Getting settled

Well, sorry for the hiatus there. Moving was more hectic than I expected. Getting the stuff we brought with us here wasn't too bad since we just loaded it all into a big cab and brought it to the apartment. However, shopping for furniture and trying to get that here has been a challenge, especially while being at the mercy of Leila's schedule... So, I've resigned myself to the fact that it's not going to be possible to get the house in order quickly nor make blog entries every day. It will all just have to happen when it happens!

I hadn't realized that it's tough to shop for furniture and housewares when you don't have a car. All the big stores that carry a large selection of those things are in the suburbs (which, in retrospect, is logical, I suppose) and not very accessible via transit. So we had to mooch rides from friends and Matt's parents when they were in town.

We picked out a bed and kitchen table/chairs and bare essential housewares like linens and a few dishes from IKEA and then a sofa and armchairs and a dining room set from a couple of local Finnish manufacturers. We had to pay to have the large items delivered, and, although each store told us it would be a "couple of days," it was more like a week.

When the guys delivered the bed frame from IKEA, they dropped it (which we saw) and severely chipped the side (which we discovered later while trying to assemble it). We called the store and asked them to come pick up the damaged one and bring us a new one. They were supposed to come on Saturday, and it's now Thursday... So we're still sleeping on our mattress on the floor- ugh.

Aside from these minor annoyances and our mostly empty apartment (as our stuff doesn't arrive from the US for another 2-4 weeks), things are fine. We've gotten over our jet lag, and Leila has started sleeping longer stretches at night (4-5 hours). We also have been enjoying the long summer days. Before Matt started work, we spent some time visiting with his family and our friends. We especially have enjoyed strolling around Helsinki in the evenings when so many people are out and about!