Moving along

Another day, another piece of Ikea furniture. Our hall is now cluttered with empty flat pack boxes and our kitchen drawer full of Allen keys. In addition to a bed we are now currently in possession of a coffee table (aka dining table - it's that kind of apartment), a chest of drawers, two footstools/sitting stools and a wardrobe (referred to locally as "robes"). Our apartment has a faux-blondwood Swedish furniture motif. We've spent the last few days shopping around, gathering and eventually assembling these pieces of furniture. As in New York, people here often leave pieces of furniture outside their houses when they're trying to get rid of them and they're considered fair game for anyone who wants them. Most are understandably horrible, but we managed to get a swivel chair for the study in this fashion. We're looking to get a sofa-bed on eBay at the moment and once we do, we'll be pretty comfortable.

The electricity and gas didn't come on until Tuesday so we were straddling both the hotel and our apartment for a couple of days. We finally moved out of the hotel on Thursday morning and not a day too soon as we were both covered in some kind of bed bug bites by then. They don't itch too much, but they take forever to heal and so we both look like a couple of lepers at the moment. Cass wants to post a photo to illustrate this but I've been trying to dissuade her. Dave's friend Aoife says that they're pretty common here. Something to do with the climate perhaps. Anyway, we're out now, thank God.

The fridge is now successfully installed as well so that last night we were able to have our first meal in our new apartment. With so many markets selling fresh produce, we're spoiled for choice here. The Prahan market has a stall that makes it's own pasta, so we've been trying that. Absolutely delicious.

Cass has got some temp work already and is currently out winning bread by stuffing envelopes. She worked 4 hours yesterday at a reception desk in the city. She's registered with a temp agency while continuing to apply for jobs in journalism.