TRYING TO MOVE TO BEIRUT

Not an easy thing, it seems. Even tried Couchsurfing.com, typed Beirut and... no results found. Well, yeah, it is a bit difficult to try and rent a place when you're not even there. It seems like all the places that used to rent for 300$ are gone. I used to look at the adds in the Beirut newspapers a few weeks ago and I was amazed at the rent fees. I'm used to 400 Euros at least for a studio in Bucharest. They were renting one bedroom apartments for much less. But now, when I'm actually looking for one, they seem to be all gone. The houses advertised in the papers are huge 3 bedroom apartments. Frustrating.

Bassem, who's very concerned about the whole issue - thank you very much, by the way - has been through some pretty weird experiences trying to visit places and send me pictures. The first two places looked like abandoned dorms.

Interesting furniture, huh?

The furniture was terrible and looking at them I expected a huge bug to just show up from somewhere under the sink.

Now this is just creepy.

Photo credit MR. BassemB.

That is when I began sending e-mail to all my friends, announcing I'm looking for a place to rent in Beirut on my Yahoo messenger status and so on. And I found the MOVING IN story on Michael Totten blog, which is not very encouraging. it seems like the best way to find and apartment in Beirut is to go to a caffe, tell the bartender you;re looking for a place and the guy would find you somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.... who has a place to rent. The owners don't really advertise in the papers. News travel word to mouth. So this is pretty discouraging.
Then I got together with Lili, a friend who's gonna move to Beirut next year, when she's starting her MA at American University of Beirut. She has this American friend who apparently got angry at the Lebanese way of solving problems - after he wrote an article about Saad Hariri and got a phone call not to publish a few things - and he decided to move back to the US. I pounced the opportunity. Can I "inherit" his place? She asked the guy, but he apparently is not so determined anymore 'cause of this Swedish lady coming to visit him... Buahaha. I hate Swedish ladies! Well, from this line of investigation I am currently waiting for an e-mail from a girl who's leaving at the beginning of August and would like to leave me her apartment. I haven't got the e-mail yet, although she said she'd write to me a week ago. :( She must have learned the notioan of Lebanese tomorrow very well. Hihi.

Then Bassem - thank God - told me on Saturday a friend called and told him about a studio up for rental for 200$ a month. Payment for a year, not furnished. But still 200! Well I said yes, called my father to see if he'd lend me the money and told Bassem to go see it. Haha. He found the building and asked the janitor if there was a place to rent. The guy pretended there wasn't! So my friend pretended to leave. And after the janitor closed the door, he wentback in the building, knocked on a door and found out that there was and apartment for rent. An old lady even gave him the number of the owner, which proved to be out of service. In the end he has to go during the days sometime and find the shop the owner has on the same street and visit the apartment.

The third chance I 've got is my friend Elena, who's a real estate agent in Dubai and has a few Lebanese real estate friends. She told them what I m looking for yesterday and we're waiting for results.

So nothing yet. Ouf.