Day 7, A place to live

Until now, we have been staying in a Ladies Hostel called Nikam House (see Day 2). It's very basic and only has hot water from 6-8am, but it never lasts till 8. So, this weekend we went house hunting. We got some phone numbers from people who were here in previous years, and also found a few on the web, but had no luck. Jenny called one, who said they would call back and then never did. Susan called one, who doesn't rent to foreigners. I called 4: 1) doesn't rent for only 3 months, 2) no answer, 3) doesn't rent to foreigners, 4) said they would call back and didn't.

So luckily we made an Indian friend in a cafe where we were hanging out. He knew some people, and went with us to negotiate with the rental people. His name is Akshay, and he has spent some time in Yorkshire playing cricket. Anyway he took me and Jenny and Susan (another volunteer, from America, at Shelter) around to see some places. First we just looked at rooms that were really bad - similar to the hostel, but a bit cheaper. They progressively showed us better and better rooms. Finally we convinced them to show us a 2BHK; that stands for 2 bedrooms, hallway, kitchen. And the kitchen has a bed in it too. So we took it! It costs 18,000 rup for the whole flat per month. What we were paying at the hostel works out to 15,000, and this is a lot better. And if Susan ends up moving into the kitchen, it will be even cheaper for each of us. Akshay said it was too much, but we couldn't have gotten anything else like that for only 3 months, especially since we are foreigners.

So I am very relived now that we are settling in.

Here are some photos:
Kitchen

Shower and toilet

My bedroom