The apartment
I had some doubts about my landlady before arriving here, but she's turned out to be absolutely lovely. For instance, I thought, based on my initial phone conversations with her, that she might have a dislike for foreigners, and that she might be meddlesome and/or disapproving of the idea that Jamie is staying with me for 2 1/2 months, and that she might try to raise my rent or something like that. If any of these are true, she's hiding them extremely well. For instance:
-I arrive on her doorstep last Saturday evening with all my bags and a huge box containing my bike. She's never seen me before, obviously. She graciously shows me around the place, constantly asking whether everything is OK and if it suits me - it's pretty much perfect: big, bright, clean, quiet, close to the office, furnished, and a fantastic deal to boot ($688 per month including utilities, for 3 bedrooms (bed, couch and desk) plus bathroom and kitchen). No problems on my end. Then she remarks that since I just got there I won't have any food (true), and the shops are all closed (also mostly true) and brings me a homemade pizza and some supplies for the next morning - bread, butter, milk and some strawberry jam that she made (I've eaten half of it already and it's very good).
-We discuss the arrangement for the summer, and she tells me that there might be some disruption sometime in the next week or two because she's having a small washing machine and dryer unit installed in the kitchen of my place. This will not affect my rent. Granted, it hasn't happened yet, but it seems to be moving forward - first the thing needs to be ordered, and then the appropriate trademan (this being Switzerland) has to be hired to install it. If this eventually gets put in, it'll be the first time I've had a dryer in a Swiss living situation since the fall of 1999, when I was living with Marcel and Tammy. She promises to let me know when the workmen will be coming, because she "can't just let herself into my house whenever she likes". Admirable sentiment, but reassuring nonetheless - I had some doubts initially about how the boundaries would work out.
-I mention that Jamie will be living here for a large part of the summer, and her reaction is essentially "well, you can do what you want with your place, it makes no difference to me". This in itself isn't evidence that she's OK with the idea, but her follow-up is: she apologizes that there's no double bed in the apartment, and says that I'll have to push two of the single beds together (there are 3).
There hasn't been a single thing to complain about yet regarding the apartment - I know I need to register with the utility company or something like that, but otherwise I think everything else is settled. She's a very friendly old woman (81 years old) and she spends a lot of time with her son and/or daughter (her daughter lives across the street). Her husband died a couple of years ago and she can't drive anymore - as I understood it, she recently had an aneurysm or blood clot in her eye, or something like that. We've talked a fair bit - my vocabulary gets stretched pretty thin, and I think sometimes her not understanding me isn't necessarily a fault of my grammar or pronunciation, but I understand her pretty well, and she seems quite astute. All in all, I'm quite happy with the way it's worked out. So long as she doesn't poison me or something like that (see, for instance, Roald Dahl's story "The Landlady"), this should be quite workable.
-I arrive on her doorstep last Saturday evening with all my bags and a huge box containing my bike. She's never seen me before, obviously. She graciously shows me around the place, constantly asking whether everything is OK and if it suits me - it's pretty much perfect: big, bright, clean, quiet, close to the office, furnished, and a fantastic deal to boot ($688 per month including utilities, for 3 bedrooms (bed, couch and desk) plus bathroom and kitchen). No problems on my end. Then she remarks that since I just got there I won't have any food (true), and the shops are all closed (also mostly true) and brings me a homemade pizza and some supplies for the next morning - bread, butter, milk and some strawberry jam that she made (I've eaten half of it already and it's very good).
-We discuss the arrangement for the summer, and she tells me that there might be some disruption sometime in the next week or two because she's having a small washing machine and dryer unit installed in the kitchen of my place. This will not affect my rent. Granted, it hasn't happened yet, but it seems to be moving forward - first the thing needs to be ordered, and then the appropriate trademan (this being Switzerland) has to be hired to install it. If this eventually gets put in, it'll be the first time I've had a dryer in a Swiss living situation since the fall of 1999, when I was living with Marcel and Tammy. She promises to let me know when the workmen will be coming, because she "can't just let herself into my house whenever she likes". Admirable sentiment, but reassuring nonetheless - I had some doubts initially about how the boundaries would work out.
-I mention that Jamie will be living here for a large part of the summer, and her reaction is essentially "well, you can do what you want with your place, it makes no difference to me". This in itself isn't evidence that she's OK with the idea, but her follow-up is: she apologizes that there's no double bed in the apartment, and says that I'll have to push two of the single beds together (there are 3).
There hasn't been a single thing to complain about yet regarding the apartment - I know I need to register with the utility company or something like that, but otherwise I think everything else is settled. She's a very friendly old woman (81 years old) and she spends a lot of time with her son and/or daughter (her daughter lives across the street). Her husband died a couple of years ago and she can't drive anymore - as I understood it, she recently had an aneurysm or blood clot in her eye, or something like that. We've talked a fair bit - my vocabulary gets stretched pretty thin, and I think sometimes her not understanding me isn't necessarily a fault of my grammar or pronunciation, but I understand her pretty well, and she seems quite astute. All in all, I'm quite happy with the way it's worked out. So long as she doesn't poison me or something like that (see, for instance, Roald Dahl's story "The Landlady"), this should be quite workable.