In Which the Dog Chooses a Roommate

After a few days of merciless -- as far as both the process and the weather are concerned -- apartment-hunting, then, and a couple of days separation from last post's crazy, I was only marginally closer to finding a place to live. There were options where the apartment was fun and with a decent roommate, but in a bad location; there were options where the roommate was very nice but the room itself was not up to par; and there were, of course, options where the apartment and location were both fine, but the roommate situation was going to be a problem, as exemplified by Lady Seriously Gaga from the previous post. Most of the roommates from all three scenarios did seem very interested in me, however, so it was good to know that I had options!

I had found out recently that a friend of mine from a long time ago (I was either 10 or 11 when we met -- and I turned 24 yesterday, so it's been a while) was looking for a place to live in Tel Aviv. Although she is currently vacationing in Italy and therefore slightly more difficult to get a hold of, I was able to communicate with her a bit and we had even planned on living together, which would have been fantastic. The only problem was, she's a full-time student right now, and needed to be close to the university. As it happens, the university in Tel Aviv is in an area called Ramat Aviv, which is up north across the Yarkon River, and somewhat distanced from the hustle and bustle of downtown Tel Aviv. For a while, I thought this wasn't a problem; Tel Aviv's public transportation is excellent, and with buses and so forth, it would not have been that big a deal.

I visited Ramat Aviv with my dad and a friend of his yesterday for lunch. The place is dead. Downtown Bloomington sees infinitely more action than Ramat Aviv has ever dreamed of. There were about three and a half people outside when we were there, and while it's true that it was a hot day, a weekday, and the middle of the day, I was suddenly considerably less sure of myself. This was helped along by the fact that I was told by people who live there that the action doesn't pick up much -- that was what I was looking at for the year. There is a shopping mall in Ramat Aviv where, I guess, the people tend to be concentrated. Not so much my kind of place.

I decided, after all, that I didn't come all this way to miss Tel Aviv "by that much," as Maxwell Smart would say, so regretfully I told my friend Alma that living with her wouldn't work out and kept thinking about downtown.

That morning, I received a phone call from the lady in the first apartment that I looked at upon arrival.

This apartment's location is unbelievable. For those not politically or historically inclined, it is in a very central place, within walking distance of everything that I need -- malls, cafes, workplaces, the opera, movie theatres, the cute little boutiques, and everything else that downtown Tel Aviv has to offer, not to mention within walking distance of the beach as well. For those who are maybe interested a bit more in the political atmosphere of the place, the apartment is located within a few hundred feet of the site of Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995, where there is now a big plaza ("Kikar Rabin") with many commemorative plaques and sculptures.

As for the apartment itself, it is spacious for two people, on the ground floor of its building, on a very nice street (and relatively quiet, considering the location). I have not only my own room, which is a given, but my own bathroom and shower as well, as the roommate has the "master bedroom" with a bathroom inside. The kitchen is fully stocked with pots and dishes, the living room has all the necessary furniture, and the only thing that needs to come from me is a bed and other basics for the room itself. In addition to a roommate, 37 years old and a slight workaholic -- she works in an office all day, and runs a health/organic food consultancy business from home by evening -- there is a small dog named Bamba, who resembles most of all the creature whom I believe is a squirrel from the Ice Age franchise, with her big eyes and the fact that she is super skinny and long. In fact, it looks like someone took a small dog, and tried to make a bigger one by stretching her out in all directions. But being the dog lover that I am, that is, of course, another major draw for me!

When we had originally looked at the apartment, Einat (the roommate) did not appear to show much interest in me. She also currently lives with a guy, so it seemed that that suited her and she wanted to return to that. Having written it off, then, I continued to search, until I was asked back for a "callback" three days later. As it turns out, I was one of two potential roommates asked back to see the apartment and sit for a while, and the final decision was, while not determined this way, considered from ALL angles -- in this case, the unusual one was which two people Bamba seemed to have taken to the most. Apparently this dog has had a rough history of abuse, abandonment, and so forth, and is inherently mistrusting of people; so who the dog would be able to tolerate is actually an important question and a serious consideration for her owner.

I am, therefore, happy to announce that the dog picked me. I move in next week. :)