House Hunting and Exploring the Other Side of Paradise

So wouldn't you know it, but the day after documenting our Life in the Lodge, living in the hotel on base and being provided Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA) while we wait out base housing, we were offered a house...in Pearl Harbor. Exactly what we were hoping to have NOT happen. In order to stay on the TLA, and have your lodging to continue to be paid for,  you are not allowed to reject a housing offer, even if that housing offer is clear on the other side of the island, which Pearl Harbor is. Since we chose to reject this offer in order to wait out our second offer of housing here at the base in Kaneohe, our TLA funding ends on our would-be move-in date of the house we rejected. We were expecting that our move-in date would be at least a week or two off from the offer date, as we heard is the norm. This would allow us an ample amount of time to find a short term lease off base before our TLA money, which pays for the hotel on base, got cut off. However, lucky us, we were given 4 days notice. So long TLA, hello stress and anxiety! We stopped to say a few prayers that we would be able to find a furnished, month-to-month, pet-friendly, place by Tuesday and then hit the ground running! Military life, at least no one can ever say it's dull.

Well it's officially Tuesday, would-be move-in day, and I am sitting here at the desk of our hotel room writing this. Yes, we are still in the lodge on base. However, after touring another apartment yesterday, submitting an application last night, we received news this morning that we have a place!!!!!! And although we will not be able to move in to our new temporary home until May 29th, I am so relieved to have that huge weight off my shoulders! This weekend was quite stressful as we googled, emailed, called, and visited every possible place we could find. You would not believe how hard it is to find a short term, month-to-month rental, that is both furnished and allows pets. Oh ya, and that is halfway decent! Boy did we have some interesting experiences during our house hunting extravaganza!

There was the furnished guest house; advertised with a living/dining area, kitchen, bedroom and full bathroom. While, in reality, it turned out to be a regular sized bedroom, converted and annexed from the rest of the house and then jam-packed full of miniature furniture: a small 2 person table, full size mattress, a small love-seat, a mini-fridge and microwave as the "kitchen," and slightly enough floor space still visible to navigate your way around the obstacles without tripping. Basically, it was a child's playhouse. 

There was the place that had 2, 40-lb backyard-pet ducks, named Mr. Brown and Hopper. Then there was a third duck, which was a bit smaller, named Nibbler.  He was the house-pet duck and was to be let inside to sleep every evening. The house also came with a care-taker for the ducks.  Although the lady was only in her late 40's, she had no teeth, and only one leg. Perhaps in some Adam Sandler movie, this would be quite the comedic scenario, but in real life it was just heart wrenching and so sad. Furthermore, come to find out, until the day before, she had been homeless. And although neither Jordan or I wanted to make any judgements because we obviously had no idea of course what curve balls and challenges life had thrown this lady, we couldn't help but wonder why this lady's family, 3 grown kids and both parents still living on the same island, would allow her to be homeless for the last 4 years. Based on the situation, as well as her twitchy mannerisms, hard to decipher speech, and facial skin sores, we are assuming drugs may have been in the picture. And I pray Lord, please forgive us for judging another person, especially if we are wrong, but that was just not a situation we felt comfortable putting ourselves in. It was quite a bummer, because the owner of the house was the sweetest lady with the most amazing outlook on life, and the house itself was great; complete with a pool and waterfront property, with private access to one of the canals that led out to the bay.  

Then there were all of those properties located in neighborhoods overrun with roosters and chickens running wild and free, and the caged pit bulls in every backyard. I know pit bulls have a negative reputation due to irresponsible owners breeding for aggression and fighting, and that not all pit bulls are evil. These felt evil. Most of the people here use a completely boxed in (including from above) chain-link cage for these dogs, within a 10'  high, fenced-in backyard. However, it appears these dogs, a highly active breed that needs, at minimum, room to move, if not a great deal of exercise, were confined to these extreme conditions for the majority of their day. Their pent up energy, which many of the Hawaiians use to create aggression for hunting wild boars on the island, is very scary to witness walking by, even with two barriers between you and the dog. While I don't know if dogs can communicate to each other or not, every time we walked by one of these extremely riled up dogs, aggressively lunging, growling and rabidly barking through it's chain-link, boxed-in cage, Gunnar would start whimpering.

Oh! And then there was the house we attempted to reach, but turned around when 3 mixed-breed, and equally as threatening, hunting dogs began aggressively and freely charging us from down the street, barking and lunging at our car. Mind you, we don't have doors on the jeep and so I saw my life flash before my eyes, as I screamed in panic to Jordan turn around, turn around, DRIVE!

I can assure you, the majority of the the island is not like this; however, when you are desperately trying to find a house, in an extreme time crunch, with specific needs and certain lease conditions, you never know what you are going to find! But hey, we survived and lived to tell the tale!