We Finally Moved!

It was a busy week, but the most important thing is that we are finally out of the 21st Century (our hotel) and in our new apartment!! I should say that the hotel was not really a great inconvenience being quite modern and right next door to the school. But everybody likes to have their own place and some extra space to stretch out. We are very pleased with our apartment; it has a view of the courtyard and is at the end of the hall and should be quite private. Of course it is in the school compound and I am about 50 yards from my classroom - how’s that for a commute! The apartment itself is small but quite adequate; it is a one bedroom with a small kitchen, livingroom and a single bathroom. The living room furniture is a bit garish - orange and violet - but comfortable enough. The school also supplied us with sheets and bedding, dishes and pots and pans and that sort of thing. There are a few things to arrive - a microwave for one - but we have a washer, air conditioning and a nice TV with ESPN, Discovery, 2 movie channels and a few other English stations. Unfortunately the Internet is not hooked up yet so we are still quite restricted with Internet access.

The school guards moved our suitcases in on Friday and the first apartment we were assigned to had no power so there were a few tense moments while that was sorted out. We ended up being moved to another apartment on the 5th floor that had a better location. As soon as we got our bags in Friday night, we left to go to dinner with Don & Eve. When we got back, most of the rest of the supplies had been delivered and we made the bed and piled in. Saturday I got up early and walked down to the Alpha Bakery about 3 blocks away to get real coffee and some croissants. Then we started to clean up the new place; it was quite dusty from the construction. The materials in the apartment are quite nice - marble and ceramic tiles - but sometimes the workmanship leaves something to be desired with grout and caulking splashed around. The painting is also a bit haphazard. They seem to spray everything and worry about getting it off where it doesn’t belong later.

After cleaning and unpacking, Brenda went out to buy a few things to make the place more homey - placemats and small carpets. I went out with Steve, one of our colleagues who is interested in technology, to an electronics market to buy a few necessities. I got a USB memory stick and a set of speakers and a subwoofer to hook up to the iPod so we can have some music. The speakers cost $40 but put out a nice sound. The electronic market was quite something - 4 floors full of technology. I will be back there! I also bought a battery for the Canon camera which has not worked since we got here. Unfortunately, the battery did not revive it.

We definitely need a few more things for the apartment but we are reluctant to buy too much in case the school will supply it. But we will get a few lamps and a coffee maker - there is definitely a shortage of coffee in this country and what you can get is expensive. There is a real opportunity here for a Tim Horton’s franchise!
First Posted September 17, 2006