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“We’re going to meet the realtor at four,” my roommate said.

We had been looking for an apartment for a couple weeks, and things were getting more urgent. I was happy to hear that our local friends would come with us to look at another place.

We got to the spot where we were to meet our friends a little early, but about ten minutes later they rolled up, baby and toddler in tow.

“We’re going to meet the realtor down the street, closer to the center,” they said. As we walked down I fought through my meager language skills to communicate with the wife. When we got to the center, they gave the realtor a call. Apparently, she was still “ten minutes away,” aka a good distance. The husband exhaled in exasperation. We sat until ten minutes turned into thirty. I tried to stay patient as we sat and watched the toddler wander around among the strangers on their evening errands.

By now the wife had to go home because their older children would be getting home from school. We said goodbye to her while the husband gave the realtor another phone call. Now she was closer, and asked us to walk further down the street so we could meet up faster.

We headed down through the sea of people as our friend gave us instructions for the apartment showing.

“If you like it a lot, it’s better not to show it too much,” he said. “You must be… “ He paused to search for the right word. “Hard.”

I nodded my assent, then he turned immediately and greeted a woman on the other side of the street. Here was the realtor. It was already getting close to five-thirty, and I was very ready to see this potential apartment.

She did not have the keys, she informed us with chagrin. We would have to wait until her assistant came with them, and then we could go to the apartment. A few minutes later, her assistant arrived. Unfortunately he did not have the keys either, but was waiting for someone to call him and let him know when he could pick them up.

The realtor told us she was very sorry we had to wait and offered to buy us a cup of tea as we waited. Our party walked into a dimly lit courtyard and picked a table. Soon five little cups of hot amber liquid made their way to us, and my roommate and I sipped on them quietly as our friend and the realtor chatted. Soon the assistant got a phone call and whisked away. The tea dwindled and the conversation ran on.

Twenty minutes later, the assistant returned, keys in hand. We walked on until we came to the right building. The location was awesome, and it was a cute little street. Then we went inside.

Striking Out

As soon as we got in, my roommate and I looked at each other. This apartment was way too small. Our friend came into the bedroom and asked us what we thought. With disappointment I told him this wasn’t going to work.

As we left the realtor asked us to wait a few days so she could set up some more places to look at. We agreed and waited anxiously for her phone call.

She called with a place we could see the following Sunday. That morning we went to church with our friends, hoping to work out the final details of the showing. After service we sat and sipped tea while practicing our language skills on the unsuspecting folk who had sat at our table, waiting for our friends to finish up some other work.

By the time they were ready to go they suggested we simply all travel together to the showing. We crowded into the back of their car, kids on our laps, and they called the realtor to confirm the time.

“The apartment has been rented by someone else,” our friend related to us with a sigh. As we got nearer to our neighborhood, I was wondering what we would do now. We needed to find a place to live, and quickly.

Instead of driving towards our house, our friend started heading around the block and looking at every realty office in the neighborhood. We saw an apartment in the right area with a “FOR RENT” sign in the window, and the wife gave it a call. The realtor was in and was ready to take us inside to look at it right now.

Another Chance

The husband stayed in the car with the kids while we went in with the wife. The second we walked in and saw the kitchen and the living room, I knew I wanted to live there. I looked at my roommate and said, “If this place is the right price, we need to rent it.”

We finished looking and headed outside to talk numbers. The husband translated for us while the car rocked back and forth behind him from the antics of the children inside. The realtor invited us to come to his office so we could go over more specifics. We sat as our friend and the realtor negotiated.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” the realtor inquired. Soon our hands had been filled with steaming cups, and the price had been decided on. It was just below what we had planned on paying!

Soon we had signed the contract, and the apartment was all ours. There was more to accomplish and many more cups of tea to be drunk, but for now we had a home.

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