PAINTING THE FLAT

The Piggies Temporary Setup :(

3/1/2021

I am writing this from my hotel room because starting today, the owner of my flat has finally agreed to paint our unit after a month of waiting. Since I live in an old building nestled in Old Town Alexandria, I have recently discovered what lead paint is and that my flat tested positive for lead itself. This wasn’t a shock to me considering the age of the building, but, what did shock me was the fact that in all of the rooms, there was peeling paint and cracks present which is exactly when lead paint itself becomes toxic.

So, today I woke up early to gather up the items we’d take to the hotel since the painters would arrive by 7am. Fortunately we arranged the rooms the night before, which wasn’t too much really since we’ve been living out of boxes for the past month anyways. By 7:30 the painters arrived and they briefed us on everything that was going to take place. It turns out though that the painters were not going to use an encapsulating paint – which is a paint used to close in lead and make it secure – and instead were just going to apply two coats.

This greatly upset me since I had told the property manager that if they didn’t do it the proper way, that we’d void our lease. While I had been great about keeping my composure during the whole month of trying to get them to fix the issue that should have been done before we even moved in, it really made me angry to think how some companies have little to no value for the people that give them business.

We left the house not in the best mood – it was also cloudy and rainy which didn’t help either. The hotel was about 12 minutes from our flat and when we arrived, Dimitar left to check in. He came back after some time and told me that for one, we had to wait to check in at noon and it was eight in the morning. Two, our guinea pigs were not accounted for. Three, we had to pay upfront when the property manager informed us that it would all be taken care of for us. Ugh.

At this point, I’m extremely upset so Dimitar agreed to call the property manager himself. She told us she’d fix the issue as soon as possible. This was when I finally expressed my frustration and just as I finished, a pair of cardinals flew in front of me; the bird I often associate with my lovely mother. After venting, I turned some music on to calm down because I knew letting the situation get the best of me wouldn’t help at all.

The situation was fixed after twenty minutes and we were finally able to check in and get into our hotel room which was equipped with a small kitchen and a queen size bed. It was small, but we would only be there for at least 3-4 days. While Dimitar got ready for work, I put together the guinea pigs cage which was tiny compared to what they were used to, but as soon as I gave them their hay, they quickly forgot about everything.

Playing Red Dead Redemption 2

It was a rather boring day since there wasn’t much to do. If it comes down to it, I’ll take the train to Old Town, since the hotel is slightly out of the city, just to get out and do something. I watched TV – which is something I haven’t done in over a decade or more – I wrote a bit, caught up on some sleep and pigged out on some pizza. Not very eventful but it’s temporary. 
 

I never thought I’d be spending my time in a hotel after moving. Being someone who normally goes with the flow of things and focuses on things that I can actively change, I guess my expectations of how I wanted the whole situation to unfold really took me back when things turned out...different. Part of this new independence though is dealing with uncertainty with confidence and going with the flow and I’m definitely not stopping during the rough patches.

Until next time! xoxo - Sarah