Saturday we moved into our new house. It was a pretty simple affair, really, because our previous landlord bought most of the furniture and appliances we’d bought for that house. (You know, the house we rented "furnished"… don’t get me started.) But it’s all good: that furniture was perfect for that house, but not for this house.
The Big Bonus is this means I get to shop for NEW furniture. The first thing we bought was a ping pong table. It’s big, the room is big… so we furnished that entire room for $250. Yes, we are thrifty. Now we just need 3 bookshelves to go along one of the walls, some beanbag chairs, and that room is done. Just eight more to go.
To move out of the other house, since we basically just had our personal possessions (all "packed" in pillowcases and suitcases), a dryer, a refrigerator and a piano, we hired a truck and two guys for $100. They arrived at 7am, loaded the truck, drove to the new house, unloaded everything and left. Done by 10am.
Besides the ping pong table, so far, we bought a dining table (being made, gorgeous and heavy $800 – would have cost $2000 in the states), a coffee table (being made also, $160, big like ours in Key West which cost $400 10 years ago), living room furniture (4 pieces including a Lazyboy for $2150, probably half of what it would have cost in the states), 3 beds ($900), and a washer, a Samsung ($500). Electronic stuff is expensive here.
I’d never seen a washer like this until coming to Costa Rica. I can’t tell if they are the New breed or the Old breed… but whichever it is, this one doesn’t work. It has digital controls (I hate those) and the only one that lights up is "IE" for Inexplicable Error.
The good news is that Jal called the Hipermas (now owned by Walmart), told the guy it didn’t work and was told a Samsung technician would be here within 48 hours. Jal did this ALL in Spanish, a huge accomplishment. They even called him caballero, which literally means cowboy but is used to mean gentleman. He LOVED that.
So, of course, pretty soon we’ll all have to call him caballero at home. Sigh.
Today, I am concentrating on the little things: pillows, scatter rugs, etc. That stuff is expensive here, too. These are not high priority items for ticos, so what we have is imported from the states and almost double the price they are at home. Like a good pillow is $8. A nice cotton bath rug is $12. Without knowing this, I was smart to bring some of that stuff from home last year.
Moving is pretty far down the scale of Stressful Life Events (perhaps moving to an entirely new country would be closer to the top) and I’m grateful because it took my mind off the itching (which is happily gone today). By the way, in researching the stress link, I found some pretty useful tips on identifying and managing stress, as well as information on the most stressful job. Verrry interesting.
We love our glass house. It’s given us new resolve to find work so we can stay. Pura vida – come for a visit! There’s plenty of room…
Congrats on the new house. It looks huge!
You are a brave woman showing those pictures. The eyes are looking great.
Looks great! We’re ping pong fans as well, lookin’ forward to some good matches. What a great diversion for rainy afternoons.
For “pillows, scatter rugs, etc.,” try the Aliss store which has some extraordinary prices and new merchandise practically every week. Their new store is just up the road from MultiPlaza in Escazu on the site of the old MetroBowl.
Thanks, La Gringa. Jal says this house outstrips our prosperity by quite a bit. We are soooo happy. And finally feel settled here, like we can get started becoming “members of the club”. And find work…
Jen, come on over… the boys are playing now.
Thanks, Scott!!! I’m going there today…
The finca misses you guys! Happy to know you’re happy in your new home. We’ll be up to see ya’ll soon…haven’t played ping-pong for 100 years.
Rebe
Housewarming coming up… soon as we get a dining table… and more ping pong balls!!!