Apartment Shopping

3/6/12

We had a productive day today. Yesterday we were planning to go apartment shopping and the branch clerk, who translated for us last Monday, didn't make any appointments and said he couldn't go. I was so frustrated with having to wait on others; so today, we called a sister from the branch and she was able to make an appointment to see a place at 5:00. While we waited, we walked to a copy shop I had seen and were able to get some music printed off from some that I had saved to a thumb drive. Yeah! (Everyone in the shop said they couldn't speak English, but one of the clerks called someone and they helped him.) I got out our iPad and asked, by miming, and saying "wifi", if they could print from the pad. The answer was "nem", (no). I then went into a realtor's office and announced that I couldn't speak or understand Hungarian and asked if anyone could speak English. (All in Hungarian.) Each person in turn said, "nem". So I left and joined Richard in looking at the postings that were in the window. (They turned out to be places that were for sale, not rent.) A couple of minutes later, one of the realtors came out and said he could speak a little English and if I would give him our phone number, he would have a friend of his call us with any listings they had. I was so excited! We then went to a store and were able to find a little mirror on a stand, (I've been using my compact to do my hair!), a toothbrush holder, and soap dish. I've felt like I was camping and it was so nice to fish my soap out of an old enamel cup and put it in that soap holder! Small pleasures....not necessities, but nicesities.

The apartment we looked at was so nice. It was remodeled last year and had new flooring, fridge (still half-size, but nice little freezer), oven with a temperature nob, microwave, dishwasher and four or five little drawers in the kitchen. (We currently don't have any of those things.) The kitchen was not furnished, but they said they could get us some things. It also had a couch and love seat in the living room and a separate bedroom. There was no bed in the room, but they said they would get one. They also said that they would get an entertainment center of some kind for the living room and another table and chairs set. (These places only have a tiny table and two stools in the kitchen.) It also had its own thermostat. (In the rest of the apartments, the heat is controlled by the building. On a certain date in the fall, the heat is turned on. On a date in the spring, it is turned off. I have been so over-warm and have had to have our windows open because it is so hot. Dad says he has loved the heat, but I will be glad to have some control over when and how much we use.) It is about a mile from the church, whereas we are about a 5 minute walk, and the front of the building faces an alley lined with storage sheds; so we are going to look at some places that the branch clerk said he'd have lined up for Saturday, and then we'll decide. I'll be surprised if we find anything closer or nicer, but at last we've really taken some steps toward settling down and settling in. It will be great to get out of our suitcases, which we've been living out of since the 10th of Feb.)