Monday: I had two appointments this morning. First, the cable company. The representative arrived 30 minutes late, but at least she apologized. She was quite pleasant and upon explaining my options (with my roommate translating of course), we signed the contract, I paid the subscription fee and first month's service and she was gone. My next appointment was to re-sign the contract for my lease and get the keys (or so I thought). She too, was late. We re-signed the contract, but she didn't have the keys to give me. However, she said that I could meet her in the afternoon at the apartment and she would "turn it over to me".
I spent the rest of the morning looking for appliances and found a produce market along the way where I purchased some herb plants - the lady even gave me a tomato plant for free :)
1:00pm - Just as I was getting ready to leave, it started to rain :( I met the leasing agent at my landlord's home (directly in front of my apartment) to get the keys. She insisted that we sit down and have coffee - I tried to decline, but she persisted and I realized it would be considered rude if I refused. Then she told me that she wanted to show me pictures of her family so that in case I saw them on the property, I would be comfortable knowing who they were. This somehow turned into a tour of her house. But she is a kind woman and I am grateful to be renting from someone so nice.
I went home and started packing and dropped off some items later that afternoon. In the evening, I made chili (per my roommate's request), packed up some more items and tried to catch up on a few things.
Tuesday: This morning I got caught in traffic and missed the service group. Fortunately, I met up with another sister for a couple studies and a few calls. I packed up a few things in the afternoon and took a taxi to my new apartment. I was disappointed to discover that the apartment had not been cleaned as promised. I dropped off my stuff and headed back to my roommate's place. She was kind enough to call my landlord and speak to their maid for me.
5:00 - I met up with a brother from one of the Spanish congregations in the area (who also speaks English) and we took the bus back to the San Roque Market to pick up my furniture. Another brother from his congregation was supposed to meet us there with a truck to transport the furniture. However, upon arriving, he contacted us to say he was stuck in traffic on the other end of town (which is over an hour away). There are regularly drivers who wait outside the market for delivery jobs so I decided to just pay one of them to delivery the furniture. We had to carry the items ourselves, because otherwise they vendors charge you per item to carry it to the delivery truck.
The one woman from whom I purchased a bed frame and a dining table and chairs was quite irritated about the hour as she was trying to close up (even though I had called earlier in the day to say what time we would be arriving). Then she wanted to argue with me about the price we had agreed on. Not wanting to debate and eager to get home, I gave in.
I have to admit, I am amazed at how well the gentleman packed all of that furniture on one little pick-up truck. My friend and I crammed in the front seat of the pick-up with the driver and off we went. Surprisingly, nothing fell off the truck. Delivery service means curbside. As soon as the items were unloaded from the truck and placed on the sidewalk, the driver took off. We managed to get everything inside, but then I noticed that I was missing one of the back cushions for the couch and also that one of the "feet" was missing. I would have to wait until tomorrow to call them.
So we went to the hardware store to get a wrench to assemble the bed. Unfortunately, we got the wrong size, but it was too late at that point to go back. The screw holes on the side rails were also not drilled at the proper location, but we were able to rig it. It was also at this point that I realize the headboard has several large gouges in the wood :( We didn't notice them at the market because it was too dark outside. Oh well, that's enough for one night.
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