thrilled with this kitchen.  Those of you who've seen our itty bitty kitchen in Arlington will appreciate my excitement!

Sort of across from the kitchen, to the left of those bookcases is the family room.  The TV is temporary, and the DVD player doesn't play US region DVDs, so we're working on finding a multi-region player.  Some friends loaned us a couple discs to get us through, but so far no luck watching anything.  But I'm extremely thankful Thomas figured out the internet stuff so I can keep up with everybody on Facebook and email!


I doubt we'll ever have a fire, but it's a cool fireplace nonetheless.  The cream colored box at the top is the AC unit.  No central air in apartments in Amman, but thankfully almost each room in ours has its own unit, where you just put in the temperature you want and it works.  It's great to come in to a cool house after walking around outside.  It's been in the 90s since we arrived, when there's a breeze it's not so bad but if you're just out in the sun it can be brutal.  We're drinking lots of water!

So this is where Ben's toys will live, the small ones anyway.  It's a good sized room and again, brand new furniture! 


Next up, the bedroom wing.  Down a hall from the family room are 4 bedrooms, one is set up as an office and I think we'll put Ben's playhouse/slide thing there, since there's a carpet.  The floors are all marble tile (keeps things cool) and I'm a little worried about him bonking his head.


Right next to the office, on the right, is Ben's room.  And next to that is a bathroom for those rooms.

Every room has at least one window and it is great to get light all day long.  The way people keep the sun and heat out is to lower these metal shields that are on every window in every apartment.  Thomas called them blast shields, so that's what they are to me.  They make a room totally dark and it's great for Benjamin's naps.  They keep out noise and are especially useful during dust storms.  Not looking forward to those!  



Back down the hall, near the entrance to the family room, is the master bedroom.  With attached bath!  And a jetted tub!  Bliss.  Excuse the mess, we just got here.  (The master is through the door on the left, the room at the end of the hall is the guest room and the opening on the right goes to the family room.)





Benjamin really enjoys playing with the closet doors.  I didn't get a picture of them, but every room has built-in closets with sliding mirrored doors.  There's a ton of storage.  Of course I'm saying that now but when all of our stuff arrives I might sing a different tune.  Oh yes, and almost every bathroom has a bidet.  Yuck.

Last but not least, I give you the guest room, with bath.  It's only got a twin bed at present, but I'm going to have them remove both that bed and the twin in Benjamin's room so we can put in a queen guest bed.




As you can see we have plenty of space for visitors.  We don't have a car yet, ours is being shipped, but you can get a taxi at the airport.  In all seriousness, we'd love to see family and friends, so come one come all!  Sorry for the long post and bad pictures, but hopefully you get the gist: we love our apartment and hope you can come see it in person!

Book your flights!
Rachel

4 comments:

  1. This is such a great place guys! If only I could scratch up the cash, I would be there tomorrow! Thanks for keeping us updated. I will read your posts regularly so that I can experience Ramadan through you guys.

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  2. Beautiful - Your house is amazing! Looking forward to following your blog.

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    1. Thanks, Mandy & Jon! We're so excited to have lots of space. But we know it'll be tough to go back... :-)

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