I've Moved In To My Apartment!!
Last weekend a moment I've been waiting two months for (or should I say five) finally happened... I moved into my apartment!
After spending five months under many different roofs, it is soooo nice to finally have my own place, to cook what I want and when I want. To sleep, to clean, to stare at the beautiful mountains or study Dirijia. Ahhh it's been so relaxing.
Interesting thoughts about moving into a new apartment in a developing country:
Principle No#1: Donkey's do not deserve humane treatment, they simply serve the purpose of hauling as much stuff as their straining limbs will allow until they die.
- I hired a man, his donkey and cart to pick up my stuff from my host family's home and drive it across town. I had to look away when he poked and smacked the donkey with his stick... there were patches where his hair was worn away and blood was oozing down his backside from the abuse.
Principle No#2: Whatever you do, expect to have to redo or return several times before actually accomplishing the task.
- I finally got the key from my Landlord on Saturday, after a week of sitting around with packed up bags. (Each day I would hear: "Oh maybe tomorrow it will be ready..." and then it wouldn't.) By 9AM I was buying cleaning supplies from a hanut down the street and sweeping out the construction dust, rubbing down the walls, and scraping paint of tile and windows. By 5PM I was just about to start washing down all the floors when a guy walked in with a sander... to sand the concrete layer off the floor in the bathroom (they ruined it after installing my beautiful bathtub). He didn't mention closing doors or being careful, but within minutes I discovered a big white cloud of cement dust enveloping the apartment. I shut one door and washed the floor. When he finished an hour later, I walked out to discover the entire place completely covered in a white layer of dust. Antoine (my site mate who's apartment is directly below mine and connected by an open skylight) was sitting outside, just watching the "smoke" billow out of his apartment. I felt like I was walking on the moon.... and started the cleaning process all over again. (They are still working on the compact cement floor on the roof, so I'm assuming we'll get to enjoy another dust storm shortly.)
- Many things were not ready when I moved in: water and electric meters, light bulbs, electric outlet fixtures. We (my site mate Antoine and I, as our apartments are stacked one on top of the other) had to go sign contracts at four different offices on three different days to buy meters, make more copies of passports, get receipts from the post office, and have them installed. No biggie. A lot of countries and areas of Morocco do not even have running water or electricity.
- The water and electric companies do not know where to install meters and paraphernalia ... I think that none of the systems are standardized here, so installing something requires the aid of the builder. When the phone/internet company came to install the line, they strung a line all the way from down another street, across several buildings and another long distance before winding it into one of the windows in the apartment, tacking it to the wall all the way through the living room to a phone outlet. I asked them why they didn't just use the phone outlet already installed. They said they didn't know where the other end of it was on the outside of the building, only the landlord did, so they just stuck it in a window! The landlord showed up and groaned. He said he would just redo it another day. Yet another fun item to be done and redone. When we finally finished the paperwork process for the water meter, one guy picked up a meter and walked back to the apartments with us. We asked if he knew where to install it. He affirmed it and headed to the back of the apartment. Half an hour later he knocked on the door. "Where is it?" After showing him where, Antoine gave him his phone number in case he had more trouble.
Well... that's enough for now. I'm going on buying sprees getting bulk flour/sugar/oil type stuff, kitchen appliances, carpets, hopefully some kind of chair/ponge that will fit in my budget, and lots more. I'll post photos soon.
The second night I took a luxurious hot bath (after I cleaned off enough white dust to be able to see the bathtub) with candlelight and felt like a queen.
After spending five months under many different roofs, it is soooo nice to finally have my own place, to cook what I want and when I want. To sleep, to clean, to stare at the beautiful mountains or study Dirijia. Ahhh it's been so relaxing.
Interesting thoughts about moving into a new apartment in a developing country:
Principle No#1: Donkey's do not deserve humane treatment, they simply serve the purpose of hauling as much stuff as their straining limbs will allow until they die.
- I hired a man, his donkey and cart to pick up my stuff from my host family's home and drive it across town. I had to look away when he poked and smacked the donkey with his stick... there were patches where his hair was worn away and blood was oozing down his backside from the abuse.
Principle No#2: Whatever you do, expect to have to redo or return several times before actually accomplishing the task.
- I finally got the key from my Landlord on Saturday, after a week of sitting around with packed up bags. (Each day I would hear: "Oh maybe tomorrow it will be ready..." and then it wouldn't.) By 9AM I was buying cleaning supplies from a hanut down the street and sweeping out the construction dust, rubbing down the walls, and scraping paint of tile and windows. By 5PM I was just about to start washing down all the floors when a guy walked in with a sander... to sand the concrete layer off the floor in the bathroom (they ruined it after installing my beautiful bathtub). He didn't mention closing doors or being careful, but within minutes I discovered a big white cloud of cement dust enveloping the apartment. I shut one door and washed the floor. When he finished an hour later, I walked out to discover the entire place completely covered in a white layer of dust. Antoine (my site mate who's apartment is directly below mine and connected by an open skylight) was sitting outside, just watching the "smoke" billow out of his apartment. I felt like I was walking on the moon.... and started the cleaning process all over again. (They are still working on the compact cement floor on the roof, so I'm assuming we'll get to enjoy another dust storm shortly.)
- Many things were not ready when I moved in: water and electric meters, light bulbs, electric outlet fixtures. We (my site mate Antoine and I, as our apartments are stacked one on top of the other) had to go sign contracts at four different offices on three different days to buy meters, make more copies of passports, get receipts from the post office, and have them installed. No biggie. A lot of countries and areas of Morocco do not even have running water or electricity.
- The water and electric companies do not know where to install meters and paraphernalia ... I think that none of the systems are standardized here, so installing something requires the aid of the builder. When the phone/internet company came to install the line, they strung a line all the way from down another street, across several buildings and another long distance before winding it into one of the windows in the apartment, tacking it to the wall all the way through the living room to a phone outlet. I asked them why they didn't just use the phone outlet already installed. They said they didn't know where the other end of it was on the outside of the building, only the landlord did, so they just stuck it in a window! The landlord showed up and groaned. He said he would just redo it another day. Yet another fun item to be done and redone. When we finally finished the paperwork process for the water meter, one guy picked up a meter and walked back to the apartments with us. We asked if he knew where to install it. He affirmed it and headed to the back of the apartment. Half an hour later he knocked on the door. "Where is it?" After showing him where, Antoine gave him his phone number in case he had more trouble.
Well... that's enough for now. I'm going on buying sprees getting bulk flour/sugar/oil type stuff, kitchen appliances, carpets, hopefully some kind of chair/ponge that will fit in my budget, and lots more. I'll post photos soon.
The second night I took a luxurious hot bath (after I cleaned off enough white dust to be able to see the bathtub) with candlelight and felt like a queen.
posted by Rachel Beach | 12:41 PM
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