International House Hunters

So maybe you have seen the TV show "International House Hunters," or maybe not.  The point is, people are usually hunting for a vacation or retirement home in a foreign country.  Most places are breathtakingly beautiful on beach front property or reveal the best of housing possibilities in whatever country one is house hunting.  This week I, Noella, have been an active participant in house hunting in the less glamourous city of Caselle.  So before you get the idea that we are moving, let me clarify that this if for our co-worker, now official Caselle-team member and friend, Catherine.  The approval for her to join us in the work in Caselle was granted in just the past two weeks.  We are excited to now have a "team" and are looking forward for the ways in which she will be able to contribute and enhance the ministry efforts in Caselle.

Catherine currently lives in Torino and it can take up to 40 mintues (depending on traffic) for her to reach our neck of the woods.  Therefore, the first order of business is to get her moved out to Caselle.  She and I have inquired at just about every realtors office in Caselle this week.  We wonder how they all stay in business as I can count 7 agencies just on the main street, all within a half mile distance. And that is not all of them!  Some had no rental properties, others overlapped with what we found at other agencies and one seemed to be the "jackpot" of the agencies listing 5 properties of interest.

The past two days we have been viewing apartments all across the spectrum.  One might find it strange to view rentals with no kitchen, no bathroom sinks, no closets or no light fixtures, but that is completely normal here.  You have to let your imagination go in trying to visualize how you might design a kitchen or get rid of the awful color paint.  There were some plusses and minuses in almost every place, some were just all negative.  We were thrilled with the success of our hunt yesterday as she found a place that she fell in love with immediately, even if it is going to be a downsize from what she has now.  It has lots of charm with autonomous heating, gas water heater, below ground parking, garage and cantina (storage closet), no condominium monthly fees and all in a newly constructed building in a very tranquil part of town.  With each of those items listed you would have to live here to know how important and hard to come by those things can be.  She now is proceeding to the next phase which is to write her proposal with the agency to the landlord.  He will review her application and then decide to accept her as a renter or not.  Until that happens you just have to hold your breath and pray he doesn't reject you because you are a foreigner or for some other reason of his choice.  Some properties she could not even view because the landlords will not rent to foreigners.  Oh, if only they knew!

It has been a fun and tiring week but very rewarding.  I think the kids will wonder around dinner time where Catherine is tonight.  No doubt she is enjoying her day at home as well.