Just kidding....

A few blog posts ago I had said that we were settling in for the long haul in our teeny, tiny apartment. And that was the plan until very recently. When we first looked at units in our complex we saw the small studio that we ended up renting as well as larger studios with patios and one bedroom apartments. At the time we were unsure of our financial situation as this was before I had been accepted into the PhD program and awarded funding. The little place was perfect in the beginning as we didn’t have much to fill it and the price tag was fairly reasonable. But it did come with some limitations. For example, we could only fit eight hangers in the closet. Count them. Eight. In our place in Bozeman I probably had eight hangers just for tank tops or sweatshirts, never mind all my blouses, skirts, slacks and sweaters. Another issue was condensation. We had a huge window which we would open when we were home but whenever it would rain we’d have a drippy deluge of condensation streaming down the window. Along those same lines the bathroom was at the opposite end of the apartment as the big window so it always resembled a steamy jungle no matter how much we ran the fan. I’m afraid our bath towels never dried out in the six months we’ve been in NZ. Bleh.

Knowing that our lease was up in the middle of August we decided to reconsider our options, within the complex and beyond. We didn’t find anything outside the complex that was worth the asking price so we asked if any of the large studios with patios were available. To our great delight we were in luck and had the opportunity to look at one a couple weeks ago. Compared to our little place (remember it’s 22 square meters/232 square feet) the larger studio seemed enormous. With an extra 10 square meters/108 square feet inside and 5 square meters/54 square feet patio outside, it felt so decadent! We expressed our interest in renting the unit and soon learned that we could move on the 25^th of August. Um, that’s great except that we’re going to be in Queenstown for a research conference where I’m to present some ongoing research from our lab. Tim is coming along and we’re making it an anniversary trip of sorts! Fortunately for us we were then told that another unit, also a large studio, was available from the 15^th of August. We signed on the dotted line and moved into the new unit on the 11^th of August!! Thankfully, it wasn't a rainy day. :)

So the move was insane. Insanely tame. Just imagine for a second moving a small smattering of items from a tiny studio apartment just 60 meters/200 feet down the courtyard. Yeah. It took less than two hours to walk everything over to the new place. The next day we spent about the same amount of time cleaning and I’ve got to say it was the most painless move I’ve ever experienced. And I hate moving. With. A. Passion. But this was more than doable. I had to laugh as I considered all the work that went into sorting everything back in Bozeman, taking carload after carload to the thrift store and giving things away. Then still having enough stuff to fill a largish moving truck. We started that process months before we left Bozeman. Talk about perspective. :)

Even though we’ve been in the new place less than a week I get déjà vu all the time. Many elements are identical to the old place so it’s like we’ve already lived here for a while. But at the same time there are several things that are different. It’s, like, the same, but different. :) Instead of coming into the building, heading up the stairs and around the corner we now keep going out into a beautiful center courtyard. The glass overhang is lovely when rain is falling so you don’t have to run to your door.

Well maybe the last few steps where you exit off of the path and onto our patio!

Since you enter through the only entrance, the patio door, and onto the living room carpet we decided to get creative with these green, AstroTurf-like, mats. The windows to the right of the door can be cracked open (but still locked if need be) all the time so our days of fighting water vapor are over. :)

Stepping into the living room we have the same couch, TV and desk that we had in the other place but now they have their own space within the unit. Beyond the couch you’ll recognize the same wardrobe/Murphy bed setup that we had previously.

If you continue to venture past the bed you’ll enter the kitchen which also has the same setup as the other unit. Except that everything seems to be nicer and newer.

In the old unit I could barely reach the top shelf in the cupboards and had to resort to climbing on the counter or creative manipulation of salad tongs to retrieve items. This new kitchen has cupboards that are even taller. When we were first moving items in here Tim had one of the cupboards open and was filling it with canned and dried goods. I wasn’t paying attention and as I turned around I heard him gasp as I walked under the open cabinet with less than an inch clearance above my head. I had to laugh. If I can walk under the open cupboards there’s no way I’m going to be able to get anything from the top shelf. The next day we resorted to buying a step ladder; it’s useful on a daily basis. :)

Now our washer/dryer combo is in the kitchen instead of behind a sliding wall so that makes it easier to do laundry when Tim is in the kitchen cooking. Before we had to trade off and move the wall back and forth to get at what we needed. Small joys. :)

Next, we have the item I deemed most decadent: a full closet. Ok, I never thought about it until I didn’t have one. This is amazing. We can hang up more than eight hangers in there as well as store our suitcases, shoes and a variety of other items. A-mazing!

 Lastly, we come around to the bathroom which is much the same as the old place except that it’s quite a bit bigger. Again it all feels so luxurious and open - we are loving it!!

The singular hassle came when we attempted to have our broadband (internet) switched over to the new unit. First, we were unable to find help with this issue when we visited a Vodafone store. "You have to call the customer service line for that....". Ok, fine but we'd rather talk to a person, in-person. So I called them up and learned three interesting things: 1) it would take them 5-9 business days to switch the broadband over (really....?!), 2) it would cost $100 NZD to make the switch (again....really?!...our physical address isn't changing...remember we only moved 200 feet down the hall), 3) somehow we were now living in a different coverage zone and would be charged an additional $10 per month. Sigh. I questioned the customer service rep about all these issues and came away from the conversation unsatisfied and perturbed. Ok, so I just have to take your word for it that we live in a different zone and there are essentially no options?? Sigh. We've decided that we'll see our 12 month contract through to the end and then shop around to see if there are better options out there.

Overall, the move was painless and we are happy and snuggled into our new, slightly bigger, tiny place. :) Check out the patio view from inside. We are loving the fact that we see green and will see it year round!!