We moved....

Last Saturday we moved. The movers were scheduled to come at 9:30. They called to apologize - they were coming a little early. We likened them to ants. There were 9 of them - they moved fast, followed each other around, and could lift roughly 10 times their body weight. They had the truck unloaded, everything unpacked and cleaned up and they were out of here in 5 hours.

On Monday, everyone and his brother showed up here. Joo Haut the grocery man. He delivers. He caters to expats. He understands Americans. Can he call every day? The first 3 things I asked for, he said..."Huh?" I said, "Joo, you just tell me if I am speaking Russian." Every day he calls. Every day he says at least once; "Mrs. Nancy, you speaky Russian." 4 days here and I already have a running gag with the grocery guy.

Hong the cable guy came later. He reminded me of Jiminy Cricket with coke bottle glasses, a speech impediment and this nervous twitch eye-blinking thing. He was adorable. Ol' Hong sold me more TV than I ever thought I would consent to.

Three guys with maybe one full set of teeth between them came to fix the water pump. They clanged and banged and shut off my water for 30 minutes that stretched into over an hour. During that hour, apparently as a prank, they became very thirsty and asked me several times for water. Drank all the bottled stuff, and when it was all gone, they turned everything back on.

A handyman showed up to repair the stuff the movers had broken, evidently in their haste to get our crap off their truck. He asked me, oh so politely, if I had any tools. He was apparently unaware he was going to be required to fix anything.

Several light bulbs were burned out in the house. I am no stranger to changing a light bulb, but since the ceilings are 12 feet I can't reach and we didn't bring a ladder. Plus I figured the lights should work...Guess what that guy needed.

I could just go on and on. Suffice it to say we are in, Andrew is happily walking 5 or 6 minutes to school, and I am enduring my loss of the city life. Once I get this place settled I will re-acquaint myself with the city, even if it does require a 30-minute train ride to do it...