I live in Mississippi now. Still trying to wrap my head around that fact.
The move was a little stressful, if only because it followed nearly three months of nomadic living. We moved out of our (spacious) Baltimore apartment at the start of May, then proceeded to wander the hemisphere. By the time we made it back to Chicago, we were ready to settle into a new “home.”
But life intervened, as it often does. Javi has needed eye surgery for a while, and the doctor in Chicago recommended we do it sooner, rather than later. It made sense. Basically, Javi has a “googly” eye that doesn’t always look straight ahead. So it’s getting an alignment. Everything should be fine, and I’m sure it will. But that meant K8 & Javi stayed for another 10 days in Chicago.
My part in this drama was to drive three cats from Chicago to Oxford, Mississippi. A giant ABF trailer w/ most of our worldly possessions was delivered, and I started to unload (we contracted 2 hours of professional help for the “big” stuff). Over the course of about 5 days, I moved, organized, moved, and organized the new place. Yesterday, I schlepped boxes to K8’s office on campus. Things still aren’t “settled” yet. But hopefully next week (when I’m here alone), I can slowly put the rooms together so that K8 & Javi can just arrive, and get right to living in the new place.
Sadly, IKEA furniture (while nicely designed, cheap, and simple to put together) doesn’t travel well. Both dressers were damaged (but usable). The worst loss, however, is the cabinet we used to store our wine glasses & other items. Why? Because our kitchen is the size of a walk in closet, w/ little pantry room or counter space to spare. Also, because the square footage in our new place is significantly smaller than our Baltimore place (and a bit smaller than advertised), we now have an extra bed (bye, bye guest room) & loveseat (hello Spartan living room!).
The good points about the apartment: So far, maintenance has been quick to take care of my repairs list. There’s a pool. It’s near campus. And rent is cheap.
Living in Mississippi is giving me some interesting surprises. Such as: Apparently, despite the high humidity & intense heat, carpet seems to be standard. Meanwhile, dining rooms are not standard. We live in a dry county (as in no alcohol of any kind at any time). Thankfully, Oxford isn’t dry. But you can’t buy cold beer. And you can’t buy beer (anywhere in Mississippi) that has more than 6% alcohol. That means no IPAs, stouts, or many other favorite beer varieties. I’m also not sure how I feel about having the “stars & bars” as part of the state flag. Thankfully, the state license plates don’t have them.
Finally, there’s the heat. I’ve experienced tropical summer heat before. But even in Santa Cruz (Bolivia), the constant winds keep things relatively cool. It also brings temps down considerably in the evenings/night. But here it’s just stifling. Wow. I work up a sweat just sitting outside at night. Thank G-d for air conditioning!
Anyhow, next week I’ll try to post some pictures of the place—once it’s more set up. But I have to tackle a number of work projects that fell off the back burner during our nomadic summer.
Sounds like an adventure setting up in tropics down there (or up there, since I'm in Quito, where I won't depress you with our weather). Looking forward to the photos, and if it's not too personal, Miguel, I'm not clear as to who's doing what in MS; are you teaching at Ole Miss or is K8?
Maybe the lack of kitchen may be more a function of the size of your apartment?
@Tambopaxi: Yes, I'm sure it'll be an adventure of sorts. But I think we'll end up liking it here. Both K8 & I will be teaching at Ole Miss, but she has the TT.
@dv: We do actually have a kitchen, it's just a very small one. It works for me, but not for someone like K8, who has more culinary interests. Just not enough counter space to work.