We're In!

Drum roll, please! We are finally in our new apartment. After much work and many trips to "Aduana" or the Customs office our things were finally delivered last Wednesday. Surprisingly everthing made it here safely. I have only found two broken wineglasses and a bent lampshade and it's evident those broke because of how they were packed. I got a little emotional when I saw the moving truck pull up with the familiar logo of the moving company on the side. I thought, "OK. We're here. We're all here and we're not going home."

We're still settling in, but it is starting to feel like home. I can't tell you how good it felt to sink into our own bed on Thursday night for the first time in 3 1/2 months! There's just something about sleeping in your own bed.

For those of you who don't know the story behind our apartment, it's in a nice neighborhood in Santo Domingo, although it's pretty noisy and surrounded by other apartment buildings. It is also in the same building and one floor above Eric's sister and brother-in-law, which is incredibly fun and convenient because we can just pop up and down to see each other. They have a 10-month old baby girl, too, so Eric is having fun playing with his "prima".

Our apartment has 2 bedrooms, a living room/dining room combo, kitchen, service room for laundry and storage, and 3 bathrooms (1 is in the service room and would be used by a live-in maid if we had one...which we don't). So, Eric has his own room and bathroom, no more sleeping in a closet like his nursery in Boston. Actually, his bedroom is larger than ours. BUT, it's by far the hottest room in the house, which is creating a few challenges. We had to put up curtains immediately, because the direct sunlight pours into his room pretty much all day from each of the corner windows. And, putting up the curtain rods was no small of fun project, because our walls are concrete and you can't just screw in a screw or pound in a nail. We have special concrete nails, but even those are hard to get in.

Eric immediately fell in love with his room and most of the time when I can't find him he is in there playing with his stuffed animals or reading. We updated it a little so it is less like a nursery and more like a kids room. We have an ABC foam puzzle mat on the floor and a little table and chairs set up for him. The problem is that unless we have two fans blowing in that room it's too hot to be in there. He has been taking his naps in there, but he sleeps in the pack and play at night in our room. After 3 1/2 months we thought we were going to get our room back, but it looks like we'll just have to wait until we can buy and AC for his room, which will probably be awhile since we are still living off of our savings and have to watch what we spend.

OK...there is just so much I could tell you about moving in and figuring things out in our new apartment, but I am just going to tell you one more story now so I don't make this blog so long. I'll post pictures and more later. I promise.

Let's just say doing laundry is an adventure here, compared to what I am used to. People typically don't have dryers here, so they hang their clothes out on clotheslines in their service room or on the roof in the sun where the clothes end up drying in a couple of hours and have that line dryed smell, which I love. BUT, it takes a lot more work. Not to mention the stairs to the roof are a small spiral staircase that vibrates as you go up (and I am a little afraid of heights). Also, just about everything needs to be ironed, too. So, as you can see you can't just throw something in the washer and dryer expecting to wear it in two hours. Well, the first load I did in our new washer (Craigslist buy in Boston) resulted in the motor breaking down and smoking during the rinse cycle. We later found out that a little water from the moving process got into the motor and now we most likely need to get the motor replaced, which I'm sure will result in a week of being told it will be done "tomorrow". So, I wrung out the clothes and took them down to Zoila's to spin dry after which I learned that the roof was closed for the week for repairs to the building. Yikes! I'm searching for hangers and clothespins. My first real load of laundry and my washer breaks and I have jeans and t-shirts hanging all over the apartment drying. Such is life here...flexibility and good attitude go along way. And, I am learning not to wait until all of your clothes are dirty to wash a load, as smaller loads are a lot easier to manage.

One of the many lessons in island living that proves our experience is living up to the title of our blog!