House Hunters International

Now that "le weekend" is over, it's time to turn to the task of finding "un appartement." Debra has been busy from before we arrived scanning all the websites and making some arrangements to see places.

So first thing Monday morning we saw a nice 3-bedroom place near the train station and our office with a great view of the river; however at 3000 Euros a month we weren't ready to sign on the spot.

Several places wanted Deb to call. They thought that was "easier". So my poor wife had to struggle with her French over the phone after only 3 days here. But she muddled through and arranged a few more showings.

Deb was able to arrange to see a 3 bed place in the afternoon which was nice except the 3 beds were all in one room, the walls were chartreuse, and there was a train track running through the kitchen.

Finally we took the tram out to see our 3rd place today. The lady spoke no English, but Deb said she asked us to meet her by "Building 3." We spent 20 minutes looking for "Building 3." There was no Building 3. Finally I ignored "Building 3" and went to the address. There was a mailbox with the right name. A lady up on the 5th floor seemed to invite us into an apartment but seemed a bit taken back when we looked everywhere in her apartment while David jumped on the beds. David laughed at our attempts at French, but didn't offer any help.

Afterwards we compared what we thought she told us. Deb thought she said that she needed to know if we wanted it by Tuesday evening at 7. David thought she talked about moving from the US at age 7 and being put in nursery school and quickly advanced to the top of the class. I thought she said she had been abducted by an alien with 7 glass eyes.

I guess our French lesson for today is that at least two of us speak lousy French. We just don't know which two of us that is. And maybe we saw an apartment that was for rent, or maybe we just nosed around some lady's place and there's another lady waiting for us at building 3. C'est la vie.