Day 8 in Helsinki: Meeting the Landlords
So I mentioned that the apartment wasn't really ready for me, and last night the landlords met me there to give me a little orientation to the building and talk about my complaints. I hoped this meant they would talk about when it would be convenient for a professional cleaner to come in...but that didn't happen. I'm going to have to clean the place myself, but I'm not irate about it because they were the sweetest.
They are a cute little Finnish couple named Eero and Anja, probably in their 50s. He spoke passable English, she could only throw out a few words here and there...but her English was certainly light years ahead of my Finnish! When they rang the doorbell, they came bearing gifts:
Then they gave me a little tour of the building. Goodness, it's a pretty cool building. They took me up to the roof, where there is a HUGE communal balcony that stretches across the whole length of the building and faces downtown. That should be totally amazing in spring and summer. Then they took me to the top floor, which was a maze of weird/creepy storage spaces and where I can park all that crap I don't want inside the apartment. (Note: no sauna.) There is also a little garbage building out back that has regular garbage, paper recycling, all other recycling...and compost! So efficiently and charmingly European! And there are lots of big grassy areas behind the building. Helsinki is awesome like that. They manage to keep lots of nature spots, even in the middle of a big urban area.
So once I get the apartment all wiped down and aired out (it smells pretty musty because I think it's been vacant for some time), I will get all my stuff in there and take pictures for a future post.
They are a cute little Finnish couple named Eero and Anja, probably in their 50s. He spoke passable English, she could only throw out a few words here and there...but her English was certainly light years ahead of my Finnish! When they rang the doorbell, they came bearing gifts:
- A new big rug for the main room, which is awesome because the other rugs are skinny little runners. And they are dirty. And the vacuum cleaner is a piece of crap and I can't get them clean. So this new rug means I can lay on the floor in front of the TV like I like, and get back into my Diamond Dallas Page Yoga for Regular Guys (BANG!) regimen.
- A big storage bin for me to put all the extraneous crap in that is in my way.
- Future gift: the bedroom has one of those pull-down shades, but it doesn't go down all the way. Not a big deal now, but in the summer it will be essential, so they're replacing that for me.
- A shiny new nameplate for the door with my name on it. The previous tenant was some Italian guy named "Occhipin", which is violently close to being an anagram for "Pinocchio."
- The offer to come over for dinner. So cute!
Then they gave me a little tour of the building. Goodness, it's a pretty cool building. They took me up to the roof, where there is a HUGE communal balcony that stretches across the whole length of the building and faces downtown. That should be totally amazing in spring and summer. Then they took me to the top floor, which was a maze of weird/creepy storage spaces and where I can park all that crap I don't want inside the apartment. (Note: no sauna.) There is also a little garbage building out back that has regular garbage, paper recycling, all other recycling...and compost! So efficiently and charmingly European! And there are lots of big grassy areas behind the building. Helsinki is awesome like that. They manage to keep lots of nature spots, even in the middle of a big urban area.
So once I get the apartment all wiped down and aired out (it smells pretty musty because I think it's been vacant for some time), I will get all my stuff in there and take pictures for a future post.
Leave a comment