Hotel living

It's late Thursday evening here.  We left the US on Thursday, but it hasn't really been a whole week because of the 18 hour time difference.  Those 18 hours are funny.  We're only six hours off of the time zone we left -- and a whole day.  To figure out what time it is at home, I add six hours.  Then subtract one day.  It is 8pm here, which means it is 2am at home.  We're finished with January 2nd, but at home, they haven't even started it. 

Don't worry, guys.  January 2nd was not a bad day.  You're going to like it. 

Since I last wrote, we became the proud owners of a 12 month aquarium pass.  We only have to visit three times for the 12 month pass to be worth the money.  We wondered at first whether we would come back two more times.  But by the time we walked through the tunnel of sharks, we decided we would. 

That was yesterday.

Today, we toured more properties. 

On Monday, we toured our dream apartment.  It is furnished, on the corner of the 36th floor of a new building, with views of the skyline in one direction, and the city stretching to the suburbs in another direction.  It's only a couple of blocks from shopping, not far from a reasonable school for Jonathan, and even walking distance to work for me.  And there is a pool. 

The above picture, taken from the realtor's website, does not do justice to the view.

But today, after seeing a few other places, our dream apartment might have changed.  This afternoon, we toured an apartment a little further out.  Its back is up against a 100 acre park.  Directly across the park is one of the top schools in the area, which would be Jonathan's school for the time we are here, barring some weird rules on length of enrolment, etc.

The grocery stores are a little further away, I couldn't walk to work, and there isn't the same spectacular view.  But the tram ride to work takes just 20 minutes, and trams come every four minutes to the stop directly in front of the complex.  And there is a nice park.  And the place is fully furnished and equipped, 800 dollars cheaper per month, with utilities included.  We could really see ourselves living a good life there.  In fact, Jonathan declared as we were walking through the park that it was tied for first place for him, tied with the spectacular view apartment.  Since he doesn't even factor in the cost, that's saying a great deal.

In any case, we are eager to move.  I am growing very tired of hotel living.  It isn't all bad.  There is wifi in the room.  And someone else will make the bed, if you let them.  But after not-quite-one-week, various other things are becoming more and more bothersome. 

For example, there is just one bedroom.  And I'm tired of going to bed early with the early bedtime guy.  I'm also tired of waking up at 3am with the Cough.  I'm tired of having no counter space in the bathroom, and no table for meals, and a mini fridge.  I'm tired of eating out, or eating things that come prepared.  It gets harder to eat fruits and veggies that way.  And now that we're approaching the one week mark, we'll have to go find a coin laundry.  We haven't found it yet, but I'm tired already of doing the laundry with a coin machine. 

I can't wait until we are settled! 

Meanwhile, it is still lovely living here in the city in the summer.  More info to come.