14 October 2013

Relocation Permutation I




Having my best friend around is nothing short of awesome (and it's not just because of my place being constantly clean, having a steady supply of food in the fridge, or even because I can now ask her to buy me cigarettes whenever she goes grocery shopping). However, there are some limitations to having two girls live in a small studio for an undefined period of time.

1. Lack of space
Girls will be girls, and even the largest amount of willpower will not prevent us from getting that cute wall decoration or carrying our favorite blankets around with us when we move, be it to a different street, city, or even country. So, as you can imagine, a 20 square meter apartment can get pretty cluttered with all the random, partially useless, but very cute stuff we like keeping around.


2. Lack of privacy
As if the above-mentioned issue wasn't enough, my (soon-to-be former) studio has a massive disadvantage: there is no proper door to the shower. Now, if this were an adult movie, it would be the perfect setting to a perfect script. But this is reality and neither of us has any sort of desire to have her back washed by the other. In fact, anything short of a 4 meter distance (roughly the distance between the shower and balcony) is too close for comfort as far as we're concerned. And, to top things off, Rotterdam in fall is not the best place to take long breaks on ones (uncovered) balcony.






3. Lack of human decency
The issues listed so far are caprices as best when faced with this one undeniable and unsurpassable problem: Some landlords can really be jerks.
It's not that I mind not having seen my landlord more than two times throughout the 6 months that I've lived here. Heck, I love that actually. It's that he decided to drop by and actually get involved in my business when I have less than a month left on the lease (in hindsight it was predictable that this would happen, but hey! Faith in human nature and all that). And not only did he get into my business, he also got into Immah's, more exactly he kicked her out with only two days of notice and with threatening to keep all of the deposit money I gave him.
That's ok, Mr. Landlord. I'll take very good care of the place till the end of the month *evil laughter*.



As you can probably imagine, this combination of factors lead to the unanimous decision of finding a new place, preferably one that has a door to the shower and allows us to move around without having to become proficient in ballet steps. Thus Immah and I began our epic adventure, also known as "View ALL the apartments!"



But that is another adventure with another series of mishaps, which you can read all about in our next post. Stay tuned! 

7 October 2013

Rocking Rotterdam

It’s been a while and for that we’re sorry. It has, however, been a pretty eventful year for us, with Immah returning to the Netherlands and me… well pretty much doing the same things I was doing one year ago.
Our break was not entirely unfruitful though, as we can now proudly announce the winner of our Facebook competition. Our hundredth like came from… *drum roll*


Now back to the bigger news: Immah and I are officially roommates! Currently crammed in a crappy studio (now try saying that three times faster), we are now facing Rotterdam together. Or, better said, Rotterdam should consider trying to keep up with us now!


Speaking of our winner and very dear friend, he’s been nothing short of a blessing to us throughout these past few weeks.


All jokes aside, we do not exploit our friends and Simon’s services have been paid in energy drinks, cookies, and healthy(ish) food. Not to mention our undying gratitude, which can further be converted to hugs.

Speaking of food, as any good immigrants, Immah and I try bringing a bit of our home country with us everywhere we go and are very eager to shove it down other people’s throats (sometimes literally). As a “Welcome to Rotterdam,” we decided to throw a small dinner get-together for some friends, nothing too complicated or too fancy, just some traditional food from our country. Of course, both of us being Romanian, we managed to cook enough food for a small army, which was then used to feed the impressive amount of… 5 people.



Aside from the friends that I’ve managed to make throughout the past few years, Rotterdam in itself is a lovely city and I’m ecstatic about sharing it with my best friend. It’s a city filled with fun, interesting people, lively places to hang out, and amusing combinations of the two former elements. Take our latest adventure, for example: An average night at a bar, spending time with some friends and making attempts at socializing, when the hunter instinct kicks in for a fellow bar-goer. Why not walk up to the afore-mentioned girls and start some small-talk? I mean, what could go wrong?


In all fairness, you can’t blame a guy for trying, particularly when dealing with two girls sitting alone at a bar. What is more difficult to understand is the tendency of guys to travel in packs, with the alpha hitting on one or more ladies while his posy lurks behind him, cheering from the shadows. I’m not entirely familiar with how the gentleman-code works, but I’m pretty certain that watching your friend get a girl to go home with him won’t help keep your bed warm at night (with some obvious exceptions that I don’t feel the need to explain here).


Long story short, a warm and cozy welcome back to the Netherlands to Immah. As for you, Rotterdam… Prepare for trouble, and make it double.