As far as I know...

This is the floor plan for where we are going to be living. Actually, it's not. It's a guess as far as I know, from the limited photos available from Jorghnassen, the inspector, and the realtor's web site. I seriously have no idea what it looks like.

Anyway, there's three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, and a finished basement. Not only that, but there's enough patio and patio windows to complain that there's too much. Oh, what will we do with so much BBQ space??? Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

Jorgh mentioned that there's a possibility of making a third washroom in the basement, thereby completing the trifecta of places to run for toilet emergencies when your two other washrooms are occupied for some reason when there's only two people living in the whole house. I am against this prospective washroom because then that would make it three toilets to scrub. I already hate doing one.

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In the meantime, while Jorgh and his parents have been busy taking care of absolutely everything else about the house, I've been assigned the task of finding a mover who will not break our stuff transporting it to Gatineau. On one hand, it's not hard to find a mover. On the other hand, it's quite difficult to find the mover who will agree to:

• Not be a douche and move our shit across the provincial boundary (I know, Ottawa-Gatineau?)


• Come to the apartment and actually look at the stuff to be moved to give an estimate


• Come over to our apartment to give a written estimate that isn't ridiculously huge


• Call back after the estimate and say that their written estimate will be ready to be emailed, even though it was written down in front of you while they were here.

I'm just about ready to pick the movers once they actually do the last point.

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It's very odd to find polite people wherever you go in a city, but (as long as I'm not driving) everyone here has been exceptionally friendly and wonderfully courteous. There really is a small-town feel when I'm going around town, even though it's been reported that this area is actually expanding too quickly for its water supply to catch up with.

If there's anything I'd miss about Waterloo, it's the way people actually regarded each other in their everyday interactions. Except while driving. They're polite, patient, and very friendly. Except while driving. They're very quaint, what with their Mennonites and farmers markets and small community strawberry and apple festivals and their warped ideas about cheeses... so adorable. Except while driving. They go as far as helping a stupid woman take care of her windshield wipers, bringing her to a "mall" when asked, and tolerating our every single critique when we were looking for edible food.

On the other hand, the one thing I will not miss is the food and restaurant choices. This guy puts it more succinctly: "More than half the times I think I haven't got the energy to cook, N suggests we eat out, I run over the possibilities in my mind, and then I get up and cook a meal."

Mind you, I enjoy the few places that Jorgh and I visited, like Raintree Cafe and Sakura Island, but for mind-blowingly awesome you'd really have to go back to larger and/or more diverse cities. Or where they know what a loaf of bread looks like.

Thank you, Waterloo, for teaching me to be less lazy in cooking meals at home because you have no viable alternatives.

And thank you, Waterloo, for teaching me that drivers are just as crazy here as they are in Quebec. I don't feel so bad anymore.