Pack Mules & Saint Nathalie

It was Friday, October 7th and two days after that fateful meeting where we found our dream apartment.  Katie and I boarded the train from Gent resembling two overburdened pack mules.  Up to this point, we had had a lot of long days seeing the city, hunting for properties, learning where to find basic necessities, etc.; but this day, October 7th would be the longest.  


The Starting Gun!

We ungracefully dismounted the train loaded with three very large bags each.  As our feet hit the platform the crack of the starting pistol went off in our heads and we glanced at each other with a "here we go" look.  Katie and I made our way to the area of the train station that housed the lockers.  We found two large lockers and deposited everything.  We then hopped into a taxi who took us straight to the bank where we had an appointment to open up our "Fixed Account"* for the apartment's deposit.  My hand quivered a little as I signed my name on the dotted line and handed over a very large sum of cash.


Bank receipts in hand, Katie and I hurried over to our next appointment with Nathalie, our landlord, who helped us through the administrative side of renting the apartment.  Nathalie was intrigued by our spontaneity and asked a lot of questions about why we chose Gent, how we were going to furnish the place, and also where we intended to sleep that night.  We explained to her that furniture rental was extremely expensive so we would be becoming good friends with the local Ikea.  We mentioned that we intended to go there immediately after getting the keys.  Our plan, we told her,  was to buy a cheap mattress and some basic necessities and hire a van taxi to get us back to the apartment.  Katie and I had no idea what would happen next...


Saint Nathalie

Instantly after hearing our ambitious and optimistic plan for getting only the basics needed to get through the night, Nathalie must have thought we were crazy.  It was from that moment that she took us under her wing and now know her as St. Nathalie.  


Not long after we received the keys to our new apartment we found ourselves getting into Nathalie's car.  Mentioning that she had some extra furniture and household items, Nathalie drove us over to her parents house.  They were kind and warm people who poured us a glass of port and offered us some small waffles.  We smiled a lot when her Father, who only speaks french, went on and on in French and smiled a lot.  Nathalie's father recently authored a beautiful hardbound illustrated book about Gent and he went in the back room to find a copy.  He came out with the book new in the plastic, opened it, and wrote an inscription in it to welcome us to Gent.  Nathalie and her mother each took turns writing in it as well.  We were having a wonderful time chatting and getting to know Nathalie and her family, but we had a hard time letting ourselves be in the moment with still so much to do.  Nathalie must have realized this too because it wasn't long until she led us upstairs where she had a couch, a kitchen table, a lamp, some small dishes, and a boar hide.  Yes, a boar hide!!  She told us we were welcome to borrow any of it.


We managed to fit nearly all of the furniture in Nathalie's small hatch back but it took a few trips.  The only thing that wouldn't fit was the kitchen table and as a result I volunteered to carry it on foot.  Based on Katie's online research alone, a cheap couch and table w/ chairs would easily be at least 400 EURO at Ikea and given that we need to be extremely cost conscious we would have accepted Nathalie's proposal regardless of how ugly the furniture was.  Fortunately for us, the furniture wasn't ugly and turned out to be simply perfect for our needs.  In addition to the couch, table, and other items, Nathalie also offered to let us borrow her guest mattress until we purchased a bed of our own.  As if all these things she did for us wasn't more than enough, Nathalie suggested that the three of us go to Ikea on Saturday so that we could put the things we purchased in her car.  Nathalie's kindness, selflessness, and generosity is why we have coined her St. Nathalie.  


After the long day of schlepping things all over town, Katie and I went out and enjoyed a beer and returned to our new apartment for the first time.  We came home, turned on the one and only light in the apartment**, and crawled into our mattress on the floor.  Our muscles ached and we were exhausted; tomorrow we would do it again.


Ikea, A Love/Hate Relationship


Katie and I woke up early and met St. Nathalie for our first trip to Gent's Ikea.  It was the first trip of many.  Although we were grateful for Nathalie offering to drive us, we were acutely sensitive to making sure we didn't overly impose on her or her time.  Ikea in Europe is the same as it is at home: cheap but tasty meat balls, hard to pronounce nordic names for ordinary items like candles, and packed with people on the weekends.  


Nathalie parted ways with Katie and I in the main entrance.  She instructed us to take our time and was being as gracious as ever.  Katie and I knew that we had to make it fast though, but there was A LOT to buy.  I looked at my watch and told Katie that there was no way we could take more than an hour since Nathalie probably only needed a handful of things for herself.  Katie said, "One hour is all I need to make Ikea my bitch!" - I smiled, we high fived and our Supermarket-Sweep shopping spree began!  


We plowed from one showroom to another checking prices, trying to get the biggest bang for our buck, writing down part numbers and warehouse locations.  We threw things in our cart, took things back out, trying to find the perfect recipe to make our large echoy apartment a home without spending too much.  We also made sure to only get things that would fit into Nathalie's car.  As we scrambled through Ikea we filled up two carts and made it out of there in about 1.5 hours with spending at least 25 minutes waiting in line.  Not bad, if I may say so! We filled Nathalie's car up to the roof and had to put Katie in an Ikea bag just so she would fit.  For now this was just the small stuff.  Plates, shelving, towels, kitchen items, the basics.  We would have to go back for the bigger stuff like beds, desks, and rugs and would have to arrange for those items to be delivered.  Not only would Ikea need to deliver these larger items, but our apartment building has a policy that restricts people from moving in and out using the elevator or stairwells.  In order to move the big things, we would need to rent a service with a conveyor belt to bring it through our third floor window.  


This was just the beginning of our relationship with Ikea.. in the coming week we would go back three or four more times to order and prepare for Ikea boxes to come flying through our windows.  More about that soon... and everything wonderful Gent has to offer.


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*For all you renters out there you will think this is awesome-  In Belgium the landlord does not spend... err I mean.. hold onto your deposit.  It goes into a bank account where both the landlord and the tenant can see it but neither can remove the money without both parties approving.


**In Belgium, it is common practice to take all of the light fixtures with you when you move. As a result, we had one light bulb hanging from a wire in the hallway on that first night.  We made our way through our new surroundings with headlamps and candle light.