How quickly time trips by on its velveteen feet

The last time I wrote was, and I think this is the technical term, ages ago.

Since then, we've found a new apartment, and although nothing has been signed yet, it will be tomorrow. The new place is in St. Gilles, a neighborhood rather far from our current area, which means that M will have to take public transport to get to work every day (and won't be able to come home for lunch, as he does now). But the good news is that for a price not exorbitantly more than what we pay now, we will have an apartment of nearly double the size (and all on one level, at last). It's about 100 square meters, which for all you Americans, means, um, pretty big.

Plus, it's got a fully-equipped kitchen that I am looking forward to using, and a washer/dryer. A washer/dryer!! Unheard of!

We're going to be babysitting the furniture of the girl who is moving out, until Easter when she can come back for it. This would normally be annoying, but since she has beautiful furniture (dark wood and intricate carving and painting), I won't mind. It'll just look rather odd next to our cheap semi-temporary plywood/Ikea/dumpster furniture. That said, the very first thing I'm going to do is take down the thick orange curtains that are covering the big bay window. She has a sort of lush moroccan vibe going on, which is great, except for keeping the place all dark and veiled. Let the pitiful amount of sun that exists in this country find its way into the apartment, for pete's sake!

Complications arising from us having found a place we liked were a little troublesome. Our landlord is in Vietnam, completely inaccessible, and so we're forced to operate on the assumption that we can break our contract (three-year, typical for Brussels) by finding new renters, and that he will release our three-month deposit (also unfortunately typical for Brussels). This is slightly scary, because we have to sign on the new one and pay a new three-month deposit before he gets back, but we've given ourselves a cushion by saying Feb. 15 for the new people. That gives us a couple of weeks to move out of this place, as well.

So, that's what we've been up to, by and large. Anyone want to come help us move? Did I mention the new place is on the fourth floor? No elevator?