Movin' on Up!

Just a quick note to say that my school has found us an apartment and we will be moving sometime in the next two weeks. Our new home will be a cozy little two-room apartment above a bank in the center of town. The place comes complete with a bathroom (flushing toilet and shower with hot water in the winter), steam heat, and a balcony. "Posh Corps," here we come!

Peace Corps has approved of our move and we are processing the paperwork now. After the huge Kazakh mega-holiday that is Nayourz on Monday, my school and Ashlee's health department will work together to furnish the place (kitchen table, cupboards, wardrobe, and a bookcase) and change the locks -- and then we will be free to move in.

We're really stoked to be moving. Carbon monoxide leaks aside, our little house has been a good home to us and a refuge during this terrible Mongolian winter that is finally leaving us. We're also not looking forward to having to say goodbye to the family that we rent this house from -- partly because they have been so good to us and partly because we are worried that they won't understand why we are moving and that they might be offended. Oh well, here's looking to the future.

Our new place is right between our two places of work (10-minute walks in either direction) and significantly closer to all of Olgii's hotspots (the bazaar, the bank, the post office, and the supermarket). We are definitely movin' on up.