House Hunting

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I turned on the TV assuming that 5 minutes of Belgian TV would put me right out. Instead, I found that the Superbowl was being televised. It was quite strange though, the announcers spoke German and they didn't take a single ad break. Usually the ad-free game would be great, but I generally enjoy the Superbowl ads, so I was a little disappointed. It was nice to see the game though, it made me feel a little more at home. I stayed up to watch the whole game, which ended around 4:00am, so I was pretty exhausted for my home search today.

Today was apparently the typical Belgian day, 47 degrees and raining. A pleasant lady named Ms. Vreedenburgh (no, I don't know how to pronounce it) picked me up at my hotel this morning and drove me around to 3 houses and 3 apartments in the Mons area. During our 6 hour tour, I discovered that she was born in Germany, grew up in the Netherlands, lives in Belgium, and has lived in Brazil, USA, Colombia, and Uruguay. She speaks 5 languages fluently and can speak enough German to get around. Overall a pretty amazing resume.

The first house that we went to scared me to death. It was built in 1825 and looked like it was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The paint was peeling off the exterior and it even had an old creaky metal gate in front. However, once we went inside it was just amazing. It was completely redone, and had all new appliances and hardwood floors. Despite the renovation, much of the original marble and antique fixtures were still in good shape. I don't remember the exact number, but I would guess it was over 2000 square feet. As much as I would have liked to stay there as a bed and breakfast, it was just too old fashioned for my taste.

Next, we went to a nice little apartment in the heart of Mons. It was very small, but everything was fairly new and it was quite cozy. The current resident was there, and he was a fun Japanese man who gave me a tour while the real estate agent just stood there. I had to take my shoes off and put on little slippers with Japanese writing on them. He told me that he was moving back to Japan and couldn't take all of his stuff, so he offered to give me quite a bit of furniture as well as a refrigerator and a washing machine. It was a very nice offer, and I really liked the apartment anyway, so that just sweetened the deal.

Next up was one apartment and one house that were nothing special and were too far from either Mons or my new job.

We went to another apartment in Mons, about a 5 minute walk from the center of town. It was brand new and beautifully furnished with items that looked straight out of a Crate and Barrel catalog. It was 4 stories and had a balcony on three of them overlooking a nice little park in the center of the complex. It was absolutely perfect....until he mentioned the price. 2500 Euros / month ($3700). Just a little out of my price range.

Finally, on the last house, I think I found a perfect fit. We met the owner of the house who was a pleasant older lady who spoke a little English. By a little I mean her English was about as good as my French. It was a completely redone home with a little yard and garden, and a two car garage. It's very small but cozy, and it's the most bizarre and interesting architecture I've ever seen. The entire downstairs is open and you can look down from the upstairs. It's all glass and so it's very bright and welcoming. It's about a 10 minute drive to Mons, but only about 5 minutes to my new office. She even offered to furnish it for us with IKEA furniture for a small monthly fee. It has a dishwasher and a washing machine, both very rare in Europe.

Hopefully I can finalize the lease in the next few days and move in as early as next week. I have some pictures, but my Internet connection isn't cooperating right now. If I can get it working I will add them to the blog.

After I got back to the hotel, I ventured out on my own to get a cell phone. There are four cell phone shops within a 2 minute walk of my hotel, but not a single one of them had a clerk that spoke any English. So, I blindly bought a phone and a "sim card" which is what gives you a phone number. Instead of service contracts, you buy this little microchip that stores all of your contacts and text messages, and has a phone number associated with it. It came loaded with 20 euros worth of phone calls, and I think I can recharge it, but the website is all in French so I'm not quite sure how to do that yet. It's a neat way of handling phone service, I just hope I can figure out the website soon.

Tomorrow is the first day of work, so I should have more fun stories after that. Wish me luck!