Domestique

The last few days we are making progress on becoming domesticated in Orleans. Thursday I received the keys to our apartment, after spending an hour with an inspector going over every inch of the rooms. Two of the women in the HR department at ArvinMeritor, Monique and Tekfa (Monique is older and has lived in Sully for some time, she has a picture on her desk of the bridge in Sully after it was destroyed by ice in the river in the 80’s, Tekfa is an intern of Algerian descent who was born in Verizon) were kind enough to accompany me and act as interpreters. At the gate we met an older lady who handed me a large set of keys: 3 copies of the key for our door and the car park, 3 for the mailbox, 3 for the “poubelle” (trash cans) and “velo” park (bicycles), 3 electronic keys for the door to the building, and an electronic opener for the front gate and car park gate. In a minute the inspector joined us, so we made a party of five. The apartment building is very 21st century: the lights in the stairwells are triggered by motion detectors or turn off after a few minutes if a switch is used, the gates are automated, the door to the building greets you in French after recognizing the electronic key, and there is a video screen in the room showing callers at the building door. The only complaint I’ve discovered so far is the place we have been allocated in the car park. Typically European the car park is in the basement and there is no more room than necessary for maneuvering a car. Our place is at the very back of the car park, through a narrow opening with 3 concrete corners grasping at your bumpers. It is easy to pull into the spot, but backing out is not fun. I was able to back through the narrow gap and into an empty spot to turn around. So far I haven’t been there when the car park is full; I’m not sure what we will do in that case. It would be difficult to turn the car around, so we may need to back all of the way to the door. Doable, but challenging.

As I mentioned before, the apartment is virtually empty. The kitchen is a bare room, excepting a small sink against the wall. Everything will need to be purchased, including some sort of cabinets and counters. There is also a toilet (ensconced in its own private room as is the European custom), shower/tub, bathroom sink, towel drier, and heaters in each room. That is it. I was given a budget of 5,100 Euro to purchase what we need, certainly not an extravagant amount. On Friday I was escorted to a local home goods store (called But, pronounced “boot”, there marketing people will need to work on the name if they decide to compete with Home Depot in the US) by Tekfa. I had permission from Shereen to purchase appliances and a mattress. Fortunately the salesman at But had gone to school with Tekfa, so he was able to deduct a large discount when we finished. We progressed from refrigerators to stoves to “micro-ondes” (literally microwave) to clothes washers and driers to mattresses. At each the salesman would give his spiel, pointing out the model he would recommend, and Tekfa would translate while also mixing in her suggestions. I tried my best to scan the prices and identify the high and low end. Having done zero research on European brand quality, my decision was highly dependent on their input and price. We selected items that seemed to be mid-grade, as far as I could tell. Tekfa seemed enthusiastic about the choices, so I think we did OK. The refrigerator is actually quite large, comparable to one in the US. The stove is a bit smaller and has a uniquely European hinged metallic cover that hides the burners when not in use. The microwave and clothes washer are very similar to American ones. Since the apartment does not have an exhaust vent, the clothes drier has a bottle that captures moisture and must be emptied periodically. The mattresses seem to be comfortable; I didn’t see any pillow tops, they are not as thick as in the US, or as large. I only picked one, since if Shereen doesn’t like it she can pick another and our guests will have the privilege of trying this one out. The grand total for this came to 2,004 Euro (that would be roughly $3,200), including a discount of 328 Euro. Better than I was expecting. I’m feeling a bit more comfortable about being able to furnish the apartment with the remaining amount. Still quite a bit to purchase, but the most expensive pieces are behind us.

The appliances should be delivered next week; we will set a date today. Once the mattress arrives, I plan to move in to the apartment. An evening trip to Auchan (equivalent to Wal-Mart, another local store similar is Carrefour, both are reasons why Wal-Mart has failed to penetrate the French market) landed me a shower curtain and rod. The colors are terrible, white curtain with sea green shells and bright blue rings, but the other choices were worse. It will do until Shereen decides she can’t stand it.

So the apartment is well on its way. The leased car we will use has arrived, but I am waiting for the secretary to return from vacation to complete the transfer. I expect when Shereen arrives in a few weeks it will not take long at all to button things up.