Apartment hunting

When I came to France for the first time in March it was for the purpose of finding an apartment/house that we would live in for the next 2-4 years.  I say 2-4 because David's "assignment" was to be 3-5 years and he has been living in France since October 1, 2012.  I also say that because it will make my friends, family AND me feel better.

Strasbourg's "centreville" or city center is encircled by a waterway.  It is a flurry of activity during all hours of the day.  David thought it best to find someplace inside the channel so that it would be easy for us to get around and for me to be connected. Enter Laurance, our realtor.  

Unfortunately, for Laurance, I can be picky.  When we moved to Fishers, we looked at 27 properties in a day and a half. (Some of these I nixed without even getting out of the car) My family gave up and stayed by the hotel pool on Saturday and let me narrow down the options.  They joined me when I had found "it" so that they could feel like they had a "say" in the decision too.  Not to say that I am ALWAYS right, but everyone loves our Indiana home with its peaceful backyard.

Back to Laurance.  Because we were focusing in centreville, we were WALKING.  We looked at 10 properties and I didn't just "love" any of them.  There was one that I did like a lot...unfortunately, it had beams running along the ceiling of the second floor.  They added a lot of character to the apartment, but were about 3 inches too low for my 6'2" husband to navigate.  He leaves for work before 6AM everyday and is on autopilot.  There was no way he was going to remember to DUCK every morning.

At 5:00, we didn't yet have a clear "winner", but had 2 or 3 that we could "live with".  Laurance headed home.  David and I discussed our pros and cons for each of the finalists over dinner and each prayed about where God would have us move before we went to bed that night.

God is good.  He put the same apartment on both our hearts.  We had made our choice.  Now to go back and check it out from a "I'm moving in here" eye.  In France, many of the apartments did not come with appliances.  That's ok, it's like that in the US too.  You rarely move into a new house that includes a refrigerator, right?  Well, OUR apartment not only didn't have a fridge, it didn't have anything except a kitchen sink.  Yes, that is right, there were no cabinets on the walls, no stove, no floor cabinets.  There wasn't even a light fixture!!  Just a bare lightbulb and a ugly sink.  It does however, have an AWESOME view of Strasbourg's famous cathedral.

Off to IKEA!! I was on overload after the first 45 minutes.  Laurance and David met with the Ikea people to set up an installer to come out and measure the kitchen.  I went to buy David a soda.  There are a lot of people here that speak English....I don't think any of them work at Ikea.  Thankfully, Laurance was an expert translator.

I worked "on-line" to design the kitchen cabinetry and pick out the appliances.  David was the actual "chooser" for all the final finishes (countertops, cabinet fronts, handles, NEW sink, etc). He did a great job....well, except for the fridge.  I wanted an "American" fridge....instead, I got something that is barely a step-up from the fridge that DJ has in his dorm room.  Let's just say that our ice cube trays and ice container take up half of the freezer area.

The most important appliance in our apartment is our dryer.  Not gonna lie, it's my favorite.  (No, I never thought I would say that in my lifetime!!)  David didn't have one for the first 7 months he lived in France.  We would FaceTime everyday and I would see him with his laundry on the drying rack.  There is nothing more inhumane than using a cardboard like towel to dry yourself off with after a relaxing shower.  He had teased me and said that he had looked and there were not any dryers in France. You better bet that was the first thing I looked for when I arrived.  It's not like a US dryer....it has a removable tank that collects the "water" from the clothes and that has to be emptied about every 5 loads.  The clothes don't come out "hot and dry", they come out "warm and damp", but at least they aren't CRUNCHY.

That's all for today folks.  I'm headed to the grocery.  That experience is one that I'll be sure to share with you on a  later post.....it'll be a page turner for sure.  

May you experience God's abundant life and peace as you go on about your day.  Remember to thank Him for the many blessings He places in your path daily.... because what if you woke up tomorrow and only had the things that you thanked Him for today?  OUCH!  I'm convicted.  Much love!