MoldovAnn

Thank you to everyone who wrote and called to wish me a happy birthday – it was really a great day!

I got home really late Thursday night from Russia, it was already practically Friday. At the stroke of midnight Igor produced a lovely bouquet of roses for me. So sweet! At the office my colleagues also surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, bright violet, but I don’t know what they are called. Really pretty.

The tradition here is that the birthday girl or boy prepares the party for colleagues and friends. Igor helped me out, ever the wonderful husband that he is, and brought a cake and 2 bottles of champagne to the office for me. We enjoyed relaxing and laughing for a bit, a nice break at the end of the week and worth doing no matter what the occasion! Several people had just returned from vacations and other trips, so there were plenty of hilarious travel stories to go around.

After work, Igor and I went to look at a couple of apartments. The real estate market has dropped so much that even apartments in Pechersk, where we desperately want to live again, have come into a more-or-less reasonable range. The first place had plenty of pluses, a few minuses, but the owners were pretty determined to stick to the inflated price they had in mind. It never fails to amaze me how many property owners here prefer to receive nothing instead of accepting a lower offer – as I understood it, the place had been empty for several months with no one willing to pay the price they wanted, but I guess they don’t need the money.

The second place we saw was a second visit for Igor. He had told me the day he first saw it “I found our apartment.” It just resonated with him, he felt at home there right away. I can’t say I had the same immediate feeling, but I definitely understood why he liked it. And he’s been so unhappy in the place that I picked last year, I want to make sure this time that we choose an apartment that he feels good about. Three big rooms, a nice size kitchen with gas stove, water heater, tall ceilings, brick building, in a courtyard so low street noise, enclosed balcony, well-insulated windows, second floor, in Pechersk, and a short walk from the metro – basically all we were hoping for! The previous tenants had kids who clearly put some wear on the place, though – spots from markers and stickers on the walls, furniture is “well used”, I would say. But that’s stuff we can fix or work around and generally deal with.

After a little bargaining, we closed the deal and will move in next week! The best part is that it is $450/month LESS than we are paying now, and our quality of life will be so much improved.

The great birthday wrapped up with a quiet dinner on the balcony with my wonderful husband, a delicious bottle of Georgian wine we bought in Tbilisi, and fireworks in three parts of the city that we could see. What else could you ask for?