No time for jetlag or birthday celebrations – we were on a mission! Since the Dept. of Social Welfare required us to live in a self-contained place, i.e. not a hotel room, we visited several guesthouses, villas, homes, and other properties to try to find a suitable place to live with the boys – at a reasonable price. Quite a daunting task, I must say! Either the place was too remote, too big, lacked green space, or was simply too expensive: $3000 US a month for a 2 bedroom cottage almost an hour’s walk away from the nearest mall? You’ve got to be kidding me! After a VERY long day of house hunting, I knew for certain what I had believed all along: the best thing for us to do would be to try to negotiate a better price for a cottage at the guest-house we were already staying at. You see, the property we were already at is really lovely. There is lots of lush green space, a pool (2 actually), a play structure for children, and many gardens and plants. It just seemed to have everything we needed, and we would only have to move our suitcases from one building to another. Furthermore, it’s only a 15 minute walk to the mall.
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| Our guest house in Kalundu, Lusaka, Zambia |
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| One of the many gardens |
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| View of the building we stayed in and the surrounding grounds |
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| View from the breakfast patio |
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| More gardens |
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| Children's play structure |
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| Green space to run about |
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| Paved driveway for riding bikes |
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| The shelter by the 2nd pool |
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| 2nd pool and view of cottages in back |
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| The gate to the outside world |
I guess sometimes when you shop around you discover that what you already have is what you really need. So the only issue was price. And on that front, I was prepared to do some serious negotiating.
After the house hunting we visited the boys again. They were outdoors and when they saw us they came running. I was so glad that they were happy to see us. And of course, we were thrilled to see them! We went inside to talk, play with watches, calculators, and sunglasses, and to blow bubbles. We had a good visit.
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