Apartment Hunt, Laundry, and Rob's Haircut

Laundry~

Rob warned me about the complex washing machines in the CERN hotel. I heard what he was saying but I didn't think it would be that difficult to figure out. So on Tuesday I went into the basement to figure it out.  There are three hostel buildings at CERN and one is across the street. When we checked in we were told to use the laundry facilities in the new building so I lugged the laundry to the basement over there. I come to find out that the newer building has card access locks and all I was given was keys. I talked to the front desk and they snootingly told me to use the laundry in my own building. Grrr.... so I lugged the laundry back across the street (mind you - in the rain!) 

Back to the actual machines. I put my laundry in two of them and started them both off.  Like most apartment buildings you use a card that has credit on it and it takes off the appropriate amount. The machines here take off more then what is necessary and then expect you to put your card in when your done to receive "unused" credit back. I had a hard time decifiering the tens of options on the machines as well. I also figured out way later that I put the soap in the softener section and now our clothes are a little "fresh" smelling. 

Here comes the good part. One the machines stop spinning. Damn it! Luckily (or unluckily) one of the maintenence guys comes in and was vacuuming lint out of the dryers. Its a small room, so I try to ask him why it isn't spinning. (This was mostly done in really broken french, simplified english, and a lot of hand signaling) He didn't know why but proceeded to empty out all the water in my machine onto to the floor to go the floor drain. I then moved my sopping clothes to the last remaing washer while he called another maintenence man. The 2nd maintenance man spoke a little more English and I told him that it just stopped spinning. He was convinced I did something wrong and that the first maintence guy was dumb for not knowing how to fix it and proceeded to try it out himself. I watched (sitting on the dryer and listing to my headphones) them trying to figure it out. They had a hard time with the card payment system and all the options as well. (It wasn't just me!) The 2nd maintence guy then called a 3rd person out to take a look. The lady was convinced both of them were idiots and tries it a couple times herself. She then said in French (I'm guessoing of course) to put a out of order sign on it. Wow - I knew it was broken all along. It took three other people to come to the same conclusion. Efficiency at its lowest. 

The 2nd Maintence Man and the 3rd Person To Check Out The Scene

The Pay Card Machine On The Wall & Washing Machine w/Lots of Buttons!

Rob's Haircut~

No pictures of this one unfortunately but Rob let me cut his hair! It was getting really ridiculously long and I had enough of it. All the haircut places around town were so expensive and the language barrier we felt would be too great to get a good cut anyway. So we bought a comb and a pair of scissors and I went at it! It didn't turn out great but it also didn't turn out that bad. I think Rob let me do this to get my spirits up by giving me a crafting project. :) 

Apartment Hunt~

This is really where most of our time has been spent the last few weeks. We have seen probably 30 that look good and we have Alexia (the ATLAS relocation coordinator) call about and we haved physically toured and viewed around 13. We applied to around 6-7. Yesterday we went on another visit and decided this place was okay (a bit pricey and small therefore bad value) but acceptable. We were the first to turn in an application and we were told we got it! WooHoo! It's over! I think really hitting the ground running and looking all over the place day and night paid off. Here is a few maps of the location.

The kitchen is literally a closet. There is a two burner electric stove, a small under couter fridge and some cabinets. There is also a microwave. No dishwasher, no oven, no double sink, and very little counter space. Tiny Tiny. I think we are going to buy a small buffet counter for some more working surface. It's furnished so there is already dishes and some pots and pans. There are also 4 US state coffee mugs....random. 

The place is a studio meaning everything is in one room. It is also furnished with brand new stuff in the exact theme I was going to do anyway! (Black, White, and Silver) The bathroom is a decent size and is a cute blue and white tile. There is thing funny sling back leather black chair that looks really modern. We don't move in till December 1st and have a lot of paperwork/ money shifting to do before then. It requires a 6000CHF deposit! (3 months is standard). As some of you know we are really tired of staying in the hotel and not being able to cook for ourselves. I am glad the search is done!