Thanks for your prayers for my new apartment

I thank you, my friends and prayer warriors/protectors, prayers have been answered.

I had a big, long list of things that would be included in my "perfect apartment." Of course that list looked more and more like a Penthouse everyday, and I was frustrating real estate agents with my "list" and my "price requirement." Though I found (and ultimately decided against) a beautiful, new, small apartment with many of those "requirements" at a modest price, it was not a modest price I was looking for. Plus gas, plus internet. Also, since I could not find anyone who actually paid for their electricity, the potential for a huge wildcard electricity bill was looming in my future. Everyone said, "As long as you don't use the air-conditioning." Of course, since there was an air conditioner, I would have used it.

I was looking for, well, cheap! Yet still being a picky American, there were things that were simply unacceptable. I walked for days, following up leads and taking down phone numbers from rental signs. Two different people made numerous phone calls for me because, as we have learned in an early lesson, Dominicans get different prices and different terms than foreigners. Foreigners pay one or two months as a deposit, another month rent as a commission to the agent, and then may also have to pay a month in advance. The place I ultimately decided against wanted another $100 for the lawyer's fee. (A lawyer is always involved, I was told.)

So, when I found a new friend who previously had worked in "Bienes Raices" - or Real Estate rentals and purchases, I received very different terms. But think part of that is because it is a very different place. The owners live on the top floor (the Penthouse), much of which is an open terrace with most rooms opening directly to this terrace - plenty of breeze passing through. I paid one month in advance, negotiated (or my friend negotiated for me) less than a month's commission, and a $100 deposit. Now lawyer’s fee. No contract. No minimum months required. I think this is very rare. I think it is perhaps miraculous.

The room is a studio, yet larger than other studios I saw. It also has a half wall separating the bedroom from the seating and kitchen area. This is a fantastic addition to the studio concept! Guests don't look at my bed. I have a separation between where I sleep and where I work. I have room to walk around (a little). Internet (cable) added for $20. Women, you will notice the closet!! The bathroom is small, but I saw worse - MUCH worse. It has a ceiling fan. Electricity is included - therefore no surprises at the end of the month.

I was told by one person that Dominicans don't have fans in their homes, and I am prone to believe it. Since electricity is rare in many areas, it wouldn't work anyway. And they all love to take a chair out to the street and sit in front to talk, drink or to play dominoes!

What does it not include?

No air-conditioning (and yes, it's awfully hot here.)

No balcony - something I long for desperately. There is one in the owner's building on the second floor, and after asking five times to use it, they finally said I could call up and ask to be let in periodically. But they won't give me a key. A bit uncomfortable. Then one of the chairs was stolen and I am afraid they have become even more insecure about an unknown person having access to thier home.

No hot water - anywhere - even homes, apartments and many hotels that have hot showers don't have hot water in the sinks (not even the kitchen). I felt the lack of hot water in the shower was not a deal breaker. Not because I don't "need" a hot shower, but because I knew a shower head with a heater could be attached to the spout in place of the regular shower head. It costs about thirty dollars at the local hardware store (local meaning on el Conde street where foreigners shop!) It must be battery operated, and my mom and I had one in our aparta-hotel. It created warm water at a low pressure. So I signed rented confidently. Then I tried to buy one on a Saturday night (closed) and a Sunday (when EVERYTHING is closed), and have now learned how to put my hands in the shower first, then slowly my arms, then my face, then my hair. In a short time, I'm in completely and not even shivering.

No guarantee that I won't be killing bugs every day for the rest of my stay, mosquitos included.

And so, I have a new home! Use the Converter Tool on the right side to find out how much I pay per month for rent, internet, electricity, water and gas. Make sure you use the Dominican R. (DOP)(not the Mexican Peso) and US Dollar. I pay RD$ 10,700.

Praises be to God for answered prayers. May God hear all of your prayers and bless you fully! Heather

Heather J. Kirk, Photographer, Author, Graphic Designer"We...a spirit seeking harmony for a world that's out of sync" - purchase an e-book at: photographicartistry.citymax.com/BooksFind her art at: Fine Art Americaand HeatherJKirk.com

Electricity on a Sliding Fee Scale

Some areas of Santo Domingo (areas where I hope to stay) have only periodic brown outs (very periodic, meaning every day - sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours). Other areas, the most impoverished, have electricity only a few hours per day. Water service is the same. And since power is usually required to pump the water into your tank, it is not uncommon to have neither. (Someday I'll write about ways to addresss these issues.)

So there is a bit of a Catch 22. People who pay for electricity get frustrated because they are paying for very poor service. People who don't pay are blamed for draining the system and not allowing the electric companies to make a profit and provide better service. Because of poor service (meaning lack of service) more and more people don't pay. When I say don't pay, I don't mean what you think. Because in the US, if you don't pay you lose your service. I mean steal.

How do you steal electricity? Just grab a wire and hook into the power line. As easy as that. Of course it is not as easy as that. They have to know how, or pay someone who knows how. And they have to bribe the electric company employees who come disconnect the hijacked wires to hook it back up again or overlook it. So they really are paying for electricity after all - they're just not paying the power company, which (supposedly) if was being paid for all the electricity it provided would no longer have brown (black) outs. Except members of a government committee created to decrease the number of black outs were just arrested for embezzlement.

I want to make clear here that people at many economic levels "borrow" electricity - it is not just in the poorer areas. And since those areas have so little power provided to them anyway, I suppose they steal the least!

There does seem to be a bit of a sliding fee scale. One price per kilowatt if you only use a certain low amount of electricity per month, and a much higher price per kilowatt once you go over that limit. So blackouts are an effective cost saving method. And I suppose a way that the electric company shoots itself in the foot. More consistent electricity certainly would provide more income, even if some people do steal it.


On the flip side - there have been times that too much power comes through the system. I’ve had a ceiling fan go so fast that it whips grimy dustballs from the top of its blades all over the room, and I think the fan might take flight or at the very least fall out of the ceiling. I began to realize this created some risk for my computer equipment. These are not just quick surges that a surge protector might cancel out, but 15 minutes to hours. If the fan is not running, I've learned to identify them by the smell of burning rubber - perhaps the plastic of things plugged into the outlets. When I smell burning, it is a strong suggestion to turn of the computer and start unplugging things. If only the power could be evened out...

"Is it true that you are going to increase the electricity bills of everyone?"

"No! Only for those who pay."

Heather J. Kirk, Photographer, Author, Graphic Designer "We...a spirit seeking harmony for a world that's out of sync" - purchase an e-book at: photographicartistry.citymax.com/Books Find her art at: Fine Art America and HeatherJKirk.com