Moving On In

It's been nearly three weeks since my last post, which I realize is nearly criminal given how much I've been promoting this blog among friends and family, so let me start by offering a sincere apology; as Lydia alluded, these past few weeks have been spent voraciously searching and applying for housing, setting up bank accounts, mobile phones, and utilities, and figuring out how to get around and where to get the necessities.
At a time when I should have been posting regularly given the pace at which events were transpiring, I neglected my duties to our loyal blog readers and the blog itself. In an attempt to play catch up, my next series of posts will be recapping the details of those first two weeks.

As Lydia noted, we successfully found a suitable apartment within our budget in two and a half days, in East Melbourne (about a 20 mintue walk from the CBD) and were actually able to get the keys same day. We quickly switched from apartment hunting mode to apartment furnishing mode (not something for which I'm particularly adept), where our first stop was Ikea.

* Courtesy of http://blogs.ubc.ca

Complete disclosure: I have a rather strong distaste for Ikea: I find their perfectly industrial engineered layout of the store maddening; I hate the grotesque pungent smell of glue and sawdust from all of their laminated particle board furniture; I hate the implied "clever" engineering of how their furniture is assembled; I even hate the little amorphous blob character prevalent on all of the instruction packets included with the furniture. BUT, I have to admit, you can't beat the prices; oh the glory of globalisation and economies of scale. After spending nearly three hours of our Saturday rifling through the store, navigating the narrow cart ways, and long after the repeated joke of, "what chair speaks 'Matt and Lydia'," lost its humor, we walked away with a living room, dining area (picking the right chairs was a chore), and about a quarter of a kitchen, all for less than two-weeks’ pay. Not bad, and they deliver to boot!

With Ikea lying in ruins behind us, our next inclination was to go to Target in CBD to search for the essentials that Ikea couldn't adequately meet. To our collective chagrin, Target here is not at all like what we had back in the States; to shop at Target here really is reserved to those in the top tax bracket- while we did chance upon a 10% off home furnishing sale, the prices were still generally much higher than what we'd come to expect of Target, and not just because we're in Australia. No need to fear, though, as KMart has proudly filled that niche here. KMart is not as it is in the States- that is, it’s not dirty, disorganized, or soul-sucking (although Walmart wins in that last category). If it wasn't for the big "K" everywhere, I'd have almost mistaken it for Target. Sparing you the boring details, we were able to further supplement our new accommodation with the essentials.

Using what little Internet we could find, we located the nearest mattress store reachable via public transportation. After a rather comedic episode of catching and transferring to various trams (more on that later…), we made it to the store before it closed, were able to test out several bedding options, and buy the mattresses and box springs on the spot for next day delivery. To Lydia’s dismay, we spent more time discussing Aussie Rules Football with the salesman than actually shopping for mattresses (more on footy later).

Having rented an unfurnished apartment, by all literal sense of the word, we had the “opportunity” to either rent or purchase our own washing machine and refrigerator (for some unknown reason, the apartment included a dryer). After employing rudimentary financial and economic analysis (I nearly pulled out Excel to do an NPV analysis), we opted to purchase both appliances. We researched online, found the refrigerator and washer we wanted (and that would fit), and as per the advice of our adopted Australian parents, stopped by Retravision to see what they had on hand.

An important caveat about Retravision- although it’s an Australian-wide appliance, electronics, and home theater store, each store is owned and operated independently. This means each store has its own pricing margins and inventory as determined by the owner, and thus more latitude when it comes to price negotiation. Lydia and I were able to walk in with our specified refrigerator and washer models and associated prices in hand from an online competitor, and negotiate down the respective prices of each to an even lower net price. We ended up walking out saving a good few Aussie dollars and with next-day delivery. Perhaps the coolest part of it all was that the store owner whom we purchased the appliances from was actually the same person who delivered it to our apartment. After talking with the store owner briefly about installation steps (the transaction included delivery, but not installation, which I was much obliged to perform myself), we had our new refrigerator, stocked with the essentials, up and running in no time:

The washing machine, which required a few more steps than just “plug appliance in,” proved a bit more challenging, although nothing out of our collective capabilities. After thoroughly and diligently reading the manual multiple times, we ran an empty cycle on the hottest temperature with half a scoop of front-loading washing detergent. Despite our by-the-book approach, the washing machine started to ooze a slow-motion, but continuous slide of suds. After a period of alarm, some double checking of the manual’s steps, and a couple, “what in the hell?” moments, we conceded and let the machine run its course. The torrent of suds soon subsided, the machine finished its cycle with no issue, and our bathroom floor exuded a near polished shine we had not before seen. To this day, we don’t know what went wrong or why the machine overflowed- the standing theory is that the washing detergent had some sort of accelerated reaction with whatever lingering chemicals persisted in the wash drum after its manufacture (the elimination of which was why we were supposed to run an empty cycle in the first place…).

Although lacking some of the finer luxuries of modern living (a TV, night stands, lamps, and outdoor furniture) we were able to successfully furnish our new apartment and take a much needed respite to explore and enjoy our new home in Melbourne- with the reassuring comfort that we can return to our bed-skirt donned beds.