I could write a short book on our cross-cultural house hunting experience, but I will just do one story for now. I found an apartment complex that I liked that is close to a market, a main road with transportation, shopping, an orphanage, language route possibilites... and has a children's play area, a residential carpenter, and beauty salon. Normally you should go to a complex with an agent, but we just pulled up on Sunday afternoon and asked the gate guard if there were any places for rent. He introduced us to the Society President (home owners association) who is an elected official and has some clout. He talked to us for a while, was greatly impressed by our ability to communicate in his language, and then invited us up to see his apartment and drink chai. He invited us to come back the next day at 1 for lunch and then he would also show us an apartment.
So, we showed up a little after 1 on Monday and sat around his apartment chatting with neighbors while food was prepared. Then all of the guests (4 of us) sat down at the table and the neighbor girls and the Society President served us lunch of Dal, rice, Aloo Ghobi (potato and cauliflower), yogurt stuff, and Roti with homemade ghee (we ate it all with our hands). After we finished the SP and his male neighbor friends sat at the table and asked me and the lady with us to serve them their food. Once we had finished eating we sat around, men on one side and women on the other, and talked about cultural things while we waited for the supervisor to come show us some flats. The college aged girls were so nice and told us that we had to move here and how great the apartment was (which by the way was really nice). At 3:30 or so we found out that he could not show us a flat that day but we could come back the next day at 5.
So, Tuesday around 5:15 (we had another appointment to go to before that) we showed up and he was not there. So while we were waiting a lady came down from her apartment and invited us up to her place. So we went up there and she served us snacks and warm milk with sugar (I can't drink tea or coffee) and then showed us her place and the empty flat next to hers. Some girls came in and told us about a flat for rent and then we went down and met the SP. The SP told us there are no flats for rent and offered to take us to another place to rent but we had had enough, so we left.
It was very strange, but we assume that they just did not want foreigners to move in. The society is all Punjabi and Veg, and we are non-veg Americans. Even though all of the women and children we met wanted us to move in, aparently the men disagreed, so the door was closed.
So, we showed up a little after 1 on Monday and sat around his apartment chatting with neighbors while food was prepared. Then all of the guests (4 of us) sat down at the table and the neighbor girls and the Society President served us lunch of Dal, rice, Aloo Ghobi (potato and cauliflower), yogurt stuff, and Roti with homemade ghee (we ate it all with our hands). After we finished the SP and his male neighbor friends sat at the table and asked me and the lady with us to serve them their food. Once we had finished eating we sat around, men on one side and women on the other, and talked about cultural things while we waited for the supervisor to come show us some flats. The college aged girls were so nice and told us that we had to move here and how great the apartment was (which by the way was really nice). At 3:30 or so we found out that he could not show us a flat that day but we could come back the next day at 5.
So, Tuesday around 5:15 (we had another appointment to go to before that) we showed up and he was not there. So while we were waiting a lady came down from her apartment and invited us up to her place. So we went up there and she served us snacks and warm milk with sugar (I can't drink tea or coffee) and then showed us her place and the empty flat next to hers. Some girls came in and told us about a flat for rent and then we went down and met the SP. The SP told us there are no flats for rent and offered to take us to another place to rent but we had had enough, so we left.
It was very strange, but we assume that they just did not want foreigners to move in. The society is all Punjabi and Veg, and we are non-veg Americans. Even though all of the women and children we met wanted us to move in, aparently the men disagreed, so the door was closed.
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