Back to School, Back to School

What a week! So much has happened that it feels like two weeks! Getting back into the groove of school took some time. I was very productive and finished a lot of work. Next week I will be kicking off a new project, and I still need to put the finishing touches on it, but I hope that it goes smoothly next week.

The Livingroom.

From the Backyard.

The Backyard.

Now for the big news. As I mentioned before, we have been trying to arrange a house as our time in this one is winding down. We love where we live now because we have lots of space and live in a free-standing house. Almost all of the houses here are either connected to another house or are apartments. We like listening to loud music and movies...so I was really not looking forward to moving out. We will also need to pay at least twice the rent we do here.

The Kitchen.

Downstairs Bathroom.

Steep Staircase.

So we started the house hunt a few weeks ago. We found one that looked really nice almost immediately. We were told it would take about 6 months of searching to find something we liked, but we decided to pursue this one anyway. When she called, Naomi was told it was off the market as someone else had claimed it. She gave her name anyway in case things fell through - which they did! We toured the house and saw lots of potential. We sent in our papers so that we could reserve it. Then the owner asked for a promise of employment for next year.

Exploring the only closet space.

Upstairs Study.

Second Bedroom.

This is not arranged for at least another month with our school. They don't know if they will hire us or not next year, so we became a bit worried. Then we did not have school for a week so we couldn't ask. On Monday, Naomi was able to convince the principal to give us the documents we needed! After some negotiation (we did well - the owner will pay for 1000 Euros of paint and we don't need to start paying rent until April) we ended up signing the papers!

Master Bedroom.

The Bathroom.

From the top.

There were a couple things in the process that I found ridiculous, others about the house that we don't like. The first was that they basically have realtors for rentals here. They charged over a thousand euros to show us the house and make up the contract! Also, if something like the fridge or the water heater breaks, it is up to us to fix it or buy a new one. The house is stripped and needs a lot of work. There is no closet space. It will cost a lot to heat. It is also right next to a railroad crossing.

New Church.

Old Church.

Old Church.

Now, for some reasons why we really like the house. It is not connected to another house! We can play music and movies as loud as we want! It is from the 20s and has a lot of character. It has a back yard with a garden and lots of storage space. It is nicely located between our school and the city center. It is on a dead end street that has a village feel right next to a park. There is a nice little cafe across the street. We have been given to do whatever we want to the house and yard - it feels the same as if we would have bought it. There is plenty of space inside and the kitchen is pretty nice. We are really excited to find a place that suits us so well so quickly!

Old Church.

Old Church.

Tilted Church.

Right after signing for the house, a couple friends came to visit from Germany. They just left a few hours ago and we had a really nice weekend. Saturday morning was about showing them around Rotterdam, and in the afternoon we went to Delft. It was an amazing city! I would love to live there!! Rotterdam is really terrible in comparison. It is nice to have it so close by though. We can cycle there on a nice Saturday though, so having it so close by is really nice.

The next 6 weeks will be a lot of work. We want to have things ready for when my family visits. Our finances will be stretched to the limit. We have two weddings to plan. Life is crazy.