Monday, April 16, 2012

Our New Home (Sam’s entry from 30,000 feet in the air on our Maui Trip)

We gave our school a list of needs, wants, and likes for an apartment. They then took that list and tried to accommodate all our wishes to fit with their budget. We knew coming into this that we would never get the type of living we have in Yakima such as a yard, parking, and living space, because we were now going to be living in a major city in Europe. Prices are different and their standard of life is different. Layouts of living space in Europe tend to be a lot smaller than in America. I really like this way of living in theory. I like simplifying life and really valuing space versus need. It’s amazing how many things we buy that we hardly use. One of my goals in the next few years is to just simplify life with less clothes, less food, and less possessions.

One of our biggest worries about moving across the world was housing. Honestly we had some concerns because it was something more or less out of our control. To make matters more difficult, we have a dog. That in and of itself can narrow down our school’s options in finding us a place. We received an email with some pictures of our first option. The apartment was about a 7 minute walk away from the school. The place was up to date with basic living necessities and had some very good qualities. However, it was one bedroom and we would like to have two bedrooms so we can have guest over and a place to work on my art. The landlord was concerned about our dog, because they had problems with previous tenants that had a dog. So we wrote back and asked for another housing option. We also attached a video to the email that I made of Lucy, just being the good little dog that she is. Here is the video link. http://vimeo.com/39306474

This I think made it easier on our school to find us a place for us. I deal with a lot of parents at work, especially in the area of sports. Some parents have a very skewed perception of their own kid and their true talent. I can see how landlords could feel the same thing about us when we write an email about our perfect little angel of a dog. So I wanted to show the landlords a video that shows Lucy’s behavior and personality.

So what our school found for us is perfect from what we can see from here. The distance is farther away from downtown and the school, but we are closer to the main park in Zagreb called Maksimir. By this park is the Soccer Stadium where I’m hoping to get season tickets for the Dinamo. We will be a 40 minute walk, 30 minute bus ride, 20 min bike ride, and 7 minute drive from work. The transit system is amazing in Zagreb, but not from where we are going to be living.We have also found a car so we can have more flexibility to travel on the weekends and to transport guests around. There are 2 cafes 100 meters away, and a little grocery store called Konzum which is the Safeway of Croatia, not much farther from the cafes.

I can’t wait to get home from work and take a stroll to the café with Katie and Lucy to have a relaxing bite to eat and people watch. Then after the bite, we walk to the park to play fetch with Lucy. Hopefully, we can find other dog lovers that can help me practice my Croatian. Then get home before sundown to watch the sunset from our terrace.

Here are pictures of our place in Zagreb. We are planning on maybe changing some furniture out with our own and painting the guest room. We’re going to bring a couple of our prints/photographs rolled up and then frame them when we get there.







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