Ok so here was move in day--We tried to set everything up as cheap as possible but still be comfortable to some extent. We have the minimums on most things for now. We were able to find a used washing machine and a used refrigerator. It's a start. It is a very painful experience spending money for some items that would cost little or even be free back in Pennsylvania!
Our dining room and living room are combined to make one big room.
Zakkary's bedroom... Yes we bought some decent mattresses but were to cheap to buy any bed frames. Maybe we will find some used ones later on.
Our Bedroom
Here is what our house looks like walking in the front door into our living room / dining room. It is basically like a half house we are used to in PA but it is divided into an upstairs and a downstairs instead of from left to right. Both upstairs and downstairs are 3 bedroom 2 baths with kitchen, living and dinging rooms. The downstairs is currently vacant. There is only one parking space with the house so hopefully since we have it the downstairs will stay vacant! Our rent is $160.00 per month. Security is a big issue here for vehicles. If you leave your car parked on the street most likely it will disappear one piece at a time! Jackson is in charge of keeping the gate locked usually. And a fine job he is doing.
Kitchen
We cant drink the town water here. It will make us sick from the difference in bacteria in this country. So we buy 5 gallon bottles in town. $1.75 each. There is our refrigerator. The guy insists that it is 4 years old. Now that was a bunch of bologna and we let him know that. But for $220 it was much better than buying a new one for $600. The stoves here are gas and fortunately I feel are pretty cheap. This one is new from this town for $230.
In the kitchen looking out into the living room.
Our dining table. It came with 6 chairs but 2 of them are currently holding up a clothing rack in the spare room. Innovation is the key to so many things these days. I love it and Chelsea is warming up to it....
Living room.
I wanted to get some cheaper sofas but Jackson put his foot down on that one. He wanted some decent sofas. He was enjoying our cheap setup until we got to the sofas. Then he put his foot down. We were a little startled but in the end if sofas are that important to him sofas he will have! Sometimes we wonder what makes him tick? Other than chicken nuggets which by the way are not available that we have seen yet. Will he survive? Time will tell.
Zakkary's school area. Can you smell the heat coming from his overthinking? We keep a fire extinguisher handy.
Our Bedroom. Yes those are my shirts hanging on the end of my curtain rod. Talk about being resourceful. I'm not sure why I never did that in PA. It works wonderfully!
Our bathroom off of our bedroom.
Our spare bedroom with all of our storage in it. None of our bedrooms have closets. So here you will notice the upper rod is mounted to the wall on both ends but it has a slight bow in this picture. I have since then added a pole and some duck tape to straighten it up. The brace is an old mop handle. It is perfect! And then you will see the two chairs holding up the bottom rack. If you are wondering why we didn't mount the bottom rack like the top there is a good explanation. I have a severe lack of tools here including a tape measure. I used a piece of rope to measure the exact length of the room. Well it worked as well as it sounds. A slight miscalculation... One out of two is not bad.
Zakkary's bedroom.
The main bathroom which is just off the living room.
Our laundry area, which is outside.
Going outside, down the stairs.
Our outdoor kitchen/ BBQ area.
We have 2 nice little pavilions that have a roof.
The view looking out the living room window across the street to the river.
Our view from the top of our stairs looking toward the town center.
Jeremy's means of transporting our basic necessities.
5 gallon water bottle on his motorcycle.
Here he comes with the microwave! It is amazing what I can tie to the back of that bike! I even strapped the grill on that baby! Now that one the locals were looking at me a bit funny.
And our new car! With the help of a local that is good friends with Michele and Chad we were able to purchase a vehicle. It is a 1995 Mitsubishi Montero. But it has low miles and was well taken care of. It seats 9 people. There is a need for vehicles in the ministry in our congregation. Hopefully this will help.
Heavy equipment has been going to work on the road right outside our hose. It seems like they are just driving back and forth but there must be some purpose...
Our big Market day here. The town of Paute has a very good climate for growing produce. Because of this there is a huge market on Sundays. Meat is also sold there. We have been buying some big chickens. The feet and head are still on. We figured pictures of the meat would not be very appealing! All these fruits and veggies for under $20! We got potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes, apples, pineapple, broccoli, lemons (that are green here), mangoes, a big head of lettuce, these plum like things (they have red & yellow ones) & granadillas.
Brand new hotel right down the street from us, anyone want to come visit?
