Massive furniture buying, tropical downpour, and moving

It seems like every time I have to move, it's either super hot or raining. I'm not sure which one I prefer... The huge tropical thunderstorm started shortly after I woke up. The rain was so massive that I could barely see the towers under construction outside my window. I should really take a picture of those towers before they are finished. I look for them every time I'm unsure of which way to go. Very handy.

It's been a really long and exhausting weekend. Let me start with Saturday. I decided to leave early for the seminar on Saturday because my coworkers made it sound like it would be really difficult to find. They gave me really detailed instructions. "Make sure you get off at Exit A. If you get out at the wrong turnstile, it's game over! When you get on the train, get on at the last car so that you won't get out at the wrong exit. Look for the red buildings. Try to take the pedestrian overpass. Once you find the buildings, go in, turn right and walk all the way to the end." Of course, I didn't manage to get on the last car so I was worried. But once I got out, everything was well labeled. I didn't even have to remember which way to turn because all the buildings were clearly labeled with letters. 

As soon as I showed up, one of the guys organizing the thing (he sits near me at work), grabs me to help write a name tag. There was a misprint and he wanted someone who had good handwriting. The talks were much more interesting than the ones on Friday. I wouldn't have minded staying the entire day. But the other guys wanted to go back to the office after lunch. I needed to go buy furniture so used that as my excuse to not go back to the office on a Saturday.

I went to DSC, a place that sells their own furniture (i.e. they don't sell other brands) and bought a mattress, closet, bedside table, kitchen table, and a sofa. It all happened really fast. I went back to look at a closet that I really liked but the price was a bit high. So I walked around and found another one that was very similar for a much lower price. It was lower price because they are no longer making that style so they're trying to get rid of it. I got a matching bedside table because there's not much else that could fit inside my bedroom. I'm going to put the closet outside the sliding doors of my bedroom because there's no room next to the bed. The closet has sliding doors as well to save space. 

As I was looking for the closet, I walked past this guy asking about a sofa. The sofa is a two seat one, very compact but it folds out to a bed that can supposedly fit two people. I was really worried that if I got a sofa bed, I wouldn't be able to fold it out in my living room space. But this one should be fine. I'm not sure if it's very comfortable as a bed so I might get a thin foam mattress for it if someone comes to stay for a long time. 

I also had my eye on a kitchen table that is adjustable in height and can double in size. When you have it lowered, it can serve as a coffee table. In case I have guests, I can raise it and it folds out to a table that can comfortably fit four people. It also has wheels. The table was actually the reason why I went back to DSC as opposed to trying to get everything from IKEA. All these purchases happened really fast because I already knew what I wanted. One of the employees followed me around and took down my order. They'll all be delivered next Saturday.

So after spending a lot of money, I went downstairs to DSC's appliances store to look at fridges, stoves, rice cookers, and such. I really like one of their small fridges that still had two doors (i.e. it has a freezer on top). But it turns out that they're out of it and there's 70 people on the waiting list. I would have to wait until the end of June to get it. Can I go that long without a fridge?? I've also been thinking about getting a small washer and dryer. They have these that have 3kg capacity so it's pretty compact. It would be really convenient to have my own washer and dryer. It takes too much planning to bring my clothes somewhere. I will have to think about this purchase some more.

I didn't end up buying anything at the appliances store, mostly because they had huge discrepancies between their prices for things that looked pretty much the same to me. I think I'm going to get my appliances somewhere else. I think I'm going to get one of those "old fashion" looking rice cookers because I can get one with a steamer layer. That would be very handy to have. It started to pour when I wanted to walk back so I tried to wait it out. At some point, I gave up. 

I was exhausted and went back for dinner and a nap. After this, I dragged myself out to IKEA where I spent 2-3 hours picking out other necessities such as curtains, towels, sheets, plates, utensils, etc. It's very hard work! I really liked one of the tables I saw there but I think I have to place a special order for it. I was too tired at the end to investigate. I think I'm going to be making a lot of trips to IKEA in the next couple of weeks. I was trying to decide between this really nice looking table that fits perfectly in my kitchen space and a more modular stainless steel shelf. The table is really nice but it's way more expensive so I think I'm going to go with the shelf. 

I was really tired after dragging a ton of stuff back to my new place from IKEA. I had planned to pack a bit that night but went to sleep instead. I got up pretty early Sunday morning. It took a while to wash clothes and pack everything. I debated for a long time about whether or not to take all three suitcases in one taxi. I was worried about getting everything up to my new apartment. I decided to only take two suitcases the first time and it turned out to be pretty easy so I could have done it all in one trip. Oh wells. Taxis are pretty cheap here. 

I ate lunch and walked around to ask about internet plans. But upon not finding anything else suitable for my apartment, I decided to go back to One2Free. I went back and napped first because I was super exhausted and sweaty from the morning. One2Free made me put down a big deposit because I didn't have any bills or anything else showing that I lived in the new building. I'm going to change my bank stuff to the new address so that I can get that deposit back. Right now, all my mail is going to the company. The company's mail person delivers mail to my desk so it's really nice. 

Anyway, it's all done so now I have pretty good internet at the new place. It's good enough for YouTube and Skype. Finally able to Skype with people! I'm sleeping one more night at the YWCA and then checking out of here in the morning. I technically have one more night at the YWCA but it's too much of a hassle to figure out what I have where. And there's a lot of stuff I need to do at the new place to get it habitable. I haven't even put up the curtains yet. I will be blogging from the apartment tomorrow!