My new home

Hi everyone, I have decided to move. More detail on that below. Effective immediately, please send any letters, packages, love notes to the below address:

Jennifer KIMPFBECK
Chez Marc LARTAUD
481 Rue Adolphe ALPHAND
34080 Montpellier
FRANCE

But why am I moving you ask? Thanks for asking. My living situation is not ideal to say the least. My roommates are very cold and downright rude now. I live with an older woman (in her 40's, typical spinster loner) and a student who is NEVER there and NEVER speaks to me when she is there. I am not sure what my favorite complaint about my older roommate is. Would it be the one where she left a little sticky note on my door one night that read:

"Jennifer,
I thank you to not make any noise when you get home since you come home so late. Thank you for your attention to this matter. - Valerie"

That one is a gem! And it's not like I am banging into crap when I get home or drunkenly stumbling into her door. Perhaps it's this complaint:

One day I left some dishes in the sink with full intention of washing them after my dinner. I forgot about them and left them overnight. I went to school and when I got home, there was a note printed out and taped above the kitchen sink that read:

"Please think about others. Thank you for washing all of your dishes right after each meal to insure the happiness of the rest of the people who live here."

I believe the dishes were in the sink for about 20 hours. Or, here's another fun fact about where I live. I have been highly discouraged to flush the toilet late at night because apparently, it wakes up the old spinster. Well, now that I am leaving, you better believe that I am flushing the toilet every night and sometimes I get up late at night just to flush the toilet, just to piss her off. I also flush the toilet early in the morning before I go to school. These little things make me so happy, knowing that I disturbed her precious sleep.

Another great item of note is the fact that I have lived there for 2 months and we STILL do not have a washing machine that I was promised before I even moved in. We have one but it's been broken since before I got there and I was assured that it would be replaced before I even got there. I am still waiting.

Perhaps the fact that I have had no hot water for 4 days may play into the factor that I am now counting down the days until I leave. It's Sunday, by the way. That's my last day. Apparently, something is broken in our hot water heater and our landlord who lives on a small island off the coast of Africa (I am NOT kidding) needs to pay for the piece so who knows when that is going to happen. I have been lucky enough to get access to Dawn's shower so never fear, I am bathing. Needless to say, since the hot water has been non-existent since Saturday, I was pretty pissed yesterday when it still wasn't fixed. I don't know if I could have given the spinster a dirtier look.

I suppose I will have to tell this spinster that my last day there is Sunday. I haven't talked to her since yesterday when I made it very clear that I was not at all pleased that we STILL didn't have hot water. I am so glad I get to go across town to bathe. It's just wonderful.

Needless to say, I can't get out of there faster. The great news is that I found a great place just a little north of the city. My commute into the city, into the train station to go to work is going to be about 15 minutes longer making it a 30 minute trip into town but for me, it's totally worth it. I am moving into a HOUSE, not an apartment which is already better. It's a pretty new house. The couple have only lived there for 3 years so everything is still pretty new and shiny. The couple has a cute orange outdoor cat who likes coming inside at night. I met with them yesterday for a drink and to just discuss the details of our arrangement. I do not have to give them a deposit, which is awesome! I get a room with a double bed so I don't feel like a small child sleeping in a twin and my own private entrance into my room from the outside. The house has a washing machine, an awesome rainshower type shower with the cool metal rainshower nozzle thing and a cool kitchen with lots of gadgets and appliances. There is a coffee tree inside the house too. The husband does some sort of horticultural, tropical plant research so they travel rather extensively and have been to Central American quite a bit. The married couple has 2 kids who no longer live at the house. Guess how old their son will be on Sunday? Yep, 27. He is a whole 10 das older than me. I thought that was hilarious. It's kinda like moving into a family, which is a little weird since I haven't lived at home for over 10 years but for France, it's much better. They will actually talk to me and have dinner with me. The wife is interested in getting English lessons from me so I can finally earn some extra money. Marc and Helene are for sure clean, healthy living and nice people. I think I am going to be much happier.

I am greatly looking forward to a letter or even a postcard. It would be so great to get any kind of mail while I am here. Hint, hint!