The house starts to come round

This weekend, we started the final touches on the house. Now that we had the bare minimum, we started putting stuff on the walls. So the house, starts to look like a home! Great feeling!

We bought a clock... a huge one that is. I always wanted a huge 'train station' clock on the wall. Now there is one.

We also have some fancy shelves on the hall walls, extra storing space in the dining room, and some pictures with us on a wall in the kitchen (just like we had in Amsterdam).

Also on the fridge door, we got a kit of magnetic words so we can write some erotic poetry.

No More Shopping

For the past 4 days we did nothing else but shop. It's damned exhausting! We visited Ikea (about 4 times), BedBath & Beyond (3 times), Circuit City (2 times), Best Buy (3 times), Michaels, Furniture Discounters (2 times), and the rest I don't recall anymore...

A guy in Bed Bath & Beyond asked if we were on a shopping spree... He had no idea!

We managed in just 5 days to furnish most of the apartment (that includes the master bedroom, dining, living, kitchen, 2 bathrooms). For the same amount of stuff, in our previous apartment in Amsterdam, it took us about 1.5 years. We bought utensils for most of the stuff, we made subscriptions to utilities, phone, mobile, internet, tools. We assembled stuff around the house. We cleared stuff from the bags. All in all the bill went up to 6500 $.

We are exhausted. Luckilly, tomorrow is Monday, so I can go to work and relax ;) riiight!

Safeway is open.....

U won't believe it but Safeway (a giant supermarket) is open 24/7............ohhh my GOD!!!!

I keep forgetting that here stores are open longer and I keep functioning on Netherlands schedule...and I panic that we are out of bread in the evening.

All the stores here are giants........one Safeway is probably 5 times an Albert Heijn. I always wanted to have space....and choice.....and ohhh yeah....there is pleeeeeenty of choice. As u know I love my shrimps so in Safeway there is a huge aisle only with shrimps...(hypnotized eyes).

Avem casă

De azi de la ora 11:15 dimineaţa avem casă.... Nu mai suntem pe străzi.

După ce am semnat un contract de 27 pagini, în care absolut totul era explicat, am primit cheile de la apartament. Avem 2 locuri în parcarea subterană (unul în spate la celălalt, deci cel din faţă e blocat de cel din spate), căsuţă poştală, cheie magnetică, etc.

Ce e interesant e că nici căsuţa poştală şi nici numărul parcării nu corespund cu numărul apartamentului... Oare să fie din cauză de securitate? Să nu ştie ceielalţi unde stai?

Blocked Cards? Same Old. Same Old...

Today we had the surprise we were actually expecting -- blocking of credit cards. We heard from several people that when you make an 'unusual' expenditure on your credit card, the card will be temporarily blocked by the anti-fraud department.

Since credit cards are so unusual to pay with in Holland, of course our credit card got blocked becuase we paid the deposit for the apartment with it.

I had to wake up a 6:30 a.m. in order to still catch the anti-fraud department open (time difference of 9 hours with Amsterdam, and this department only operates between 9-5). I managed to get it unblocked and they even promised me they would call me if another 'unusual' transaction is about to take place. Let's see how this works, as I have colleagues who got their credit card blocked even after explaining and agreeing with the bank they would call them... So let's see... Soo exciting !! :P

There is No Jetlag

I keep having this argument with my BIL: "there is no jetlag"... And so far I was able to prove it.

However, I think 9 hours time difference between Amsterdam and San Francisco, it's just too much to take in in just 1 day. The first two nights I slept about 6 hours each -- from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and from midnight to 6 a.m. respectively.

It's so strange that your biorhythm just doesn't want to follow the day/night intervals. Let's see what happens in the third night... Probably I'll sleep about 8 hours and then be completely shifted to this time zone.... because, of course, there is no jetlag -- you're just tired for not sleeping enough ;)

A Place to Stay

We got the place! We are now the newest residents at the Sycamore complex in North Park, San Jose. And a very nice place it is indeed for the 2245$ it costs per month. Luckilly, my BIL agreed to be our guarantor, so we only had to pay one month deposit (instead of 2).

Since we are fresh off the boat, we have no credit history, no rental history, etc. It doesn't matter you have good history outside the US. If you don't have it in the US, you don't exist. Right? Right!

Anyway, I am really excited abut the new place. Been to Ikea and already started the big adventure: furnishing! We bought kitchen utensils, bathroom stuff. This was our second visit to Ikea... and many more will come. Hail the Ikea!

As of today www.mitza.net is also up&running. So pictures will come...

With Flowers In Your Hair...

We did it. We are in California.

Fresh off the plane. Here we are in sunny 20 degrees (Celsius that is). Confortable direct flight Amsterda-San Francisco (9h45m). We cleared customs with no problems. Nobody found any illegal substances/food that we might have had on us.

Saw one nice apartment yesterday. In San Jose, North Park complex. Very impressive. The complex has pretty much everything one needs (warmed pools, jacuzzi, BBQs, gym, spinning, lots of classes, basketball court). Waiting for the approval for it today. Fingers crossed!!!

We've Got Visas

Yes, we are legal aliens as of today. Well... potentially legal aliens, as we have not moved yet.

Today, we went to the US Consulate (in Amsterdam). After horror security checks, we made it in. There were 3 queues just for getting inside. Some poor people who had mobile phones on them were waiting to get in when we get there, and they were still waiting to get in when we left. So remember, no electronics on you when you go there.

Inside there were again 2 queues: one for applying, one for the actual interview. All in all went really well. In about half an hour we we done with everything.

So in the next episode, finishing packing and flying to the US.

Box 1

It may be a small step for mankind, but definitely a huge step for us: we mailed the first box to California.

I was writing in an earlier post, that we are about to move to the west coast USA as of January 2009. The day is coming by pretty quickly, so we started packing. Hopefully it won't be too many boxes, since we leave all our furniture and stuff in the apartment in Amsterdam.

Anyway, TNT Post - (the Dutch postal service) charges 54.95 Eur for an economy shipment to America of up to maximum 20 kg. The parcel ends up on a ship and TNT Post estimates to arrive within 4-6 weeks. I'll blog about the actual duration when/if it arrives. No jinxing!