studio
I'm taking my drummer today to help me find a new studio. How it works here is that I have a realtor, and the landlord has a realtor (sometimes the same person, sometimes a different person) who introduce us. There are realtors on every corner and they only know about the properties they represent.
I have a few hurdles to jump. Some people don't want to rent to foreigners. Some don't want to rent to businesses. Some don't want to rent to dancers. Some are ok with dance, but NOT bellydance (*clutches pearls*).
My current studio is a mess. My lease was up in February but with a new baby I didn't think taking her out in the cold and walking for hours would be a good idea.
The cement/plaster on the walls is falling off from water damage from the ceiling. The ceiling is leaking from 3rd floor pipe/1st floor cleaning the floors/1st floor toilet (the story depends on the day) and it'll be fixed "tomorrow." The first tomorrow was over 2 months ago. The basement has flooded and permanently warped the flooring. The toilet totally flooded about 2 weeks ago. We still have furry friends from time to time. Spiders and earwigs abound. Someone takes down the sign for my studio and brings it inside (I'm guessing because it shows my belly). Anyways, I'm done.
Most of my problems the landlady says "that's not my problem" or "Korean people don't care about that." "You don't understand our culture" is another favorite one meant to cow foreigners.
Complicating matters is I have a friend who's a unicorn who's been helping me talk with the landlady. And he's "there there"ing me a bit. Telling me I don't need to move. He's going to come to the studio and check things out. He was supposed to help me find a new studio but he doesn't have a lot of free time, so I'm going with the drummer.
I'm hoping to get lucky today. In my area I need a minimum of $20, 000US deposit plus first month's rent.
I need to find something because my visa is up for renewal and I currently don't have an active lease I can show to prove I'm renting. Fingers crossed. I signed an affidavit last year saying I would move. Immigration thinks I should be making $50, 000 a year, minimum.
I tried explaining that most people aren't willing to pay top dollar for dance...there is one bellydance school I found that is charging $450 a year for UNLIMITED classes....hard to compete with that...and most hobbyists do consider price before quality. Especially when MANY gyms offer bellydance for free under their group-X programs.
I have a few hurdles to jump. Some people don't want to rent to foreigners. Some don't want to rent to businesses. Some don't want to rent to dancers. Some are ok with dance, but NOT bellydance (*clutches pearls*).
My current studio is a mess. My lease was up in February but with a new baby I didn't think taking her out in the cold and walking for hours would be a good idea.
The cement/plaster on the walls is falling off from water damage from the ceiling. The ceiling is leaking from 3rd floor pipe/1st floor cleaning the floors/1st floor toilet (the story depends on the day) and it'll be fixed "tomorrow." The first tomorrow was over 2 months ago. The basement has flooded and permanently warped the flooring. The toilet totally flooded about 2 weeks ago. We still have furry friends from time to time. Spiders and earwigs abound. Someone takes down the sign for my studio and brings it inside (I'm guessing because it shows my belly). Anyways, I'm done.
Most of my problems the landlady says "that's not my problem" or "Korean people don't care about that." "You don't understand our culture" is another favorite one meant to cow foreigners.
Complicating matters is I have a friend who's a unicorn who's been helping me talk with the landlady. And he's "there there"ing me a bit. Telling me I don't need to move. He's going to come to the studio and check things out. He was supposed to help me find a new studio but he doesn't have a lot of free time, so I'm going with the drummer.
I'm hoping to get lucky today. In my area I need a minimum of $20, 000US deposit plus first month's rent.
I need to find something because my visa is up for renewal and I currently don't have an active lease I can show to prove I'm renting. Fingers crossed. I signed an affidavit last year saying I would move. Immigration thinks I should be making $50, 000 a year, minimum.
I tried explaining that most people aren't willing to pay top dollar for dance...there is one bellydance school I found that is charging $450 a year for UNLIMITED classes....hard to compete with that...and most hobbyists do consider price before quality. Especially when MANY gyms offer bellydance for free under their group-X programs.