I’m ashamed to admit that I have found myself actually complaining about our temporary situation. Complaints that stem from not being settled - a tiny apartment with no wi-fi, living out of suitcases, a drier that doesn’t actually dry, blah, blah, blah. But then I wake up and realize I could use a swift kick in the tush.
How absurd to be any sort of unhappy given the big picture we get to play in. To remind myself of this, all I have to do is turn on BBC World News to find coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and much more tragedy around the world. Or think about what my parents said when reminiscing about moving from the Philippines to the U.S. 40 years ago. “All we had was a suitcase each, $500, and a dream...” What a fool I am.
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| I've branched out to making sandwiches and spaghetti! |
The good news is that we have a permanent place to call home! The could-be-better news is that it’s not available to move into until the end of December.
Like I’ve said many times before, we are very blessed to have made this move through Matt’s company because of all the help they’ve provided with the legalities, technicalities, etc. But the housing search left much to be desired. I suppose we could use it as a lesson in cultural differences. Without boring you with all of the details, our advice to others in the same situation would be to find that fine line between playing by the rules and making things happen for yourself.
And voilá! Take a tour of our beautiful leilighet in the Frogner area right off of Bygdøy Allé. (I saved the pictures from the original posting on finn.no -- ‘the Norwegian Craiglist’-- because I figured they were taken with a camera that’s able to capture a better angle.)
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| It’s not a building with some of the old European charm we were looking forward to, but they’re all around us and will make for nice runs through the neighborhood. |
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| We will have to be creative with storage, which means I get to go shopping! |
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| Don’t worry, visitors. It pulls out into a double bed. |
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| A cozy fireplace and access to one balcony with a view of the Holmenkollen Ski Jump -- the venue for the annual Holmenkollen Races and ski jumping events which is Norway’s biggest tourist attraction, according to our guide book! |
WARNING: The following pictures have half naked women in them! Hence the title of this post!
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| Take a close look at the picture hanging on the wall and that’s your fair warning for what’s to come... |
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| Speculation has it that the woman is the owner of the apartment. |
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| Look! A built in espresso machine and a wine fridge! |
A few of my favorite things:
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| TWO sinks |
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| TWO balconies Access to this one is off the master bedroom and the kitchen which faces Bygdøy Allé. It is a busy street, but not noisy because we’re 8 stories up! |
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| TWO ninnies!!! Ok, obviously this has nothing to do with the apartment. Just a random shout out to my ridiculously adorable nephew that I miss so ridiculously much. I would be a mess without FaceTime! Since my sister had her phone pointed at him, he thought she was taking a picture so hammed it up for the camera. He even got his TWO ninnies to pose with. |
Not pictured, but another one of my favorite parts - It’s common for apartments to have storage space in either the scary basement or the icky attic. This germaphobe scaredy cat is happy to have our clean, pretty storage in the hallway right outside our front door!
Yes, we’re keeping the naked women up. Let’s just chalk it up to Matt & I becoming Euro fabulous. The owner offered to take the pictures down if we wanted her to, but we would only be able to hang things where she already has hooks. If Matt’s San Fermin posters look good in it’s place, we’ll redecorate. Or perhaps I’ll find some pretty fabric to drape over them. Especially when our dads come to visit! Or gees, Matt’s boss!
Ok, visitors! Start planning your trips!
