The other day I was at school and Areej, a second grade teacher, approached me to tell me that she'd heard I was looking for an apartment. She then told me she was looking for a roommate and that I could go see the apartment that same day! I was super happy!
I went to see it, and had coffee with two out of my three roommates to-be; Areej and Maram. They are both teachers at Hand in Hand. The house is nice and bigger than I expected. After seeing these tiny places in the Old City that looked super crappy, this place is like a palace! Granted, I wasn't expecting to share a room with someone else, but at that point, I was definitely more open to that option than I would have been before. After briefly thinking about it, I asked to live with them, they accepted and we decided I would move in on Sunday.
Woohoo! I have a home!
My new house is in Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood. I would give you my address, but there are no street names or numbers here- haha! I live in a two bedroom apartment with three other women; they're all teachers. We all share rooms; me and Areej live in a room and Maram and Mai live in the other room. They are all super sweet!
I'm really happy with my living situation because I'll be able to experience what it's like to live as an Arab single woman (given that I live with three of them). I know I'm going to be living quite the conservative life, but I came here to experience the culture and learn the language, not live like I would in the US. I most definitely lucked out with this situation, and I can already tell, my Arabic is going to improve SO much!
Although it took a while to find housing, I definitely needed to experience what it's like to live in the old city for a while to know that's not where I want to be. Areej's proposal definitely came at the perfect time. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share the next few months with them :)
I went to see it, and had coffee with two out of my three roommates to-be; Areej and Maram. They are both teachers at Hand in Hand. The house is nice and bigger than I expected. After seeing these tiny places in the Old City that looked super crappy, this place is like a palace! Granted, I wasn't expecting to share a room with someone else, but at that point, I was definitely more open to that option than I would have been before. After briefly thinking about it, I asked to live with them, they accepted and we decided I would move in on Sunday.
Woohoo! I have a home!
My new house is in Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood. I would give you my address, but there are no street names or numbers here- haha! I live in a two bedroom apartment with three other women; they're all teachers. We all share rooms; me and Areej live in a room and Maram and Mai live in the other room. They are all super sweet!
I'm really happy with my living situation because I'll be able to experience what it's like to live as an Arab single woman (given that I live with three of them). I know I'm going to be living quite the conservative life, but I came here to experience the culture and learn the language, not live like I would in the US. I most definitely lucked out with this situation, and I can already tell, my Arabic is going to improve SO much!
Although it took a while to find housing, I definitely needed to experience what it's like to live in the old city for a while to know that's not where I want to be. Areej's proposal definitely came at the perfect time. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share the next few months with them :)
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