Ups and downs

I’m sorry for poor updating but this has been a crazy week, the move-in being a real rollercoaster ride. I spent my first night in the apartment last Sunday, and I must admit that the whole experience awoke all kinds of feelings in me. For the first time since I left Sweden, I started getting really homesick, missing my comfortable life in Gothenburg. Longing for stability and familiar faces. Luckily, one of the neighboring bars hosted some kind of wild karaoke party that night, keeping me company as I lay awake staring at the ceiling. I must say that the crowd happily bawling out Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” (sic) at 1 am actually made me feel a little less lonesome and a bit more cheerful; any other night it would probably have bothered the heck out of me, but not this night.

Since then, things have improved considerably, albeit with a few interesting incidents. To summarize:

Sunday: Moved in, finally. New floors, cupboards, countertop, bathroom cabinet, light fixtures. Apartment not quite ready, though. Paint fumes and dust. Shelves missing in cupboards. Gas stove not working (no ignition). New bathroom cabinet wouldn’t close. Sigh.

Monday: Bathroom cabinet fixed, shelves installed in cupboards, apartment cleaned. Stove still not working. Sigh.

Tuesday: Took the day off and went to IKEA in Renton by bus. (My friends and colleagues just look at me like I'm mad when I tell them this. You did what? The bus!? No no no… We’ll drive you there, for Chrissake!) Anyway, it worked out pretty okay, even if it may not have been the most time-efficient mode of transportation. This wouldn’t have bothered me much if it wasn't for a rendezvous I had scheduled later that afternoon. I was buying a used kitchen table I'd found through Craigslist, and managed to get to the appointed place in time after hurrying as much as I could. 20 minutes later, I had to realize that I'd been stood up... Not much to do; I dragged my tired body back to the move-in mess. Back to the non-working stove. Sigh.

Wednesday: The kitchen table-guy emailed and apologized, offered the table for free if I still wanted it. Me: yay! I had already arranged for Nancy to help me transport a bed frame I was buying from another woman, so the timing was great. One hour before we were leaving I got an email from the woman, containing one sentence: “Already sold it.” Oh, come on… Tried to stay positive. Picked up the kitchen table, which was perfect. Finally, some good news! Showed Nancy the improvements in the apartment since she last saw it; opened the refrigerator to demonstrate that the hinges had been moved from the left side to the right – and the door came off. Eh... Awkward. I couldn’t get it to close properly and the landlord wouldn’t answer his phone all evening, so I simply gave up and went to sleep. (It really didn’t matter that much as I hadn’t stocked up on food anyway, because the stove still wasn’t working.) Sigh. 

Thursday: Landlord apologized for not noticing my phone calls, promised to fix refrigerator door and stove right away. Emailed later and told me that he needed some spare parts; the fridge was temporarily fixed but I had to use some force to shut it properly. The stove still wasn’t working, but a repair guy was on his way. Sigh.

Friday: New email from landlord, saying that the stove was deemed unworthy of repair. New stove would wait for me when I came home. And it did! And it works! (Also, fridge door taken care of.) YAY!