Guus Bosman

This weekend we moved into our new apartment. We signed the papers and received the keys last Wednesday, but as we didn't have any furniture we stayed in Rosa's place until Friday.

We got up early Friday, and after two hours of packing Arnold, a neighbor, brought us to Arlington. We had a car full with bags and suitcases, but we didn't have any furniture to move. Saturday we had to be in the apartment at 12:00 o'clock, because a mattress would be delivered that afternoon. We ordered a mattress through "1-800-MATTRESS" and it was a good thing that they delivered the mattress on time, otherwise we would have had not place to sleep. The mattress is nice and thick. We already had the cuilt and the pillows, so at least the bedroom became usable.

Saturday afternoon we went shopping in a mall called Pentagon City, which is indeed near the Pentagon. There we bought a lot of small things, but also two large items: a TV and a vacuum cleaner (stofzuiger). We choose a Philips TV, and it's beautiful. We took a cab back home because of the large amount of things and packages we had.

Sunday morning we went to Ikea. We went there last week too, so we already knew about some of the things we wanted to get. We took the metro to Ikea College Park, which is actually located in the state Maryland. It's quite a distance from D.C. but the metro system is very extensive in Washington, so we had no problem going there by public transport. We arrived at 9:45 o'clock, before the shop opened, and therefore the coffee in the restaurant was free. You could also get breakfast for 99 cents, really cheap, but we already had breakfast at home.

We bought a lot of things. The biggest items are a bed, and a living room table with four chairs. It's fun to choose new furniture. Arnold brought us back, with the furniture. In the afternoon we assembled the furniture (my hands still hurt from the screwdriver), and around 23:30 o'clock everything was installed. Slowly but surely the apartment is changing from an completely empty place into our home. We also bought our first plant, something I am particularly happy with. It's a Yuka, about 1,5 meters heigh.