Day 68
Sofa people were supposed to come today. George called them and they said they couldn't make it till Thursday. I really think they're just messing with us at this point.
WEDNESDAY
I don't know why, but I finally put up some artwork on the walls and made our place feel a little more like home. It's not all that easy to hang stuff on concrete walls, and I didn't do it right (one of the walls is now missing a little chunk), but my little hacks are worth it. I am starting to really love our dining and living room, and not just for the views.
THURSDAY
So we had another playgroup today. This time at Rachel's apartment. She's the linguist. We went early in the morning to the kids pool there, so early that George was able to drive me there before work. Ouch! It's nice to do something early in the day and then still have a whole left to do other things afterward, but ouch!
The pool was cold. Regin wasn't very into it. He was a little nervous in the water, which was not only cold but a little too deep for him. He was only interested in a ball he saw on the other end of the pool, so he kept pointing and saying "bawa! Bawa! Bawa! Bawa!" on and on and I carried him over to it, he picked it up, dropped it, it floated away, I carried him to it, he picked it up, dropped it, and so on, all the while he's still saying, "bawa! Bawa! Bawa!" This is how we spent the time there while the other kids played and moms chatted. Naturally I didn't dress for being in the water. I mean, it was supposed to be a kiddie pool so I figured shorts would do. Nope, when you're carrying a sopping wet kid, you too will sop.
At the end, Brandi & Missy & kids left, and Rachel and I hung out while we waited for my cab. We went up to her apartment which has an amazing view for miles -- it's on the 16th floor. You can even see our apartment building from there. We chatted a little, but mostly I followed Regin around and took everything that he grabbed away from him. Rachel commented that it was enlightening to watch; her son is only about 6 months old, and she has not child proofed yet. To say the least! Regin ended up discovering a used thermometer (yes, used in that way) which he happily put in his mouth. Ah motherhood. Rachel suggested I rinse his mouth out, but there's no point by now. Whatever germs he might get are got.
This playgroup has a different vibe for me. I'm sort of becoming the resident expert on natural parenting; Rachel is asking me questions on organic clothing and home-made cleaners, and we're discussing my experiences with EC. In case you're wondering, that's still not going anywhere. One month in disposables ruined us all! Now we are doing everything humanly possible to get Regin to think of being on the potty as a positive experience because he wants nothing to do with it. Sigh. I miss my poop-free-diaper days.
We're chatting away and the phone rings. It's the guy in the lobby. The cab driver came (without confirming with me) and they assumed it would be for a guest of Rachel's. I'm not sure how they could know. Maybe because the apartment building mostly has locals and they knew it was a foreigner who'd called the cab? It's not my cabbie who comes. In fact, I haven't seen him since the first day. He keeps sending his friends. So much for this important relationship building we're supposed to be doing with local businesses.
The sofa people come by in the afternoon. The light is so bright in the apartment I have trouble showing them all the dirty fingerprints left by the delivery guys, but there is no problem spotting the broken leg. The guy looks at it and gives me his best apologetic face (which is an awkward sort of smile here) and tells me that the damage is to the main part of the sofa so it has to be sent back and it'll be another two weeks to fix. Parden me, but NO S**T! We tried to tell them on the phone that they wouldn't be able to simply switch out the leg, but we were made to wait two weeks just to be told in person what we already know. I try to tell him it's already been a month since we purchased the thing and we're here for such a short time, but that only works in the States. I'm not sure if I'll ever get the local sweet talk down. He also tells me that the delivery guys forgot to put the second screw into each of the legs and that is why this one broke, and further, the rest are likely to break. But no matter, he'll unscrew the rest of the legs of this one piece, and he'll put the additional screw in the rest when he comes to collect the sofa for repair.
Side note: I'm writing this three weeks later and our couches still look like this.
We should have just paid triple for a sofa at IKEA!
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