I was up early this morning (thank you very much, Mila) and couldn't go back to sleep. It was one of those mornings where my brain would not shut off. I think most of the stuff floating around in my head has to do with our upcoming move on FRIDAY! We'll be in our new house shortly and we have a lot to do before then.
We have now been living in temporary housing for just over a month and it's definitely time to get out of here. I'm ready to have our stuff (especially toys for the kiddos) and get into a day-to-day routine. Once we get our things, I'll be busy getting all the boxes unpacked and make the new house our home. We already have guests planned for the end of October, so I'm going to be on hostess mode.
But, let's back up a bit, shall we?
Prior to moving to Spain, we knew that the house hunting process would be a little slower than Japan (we had a house and cars within two weeks of moving there). So, in order to expedite the process as much as possible, we tried to research the housing as best we could. We knew that given the opportunity, we wanted to live out in town instead of on base in order to really experience the Spanish life. We read as many blogs and housing websites that we could find and wrote to people who were currently living in the Rota area. Then, we made our list of priorities and wants:
- We wanted to live in Puerto de Santa Maria. It's the town on the other side of the base that is much bigger than Rota and has a lot of family-friendly neighborhoods. There are a lot of individual homes with yards, pools, quiet streets, etc. A lot of American families live in Puerto since it's very family friendly.
- We preferred a one-story home.
- We did NOT want a pool. Young kids and two anti-water dogs are enough of a reason to avoid a pool.
- We wanted a yard.
- We wanted a community feel, possibly an easy walk to the beach or shops.
- We wanted enough bedrooms to host family and friends, possibly for long term stays.
- We needed to keep our rent within our housing allowance (basically, we didn't want to pay extra than what the military gives us for housing).
After our first couple of days here, Noa attended a housing brief and set up an appointment with the base housing office. They are the office we go through when renting out in town. We explained our list of wants/needs and they generated a list of available properties. I noticed that many of the properties listed had pools, second (or third) stories, but I was trying to be open to the possibilities.
The next step was to look at the properties. We'd schedule several hours to look at properties with either a representative from the housing office or an independent housing realtor. These visits were helpful because we were able to see a wide range of properties and see what living out and town really entails. The houses are definitely not the same as in the states.
First of all, pools are really common here. Especially in Puerto. Most, but not all, houses have them.
The pools were actually very nice. Most were not very big and all of them could have fences put around them for safety (this is not mandatory in Spain, but landlords will install them for Americans). It's pretty warm here, so the idea of a pool is enticing, but I know that I would be worried sick if the girls were out playing in the yard and I wasn't right there with them. So, we axed all the homes with pools.
It's interesting to note that every house is walled off from the street and the neighboring homes. We were hoping to get a fenced yard for the kids and dogs, but there's no need to worry about that since it's commonplace to have a walled property. It does make it kind of funny to drive through the neighborhoods because you can only really see the second floor of the homes and sometimes just the roof from the street!
Every house we looked at had tile floors. There is no wall-to-wall carpeting anywhere. Part of the reason for this is so houses stay cool in the summer when the temps are high (and many homes do not have A/C). For us, that just means we'll need more area rugs because again, small children, fragile dog legs, and noise reduction.
The houses are built with separate spaces, so that each room is easily closed off. In America, it seems like open-concept homes are all the rage, but here, they have the houses really divided up. I think they do that to be more energy efficient since utilities are really expensive over here. I would jokingly think to myself, "what's behind door number 2?" There are lots of doors.
Energy efficiency is an important factor to consider with these homes and so is comfort. Many of the homes, especially the older ones were not built to be used year round. This area of Spain is a vacation area, so most homeowners use their Rota/Puerto house as a second/summer home. These homes have single pane windows, tile floors, thin wall, etc. They are created to stay cool. The problem is that in the damp winter months, the temperatures can go down to the 40s and the homes can feel colder inside than it is outside!! So, we had to look at how the home was constructed - if it had upgrades or was built more recently - and how A/C and/or heat was produced. We have also been told that if we live "like Americans," it's going to cost us. So that means we'll have to bundle up a bit more in the winters and use the sun and wind to our advantage. Central air conditioning/heat is rare, but we did see a few newer homes with it. Most had radiators, space heaters, fans, or wall units like this (we also had these in Japan):
Oh, and fireplaces are common too! Now that I think about it, I think every house we looked at had a fireplace. One had a wood stove, but most were just regular fireplaces and all were functional if we chose to use it.
A main feature on the exterior of almost every house are gypsy bars on doors and windows. That sounds like a negative term, but apparently that's what they are called. This area of Spain is pretty safe, but petty crime still exists, so gypsy bars are the way to protect a home from theft. They are usually opened by a key from the inside. Not the most glamorous looking things, but again, they are very, very common.
Speaking of windows, the other common feature on every house (both on and off base) are persianas, which are outer rolling blinds. These are used to keep the rooms cool and dark, especially in the summer.
Moving inside…the kitchens: most were pretty small and that's where the majority of houses had the washing machine located.
The Spanish don't typically use clothes dryers, although we saw a couple of houses that had them. Typically, they have an area off the kitchen where they hang their clothes to dry. We'll be borrowing a dryer from the base so that we can fluff our clothes, but I'm hoping to embrace this line drying for much of our laundry. Again, the reason for the lack of dryers is energy efficiency.
We were surprised to find that the bedrooms had closets. I had heard that many European bedrooms didn't have these and that we'd most likely have to furnish a wardrobe. Not the case here. The closets are actually really nice. Most have dividers and/or shelves inside in addition to a hanging bar.
Bathrooms: most of them have bidets! When Ruby first saw them, she exclaimed, "two potties!" Oh, boy, this is gonna take some explaining….
Other interesting finds were that the ovens are tiny! We won't be roasting a large Thanksgiving turkey this year. I'm thinking cornish hens might be doable. Hopefully my cookie sheets will fit in there. Oh, and we'll have to get a conversion chart because the heat is measured in Celcius, of course.
Outdoor patios are available on every home and are very much a part of the lifestyle here. Many families will use the outdoor space for evening dining. We plan on doing just that!
There are plenty of gardens here and even the homes that had smaller yards or no yard had pots with plants and flowers growing. It seems like plants are pretty important to the Spanish, as they seem to always look healthy and lush. A lot of the homes included a gardener in the rental agreement.
We ended up looking at over 25 homes in Puerto! We also looked at 1 home in Rota in order to give Rota a chance. So, what did we end up with?
Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out. But, just for a teaser, I did include one picture from our future home in this post.
I'm mean. I know.
