Superbowl Sunday in the New House

kitchen

the dining area

downstairs bathroom and stairs

living room area (out the windows are the communal parking area and gate)

patio above our parking spot

below the patio (standing on our parking spot)

the laundry room just outside the kitchen, red door leads to the back yard

the yard that the red door leads to

Z`s room

Dave and I`s room

another view of our room (with the basically useless, but fun to have balcony)

    We have now experienced our own version of House Hunters International.  We looked at 6 houses, talked to multiple realtors and home-owners, prayed, and thought a lot about exactly where we wanted to live.  Finally, one beautiful Wednesday afternoon, we came and looked at this beautiful home with a wonderful realtor named Arturo.  He thankfully spoke English, and was able to help us get through the Guatemalan rental process without anything being lost in translation. 

      House hunting in a different country is not quite the same as in Canada though.  Here, they don`t have anything like the "Multiple Listings Service" which makes it so that any realtor has access to almost every home that is available at that time... but here, every home is listed with only one realtor, so you have to spend a lot of time hunting online through every house on every realty office`website!  Plus, lots of people don`t use a realtor and rely on word-of-mouth to find rentors.  So we looked at a few places that we just heard about through the grape-vine, plus got to view a couple houses that we just happened upon while we were walking in the areas we wanted to live.  Quite the adventure, especially with our limited Spanish.

     Also, houses are quite varied here.  The cheapest type of housing are one floor, with only a few windows, and have every room separated and you have to go outside to get from room to room.  It`s the kind of home that a lot of Guatemalans live in, and we looked at a couple of those.  They were certainly cheaper, but we couldn`t find one that was furnished... and we really wanted something more move-in ready to eleviate the stress of trying to furnish a house.

    The house we chose is owned and was designed by a European man (Danish?), who owns all the houses and apartments in our little complex.  All the houses are enclosed in one big yard with a shared gate, but there are trees and plants creating "green curtains" between the houses to make it feel more private.  I LOVE it.

  We felt it was important to live near to Antigua because there are better Spanish tutors here than there are in San Lucas (where Village of Hope is).  Learning the language is our highest priority right now, so by getting this place which is furnished saves us time in getting set up so that we can start school.  Also, this house is in an area very near Antigua and our tutor is able to walk to our home and teach us every day for a couple hours each.

   So now we are living in our own home in Guatemala, starting language school tomorrow, and hanging out in our living room watching the Superbowl on our own TV (well that, as well as "Parent Trap" which is dubbed in Spanish... that way we can learn something as well as watch TV... haha, besides, Superbowl commercials are just not as good here.)

    This morning started out a little different, because we didn`t have an propane (Zeta Gas) for the stove or to take showers (we have a hot water tank instead of "widow-makers"-electric shower heads).  Also, we didn`t have any pure water to drink, and I couldn`t figure out how the washing machine worked.  Thankfully I got that sorted fairly quickly, because we had an issue with fleas last week and I had a bunch of clothes that needed washing.  In Guatemala fleas are a very common problem and can easily be brought home from street ministry or other times like that.  Anyway, we got the laundry done, and hung on the porch, then Dave headed off to figure out why the Zeta Gas truck refused to deliver to us... even though we`d called them three times; although our broken Spanish may have had something to do with that.

Thankfully, about an hour later, Dave arrived home with a five gallon jug of water, a broom, and a package of toilet paper.. and had ordered the Zeta truck to come in a few minutes.  So by lunchtime, the gas was hooked up, and we had a pot of precious Kraft dinner cooking.  

    After lunch Dave sat at the table and read his Bible, while Z played toys on the coffee table in the living room.  I washed the dishes in the glorious sunshine and I felt wonderfully happy to be in my own home again.  It`s been a very long time... but I am at peace because although there may be some very hard times ahead; we are exactly where God has called us to be... and I know He will continue to lead us. 

  Thank you Lord for our beautiful home.