Kabulife #2 - Housing

Here comes a brief explanation of my living standards this far in Kabul. My first experience was kind of confusing. Even though I expected the worst, I had high expectations for this guesthouse. Firstly because I had heard that it was full of life and other young expats, secondly because the rate was higher than the fanciest hotel in town (which I'll come back to later). The first was absolutely not true, and the second was absolutely not understandable. Without proper furniture, heating or breakfast, the decision to move to another place was taken within a few days.

Next stop was a few days at the mentioned hotel, Serena. Warm, luxurious, service minded, neat. It is built with the goal to remind Afghans of what Afghan handicraft and service once was, and it sure was a pleasure to get away from the Afghanistan of today for a couple of nights.

Right now, however, I live in a villa which very much reminds me of a Swedish row-house built in the 60s. It even has IKEA-furniture. If it wasn't for the 57 Bollywood-channels, I would feel like just home there. Included in the housing is a black cat which is a bit shy but pretty nice, except from yesterday evening when it decided to protest on my day-long absence by leaving a big wet mark on my blanket. Eeew.

In a few weeks, we will move in to a new house built especially for us Swedes. It does not have a very cozy look at the moment, but I am sure that the 250 square meters that we will dispose will be possible to transform into a home.

Until then, I can only dream about living in this Afghan-but-trendy house which we visited the other day. Take a look at those details!