3.18.2007

Still here.

I haven't been posting for what feels like a long time, I just haven't had much extra energy between school, some travels and a couple bouts of sickness. I'm bouncing back from the latest one, and catching up on posting and correspondence (apologies if I owe you an email).

It's a beautiful Sunday morning and we've got all the windows open to let in the spring air. The landlords just stopped by (they live in a small town about an hour away) to pick up the rent money. And drop off some shelves, homemade sausages and wine they made from their small vineyard. We told them about our language classes, and they said "Maybe you will learn our language and decide to stay!" I wish! Jay and I are a little blown away, since we've never had nice landlords. The last one was a nasty slumlord who made a living buying up old houses in economically depressed parts of town, fixing them aesthetically, but not structurally, and renting them out to young people. I particularly appreciated the way he painted over the water damage from the major leaks in the roof and then wouldn't call the roofers when we had water pouring into our flat. Hey, it only rains a little in Vancouver, why bother?!

Anyways, it's hard to wrap our heads around the fact that we have such fantastic landlords now. And two bottles of homemade wine, and sausages to serve to meat-loving friends when they drop by. Living in Ljubljana is giving Vancouver a serious run for the money.

2 comments:

Jean said...

But did you have this in Vancouver?

http://pirancafe.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/a-walk-in-the-ljubljana-woods/

You really lucked out in the landlord department. From what I gather (and experienced myself, some years ago), renting in Ljubljana is not a pleasant experience. I'm glad it worked out for you.

Lisa said...

It's true, there seems to be a particular fondness for dumping on "waste ground" here. The beautiful little wild space in front of our apartment is proof of that. Backpack, dogshit, drywall or soggy ironing board anyone?

Then again, Vancouver can look like this:

http://www.math.ubc.ca/Grad/vancouver/

Or like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qousqous/324340027/

And then there's picturesque Victoria:

http://leas.ca/BC-falling-behind-rest-of-Canada-in-treating-sewage.htm

So, I guess it's just a different kind of mess than we are used to.

I too have heard the woes of housing in Ljubljana. What are the main complaints? We saw one really shite place, and then this was the next one we saw. We were lucky to have the SOU (student union) helping us navigate the process.