Paradise found

Well, hip hip hooray, we found an apartment! Alhamdulillah! :D

We got to the place around 1 p.m. and went up to the 4th floor on the elevator (thank goodness for elevators, even if they do have a funky smell, lol).
Almost from the moment of walking into the place, I knew that I liked it and that it was okay. Funny how that works. Everything about the place we saw last night looked and felt wrong to me, even the neighborhood itself. And today was like the exact opposite.

The floors are tile/marble (can't remember which) and are kind of dusky rose and dark gray/black. It almost looks kind of art deco? The kitchen is tiled in white but not pure white, there is some slight pattern on the tiles I think. And nothing but a sink there. And not supported by anything underneath. lol

When you move into an apartment here, you have to bring all your cupboards and cabinets, and also you generally have to bring your own a/c to install.
Quite different than in the States, at least from what I know.

There are two bedrooms, not huge but both adequate in size. We will use one of them for our personal living room, and then the regular living room, which is quite large, will just be for company and a dining room I guess.
The bathroom was rather pink if I remember correctly. The light wasn't working in there so it was hard to see too well. We will be replacing the toilet.
All the floors were the same except for in the kitchen and... not sure about the bathroom.

There is a tiny balcony space off the main bedroom, big enough for one person to stand on, or two small people. lol
There is a bigger balcony but still not big enough to do much with. It will be full of plants when I get time.
And there is plenty of sunlight, which is wonderful. Yet we can also block it out well, so that's good too.

I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy being excited and happy and looking around.
Hubby has left to go put down the first months rent and pick up the key, and we will go back tomorrow morning insha'Allah to take a better look and make some notes about what needs to be done before moving in.
I'll try to take some pictures then.
Don't be shocked though, the floors are a haze of dust and it needs to be cleaned in general.
Still, very exciting, very happy.
Air conditioning at last!!! Woohoo! lol
I'm guessing it will be a couple of weeks until we can actually move in.
We need to buy all appliances (including fridge, stove, washing machine, etc) and get it cleaned an all that.

On the drive there we saw a few different scooters/motorcycles on the road. I don't know if there is a helmet law here, and if there is, I don't think it's enforced. Sometimes I see people wearing helmets and sometimes not. But what's funny is that I see people wearing hard hats, like for construction, as a helmet. It just makes me smile because all I can think when I see them is construction workers, but they are obviously not construction workers.
Today I saw a couple, married I presume, on a motorcycle. The man in front had a longish beard, and the woman was fully covered, including niqab (which covers all the face except for the eyes). She was sitting behind him, side saddle.
It's somehow so incongruous to see this that whenever I see it I giggle a little bit, though very quietly. lol
I'll try to get a picture sometime and post it.

That is all for the day from the land of heat and dust!