Apartment Living

So we’ve been in our apartment for a couple weeks now and I figured I should tell you all a little about it. It’s got its good points and its bad points.

First of all, we have a washer and dryer and a full kitchen! These are wonderful things to have that I missed a lot in the hotel. Now, we can bake things if we want to and there is actually a decent amount of working space for chopping vegetables and preparing dinner. The refrigerator is almost full-size! We can store all sorts of food! And we can do laundry at our convenience. It still takes longer for a load of wash here than in the states, but I can get it going and then go do something else, like watch “Thomas the Train” for the 3rd time that day because it’s the only DVD of a train that we have and trains are what William wants to watch. I try to fool him into thinking there may be some trains on TV so I can channel surf from time to time, but generally there aren’t either trains or things worth watching on our TV. I like living on the fourth floor again because that means that I can leave the windows open all night long (and all day if I like) and take advantage of cool breezes. I also like that we may be on the top floor but our entrance is street level thanks to the steepness of Mt Carmel. I don’t have to climb all those stairs!

An unfortunate thing is that if I want to walk anywhere, it involves hills and stairs. And there don’t seem to be any parks nearby. There is a nice stairway/path beside our apartment and the landlady claims it is merely a 5-minute climb down to some great shopping centers. She suggests, though, that in my pregnant condition I should catch a taxi for the ride back up. Of course, 5-minutes for a healthy person, even a healthy pregnant person is one thing. Try doing it with a 2-year-old. William and I took about 30 minutes one morning and made it almost down to the level of the next street. Then, something upset him and I had to carry him back – almost 5 flights worth of stairs. We attempted it a couple days ago and made it down 2 street levels (I’d guess about 10 flights worth). We found a tiny grocery store at that street, bought some treats and headed back up the stairs. We took about an hour and I was ready to stop climbing well before we reached our street. Good thing William takes it so slow. So, it’s not the best location for a pregnant lady with a 2-yr-old. Luckily, when Kip and Scott ride together to work, I can drive over to Tiffany’s and take advantage of things like their super-huge (comparatively) toy collection and all-day computer access. Plus, William enjoys playing with the other kids (or fighting).

Meanwhile, we’re getting used to sharing a room with William. Our only other option is to put him in the TV room, but then I couldn’t stay up after he’s gone to bed and get annoyed with the lack of decent programming. Plus, Kip often has meetings in the evening. His internet connection is in the entrance room, so he has to sit at the desk in there with his computer and telephone. It’s right by the door to the TV room, so that would be hard on William. So, we put him to bed and then I do things like the dishes (no dishwasher – man, I miss that machine…) and Kip does his meetings and eventually we head in and join our little snoring bundle of joy.

So, it will be fine for a couple of months. In fact, it’s really pretty comfortable. I wish there was a park, but we’ll make do until we come back to Oregon. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the good chocolate and the yummy fruit juices and guessing what is in the jars and cans of food in the grocery store.