new digs

We moved into our apartment at the beginning of November. We had stayed with N and J for a month in anticipation that G and P would be moving out at the end of October. It was great to stay with them as they took us under their wing (s?) and showed us the good place to get eggs. Their house is beautiful, big, and airy. High ceilings really help to keep the air moving and the hot air rising away from your head. That said, we were really looking forward to our big move.

moved our stuff from here over to there

We were supposed to move on Monday but by Saturday evening they were out. We grabbed our toothbrushes and sheets and away we went. It was exciting. It is just great to not be house-guests anymore where you feel like you’re always underfoot. Plus our kitchen is our own and so are the tv channels (though we’re without the cable (see post about lightning strike)).

The apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s pretty sweet. It is hotter than N and J’s place as it is on ground level and our old place is above. We sleep at night with the a/c on. We tried the first night without it but now it’s a permanent fixture. (a couple of nights we’ve lost power (there are power outages now that the election is over …) and awoken in a sauna (on tv they make mosquito nets look like some glamourous, exotic accoutrement but they’re hotter than a rap star).

When we got here the apartment was dirty. Kind of weird. Not untidy like you would expect from tenants that moved out in a hurry but dirty like accumulated filth. But, we had at our disposal two housecleaners and two handymen for a couple of days so we were in top shape in no time. Even now we have a housecleaner on Mondays and Thursdays. The housecleaner bursts into laughter at my halting Swahili or her limited English every time she tries to tell me something. At least G and P left behind several soda pops (Fanta Orange!) when they left. And Grappa (P is Brazillian).

We have our own patio, which I can use to lounge and write blog posts. There is a fan overhead, which helps to keep cool and discourage the mosquitoes. The sun doesn’t hit it in here until late in the afternoon so that’s nice too. The gardener dug up the children’s sand box and planted some sort of tropical plant (whatever it is, I wouldn’t now what it was even if it were a native species to my home town). She did the digging with a cast on her arm. She’d been off for a week because she was in a dalladalla (bus) accident. But she had to come back because, well, I would assume she needed the money. I don’t think the benefits covered it.

cutting our lawn

N wanted us to move the stove out of the kitchen and out on to the patio which I think would be kind of nice. However, there are people in the world that mind mosquito bites terribly. I’m not one of those people* but someone (not naming names) that I live with is. Sitting over the stove at dusk while the mosqies look for their evening feed would not be good for house harmony. 

* I suspect this is from being practically carried off by the damn things, while sweat streams in to my eyes, with a canoe on my back, vainly blowing on the ones you can see on your forearms. Omg I just realized how hard my life is.