We officially moved into our new apartment on Saturday, yippee! Our furniture arrives from the States tomorrow.
Our new place so far has been… interesting. For the following reasons:
1. The day before we moved, our landlady called to tell us they’d shut off water and electricity in the whole building. The neighbors alternate paying the bill each month, and someone paid in the wrong place. (Long story.) Luckily, everything appears to be fine now. Although the faucets sputter a bit if you try to wash laundry at the same time.
2. The very-cute-but-tiny washer/dryer combination sometimes moans and gurgles like it’s alive. It also takes 55 minutes to wash maybe 13 articles of clothing. I’m considering a laundry service. Or dragging out the period of time that I wear a blouse or T-shirt. Oh god, I didn’t even think of towels. I think you can fit maybe two towels in there. (Ok, I’ll stop.)
3. We tried to cook a frozen pizza last night (oh how I miss Amy’s), only to discover that when we turned the oven knob, nothing happened. Only a strong odor of gas. I frantically called my dad, who has spent his life working for the Southern California Gas Company, and asked him what to do. Because, you know, he could fix the problem sight unseen. He promised to look up the stove’s model on the Internet.
Then I called my landlady, who said– DUH — you have to light the pilot manually. (And then she probably hung up the phone muttering, “What have I got myself into?”) But I didn’t know where the pilot was and I didn’t want to burn the house down. Crayton finally just leaned into the oven with a match, and the pilot ignited, and everything was fine. The pizza, unfortunately, was kind of mediocre.
I think things should feel normal sometime around April.
On the upside, we went to the tianguis on Sunday and bought fresh spinach and fruit. Also, there appears to be a cantina around the corner from our house. And a shop that makes “artisanal sweets.” Mmm.