moving day

to make a long story short, there was another big run-around spanning several days,to get cell phones, with many things required, but finally, j and i each got one. then, we packed up our bags and moved our stuff to the apartment to take up residence. we are very pleased with the apt. it is in an older building (adds charm), has creaky uneven floors and is up 3 flights of stairs – no elevator. the layout is reasonable, with rectangular rooms (no weird shapes) and the living area is separated from the bedrooms by a door. it is 72 sq meters – or 775 square feet. this is quite a bit smaller than our suburban house of 1900 sq feet, not including finished basement and attic storage space, but it’s enough space for us. we knew it would be different. we are quite pleased with having everything furnished. unfurnished paris apartments sometimes have unfurnished kitchens, which means no stove, oven, fridge, microwaves or cabinets. this apt has beds, couches and even sheets and towels. i was thinking i wouldn’t be able to fit my clothes in the limited amount of drawers and wardrobe, but since we could only bring what would fit in our 2 suitcases, we have plenty of room. we are over a metro line and can hear and feel the rumble of the subway train every few minutes. loud motorbikes speed by on the road below the windows. but we have a famous cafe across the street, a fruit/vegetable shop next to it, a pharmacy downstairs and a park at the end of the block. we went to the cafe for dinner.we knew we would have a different lifestyle here, so this apt’s size is fine. we have a dual washing machine/dryer. i’ve always been skeptical about the dryer part of these machines and have never seen one actually work. i tried it and it seems to just heat up the wet clothes so hot that (when i gave up on it and pulled the clothes out) i could barely touch them. i thought i would not be able to live like the old days without a real dryer, but, i find that it’s just not a big deal to hang up the laundry over the tub on a rack. i set up a laundry line in the bedroom. anyway, there is a laundromat around the corner when it is too cold to keep the windows open.

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