Because things are so slow for my aunt at her job due to the amazing economy, which is doing oh so well right now I might add, she has spent the past few days looking online for apartments for me. When I came home from work on Friday my aunt, uncle and cousin were all leaving for soccer practice and she told me as they were jetting out of here that she called an apartment place and we were going to see it tomorrow (today). I'm like, uh, okay... and they left. So I ate alone at the diner downtown yet again, which wasn't so terrible because I had a book and some good food (lemon cake with creamy frosting and raspberry filling and powdered sugar...) and two hours later returned to the house just before the rest of them. When they arrived my aunt told me all about the apartment she had found. It's in a town that is merely six exits off of I-91 from my job, which is amazing, and it's a studio apartment. The first month is completely free, but I can spread that month over the twelve month lease and it makes my rent a mere $610 and some change, not including utilities. If I'm green about my utility use, I can keep that payment down to about $60-80 so that makes for super cheap rent, comparitively. We saw the apartment today. It's in a beautiful location with an exceptionally nice landlady and apparently a bunch of other single females live there as well and feel completely safe. I can definitely see myself living there, too. The other places I checked out didn't feel quite right to me, but this one... this one fits. I'm on the third floor on the end, so I have an extra window and only one direct neighbor.
If this works, that's a photo of the outside of the apartment. Every apartment has a deck, along with some extra storage space. There's a closet the moment you walk in the front door just before the kitchen. The bathroom is directly off the kitchen. Continue walking down the short hallway and you'll get to the main room, which, due to the door to the balcony, is probably close to the size of my room back home. I've already had a million ideas of what I can do to the place with the stuff I have and I'm really, really excited.
Again, if this works, this is a picture of the door to the balcony and the gorgeous tree that graces my view. I intend to grow flowers out there and have a semi-comfortable chair to sit on so I can read out there on warm nights. Over all, it's a beautiful place and I'm really, really super excited! I go to sign the lease on May 27th after work and can move in directly after that! And that's perfect because it gives me a month to stock up on the stuff I need, like a shower curtain and bath towels and pots and pans.
Tomorrow is church again, and I'm making a visit to the Book Barn. West Haven isn't terribly far from Niantic so it should be a decently short drive and a long afternoon of buying books that i don't necessarily need. My idea of the perfect day, in other words.
I have two weeks of work under my belt now and some pretty good friendships. I sit with the same general group of people every day, a group that includes my friend Brandy, a woman named Dawn, and a bunch of guys, Neal, Dan, Dave, Edwin, and Michael. After awhile Jeff joins us as well. Mostly I spend all of lunch listening to the opinions of everyone else in the group without saying anything because I can never get a word in edgewise. It reminds me of family dinners back home (no offense, family, I love you all!). However, this past Friday Neal and I took a trip out to Starbucks (which made us five minutes late after lunch, but it was my first ever offense and I intend to never make that mistake again) and on that little drive Neal informed me that I am one of the most interesting people he's ever met. I find that hard to believe, since I think I'm really boring, but it's probably more because I'm a very different kind of person than everyone else in the class. It might also be because I'm very set in who I am as a person and I don't allow my position or the people who surround me affect that decision. In fact, any time any of my friends at work talks about someone else in the class when that person isn't there, I purposefully don't join in the conversation or settle it by saying that people are who they are and I won't judge them for it and I like everyone in the class anyway so end of story. I'm actually kind of proud of myself, because I do tend to lean in the direction of gossip sometimes, but never at my job. Almost everyone there is aware of my position as a Christian and I really don't want to be considered one of those Christians who are just like everyone else. I'm doing my best, but it's going to be a long haul.
So, anyway, that's where I am right now. I'm really excited about church and having the day to myself tomorrow. Not that I'm eager to get away from the relatives because I'm not. Now that the initial awkwardness has evaporated living here is easy and actually kind of fun. The four of us played pig tonight out in the driveway in the dark! Tons of fun, especially with a black basketball...
Peace.
