Pictures of my new place

Since I haven't been able to get on my blog for so long, some of you probably don't know that I moved from my big fancy apartment to a smaller, cozier apartment in an old Soviet building. This is my bedroom with a door leading to a small laundry room where I hang up my wet clothes (no drier). The washing machine is actually in the kitchen.

I am sorry this picture of my living room turned out so dark. There are double doors that open to a small computer/office area.

This is the entrance to my building.

I live on the second floor of this old Soviet building. It actually looks pretty decent in this photo. It doesn't look so good in real life. At my housewarming party the husband of my friend walked in the door and said, "Why on earth did you move from your beautiful apartment to this place?" However, when he got inside he could see why I fell in love with it. I moved because I was getting money stolen and I stopped feeling safe in my own home. My landlord came and went whenever he wanted. I finally took the key away from the cleaning lady and she only came when I was there, but I felt like she took things right in front of me - silly things like toilet paper and napkins. When I returned from Christmas vacation I could tell that someone had been staying there - different food in the refrigerator, several things missing, and some of my furniture was moved. It was a creepy feeling. One thing that was missing was so silly. I had 4-5 pairs of black hose in my drawer, so when I went back to the States I only got brown ones because I knew I had plenty of black ones. When I got back there was not one single pair of black hose to be found. Now who would want my black hose? Also, I was very distressed because my water floater and pump were not out on the deck where I left them in a big black plastic bag. I looked everywhere for them and finally found them a few days before I moved out. Someone had taken the plastic bag and filled it with all their clothes and thrown it over in the pile of stuff the landlord had left there. I found the floater way down on the bottom. Weird! Plus there was a man's suit hanging in my closet and I haven't started a trend of wearing men's suits. So I moved out and I am so happy with my new place. I don't have to look around every day when I get home from work to see if anyone has been in my apartment. It feels like my home and even if it is smaller and not so fancy, it is perfect for me. And I love living out in the community with schools, soccer fields, and families instead of living with all the rich expats. Things are good! This blog only allows me 5 pictures per time and I lost one on this blog post, so I will post more pictures on the next blog.