The New Apartment and the Yearbook Website

So below are some pictures of the new apartment. We've managed to mess it up before we've even finished unpacking. I don't think the pictures capture the spaciousness of the place. Compared to the last apartment, this place is a castle. The apartment has 2 bedrooms. The second room is going to function as an office/ a room for me to give classes. I didn't put up any pictures of it because I couldn't get a good angle and because it's still mostly in boxes anyway.

We had some fun unpacking. We deemed the closet in the office "the closet of forgetting." It is filled with exciting treasures, such as my broken laptop ( :o( ), big winter jackets, Alexandre's bag/backpack collection that rivals the one I left in the US, and well-meaning place mats and tablecloths from Alexandre's mother.

The apartment has what I like to call a "slave's quarters." It's a little room attached to the laundry room that's meant for maids. It's basically just a glorified bathroom. We took the door off of it because we can't open the kitchen windows and the door at the same time. We also turned it into another storage area (deemed "the 5th dimension", for things that are even more forgettable, like the box that the microwave came in, and cleaning supplies), and also gave it to the cat to use as her own private bathroom. She's VERY picky about the placement of her litterbox. She is very satisfied with this level of privacy. She also seems to love the space. Now that she has enough room to run around and explore and chase her ping-pong balls, she has become much less aggressive.

The apartment is very HIGH and TALL. I think it's because the designers were tall people. Alexandre thinks it's to help with the heat. Psh. Physhics shymizics. All I know is that I can't see the temperature choices on the showerhead without my glasses on. You can see the perspective in some pics, like the kitchen's height compared to the refrigerator.

So, without further adeau, here are the pictures!

Our dining room by way of the living room. Also, the balcony, and Alexandre's guitar. I made him leave it in the dining room so we look cool.

Most of the VERY large kitchen (our last apartment was about the same size. ha). Notice how I conveniently took the picture from the side of the sink. Also, you can see the Brazilian flag we put up. :o)

Bathroom... obviously.

Part of our little laundry room. It's about twice as big as the picture suggests.

A glimpse into the doorless slave's quarters. We covered up the toilet to keep it from smelling and to keep the cat from falling in.

The view from our laundry room. :o)
The view from our bedroom. I forgot to mention that we live next door/ above a day care center. This is both cute (little kid giggle and little kid Portuguese) and aggravating (little kids). But the palm tree has coconuts. :o)

So yes. Our new place!

In other news, here are some entertaining pictures from a website--www.yearbookyourself.com-- that Michelle sent me where you can make pictures of yourself using old yearbook styles. Decide in which pictures I look the most like my mother:

And these are Alexandre's. This is his punishment for always forgetting to read my blog:

haha! Ok. That's it for today.