Getting settled

Home at last, for now.

We moved from our hotel to the temporary apartment - a vintage building not far from our office and have spent the past couple of days doing things that are mundane in everyday life but rather exciting in a foreign country. We keep going into grocery stores and wandering around just looking (and buying chocolate...because it would be weird to leave a grocery store empty handed right?) because everything is just so different. Filling our teeny little fridge for the first time was an adventure as was the first load of laundry in the microscopic washer/dryer (one machine, two long and very noisy jobs).

There was a rather nerve wracking moment as I sat there, anxiously listening to the aforementioned washer/dryer as it made noises implying that it was about to pull away from the wall and rocket into space. It didn't, surprisingly, and a mere 3.5 hours later our clothing was both clean and dry. Lesson learned: leave house to do other things when clothes are being washed or risk being deafened by the whirring and whining of the little raccoon that is obviously trapped inside this small strange device.

Classiest lunch around: Fresh bread, a little cheese and delicious beef jerky. (Stop judging me, Internet. Ever heard of creature comforts?)

For documenting.

This couch is coated in Teflon, I swear to god. It looks so modern and hip, but the last thing it wants you to do is sit on it. In the photo above I have had to wedge one foot between the cushions to avoid being ejected. Heaven help those who fall asleep on it. I hear one guy went missing and was never found.

So we are settled for the time being and have been spending our time apartment hunting and acclimating ourselves to our new surroundings. Work begins in earnest on Monday so I'm grateful to have a little extra time to adjust.

Sidenote: I need to learn French like, tomorrow. It is so frustrating to be surrounded by people and have no idea what any of them are saying (it is putting a major cramp in my love of eavesdropping). Any tips that anyone has for becoming fluent in an entire language in just a few hours, if you could send them my way I will be eternally grateful. In all seriousness, our 'survival' French courses start on Monday, but that is doing nothing to quell my impatience.