Housing hunting pt 2 (moving in)

Hanging out on the roof

On moving day I watched a couple hours of music videos with my host sisters, waiting for the call that the landlord was available to give me the keys and sign the contract. At 11 AM I finally got the call—the keys were mine, but the landlord was busy and couldn’t deal with the contract. After many reassurances from people involved that I wouldn’t move in only to have to move out again, I brought my luggage that had come from America to the house.

And started cleaning. Things here get dirty fast, and I don’t think the house had been cleaned since it was built. My friends who came with me started in sweeping and wiping things down, while I grabbed a mop and started following behind. And wait, the kitchen is locked! The landlord had lost the key for the kitchen between the time I looked at the house and the time I got the keys! He assured my friend over the phone that he would look for it and send the key with someone as soon as it was located. Well, okay, that wasn’t the only key I was waiting for.

moving in

When I left Clove Island back in April I packed up a bunch of things to store, intending to store them at the house I’d agreed to rent. Well, the roads weren’t drivable (due to protesters and boulders in the road), so I hadn’t been able to get things there. That was good, considering that I didn’t end up renting that house. But my things were stored with a friend, and the friend had traveled to China, and his wife had the key. Well, when I told her that I was moving on Monday she said “no problem, I will be available with the key.” But when I called her to say when I wanted to get my things she said, “I’m in a far away village and will get back in the afternoon, I’ll call when I return.” So I was waiting for the kitchen key and the key for the house where the rest of my things were.

I went out for lunch, ran some errands of things I needed for the house, and made lists of what I would do, buy, or ask the landlord for when the opportunity came. 

Late afternoon came and went with no call. A couple friends with a small SUV came to help me move, but there was nothing to move yet. So we prayed over the house and visited.

Figuring out connections for the stove

Finally, after sunset, I got the call: she was back with the key! So I called my other friends and we all met up, carrying things to the SUV, dealing with mouse dropping and rat-chewed box corners. And then we carried the stove out… and there was extra movement! A shy little mouse refused to exit his happy dwelling in the bottom of the stove. After a little flurry of nervousness and attempts to extract the mouse, we ended up just taking the mouse with us to the new house.

Two trips later, everything was delivered. I still had no kitchen access, but I had all my things! A few items had new holes and everything smelled pretty musty (that’s what happens when storing things in the tropics), but the anticipated moment had arrived. 

Since moving in, I’ve been troubleshooting—connecting up a new stove, figuring out the water and power schedule, washing laundry, figuring out how to store things with no dresser/closet, and getting to know the neighbors. The lady across the alley has already declared her family as my family and herself as my mother, so I guess I’m doing pretty well.  ;)

Merry Christmas!