The number one priority for this room was a TV. You can't move to the country that invented television and not get the biggest, best TV you can find! In America they no longer sell those massive square TV sets (Ivor tells me they're called CRTs... whatever...); even if you don't want to get a thin plasma/ LCD, you don't have a choice. Luckily I really wanted a plasma - it's a status symbol in SA and I was really excited to choose one. So off we went to Best Buy - their slogan is 'Buyer Be Happy' and looked at screens till we were cross-eyed. We left with a 32-inch (81 cm) Plasma and a very smiley Heloise - Buyer was Happy!
I love TV! Yes... that is Tom Cruise in a towel.
Conveniently Ivor has connections so thanks to his colleague Zain we didn't need to squeeze the massive box through the bus doors on the 2 buses it would take to get from Best Buy to our place. Even more inconvenient was that the TV unit we picked out was at a shop, literally on the opposite side of town. 1-800 ZAIN - service with a smile! Thanks Zain!
Next we ordered cable! Well, that makes it sound really simple. While America is a service-oriented country, not everything runs as smoothly as one would hope. I'll summarize this 2 day palaver; if you are a newcomer to this fair land don't order cable specials online until you have a social security number.
There was a lot of frustration but after 2 days of calls and 2 treks to the other side of town again to their offices we were sorted. I have always wanted to have hundreds of channels to choose from, but have had to, up till now, make do with with the humble offerings of SABC 1,2 and 3 and E. I had, in a slightly manipulative move, made cable a requirement of my moving to America, hence the insistent 2 day palaver to get it organised!. And, for the record I don't spend all day, well, not every day, in front of the TV!
We also bought the pay channel Showtime for ..... DEXTER!!!!!!! Ne'er again shall there be Sunday night blues - well at least not until the end of the season!
Comcast conveniently offers broadband internet and this is probably one of the greatest things about America - it's freakishly fast, always on, broadband, wireless and it makes Ivor happy!
After splashing out on the bed and TV we needed to furnish the rest of the house as cheaply as possible! Enter garage sales and Craig's list!
Craig's list is a bargain hunters paradise. We found an advert for a $50 sofa and went to check it out. We arrived at the address and found this big blue monstrosity sitting on the patio covered in white dog hair. The owner, Adam, had brought the couch from his home town and was intending to use it in his varsity digs but couldn't fit it through the door. Clearly their attempts to force this flea infested brick through the door had failed because the door was off its hinges and was propped up against the wall as a testament to his story. I felt better knowing the couch had never been inside the varsity digs with 4 good looking undergrad boys in the biggest party school in America. I decided that the white fur could be removed and since I had been watching TV on the floor for 2 weeks too many, I gave him the $50 and asked if he could drop it off. This one was not going to fit in Zain's trusty boot. Americans are generally really friendly and Adam is a particularly amiable and warm character, he called his roommate and together they hauled the hairy blue monstrosity onto his pink truck and we headed off to my apartment.
They got the couch to the door and twisted and turned and bumped and grinded but brute force was not getting this couch through this doorway. The door knob knocked a dent into wall (don't tell the landlord) and Adam and his friend finally decided that our door would also have to be removed. Ivor arrived home just as they were attempting to remove the last screw. Ivor assessed the situation and suggested politely that they give it one more try before removing the door and with his instructions of 'lift and tilt' the couch was magically and with no force at all, suddenly in the house. Adam kindly put all the screws back into the hinges but I was wondering if he was suddenly contemplating the fact that this couch may have actually been able to fit through his doorway too. It only took one can of upholstery cleaner, a pet hair remover and a lint roller to make the couch usable. As an extra barrier I've covered it with some throws I picked up at Target.
Garage sales are very common in America; people lay out their unwanted items on the pavement and you can pick up good quality second-hand goods quite easily .... if you have a car. Ivor and I saw some great bargains ... from the window of the bus. We biked to a few garage sales and bought a few odd and ends that we could carry in a our backpacks but on one bike adventure we found a beautiful oak dining room table. I had to have it so I asked / begged that we could somehow arrange a home delivery (from a garage-sale). The guy, Paul, was so obliging and said that he would drive the table to us later that day, (further proof that Americans are really friendly people). We got to chatting when he brought the table over and we discovered that his late-father was a professor in the nuclear engineering department and he was really glad that we were the new owners of his beautiful table.A week later he tracked Ivor down through the university and emailed to say that he still had the 6 oak chairs that go with the table in his basement and would it be convenient to us if he delivered them so the set could be complete at NO charge to us. (We had only paid $60 for the table in the first place). He's a typically generous guy and I intend to have him over to supper to share in the enjoyment of our fabulous table. (Note to self: Invite Paul for supper!)
And so our apartment became home. We just needed to put up all our pictures that we sent over from SA. Home sweet home! Stay tuned for more photos of our apartment coming soon.....
