Move in day

Ryan and I spent the night in our apartment for the first time last night and everything was great. We bought a £3 bottle of wine to celebrate and were basically ecstatic when we learned that our flat came with a corkscrew and two fancy glasses. Unfortunately, the glass I was using fell on the floor and shattered, spilling wine everywhere and all over my messenger bag so now we only have one. Jon spent the night at another student's flat since all of her roommates were flying in a day later and she was scared. We found MTV in a matter of minutes (I don't know how we managed to score a cable TV) and watched some dumb show and then three episodes of "Porn: A Family Business" before turning in for the night.

I'm sleeping in the king size bed and Ryan is sleeping in a child's lofted bed. Jon found an inflatable mattress and is sleeping on that in a sleeping bag until his bedding comes from the Twin Cities. Eventually we'll come up with some sort of rotation so Jon and Ryan can sleep in the luxury suite. We're thinking of doing some sort of challenge every week where your standing in the end determines where you have to sleep until the next challenge. Stay tuned for updates.

The king size bed is a little odd but I really like it. There are no sheets, just a duvet that is dark blue and white fake satin with an embroidered design in the middle. Both of the bedrooms have plain wooden floors that remind me of the side of an old barn so we're going to IKEA to buy rugs, a trash can, some lights, and possibly some throw pillows for the living room. After we met with our amazing landlord Lina and her mom, "Sarah with an 'H,'" we rearranged the furniture and put some things on the walls. We need some more sticky tack. Before Lina left yesterday, she wanted to know if we wanted to keep a poster of Bart Simpson's bare ass that says "Eat my shorts" that was left by the previous tenets. Of course we said yes. We're planning on displaying it prominently in the room.

On Sunday, Ryan, Jon, Unique, and I went to a street festival in SoHo, had a few drinks, walked around the streets for a while, and ate a decent dinner on a cobblestone street in Covenant Gardens. Covenant Gardens is beautiful. The streets are ancient and the markets are breezy and open and full of performers. We decided to walk out of Covenant Gardens instead of riding the tube home. Some how we ended up back in Trafalgar Square near the Thames. From a bridge at dusk we could see most of the way down the river on both sides—the feeling of finding a place to live and looking out over the Thames was just about the best in the world.

Unique found a place too. Check out her video blog here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FXLtdxrsOg

Monday morning we checked out of the hostel for the last time and took our bags through the underground during rush hour which I'm never going to do again. It was like hell but more sweaty and with more mean people in business suits scowling. The flat wasn't ready when we got there in the morning so we paid Lina (who was late for her job—she's a DOUBLE DECKER BUS DRIVER!!) in huge wads of cash and dropped off our suitcases. We came back in the afternoon and found Lina's mother Sarah scrubbing the floors. Today Sarah told me to drink fresh ginger in boiling water (which she said cured her ulcer) to stave off arthritis. We are good friends now.

On her way out, Lina asked for an American dollar for good luck so Ryan gave one to her and also one to Lina's daughter Layla who is six. Layla didn't know what "America" meant. We were very confused and a little startled.

I took a cold shower before leaving for the day. The plumber is supposed to come this week sometime which will be nice because since there is no shower head or shower curtain, it feels like showering in a large bucket with a garden hose (only with less water pressure).

Oh yeah, and my wallet is lost and/or stolen so I have no money. I'm particularly devastated because along with all of my credit cards and stuff, I lost the wallet. I still have my Passport, though.

It fell out of my pocket or was taken out of my pocket by someone—no biggie. So on top of moving in to my new flat, yesterday I called all of my credit card holders and my bank at home and almost the WA state DMV to cancel all of my cards and report the loss/theft which cost £15 in emergency cell phone bill. I should be getting a new credit card Thursday (at the latest) and my debit card by Monday (or Saturday). Somehow I convinced the people at AAA that I needed the new card shipped to London and that my name was Richard Scribner. I decided that it was worth an extra $30 to pay for expedited shipping.

We're going grocery shopping now and to IKEA when my new card arrives.

Also, Nora (who is from Grinnell and on our program) flew through Ireland and then didn't go through customs when she landed at Heathrow. Oops.