It’s been exactly 5 months since I moved to Bahrain today! It will be a very classic sentence, but I really don’t understand how time passed, how did we adapt so quickly?. When we gave ourselves to wanderings as we arrived -We were dismayed by the abundance of annual leave of Uğur here, and we left first in Nepal and then in Czechia – the article that I intended to write months ago has reached this time. it’s left. Before I go into detail about “life in Bahrain”, which everyone is curious about, let me tell you about the process of moving to Bahrain, where I poured my heart out.
If you want to follow the videos we shot from Bahrain, you can subscribe to the channel.
Step One: Evacuating the House in Izmir
One of the biggest issues that put us under stress when we moved to Bahrain was, of course, the fate of the belongings.. (The other was the transport of our dog Luffy. I explained the details in “Taking Pets Abroad: Luffy Traveling to Bahrain”.) It didn’t take us 3 seconds to decide definitely not to move our belongings to Bahrain, no problem there.. Because Uğur does not go with a limited contract; So it is not clear how long we will stay or not.. We have convinced ourselves that we will not love Bahrain so much that we always have the possibility of returning after a year in the back of our minds.. That’s why we can’t take the items, some of which are crappy products of IKEA and that have been moved 3 times during our marriage, and waste them abroad.. So, what are we going to do with the things that fill the 4-storey house we rent? “We can continue to pay rent and leave the house as it is.” we said, but what if we decide to stay in Bahrain for a long time? Also, it’s a little ridiculous to rent for nothing.. Also, because it is a house with a garden, termites (termites, not ants!) were infested last year, for example.. If something like that happens again and it covers the whole house while we’re away… Then we threw this solution away.
We said, “We can rent a warehouse and leave the stuff there”, which I think was the most logical option.. There are very professional storage companies, they come like a transport company, collect the whole house, pack it, take it to the warehouse and store your belongings in a section reserved for you for a monthly fee.. But we have so many items that we have to pay a minimum of 750 TL per month according to our calculations.. Also, Uğur has a habit of not trusting any Turkish company, especially based on his experience in business.. He worries, “The flood comes, the warehouse floods, something happens to your belongings…” and we eliminate this alternative as well.
What are we going to do?…
Anxious, overexcited In this period when we are so curious but cowardly because we are preparing to set out for an unknown, and emotional transitions are at its peak, the solution that crosses my mind is this: to burn! I went crazy, “By God, let’s get rid of them all.” I keep saying. Then, I think of the ceiling lights we found by wandering the back streets of Şişhane until the black waters descended on our feet, the paintings we carefully collected from our travels, the handmade trinkets, the bar I eagerly designed and produced, and our chair where Luffy makes it a habit to pee after every cleaning.. How can I throw away our belongings that contain all the experiences of the years we were together with Uğur?! I’m over throwing it, the thought of leaving is shocking enough.
After long discussions, we found the solution to reduce things and move to a smaller house, at least we’ll pay less rent.. As in Istanbul, both house prices and rents are very high in the city center in Izmir.. However, as you move away from the city center, the numbers decrease drastically.. We started to look for the places where we can rent a house for the cheapest without considering the distance.. In the meantime, we discussed the business of buying a house, which we had never even thought of (or rather, CANNOT!). I think we had some luck and we decided to buy the last flat of a project that was discounted with the support of a loan.
It’s time to reduce the items…
Our house is like a second warehouse.. We don’t have anything that anyone doesn’t use, just in case we need them We didn’t buy too many things properly even after we got married, we always used our mothers’ old ones, for example, the washing machine was from Uğur’s grandmother! That’s what it’s like to spend money on travel.. Anyway… We returned some of them to those in need, but we still have large items such as bed bases, beds, tables, ovens.. Our dream is this: We will advertise and sell on sahibinden.com. In the worst case, we will deal with a spotter and give it to him collectively.
Then here are the facts.. After a long wait, we could not sell the surplus items to anyone on sahibinden.com. No one even texted. All the spotters I went to talk to, I put aside selling, “It’s not even worth sending a car for this much stuff.” he replied. We are left with the items that are too heavy to even put next to the garbage! Finally, one night, I made the price of all the items in the ad 5 TL and said that I would give them all for free if they come and buy them.. 50 messages received by morning. I replied to the most tidy one in Turkish and we got rid of the belongings the next day.
Step Two: Finding and Renting a House in Bahrain
I only included it by looking at the photos from whatsapp. I can say that I got through this stage very easily The process of going to Bahrain proceeded independently of our thoughts due to both visa procedures and Luffy’s relocation procedure.. It is impossible for a man who goes to work to Saudi Arabia to take his wife and children with him at the same time, because first a residence permit is issued to the employee, and a visa is issued to family members through that residence permit.. That’s why Uğur left in September and our departure was at the end of December.
During this period, Uğur spent his first month in a hotel in Saudi Arabia, which was met by the company, and at the same time looked for a furnished rental house in Bahrain.. Don’t think that he searched for a house for days, went back and forth twice and kept the house.. As someone who has changed houses many times throughout my life, I can say that the phase of looking for a house was very comfortable.
How did we rent a house even though we didn’t work in Bahrain?
Saudi Arabia’ There are many families working in Bahrain, especially Europeans prefer this method.. Both countries are aware of this situation.. You know who rented a house in Bahrain with a Saudi Arabian residence permit (iqama)?. In most of the rented houses for foreigners, all expenses (electricity, water, internet) are included in the rental price.. That’s why you have nothing to do with the state.. Even if you have a residence permit in Bahrain, you do not want to bear these costs on yourself, because the invoices for foreigners and residents are different.
The number of furnished rental houses in Bahrain is more than you can imagine.. Some houses are “fully furnished”; in other words, every material is available at home, from the cutlery in the kitchen.. Some houses are “semi-furnished”; There are only certain white goods, a bed and a closet inside.. As we did not want to spend like crazy on home furnishings when we arrived, we decided that a “fully furnished” house would be better for us and we turned to these alternatives.
How did they accept Luffy?
We had serious concerns about finding a fully furnished house with the dog in an Arab country.. I regret to say that although we were looking for a house with a garden in Izmir, we had a lot of trouble because we had a dog.. Unfortunately for dog owners, no one wanted to rent a house.. Bahrain is a terribly comfortable place for that matter.. There were a couple of homeowners who didn’t accept it because it was a dog, but we didn’t have to search for a home for weeks.. Your men already have a livelihood and no shortage of money, most people are not fond of their possessions. If the property is damaged, the landlord can renew it for the next tenant.. Since the landlord we agreed with is also of these standards, even though he has a belief that he would not want to be in the same environment with the dog when he came to visit the house, his dog did not have any problems.. Already, the former tenant also had a cat, they are used to the damaged property.
Which region did we choose in Bahrain?
(I am writing this part for those who are thinking of coming to this side, you can skip it :)) Bahrain , a country with a lot of foreigners, expat regions are equally high. The most critical issues for us were that Uğur was close to customs, considering that he would go to Saudi Arabia every day, there was a comfortable area around the house where I could take Luffy around, and there was a shopping mall within walking distance since I was without a car.. The region that met this best was Sar.. At the end of 5 months, I can say with peace of mind that we did not have any problems.
If Uğur had been working in Bahrain, our choice would definitely have been Amwaj or Seef.. These areas are by the sea, where mostly European and American foreigners live.. It is more modern in terms of both the face of the region and the interior of the houses.. In some houses, weekly housekeeping service is included in the rental price.. Frankly, it looked good when we looked from afar, as it is very close to the capital Manama and the centers where you can meet all your needs.
House rentals in Bahrain
Bahrain is a more expensive city than Saudi Arabia. country though not a Dubai. I will talk about expensive and cheap things in detail in another article, but if we make an evaluation by considering the average salary in the country, it would be unfair to say “extremely expensive”.
There is no limit to luxury here, friends.. If you want, if your financial situation is suitable, you can park your boat or jet ski in front of your house and live in a villa by the sea.. I’m not talking about their prices.. You can rent a house of 120 square meters in a modest and standard apartment in the regions I mentioned above, fully furnished, for an average of 400 BHD.. This figure drops as the size of the house gets smaller and more unfurnished options are available.. Numbers may increase as features such as sea view, pool or gym in the apartment are added.. But as I said, all expenses are included in these figures.. The air conditioner has been working at home since February, frankly I wonder how much electricity it costs.
You can find up-to-date information on rents and bills in Bahrain in the video below.
Third Step: Moving from Izmir to Bahrain
The easiest part was leaving the house in Izmir and moving to the house in Bahrain.. Apart from one big suitcase of clothes, we did not take any other belongings with us and we moved as if we were going on vacation.. We hardly did any clothes shopping in these 5 months.. We manage with what we have because we don’t feel the need.. When we go to Izmir again in June, we intend to bring one more suitcase.. The only advice I can give to those who will come is this: If I had my current mind, I would think the country is too hot and put more emphasis on winter clothes instead of putting on summer clothes.. There are times when it is 45 degrees outside and I wear a sweater indoors because those air conditioners always work in summer and winter, and the indoor areas are extremely cold. had been. Unfortunately, we are too late on this issue as we do not know.. Our state, which never misses such opportunities, immediately issued a GSS Premium Debt to Uğur.. When we return to Turkey, we will also try to have it deleted.. If you are planning to move abroad, I recommend that you keep this issue in the back of your mind.
The troubles of the house in Bahrain
We are more than satisfied with our life here and where we live, but nothing is perfect, of course, There are some problems that we ignore. Although these do not affect us much, I wanted to mention them briefly in case they may pose a problem for some people.
We do not have a dishwasher, nor did it in other rental houses we looked at.. “We’ll get it ourselves.” If we say, there is no place to put the dishwasher at home.. Washing machine is in the kitchen as there are no sockets in the bathrooms. Starting to wash dishes by hand after years is not a problem, but it causes serious water consumption.
I think that dusting is not a problem unique to the house we live in.. We live in the desert after all. No matter how hot the weather is, I open the window every day to ventilate the house and those tiny desert dusts fill every corner.. Even when we go out, we carry that dust all over the house.. Glasses are a nightmare! A person who is meticulous about cleaning may need to clean or have the house cleaned every day.
I can bear any problem, but I also have sensitive points that may cause me to move out of the house.. One of them is a cockroach! There is a serious cockroach and mouse problem across Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to extreme heat and littering. Probably not in every house and neighborhood, but ours is one of the neighborhoods that has an insect problem.. We are comfortable for now as we live on the third floor of the apartment.. Uğur said that when he first moved in, he often killed insects in the house when the weather was much warmer.. Since he is Luffy, it is not so easy to have chemical spraying.. I’ve been waiting like a sacrificial lamb right now, frankly, waiting for the day when they’ll visit the house again.
“There’s so much to tell.” I’m not exaggerating when I say. In the article you have patiently read so far, I only talked about moving to Bahrain and the details of the house.. I can shape my new posts more easily according to your questions.. Therefore, I would be very grateful if you could send your questions as comments.. If you are interested, you can also check out my Bahrain posts on Youtube.
Articles That Might Interest You
Life Abroad Series-4: We’re in Trouble with the Host »
Misconceptions about Working in Bahrain»
Salaries and Minimum Wage Details in Bahrain»
How is Ramadan Going in Bahrain?»
If you liked “Moving to Bahrain and House Details” click to read articles about life abroad. To be updated about other articles, you can subscribe to the e-mail group by filling out the form at the bottom of the page or follow my social media accounts.