New apartment

we just heard that we are accepted as tenants at this apartment complex. we are working for "preferred employers", which means that we do not have to pay a deposit nor a last month's rent! besides.. we can have 2 walls of our new apartment painted for free, hahahahaha! i am thinking of purple for the bedroom... the apartment is smaller than the one we have now, but the livingroom is big, and it is on the subway, so no more buses!! there is a typical american kitchen (jeejjj!) with a bar, a dishwasher, and an OWN washer and dryer. we had a special offer and do not have to pay rent in august, sept and oct..... there is a "resort-style pool" onto which we have direct view, 24 hr fitness and free internet around the pool and in the "community room". it all seems perfect, no? our apt is the one on the corner, upper level. so thats the only minor thing: there is no elevator; moving the couch will be heavy......

Nice neighbour

across the street, they have this sign in the garden. it is under a big american flag, which is illuminated during the night....
US flags you see everywhere, in fact. but this....?

Real symphony

this is the actual symphony hall. we stood in front of the ticket office and thought it was funny that you have to buy tickets in this building, while the symphony is across the street (the church on yesterday's pic...). ah well... next week you can celebrate the american spirit there with the orchestra playing patriotic tunes (http://www.bso.org/bso/index.jsp?id=bcat5240153). maybe that is fun to watch, if tickets are not too expensive...?

Church building

i was still one pic behind, so now i make up for that. this building is at the T-stop "symphony", and so i thought this is the actual symphony. already searched for cheap concert tickets, as i was so curious to see this building from the inside. today we discovered this is not the symphony at all; it is a church!! we could go in and a woman showed us around. it was really beautiful inside!!! apparently it has the biggest organ in the world, and we were welcome on Sunday morning 10 for the service (maybe just once to hear that organ). we also went to the "Mapparium" (http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/), owned by the church as well. that was really cool...!
maybe tomorrow a pic of the actual "symphony", but that was a disappointing building (at least from the outside), in my opinion....

With boots

yesterday it rained, a LOT. so it was good i was wearing my new boots! and yes, they are available in all kinds of colors and patterns... really funny to see. i choose the ones that many women actually have.. doesnt that make me a real american?
after drinks and dinner we heard a weird noise while walking home: dont know how, but a car suddenly was upside down (yes, lying on its roof), a little further down the road. tim did his duty and dialed 911, but they already knew (he called max 2 minutes after it happened) and were on their way. indeed, within 5 mins we saw a policecar. we decided it would be better not to get mixed up into things and went home... (aside for the car being on its roof it didnt seem to be really bad, luckily), and in the lab they had already warned tim its better not to help when something happens on the street.. (lawsuits and so on?)

Rainy day

it is raining since 5 this morning... (the bed is so crappy, i dont sleep well)!!! here they sell a lot of nice rain boots. as soon as there is a drop of rain, everyone is wearing the most colorful pairs! so in my process of becoming a real american, a pair of rain boots obviously is a must. i bought these, and now it finally rains... we go see some apartments again, so i will view them wearing my boots... yeeyy!

Blossom tree

this tree reminds me of a painting... i presume the owner of the painting knows what i am talking about! :) the area around my lab is very pretty, i defenitely will post more pics of it here...
yesterday another round of apartment viewing... pff. we saw 5, 2 were disgusting (students were living there), never ever saw something like that, not even on tv. 2 were very nice, but also very expensive. and there is a lot for us to learn: you can negotiate about the monthly rent, they prefer people that will stay there years and with good jobs (our jobs are considered very good), if you want an apt, you have to give the agency immediately the first one rent on a cheque, so negotiations can start. and.. we discovered that you can even get some discount on your rent if you will always put the trash out, or shovel snow. these are landlord responsibilities, but if you are willing to do it for them, you pay f.e. 50 dollars less rent per month (thats why nobody at our house puts out the trash! so surely we will call the landlord and tell them we want to do this stupid job in exchange for a lower rent...)

Treasure couch

This is what i wanted to post yesterday, but i had left my laptop in the lab; we went to view an apartment (yet another frustrating experience).
anyways... the beautiful couch we got for free, also harboured some treasures, we discovered. on the sides and behind the pillow there was some space, and it was stuffed with things! as you can see on the pic... there was more, like a plastic fork and other stuff that belonged in the trash... :) hahahaha. i emailed the previous owner to ask whether there was something he wanted back from this, and he sent me a pic of his son, the guilty one that enjoyed hiding stuff in the couch..! now isnt that cute!
oh, and no, we didnt find a fortune in there....

Lazy neighbours

Our house has 5 apartments, 4 trashbins, and 1 recycle bin (for paper, glass and plastic). the latter nobody uses except us. the other bins are actively filled, but nobody every puts out the trash on tuesday-night. so far, only tim did it, and otherwise it did not happen.... yegh....

Big TV

this TV is huge. and we got it entirely for free. the man who gave it away bought it in 2004 for 8000 dollars. just like that! i dont think that i am that nice..... it is not entirely sharp, but yesterday for watching the "water-news" it was good.. it is really soooo big and heavy. and i am not even interested in watching TV (but tim is)..... space-filling?

Boston water

this pic was made yesterday from the beach. every few minutes another plane was flying into Boston, and there was continuous noise- not from the water, but from the planes. i now flew twice into boston and i dont like that you are descending until very low above water, instead of ground...
today it was very hot (above 30 degrees), and we could not get a soda: there is a problem with the drinking water in boston since yesterday, we just saw it on our free tv. some pipe broke and a state of emergency has been declared by the boston mayor. you are not allowed to drink the water, unless boiled for 1 minute, and you should also not brush your teeth, or shower. if you do shower with it, you should use handsanitizer afterwards.. (that stuff is everywhere so thats no problem). they are distributing bottled water at certain points..
in fact it all seems a bit funny! (but i only drink bottled water....)

Busy day

we did a LOT today. did laundry at the laundromat one block further, seemed to work better than in the basement. then there was a yard sale.. there people put all furniture etc they dont want anymore in their yard and try to get some money for it (so we had our little queen's day rommermarkt here!). we got a beautiful table!!
then we walked really far to see an apartment that was not worth our time at all. :( most stupid thing: here they dont tell you the actual address until 30 minutes before or so (WHY?! but it seems a common thing; same will happen tomorrow). pic here was taken on the way; next to yard sales people also just put stuff outside they dont want anymore. tim tried on the free shoes (maybe another day i put a pic of that..). then we went to the Natural Museum of History (free entrance), and then we went to the beach; it was hot today!! back home we cleaned the apt, so now im exhausted....

Free furniture

this is where we needed the truck for.... i discovered the free section on Craigslist (http://boston.craigslist.org/zip/). we emailed several people. most did not answer at all, that was very disappointing. but look! we got this beautiful couch for free!! now we finally have our own couch and something in that second empty living room. we also got an enormous, really huge TV, but thats for another day to show. ah, and we got a futon (also a very weird story that deserves a pic by its own), and we drove around a LOT.... ah yes; today i worked very hard in the lab. i hope to start pipetting next week monday, finally.
dont you love the couch?! i do...! (but it was not easy to move)

Big car

we used this car today. why? i'll tell you tomorrow, now it is time for bed....

Meat consumption

saw this ad on saturday at Harvard square. even thought of going there, just to see what she has to say about such a weird topic... in the end we did not go.. instead we ate some meat!! :) we had very delicious burgers at Porter Square in the Phoenix Landing (mine was with bacon, thin slices of apple and peanut butter, yumyumyum!).
we were actually supposed to view an apartment this afternoon. but just at the very last moment the lady (with whom it was already difficult to communicate) asked whether it would be a problem if the apt would be available from July 7 instead of July 1st. well, yeah!! and i had told her so already twice. there is a lot available, but communication and coordination seems to be rather difficult...

Quite cold

I think it is not that warm. Currently, it is 4 degrees. but you see a lot of girls with very short shorts... or people without jackets, while i am shivering. i keep wondering: arent they cold?! btw, this pic was made last october, in New York, but you see legs like that all time... :)

Laundry room

due to an excess of space (never thought i would be able to say that, ever!!), we currently have a room that solely serves as laundry room.... as you can see here.. :) ok, in the walk-in closet (that is a little too small for my taste), are my clean clothes.
but, as mentioned before, i do not enjoy doing laundry here. all the black shirts are covered in dust after washing... :( tim called 2 dry-cleaners, and cleaning a shirt/blouse costs 4,95. maybe i should Fedex my delicate clothes home for washing?

Outside hairdresser

this is just outside prudential center in boston, a shopping area with a large food court. the weather was nice! what can i say about this pic? not much.., i just thought it was worth taking a picture...

Our house

this is where we live. as you can see, it is a really big house! the entire ground floor is ours, but then above there are 4 more apartments....

Social Security

2 days ago my social security card arrived!! i had to wait 2 hours at the office to get it; they were sooooo slow. when it was finally my turn, the woman just typed over the form i had filled out (very slowly) and then she asked me to check for typos. then i waited eagerly for the mail. i thought it would be a real card; the first proof i really belong to the American system now... :)) but it is just a piece of paper....:( then i thought: let me laminate it, otherwise for sure some day it will be ruined, but what does it say above? indeed, "do not laminate"... besides, you are not supposed to carry it with you, and give no one, except for example your employer the number... (below the white stripe is my number; i am a real american and do not give it out to anyone!!).