Day 4

Wake up at 5:30 for the second 6:30 semifinal game: Germany v. Spain. A couple of my favorites back home are rooting for Spain, and I rooted for Spain in the quarters, so I guess I’m rooting for Spain, but I’m not really bothered either way. I got to the tv room at the hostel at about 6:15, and there was one other girl already in there. She’s from Germany, so we laugh about how early we have to get up to watch it. She asks me what I’m doing in Auckland. “I’m going to be studying at the university,” I say, “What about you?” She says she’s also an exchange student. In what program? Law. “ME TOO!” I say. We chat about the classes we’re in and we have one class together, and I tell her I’ve just found an apartment when she mentions she’s nervous about getting a place to live. So I gave her my email for any help she might need to start out. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I've learned quite a bit of useful stuff in just a few days. Eventually an English guy and a French guy come in, and then a Swiss guy and two more German girls. Everything I do here is a multicultural adventure, I swear.

So after the game I packed up the rest of my belongings, checked out, and headed out for the 15-20 minute walk to my flat. Upon further inspection, there are a handful of things in disrepair at my new place, but nothing deal breaking or unfixable. The toilet drips so it always sounds like the water’s running in the bathroom. The carpet is stained beyond repair. The kitchen faucet is not mounted properly, and also turns on when you push down on the lever. There is a layer of the weird sticky grime on all hard surfaces that lets you know that the previous tenant never ever not once cleaned the apartment. The landlady comes in the afternoon to bring some things I’d requested the day before when she gave me the keys. I showed her how gross and torn up all of the kitchen equipment was, and I asked for a space heater. There is no source of heat in many apartments here. July is the coldest month, and the average low is about 45 degrees. But when there is no heat source and the windows don’t seal very tightly, the apartment is extremely cold by morning. She brought me a little space heater, a new frying pan, a new set of pots, silverware, and a rug to cover some of the gross carpet.

She and her husband will remodel the apartment after I move out, so that explains the reasonable rent. Well that and the condition of the place. She tells me she hired a professional cleaning crew, and I almost laugh outloud because the level of cleanliness is far dirtier after being “professionally” cleaned than the dirtiest I’ve ever let any place where I’ve ever lived get. I suggest she ask for her money back, because in the 3 hours I’d lived in the place, I had already scrubbed the shower and vacuumed out all the drawers with hair and dirt and food bits in them. Even the desk and window seat had the greasy sticky coating on them. But once more, the price is right, and I have plenty of elbow grease to smack down on this place.

The rest of the day is spent running around to the grocery store and the Target-ish store to get some other basic home goods. Landlady has given me permission to buy household stuff I need and take it off my rent. For instance, things I need are an electric hot water kettle and a French press, and these are obviously things I will use with care and leave here when I move out, so she says sure I can have them.