Lucky

Looking for a house is one of my major projects these days. I'm learning about Harare real estate: the neighborhoods ("the golden triangle"), the peculiarities of architectural choices (toilets in closets), the MUSTS (a borehole), and the perks ("staff"). I've moved beyond the wow stage and have started wanting the quintessential Zimbabwean family home: an artsyAfrican tiled house with more than enough room for family, guests and entertaining and a big ol' yard with loads of beautiful indigenous plants and trees. Mainly I am going with my gut instinct: is this a place I can raise my family? So far, every place has been...mmmm....not exactly. Sometimes I feel like a spoiled crazy woman. The things I turn down! However, we're renting and not buying, so we can't really invest much in making these places ours. It has to be pretty darn ready for us...and since we have until June (I've been told), we have time (I hope!) to be picky.

The place where we're staying now is gorgeous if a wee bit run down on the inside. There are lots of little broken, chipped, smelly and non-functioning spots that I would love to attend to, but alas, it's not ours to improve. I'm extremely grateful though that we have this amazing house, if only temporarily.

Here's a review of what I've learned about home life in Harare:

Domestic help: most houses come with a housekeeper and gradener. This is Tari.

Kitichens have an additional "washing up" area where domestic help do the dishes and laundry.

You can see from the last picture and this close up the style of tile that is made locally and featured in lots of houses.

...as well as teak wood furniture, like this dining room table and chairs with leather strap seats (this is at a friend's house)

Most houses also have a bar. People take their entertaining seriously here.

Enough parking for guests (that's the garage and guest cottage where Tari, her son and her cousin/helper live...Yes, even help have help.)

The "gardens" are amazing, mainly due to the master work of the gardeners. This is Stanford in the herb garden.

In addition to the green house full of veggies, we have corn growing in a corner of the garden. You see corn growing all over the city since it's a staple of the diet here.

This is a typical "domestics quarters" and where Stanford lives next to our house.

You also find all swing sets in this general style: metal, painted bright colors, unique.The in-ground trampoline is pretty standard here.

Do you see just how big this tree is? That little purple thing is a kiddie swing, and man, do the kids get high when we swing them in that!

These are called "Wendy houses" and are just playhouses for the kids. You see examples of these and the swing sets at intersections around the city where craftsmen are advertising their various styles.Electric fences atop high security walls are also a part of life here, as are alarm systems, remote access automatic gates and security guards. There's not a lot of crime here...as a result? This is the view of the garden from our bedroom balcony. It isn't exactly typical, I realize now as I search in vain for another bit of paradise. Let's hope the luck in having this place carries over to our seach for the next place. Looking forward to sharing with visitors!