The troubles with travelling.
(If you're looking at this thinking- "tl;dr", no worries, just skip to the paragraph that starts "Long story short". The long explanation is mainly for interested family members (: )
We were so excited to come back to Grenada and live in our brand new home. Last term we were squashed up in an apartment on the second floor, right above the "vacationers". That meant that we spent a lot of nights listening to people partying and a lot of days trying to keep Arya's noise level down so we didn't have to endure the neighbors "broom on the ceiling" method of complaining. We couldn't have been more excited to move into our new place. But, once we did, it wasn't quite what we needed.
The perils of having a med student as a husband sometimes seem endless. They're so busy that they can't take part in things like finding new places to live. I'm never really sure how to explain the amount of work that our Students do as med students. Ask any SO and they'll tell you that their husbands leave before breakfast in the morning, and it's a miracle to get them home for dinner. Even then, they eat and get back to studying. So, Arya and I decided to handle finding a new place on our own.
We lived without a car all of last term (and will do it most of this term). That made getting around to look at homes difficult. So after spending a great deal of time smushed onto a tiny, crowded Regge bus ( see: Typical Grenadian Drivers and What's a Regge Bus like? to get a feel) with a two year old, we came to find our new home. After spending about 10 mins there, we gladly took it.
Unfortunately, we didn't factor in a few things. Grenada in March (when we looked at the house) and Grenada in August are two very different things. We arrived to an incredibly (and I mean INCREDIBLY) hot house that refused to cool. Not only that, it seemed to be a breeding ground for mosquitos. We all woke with a few dozen new bites every morning (perhaps we're just too sweet to resist?). The icing on the cake was our (insert heavy sarcasm here) wonderful issue with the internet. After the property manager assured us that there was a credit on their account, we hopped the crowded oven (otherwise known as Regge bus) and ventured to St. Georges. We spent 4 hours in line waiting to set up our internet, and as the sweet moment arrived, we were informed that there was no credit. In fact, there was a 1200 dollar bill that had to be taken care of before we could set up the internet. After informing the property manager, she insisted they must be mistaken and suggested we go up again (ha). So, after almost a month of not being able to talk to family members, check online notes, and with me not being able to work, we took it up with the landlord. What a surprise we were in for. The landlord (different from the property manager) said he couldn't help us, and wanted to know why we hadn't paid a deposit or rent. To which we replied "We've paid both... to the property manager". Thankfully we had our receipts. That was a red flag for us, so we decided to get out.
Long story short (or not so short), we're in a new home that we love. After a few days of searching we found something cool, bug free, and spacious. Arya's favorite part? Definitely the trampoline:
Our landlords have been more than accommodating, and they have 2 younger girls that Arya spends her afternoons playing hide and seek with.
So, for any of you soon to be SO's living in Grenada- just remember- after a few weeks of mosquito bites and extreme heat, it all works out :).
We were so excited to come back to Grenada and live in our brand new home. Last term we were squashed up in an apartment on the second floor, right above the "vacationers". That meant that we spent a lot of nights listening to people partying and a lot of days trying to keep Arya's noise level down so we didn't have to endure the neighbors "broom on the ceiling" method of complaining. We couldn't have been more excited to move into our new place. But, once we did, it wasn't quite what we needed.
The perils of having a med student as a husband sometimes seem endless. They're so busy that they can't take part in things like finding new places to live. I'm never really sure how to explain the amount of work that our Students do as med students. Ask any SO and they'll tell you that their husbands leave before breakfast in the morning, and it's a miracle to get them home for dinner. Even then, they eat and get back to studying. So, Arya and I decided to handle finding a new place on our own.
We lived without a car all of last term (and will do it most of this term). That made getting around to look at homes difficult. So after spending a great deal of time smushed onto a tiny, crowded Regge bus ( see: Typical Grenadian Drivers and What's a Regge Bus like? to get a feel) with a two year old, we came to find our new home. After spending about 10 mins there, we gladly took it.
Unfortunately, we didn't factor in a few things. Grenada in March (when we looked at the house) and Grenada in August are two very different things. We arrived to an incredibly (and I mean INCREDIBLY) hot house that refused to cool. Not only that, it seemed to be a breeding ground for mosquitos. We all woke with a few dozen new bites every morning (perhaps we're just too sweet to resist?). The icing on the cake was our (insert heavy sarcasm here) wonderful issue with the internet. After the property manager assured us that there was a credit on their account, we hopped the crowded oven (otherwise known as Regge bus) and ventured to St. Georges. We spent 4 hours in line waiting to set up our internet, and as the sweet moment arrived, we were informed that there was no credit. In fact, there was a 1200 dollar bill that had to be taken care of before we could set up the internet. After informing the property manager, she insisted they must be mistaken and suggested we go up again (ha). So, after almost a month of not being able to talk to family members, check online notes, and with me not being able to work, we took it up with the landlord. What a surprise we were in for. The landlord (different from the property manager) said he couldn't help us, and wanted to know why we hadn't paid a deposit or rent. To which we replied "We've paid both... to the property manager". Thankfully we had our receipts. That was a red flag for us, so we decided to get out.
Long story short (or not so short), we're in a new home that we love. After a few days of searching we found something cool, bug free, and spacious. Arya's favorite part? Definitely the trampoline:
Our landlords have been more than accommodating, and they have 2 younger girls that Arya spends her afternoons playing hide and seek with.
So, for any of you soon to be SO's living in Grenada- just remember- after a few weeks of mosquito bites and extreme heat, it all works out :).
Katie! I remember your first day in Kindergarten! Arya looks so much like you in her piggy tails!!!
ReplyDeleteI love you!
Mom