Home Sweet Home
We finally have our own house! After having survived living in the same room, and the same bed, for 2 months, we now have separate rooms, a full kitchen, and a shower we can stand up in! Such luxury. Katya and I can now go back to Facebook messaging each other from our own rooms, despite being just a few feet from each other.
We’ve already met a few of our neighbours. On the first day, when we were waiting for the landlady to let us into the house, a man from the house across from us invited us in for tea. He and his wife are there with their two kids and they seem lovely. The neighbour on the other side of us always seems to be out in his garden whenever we leave the house so we say hi to him a lot. It's a very quiet street even though its near the main road and it's right between the university and town.
Emily and Ella were here on the first day to move a lot of their stuff in, so we have more kitchen utensils than I ever thought we'd need. Also, we have a lot of throw pillows and fuzzy blankets so the whole place feels very homey. I've already put up my Regia poster and Canadian pennant, Katya has her movie posters and algae collection all nicely displayed and I'm sure we'll figure out how to display our weapons appropriately. I'll be bringing out a few more decorations when I come back from Canada. The house isn't quiet complete until it has TARDIS salt and pepper shakers.
The group of guys who lived here before us must have been an interesting bunch, particularly the guy who lived in Katya's room. Everything was broken. The door and closet doors had holes put through them, the bed had broken slats, the desk drawers would fall out, and even the back of the bookcase was completely dismantled. She's temporarily living in one of the other rooms until the landlords sort that out. We were also told that one of the guys had lost his key within the first few months and so had spent the rest of the year either going through the back door, which they would leave unlocked, or climbing through the window.
To celebrate our new house, we invited ØC to come over for a potluck dinner. We also planned to teach the group swing dancing, which we mentioned to the instructor at a weekly swing dance group that we went to, and he offered to come a long to help us. I had spent a good bit of the day cooking. I tried to remember mom's usual dishes for hosting and just find simple recipes online. While all the food was great at the end, a spinach dip, smashed potatoes and a baked pasta and cheese, I ended up slightly more damaged. I almost concussed myself on an open cupboard door and sliced my finger on the sharpest cheese grater in existence. I'm probably safer on a battlefield than in a kitchen.
The evening was great. Everyone brought a delicious array of dishes and most of it was gone by the time we were ready to start dancing. We had a few people who opted to sit out but most people were eager to join in. Katya and I normally both lead and follow but this is one of the few times when guys outnumbered the girls so we both got to follow this time - although I have a bad habit of leading while following. It was the only dance lesson I've ever been to where the terminology was adapted from 'right foot' and 'left foot' to 'shield side' and 'sword side.' I was impressed with how quickly people caught on, and I can't wait for a show like Detling where this may become a new after hours activity for Øst Centingas and we'll see if we can't drag a few more people from Regia into this.
