How Is Thursday Over Already?

Wednesday and Thursday have been a blur - an emotional, stressful, meltdown-inducing experience. Since we arrived in Portland, I have been awake before the sun and am usually ready for bed promptly at 7pm. With eyelids droopy, I keep myself awake until 10pm with the hope of coaxing my body to at least wait until 6:30 or 7:00am (when Ken's Artisan Bakery opens). Then, like clockwork, I'm up and ready to be productive at 5:45. It really pisses me off.

Overall, yesterday was a good day. We set out about 9am to go downtown to get a P.O. Box and thought about taking the local bus. At the bus stop, there was an older gentleman waiting - who later referred to himself as "The Big Belly" - and noticed that we were obviously not from around here. He asked where we were going and where we were from. When Jesse told him that we just moved here from Washington, D.C. his eyes lit up, he put up his fist (to bump knuckles) and said he was raised in Richmond, VA. At that point he started talking about all the places we needed to look for apartments and then decided to reroute his trip to take us to the streetcar downtown.

After insisting that we not "look" but rather "see" the city on Wednesday, he dug in his bag and pulled out an envelope with four tickets to a museum. Jesse protested, saying that he really didn't have to give them to us and The Big Belly said, "Am I speaking English? Son, those are for you. Enjoy the city." While on the streetcar, the driver noticed us looking at a map and had about at 20 minute conversation (off and on) about all the things to see and do in Portland and some places to live as well. I have to say, I am impressed with how nice people have been so far.

We didn't exactly take The Big Belly's advice and set out to explore the NW part of Portland for potential apartment buildings. By that time, it was already 3pm and blazing hot. After walking about 12 or 15 blocks, I had a slight meltdown where I went from thinking about needing water to "oh-my-god-I-need-food-and-water-now-or-I-will-rip-off-your-face." We spotted a local pub and got a beer and snacks. It worked miracles and we were able to scope out a few more buildings before heading back to the hotel.

Today, we rented a car to drive out to the NE and SE sections of the city (where apartments are cheaper and allegedly have more space for parking). We set out about 10am and by noon I was so discouraged, I thought about crying. The neighborhoods we looked at would be awesome places to own houses, but their rental stock looks mostly like this. Not that there's anything wrong with this apartment complex, it probably is perfectly clean and livable inside, but I realized how spoiled I am from living in Adams Morgan surrounded by big, beautiful apartments with loads of character. After trying to convince myself that it would only be short-term, I finally confessed to Jesse that I didn't think I could live in one - even for six to nine months.

We came home this afternoon and I did lots of calling around to buildings in the NW section and will verify times to look at the availabilities tomorrow. Even though the apartments are a bit more expensive than NE/SE, I think we'll both be a lot happier. Well, at least I'll be a lot happier, which means Jesse will be a lot happier. The area in NW is more urban, with restaurants and shops nearby and just a few blocks to the streetcar to downtown. I think this apartment would feel a lot more like home - and still is a lot cheaper than our old home in D.C.