Movin On Up

My first full weekend in the new apartment = major progress in setting up a life here.

Membership at the American Recreation Association, check! (ARA in future posts, also known as American Club) Now I have full access to their gym, BAR (double bonus, the dry country thing was starting to be a drag), restaurant, pool, tennis courts, AND. . .wait for it. . .Monday night football. Yes, this Monday I will watch football, of the American variety, with a beer on a big screen at the ARA. Score.

Tailor assigned to make slip covers and curtains for the apartment, check! Pranab was tailoring a few things for me when I was staying in the hotel but this is the first time he's making 'household' things. The fact that the apartment is furnished is great but the downside is who knows how old the furniture is or how many people have used it. Pranab's great and I should have the slip covers this week.

Hire housekeeper, check! I felt a bit uneasy at first about having someone be in my space and do things for me that I am perfectly capable of doing myself. But after asking some colleagues about how I should do certain things like spraying for mosquitoes, and taking out the trash, and the answer being, 'just have your maid do it' I started to give in. The final straw was when Pranab asked if he could work in my apartment to finish to slip covers and said he would just be here when the maid is. I guess everyone expects me to hire house help so I can't disappoint.

Internet at apartment, check! After a attempting to work through language barrier problems with the internet installation man for about 20 frustrating minutes I finally called a colleague and had her translate over the phone. Problem solved in about 4 minutes. Note to self, call in the translator before the point of frustration.

Now all I need to do is get access to the U.S. Commissary for supreme grocery shopping and get my shipment of household goods from the U.S. and I'll be all set.