my new home
Well, I moved into my new apartment last night, the one I told you about earlier. It still doesn't feel like my home, but I think that might just take some time... and maybe some cleaning, and reorganizing, and hopefully some cooking, too. I think it might be a little while before I get to the cooking stage, though, mainly because the office schedule is kind of wonky, and the work days seem to fluctuate in length quite frequently... But more about the work side of life soon enough...
My first night in the apartment was a minor comedy of errors. I walked in the door after a late dinner at a local indian restaurant (with the first Canadian I met here), and managed to blow half of the flat's power. My landlords are friendly couple with three kids, and live just down the hall. I'm not sure about him, but she works as a translator at the police headquarters, so communication is not a problem. In fact, the opposite is true! Although they worked out the power situation quite quickly (thank goodness it wasn't anything major because heat is dependent on power!), it was a while before we stopped talking and said good night. After that, I guess I spent a while unpacking, because it was maybe 11pm before I was ready to get washed and ready for bed.
Now, I don't think I've mentioned the fact that Pristina's water supply is turned off at night. It is. Entirely. Not a drop until morning. Apparently, though, as I found out yesterday, what time you lose water depends on your location. Where I was staying up until now, the water stopped around midnight -- maybe 11:30pm on the odd day. So when they told me the water was turned off at 10:30, I figured (wrongly, of course!) that it was a rough estimate for midnight. So my first night in the apartment was spent water-less. It's definitely not the most tragic thing to happen, but rather humourous in an annoying kind of way. Especially because I had only bothered to buy tea (and milk and sugar) before coming home... No water. No tea.
As a side note, I have since been shopping at the local Arti, which seems to be the biggest shopping store around. Unfortunately, that's not saying a whole lot! I noticed that it has a very small selection of fresh fruits and veggies, so that you must go to the local neighbourhood shops for a decent variety. Many of these smaller stores are called: "Dragstor." I tried explaining why that was funny to the people I worked with, but I'm not sure they quite understood :)
Anyway, the last part of the apartment drama, was that the power went out (for real) while I was in the shower this morning. That is something else, like the water, that I have just forgotten to mention (I think). While the power outages never seem to last more than an hour, and they aren't overly frequent -- maybe one every day or two -- but they definitely manage to interrupt daily life much more that the water... no power means no heat, and no computers. So, the office tends to relocate to the coffee shop downstairs (which has a generator) until the power comes back on. On the bright side, it's always exciting to get power back... it's like there is always something to look forward to.
Ahh... such is life in Pristina.
My first night in the apartment was a minor comedy of errors. I walked in the door after a late dinner at a local indian restaurant (with the first Canadian I met here), and managed to blow half of the flat's power. My landlords are friendly couple with three kids, and live just down the hall. I'm not sure about him, but she works as a translator at the police headquarters, so communication is not a problem. In fact, the opposite is true! Although they worked out the power situation quite quickly (thank goodness it wasn't anything major because heat is dependent on power!), it was a while before we stopped talking and said good night. After that, I guess I spent a while unpacking, because it was maybe 11pm before I was ready to get washed and ready for bed.
Now, I don't think I've mentioned the fact that Pristina's water supply is turned off at night. It is. Entirely. Not a drop until morning. Apparently, though, as I found out yesterday, what time you lose water depends on your location. Where I was staying up until now, the water stopped around midnight -- maybe 11:30pm on the odd day. So when they told me the water was turned off at 10:30, I figured (wrongly, of course!) that it was a rough estimate for midnight. So my first night in the apartment was spent water-less. It's definitely not the most tragic thing to happen, but rather humourous in an annoying kind of way. Especially because I had only bothered to buy tea (and milk and sugar) before coming home... No water. No tea.
As a side note, I have since been shopping at the local Arti, which seems to be the biggest shopping store around. Unfortunately, that's not saying a whole lot! I noticed that it has a very small selection of fresh fruits and veggies, so that you must go to the local neighbourhood shops for a decent variety. Many of these smaller stores are called: "Dragstor." I tried explaining why that was funny to the people I worked with, but I'm not sure they quite understood :)
Anyway, the last part of the apartment drama, was that the power went out (for real) while I was in the shower this morning. That is something else, like the water, that I have just forgotten to mention (I think). While the power outages never seem to last more than an hour, and they aren't overly frequent -- maybe one every day or two -- but they definitely manage to interrupt daily life much more that the water... no power means no heat, and no computers. So, the office tends to relocate to the coffee shop downstairs (which has a generator) until the power comes back on. On the bright side, it's always exciting to get power back... it's like there is always something to look forward to.
Ahh... such is life in Pristina.
posted by melissa at 8:45 p.m.
1 Comments:
Melissa - Please tell us more. You have just teased us with your descriptions....no water after 10:30 p.m., reoccuring power outages? I want to hear all about the theatre group and what you are doing with them....and about the shopping!!!!
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