The Nanny is Sleeping?

I've been searching for a place to live for over the past month and a half. During this time, I've met a lot of interesting people and been privy to some pretty odd experiences. Usually I walk away laughing having gleaned some new bit of information about this culture.

Having called so many different numbers about houses for rent, I've noticed a few patterns. Invariably the person I call will be dumbfounded that I have their phone number. A common question I get is "How did you get my phone number?" To which I simply respond, "Well, it was on a giant banner/sign in front of a building so I called it..."

Then, usually at some point in the conversation they will ask what I do. I explain to them that I'm here working and studying Arabic. This is then followed by, "What country are you from/What nationality are you?" I reply, "I'm American." After which they say, "Oh good, good." This is a curious response to me. Are Americans just seen as good tenants or what? This further begs the question, what nationality response would cause them to unhappily say, "Oh...."

Some places I go to look at are nicer than others, but each person who shows me a house/apt. plays it up like it's wonderful and would enrich my life to live there. They love to point out the nice aspects and pretend the detrimental points are non existent. Now, I'm not looking for an estate home or anything, and I'm content to live in something run down, but I really wish they wouldn't try to pass off a house as something it's not. A typical situation will look like the following:

The owner is saying something like, "Over here is the kitchen and you can see...."

We walk into the kitchen which has a particularly glaring hole in the wall and I interject, "Hey, um, there's a hole in the wall..."

And they say, "Yes but look at this new stove, it is brand new."

I say, "Yeah.... but there's a hole in the wall!"

They divert and say, "Let me show you the new water heater."


Sometimes going to look at a house will result in a hilarious and utterly absurd experience. Recently I went to look at a house that was quite nice. The owner arrives to show me around, and we knock on the door and ring the doorbell since there are currently tenants still living in the house until late January. No one answers even after repeated knocking and ringing, though we can hear a baby crying inside. The owner calls the tenant on his cell phone. The tenant is a french woman who works nearby so she says she is coming to the house. After 15 minutes of this, the french woman arrives and beats on the door. Apparently there is a nanny inside who should be letting us in. The nanny finally opens the door clearly having just woken up, and the french woman becomes irate.

I quite understood her anger at the irresponsible nanny, but I felt kinda uneasy having to stand there and witness it all. The owner proceeds to show me around, and I just smile and nod and do whatever I can to get out of this absurd situation as quickly as possible. While he was showing me around, I almost started laughing at the ridiculousness of the entire situation, but I stifled any laughter for fear of seeming insensitive to the whole situation.

It really is funny how farcical some of these situations have been. I try to take them as learning situations. Like next time I encounter a sleeping nanny and an angry french woman I will just think, "Oh, this again."