Moving in, one box at a time

One of the best things about moving into a new place is decorating. It's so much fun to work with a new layout, and buy new accessories. For this apartment, I really had to start from scratch in a lot of cases, so it's been a really busy week! Multiple visits to Target and IKEA has resulted in plenty of exercise; I live on the 3rd floor and had to haul a lot of things up all those stairs!

Putting together the bed frame

Almost done; slats are used instead of a boxspring

Whoo hoo! I have a bed! (Yeah, I need to get a new
duvet cover; I've had the same one for years)

Making good use of the one closet!

New kitchen cabinets. So nice. So clean.

AND I have a new fridge! The cabinets are on the small
side, so I put up that bar for the pots. Faaaancy, no?

Now I'll have to decide on artwork. Since I didn't re-paint and kept the walls white, they seriously need something to liven the place up. Luckily, I have all sorts of things already... I'll post more pictures as the apartment evolves!

Apartment hunting

Barring any unpleasant last minute surprises, I have landed an apartment in New York! The rental market here moves extremely fast; I saw the apartment on Sunday afternoon, and signed a lease on Tuesday. The landlord is currently painting and making some improvements, and I will be moving in next Monday.

The apartment is located on the border of the Sunset Park/Borough Park neighborhoods in Brooklyn, about four blocks away from the closest subway station. It is a richly diverse area, with a Mexican population to the west, Brooklyn's largest Chinatown to the south, and an Orthodox Jewish population to the east. In other words, there is lots and LOTS of food.

The apartment is roughly where the yellow star is

And if you're wondering what's to the north... well, it's one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. It's actually a beautiful space with lots of trees; I sometimes visit and take a long peaceful walk on a nice day.

Greenwood Cemetery during autumn last year

The apartment itself is fairly small, but has a unique layout that will work since my brother Jon will be joining me in New York in a few weeks. Finding the right space has been a challenge because I wanted to stay extremely economical (apartments here are expensive!), and yet not compromise on getting some private space for each one of us. There were definitely larger apartments for the price, but this one contains two separate rooms, each with a door. Immediately upon entering the apartment, the kitchen area is right in front. To the right will be my room, and to the left will be Jon's room.

Kitchen area. The landlord is hopefully installing new cabinets now

My future room, about 10x12 in size. If you look through my door, you
can see straight into Jon's room, past the kitchen.

Jon's 8x11 room. No closets, so we'll have to get creative on
storage options.

A very cozy bathroom. The sink is about half of
normal size.

I'm really looking forward to moving in, and then setting up the place. Can't wait until it's ready for some 'after' pictures!

Home Again

In the blink of an eye, my grand adventure has come and gone. When I was planning this trip, it seemed like I was going to be away for a very long time. But amazingly, it has flown by! In many ways, I don't think that I will feel the full impact of this trip until a few months from now... I've been so busy experiencing new things that I haven't had time to truly reflect on everything that I have seen and done. I look forward to it; in a few months when it is freezing in New York, I can slowly enjoy the memory of humidly hot days in Vietnam!

I guess it's wrong to say though, that my adventure has come to an end. I return to New York without an apartment, or a job... I think it's safe to say that the next few months will be just as big an adventure as the summer was! And after all, there are dozens of new food places in New York that I have to visit! So I think I will keep updating this blog for a while yet.

The first priority right now is to find a new apartment. Luckily, I am pretty sure of what I am looking for already, so the search should be relatively simple. My brother, Jon, will be coming up to New York too, so I'll need to find an apartment that is economical and can fit both of us. I think I saw an apartment yesterday that fits the bill, but since nothing's been approved yet, I'll hold off writing about it until things are set.

So... the adventure continues!!!