Apartment Hunting

Vlado and I have been busy the whole weekend checking out apartments and let me just tell you how tiring and confusing it can be. Yesterday we checked out 4 apartments of different kinds. At the end of the day I have collected a dozen images in my mind which made me confused which room belong to which apartment and met some interesting people too.

Let me just tell you before you indulged in such a challenging day, you need some important things to make your search successful. Organization is the key! A bit sleepy but ready with our gadgets (really important if you are have to move in 2 months time): a notebook to write down some extra information, 2 ballpens (one might run out of ink so better be prepared), a printed info sheet about the apartment from the internet, a folder to put all the paper from all those apartments we are visiting, a digital camera (so i won't be confused with all those apartment --didn't help a lot though my shots were not so good) and an extra set of battery for the digital camera in case it might run out of battery (it did actually, good planning!). Aside from that, I made myself presentable (the agents or our future landlords will be judging us not only from our payslips but also from our looks and aura), wore a happy color, put on some makeup to highlight my special features (as if I'm joining a beauty contest) and cleaned my eyesglasses to look serious (yes, this is a serious couple who will not party every night and bring the house on fire) and charged myself a full battery supply of good mood for the day.
Apartment #1 with an appointment at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. it was hard to be exactly on time especially without coffee. The drive to the apartment reminded us of Canadian Rockies (although to be honest we haven't been there yet) just seeing snow all over and going through those zigzag roads and seing those trees probably gave us this image of Canada. There were ice on the road and snow on the roofs whereas where we live snow has long melted (the big question pops to mind ..how can i drive on snow and ice?) Anyway, ready with all our gadgets and a big smile, we met the agent on the driveway. On our way to the apartment we read in our info paper that the apartment has 2 bedrooms, located in the ground floor with a garden (Baghira the cat needs his walk and favorite sport hunting once in a while), etc etc... Looking at the house from outside, the house was big , with a good view of the so called "Canadian Rockies" However, there was some confusion, instead of seeing the garden we were led upstairs ( I really didn't like the corridor and the stairs going to the apartment it reminded me of twilight zone or something I don't know why, as if the wall is coming to my face.) Instead of 2 bedrooms, a big and a small one .. we saw 2 huge bedrooms and 1 big bedroom and a dining and a living room enough to fit our apartment now( well a bit exaggeration but you know what I mean) with a sort of antique fireplace in the middle (we learned later you can just collect firewood in the nearby forest almost direct from the entrance of the house). A nice kitchen with intricately designed cupboards (thought it would look nice in old blue), a room in the attic for our stuff and a washroom area.. a parking area included in the price. Is this a good offer? The price was within our budget something like 940 euro. Whoa! Good deal huh?!?But there are buts, the landlady who lives in the house doesn't seem friendly to me (well I guess she didn't wear a happy color and didn't make herself presentable and didn't show her best smile and although she didn't wear any eyeglasses she really looked serious and wanted her 940 euros every 30th of the month or something like that) her aura is a bit negative like if my music is a bit loud (which I normally do) she would start banging the ceiling with her broom or if Baghira the cat starts meowing (which he also normally does) she will send the dog upstairs to eat him(although I guess he is not bigger than him). Yes, that's another minus, instead of Baghira hunting the mice, the dog will be hunting him. Since we don't have direct access to the garden (we would be living on the second floor) that means I have to pass through that creepy corridor everyday....that thought send me the quivers...
Well that wraps up the first apartment, I will let you know about the second one in my next entry. It's getting late and tomorrow is Monday so I have those wild kids waiting out for me full of energy like the rabbits in the energizer battery commercial .. going and going and going...