Week 1 recap

I have survived my first week here. I was nervous to start work last weekend because first weeks of work are usually pretty slow and boring. Yeah right. Tuesday and Wednesday were absolutely hectic. I had lunch with some customers on Wednesday. I'm not naturally a very talkative person so the meeting with customers part of this job is going to be a new experience. The restaurant was noisy, so once they all started talking I had to really concentrate on what they were saying, otherwise there was no hope of understanding the accents.

On my drive to work yesterday I counted the number of roundabouts I have to drive through - 10. Have you ever gotten lost on a roundabout? You just keep driving around in circles until you figure out where to turn off, and by the time you figure this out you have no idea what direction you're going. As coworkers unloaded projects onto me, I felt like I was driving on roundabouts. There was so much information involved that my mind was spinning in circles. I think I will like the project management aspect of the job because I love planning, and I will learn a lot from the technical side. It's going to be a challenge, but I think once I get through the first few months I will really enjoy it.

In other news, it took me two days to find a house here. Karen, her daughter, and I started looking last Friday, just driving around to see what neighbourhoods were good and to look at some of the available houses from the outside. We drove up to one and both said wow. So Saturday morning I went to the inspection. It's a little odd how they do them here - they give a 10-15 minute window on one day to look inside. Everyone arrives a few minutes early and hangs around outside waiting for the agent to show up. Then when they arrive, everyone rushes towards the door. They require ID to view the place and you have to take your shoes off. Then everyone roams through the place. That's it - if you miss the 10 minute window, too bad. This first house was awesome on the inside. I said wow to the outside, but compared to the inside the outside is lame. There are wood floors and high ceilings throughout. It's a two story, with a giant open kitchen/dining area, living room, formal dining area and sitting area, walk in pantry, laundry room, bathroom, and garage on the first floor. Up the stairs there is a large landing, then four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master has a large open ensuite with separate tub and shower and nice walk in closet. The backyard is grass, not huge but bigger than most of the other new houses we had looked at. The community is still being built, and the land immediately next to the house is just starting construction so that's the one major drawback of the place. The community has a good feel, with some lake areas a few blocks away and lots of walking paths. Eventually they will build a community facility with pool, gym, etc. The area is a 20 min drive to my work, and equally as close to the mountains and beaches. The train station is within walking distance if we want to go downtown. O, and one more thing - the front yard has a frog statue, How could I resist?

After looking at this house we looked at a few others, same price, different areas, but these had bonuses like cracks in the walls, stained carpeting, or mickey mouse decals on walls. By the end of the day I knew I had to have that first house. Here they make each adult apply separately, so I turned in my application and told Phil to submit his online. Keep in mind the only thing he's seen of this place is pictures from the online listing. Trusting husband! Since it was a 3-day weekend, we had to wait until Tuesday for any news. Then my manager told me they asked him if I was reliable and trustworthy (and I gave him permission to lie!). They asked for more documentation from us. Then they called and said it was between us and another couple and the owner would decide on Thursday. Time for more waiting. Thursday morning we got the news that our application had been accepted, and yesterday I signed the lease and paid the bond. I will get the keys next Friday, and when Phl comes to visit next Saturday I'll get to show him the dump he's stuck living in now :)

So there should be plenty of room for anyone who wants to come visit, just wait until at least July 4th because we won't have any furniture until then.

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