That Fateful Day
Chapter 1
16 June 2005 was not a special day except for one thing. It was the day I walked into the real estate office and signed my contract as an owner of a swanky new apartment in Dubai Marina. I use the word "owner" with some latitude. What I signed was a sales agreement, which stated that the apartment would be mine only after I had paid for it in full. More disconcerting was that it would not actually become mine until it was finished being built--in 2009!
That didn't really matter much, anyway. What was important was that I had signed the contract and committed myself to someday being a proud owner in the MAG 218 tower. I walked out of the real estate office with a real sense of accomplishment. "I'm 44 years old and will at last become the owner of a place I can call home." 16 June would always be a day to remember.
It is funny how a good thing can get twisted and turn into a bad. On that day, almost a year and half ago now, I could not have known how much would change in my life as a result of signing that sales agreement. I didn't even have to wait until 2009. In the initial days and weeks that followed all was going well, even better than I had expected.
You see, the thing that always made owning a home seem like a distant dream was, of course, money. How could I ever come up with the 100,000 dollars or so needed to buy a simple home? Even worse, I was in a country where I might in a single day lose a job, and thereby lose a visa ...and thereby find myself not only out of job and home, but out of country as well. Buying a home under such circumstances seemed like an impossible dream.
The impossible dream, however, suddenly began to seem plausible when a number of favorable events converged. The first of these occurred in April, when I was told that my contract for work in the UAE would not be renewed when it expired in a few months time. My secure job of the previous 5 years would abruptly come to an end.
Ironically, instead of feeling panic I felt a sense of liberation. That 5-year job had become a drudgery and, for some unexplained reason, I felt confident that I would find another. Instead of the dread I had of one day finding myself out of job, out of visa and out of country, I simply felt I was being freed from a pointless job and given a new opportunity.
The second of the favorable events to converge was that only weeks earlier I quite unexpectedly found myself in a relationship that seemed to hold the promise of much more. I had met on the job a co-worker with whom I felt a connection much deeper than that of a colleague. Although this fellow educator, quite a few years younger than I, had not expressed herself in a way that I could gauge for certain, all the signs were there. Her feelings finally became clear to me when she accepted my invitation to join me on an off-day excursion.
Finally, there was a third event that would make it an opportune time to enter the real estate market. My savings, which had been accumulating over the previous four years, had reached a level that would allow me to comfortably put down a deposit and make the first few payments--most off-plan purchases had to be paid in installments.
Beginning in 2002, there had been stirrings in the media that foreigners would be allowed to own property. It would be primarily within special development zones in Dubai. The Greens, the Springs, Dubai Marina... as time passed a buzz began to grow around these new developments. I spotted the ads in the Gulf News--the leading English news publication--and slowly began to entertain thoughts of buying property in the UAE. It was funny that having lived in other foreign countries for years, I had never seriously considered buying property in any of them.
In the UAE my decision to purchase was as much out of a personal desire to own property as a personal need to feel safe and secure in a place I was sure I'd like to remain in for at least a few more years. But 2002 was too early for me to act on my impulses. In 2004 I visited the sales centers for the Springs, the Greens and Dubai Marina, but alas it was sticker shock that hit me when I saw the prices being asked for. Finally, in mid-2005 everything seemed to coalesce. While prices had in fact become even higher, I found myself in a better position to contemplate making the commitment.
My feeling of confidence was real but perhaps ephemeral. Who could know how long a budding relationship would last and if in fact it would flower at all? Though I believed I could, what if I didn't find a new job, and especially one with at least as high a salary as I presently had. But, at the start of things at least, my instincts seemed to be guiding me correctly.
Once I had put my ink on the sales agreement, my first thought was to call Mona, my new love interest, and tell her the good news. It was by no means an our apartment sort of thing, but it seemed right to share my feelings of accomplishment with her. Of course, she had already known what I was planning.
"Are you sure it's the best thing for you?" She was always one to take the cautious approach. "It's now or never," I said with confidence. "I'll show you the contract this evening. Finally, my dear, the UAE is beginning to feel like a place I can call home."
Mona and I had in common that we were both expats. She was from Egypt and I from the US. I know we were not an ideal pairing, not to mention the age difference, but at least she was Christian. I could never accept the idea of changing my religion to marry someone. Isn't religion supposed to be a matter of faith--not obligation? One hears about prison and other conversions which are, in my opinion, anything but a willing expression of faith. Anyway, Mona and I weren't anywhere near marriage. It was just my habit to always get ahead of myself.
So, the deed was done. I had the sales agreement in hand. It was 16 June and for the next few weeks, at least, I was in the clouds, years before my flat on the 66th floor would be ready to occupy. Being the computer and Internet enthusiast that I was, I decided to blog about the MAG 218 tower and Dubai Marina. I would Google up every detail I could find to post in my blogs. The idea was to play a role in making the MAG 218 and Dubai Marina the kind of place that I and other residents could call their own.
It was 23 June. One week had past since that fateful decision. Everything was going as planned, like clockwork, if not better. Mona and I were spending more time with each other. She was about to return to her family in Egypt for the summer and needed to take care of shopping and other details. Not having a car, she depended on me to drive her around. Meanwhile, I found myself getting more drawn into to my web pages. I didn't imagine blogging could be so much fun. Although few links came up when I Googled MAG 218, I soon discovered that I could take the lead as the main provider of content on that subject. It was a challenge I was up for.
On the job front things were also progressing well. The few applications I had pending were beginning to bear fruit. One was an offer from a start-up university in Oman. As attractive as the thought of living in Oman was, the salary being offered was not, and it wasn't the time for me to move on from the UAE, even if temporarily. It pays to have patience, and in due course I had another offer for a job in Abu Dhabi. It met my pay requirements and would also enable me to get by with few out-of-pocket expenses. It meant, however, working at an oil field complex, off at a distant desert site. Ok, it wasn't ideal. I would be further away from Dubai and from Mona. But if it would bring me closer to realizing my dream of owning a home in the Dubai Marina, then it was worth it.
In early July, I received a letter from a former colleague of mine who had left the UAE a year earlier to take up a teaching position at a college in South Korea. The letter began,
Chapter 2: Passion or Obsession?
16 June 2005 was not a special day except for one thing. It was the day I walked into the real estate office and signed my contract as an owner of a swanky new apartment in Dubai Marina. I use the word "owner" with some latitude. What I signed was a sales agreement, which stated that the apartment would be mine only after I had paid for it in full. More disconcerting was that it would not actually become mine until it was finished being built--in 2009!
That didn't really matter much, anyway. What was important was that I had signed the contract and committed myself to someday being a proud owner in the MAG 218 tower. I walked out of the real estate office with a real sense of accomplishment. "I'm 44 years old and will at last become the owner of a place I can call home." 16 June would always be a day to remember.
It is funny how a good thing can get twisted and turn into a bad. On that day, almost a year and half ago now, I could not have known how much would change in my life as a result of signing that sales agreement. I didn't even have to wait until 2009. In the initial days and weeks that followed all was going well, even better than I had expected.
You see, the thing that always made owning a home seem like a distant dream was, of course, money. How could I ever come up with the 100,000 dollars or so needed to buy a simple home? Even worse, I was in a country where I might in a single day lose a job, and thereby lose a visa ...and thereby find myself not only out of job and home, but out of country as well. Buying a home under such circumstances seemed like an impossible dream.
The impossible dream, however, suddenly began to seem plausible when a number of favorable events converged. The first of these occurred in April, when I was told that my contract for work in the UAE would not be renewed when it expired in a few months time. My secure job of the previous 5 years would abruptly come to an end.
Ironically, instead of feeling panic I felt a sense of liberation. That 5-year job had become a drudgery and, for some unexplained reason, I felt confident that I would find another. Instead of the dread I had of one day finding myself out of job, out of visa and out of country, I simply felt I was being freed from a pointless job and given a new opportunity.
The second of the favorable events to converge was that only weeks earlier I quite unexpectedly found myself in a relationship that seemed to hold the promise of much more. I had met on the job a co-worker with whom I felt a connection much deeper than that of a colleague. Although this fellow educator, quite a few years younger than I, had not expressed herself in a way that I could gauge for certain, all the signs were there. Her feelings finally became clear to me when she accepted my invitation to join me on an off-day excursion.
Finally, there was a third event that would make it an opportune time to enter the real estate market. My savings, which had been accumulating over the previous four years, had reached a level that would allow me to comfortably put down a deposit and make the first few payments--most off-plan purchases had to be paid in installments.
Beginning in 2002, there had been stirrings in the media that foreigners would be allowed to own property. It would be primarily within special development zones in Dubai. The Greens, the Springs, Dubai Marina... as time passed a buzz began to grow around these new developments. I spotted the ads in the Gulf News--the leading English news publication--and slowly began to entertain thoughts of buying property in the UAE. It was funny that having lived in other foreign countries for years, I had never seriously considered buying property in any of them.
In the UAE my decision to purchase was as much out of a personal desire to own property as a personal need to feel safe and secure in a place I was sure I'd like to remain in for at least a few more years. But 2002 was too early for me to act on my impulses. In 2004 I visited the sales centers for the Springs, the Greens and Dubai Marina, but alas it was sticker shock that hit me when I saw the prices being asked for. Finally, in mid-2005 everything seemed to coalesce. While prices had in fact become even higher, I found myself in a better position to contemplate making the commitment.
My feeling of confidence was real but perhaps ephemeral. Who could know how long a budding relationship would last and if in fact it would flower at all? Though I believed I could, what if I didn't find a new job, and especially one with at least as high a salary as I presently had. But, at the start of things at least, my instincts seemed to be guiding me correctly.
Once I had put my ink on the sales agreement, my first thought was to call Mona, my new love interest, and tell her the good news. It was by no means an our apartment sort of thing, but it seemed right to share my feelings of accomplishment with her. Of course, she had already known what I was planning.
"Are you sure it's the best thing for you?" She was always one to take the cautious approach. "It's now or never," I said with confidence. "I'll show you the contract this evening. Finally, my dear, the UAE is beginning to feel like a place I can call home."
Mona and I had in common that we were both expats. She was from Egypt and I from the US. I know we were not an ideal pairing, not to mention the age difference, but at least she was Christian. I could never accept the idea of changing my religion to marry someone. Isn't religion supposed to be a matter of faith--not obligation? One hears about prison and other conversions which are, in my opinion, anything but a willing expression of faith. Anyway, Mona and I weren't anywhere near marriage. It was just my habit to always get ahead of myself.
So, the deed was done. I had the sales agreement in hand. It was 16 June and for the next few weeks, at least, I was in the clouds, years before my flat on the 66th floor would be ready to occupy. Being the computer and Internet enthusiast that I was, I decided to blog about the MAG 218 tower and Dubai Marina. I would Google up every detail I could find to post in my blogs. The idea was to play a role in making the MAG 218 and Dubai Marina the kind of place that I and other residents could call their own.
It was 23 June. One week had past since that fateful decision. Everything was going as planned, like clockwork, if not better. Mona and I were spending more time with each other. She was about to return to her family in Egypt for the summer and needed to take care of shopping and other details. Not having a car, she depended on me to drive her around. Meanwhile, I found myself getting more drawn into to my web pages. I didn't imagine blogging could be so much fun. Although few links came up when I Googled MAG 218, I soon discovered that I could take the lead as the main provider of content on that subject. It was a challenge I was up for.
On the job front things were also progressing well. The few applications I had pending were beginning to bear fruit. One was an offer from a start-up university in Oman. As attractive as the thought of living in Oman was, the salary being offered was not, and it wasn't the time for me to move on from the UAE, even if temporarily. It pays to have patience, and in due course I had another offer for a job in Abu Dhabi. It met my pay requirements and would also enable me to get by with few out-of-pocket expenses. It meant, however, working at an oil field complex, off at a distant desert site. Ok, it wasn't ideal. I would be further away from Dubai and from Mona. But if it would bring me closer to realizing my dream of owning a home in the Dubai Marina, then it was worth it.
In early July, I received a letter from a former colleague of mine who had left the UAE a year earlier to take up a teaching position at a college in South Korea. The letter began,
Dear Bruce,That's right, get married. Was this a sign, I wondered? No, it couldn't have been. I had only been close to Mona for a couple of months. I had to remind myself that hers was a traditional culture. People did't just meet, get acquainted and then elope. That distracting thought quickly out of mind, I got back to my work in progress. It was the lastest post for my Dubai Marina blog. It involved uploading photos I had taken of the ongoing construction work. The time consuming process involved editing each picture to get just the right crop and angle, not to mention the time and effort it took to walk around in the hot summer sun. The only way to manage it was to start either early or late in the day. Every other weekend or so I would find myself traveling to Dubai Marina to engage in what was steadily becoming a passion.1726 words
Your're probably surprised to hear from me after so long. I wanted to share my good news. Do you remember my girlfriend, Su Yung Kim? Guess what, we've decided to...
Chapter 2: Passion or Obsession?
posted by B.D. at Wednesday, November 01, 2006
2 Comments:
Thats a start!
...and hopefully not a false one.
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