At last

So we made it. We got in last night an hour and a half later than we should have due to a wrong turn towards the George Washington Bridge. Get on an expressway and you might never get off again.

When we finally arrived I felt grumpy and hungry and we stumbled into town to try to find something to eat. Englewood has a nice little village feel to it with all kinds of shops including two Kosher restaurants. (One of said restaurants closed at 8:45 and we walked in at 8:43 and had to beg them to serve us something out of their case. Thankfully, they complied.)

There’s also a bigger shopping center, further down the hill including a large grocery section with an enormous Kosher food section. An entire very long aisle! Not to mention the usual Kosher stuff you’ll always find mixed in among the other things. Very mixed ethnically. Predominantly African-American and some Hispanic. White too, many of whom may or may not be Jewish. I spotted quite a few kippot in the store, and this morning sat alongside some people who turned out to be Reform Jews over at Starbucks. Was later helped at a CVS Pharmacy by a worker who had peyos tucked behind his ears.

The apartment itself is starting to really grow on me. Last night I didn’t really want to be here. It was empty, echoey and very very dirty. (The floors were so filthy we had to wash our feet once, if not twice, before bedtime.) And all we have right now is an inflatable mattress and all of the stuff we managed to jam into the car. A. was miserable all night and I was up most the night checking on her and sweating. (It’s HOT.) In the end she has decided she is happiest in the kitchen for now. It’s the only place where she can hide behind things that won’t flush. Hopefully she’ll move out of there once we get some furniture. In the meantime, I’m giving her free reign.

Anyway, more about the apartment: It’s very old. I’m sure it’s at least 100 years, but I need to find out more. We have a bedroom, a dining room and a living room and it is all hardwood. There is an unbelievably lovely courtyard outside that I will post pictures for one of these days. Stay tuned. There is one of those very shaky, noisy, rickety old elevators with double doors that are really hard to open. But it does its job well.

Today I:

Got a library card

Opened a bank account

Searched in three stores for things like buckets, dish drainer etc. (This is the hardest thing so far – finding stuff, especially environmentally friendly food and cleaning supplies.)

Swept the whole place for a long time

And much much more…

For once I was smart enough to schedule myself time to rest in the afternoon. Sure enough I fell asleep almost immediately. Now I’m feeling great.