It was through the website meetup.com that I reconnected with Andrew. Meetup.com is a website for activities for like minded individuals, they have activities groups like football, tennis, ultimate frisbee, public speaking, meeting people, etc. It was through ultimate frisbee that Andrew and I met again. I mentioned in passing that David and I are going to Quebec city to apartment hunt then see the sights (the day after Frisbee), luckily Andrew was off for the summer since he was waiting to take his Pharmacy tests so he decided to come along for the ride!
On July 22nd we all packed into my rental car the Hyndai Elantra and started off on the great road trip to Quebec. It was so good to spend the time with Andrew and talk about how our lives has changed since high school. Both of us has been very shy since high school but through self help books and just getting out of our comfort zone we have developed into quite extroverted individuals over the years. Andrew summed it up in a nice quote: "It's like we grew up separately but together."
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| Me, Andrew and David at our pit stop. |
Once we arrived in Quebec city we got into contact with Jonathan, one of the English teachers at the Cegep and he graciously allowed us to stay in his apartment. We took some well deserved sleep and started to earnestly apartment hunting the next day.
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| Our host Jonathan with David at a Crepe restaurant in old Quebec |
My first apartment hunting experience was filled with confusion, laughter, tense negotiations and finally peace. So after looking at about a dozen apartments I decided to settled down on 3 to consider for my final place in Quebec city.
Shared
The first apartment we saw was a 4 1/2 (in Quebec the first number means how many rooms there are for 4 it means there is a kitchen, a den, and 2 bedrooms + a bathroom; the 1/2 part). This was owned by the same landlord as Jonathan's apartment. It was literally right next to the school where I will be working, I can walk there in 2 minutes. But in order to bring down the cost I would have to share the apartment with another roommate. The other good things about the apartment was that it was not rented to Cegep student and Laval University students which was good for the noise level and keeping a professional distance between teacher and students. Price: $800/month, heating included, electricity not included.
Downtown
The second apartment I saw through a kijiji ad. It was a new york style 3 storeys apartment. Luckily for me the girl answered the phone could speak English. So we went over and check it out. They had 2 units available, both were newly renovated and super clean. But it was a bit cozy and cramped compared to the other ones we saw. The best thing about this apartment was the location, it is located near Avenue Cartier which is basically the downtown downtown of Quebec. It would be like as if I were living at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto. At this point I was starting to have my heart set on this one. Whether that was because of all the above mentioned facts or because of the cute francophone girl showing me the apartment remains a mystery. But in any case I decided to check out some more apartment just so that I would have an objective opinion. Price: $635/month for bigger one, $625 for smaller one, heating and electricity included.
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| Kitchen area. |
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| Andrew talking with Camille the daughter of the landlord |
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| cozy living room. This was the larger apartment of the two actually. |
Motel
The last apartment I considered in the contention was an apartment we saw just by driving through the area near the Cegep. From the outside it looks a bit dilapidated compare to the other two. Actually the first thought that came into mind if you saw it from the outside was that it looked like a motel. On the inside though it was quite spacious for a 3 1/2, the previous tenant had painted each room a different color scheme which I quite liked. And the landlord promised to do a full renovation once I moved in. Based on the supplies lying around it wasn't just something she said for show. Also the apartment was quite close to my school being about 5 minutes bike ride. Price: $710/month heating and electricity included but not the stove and refrigerator. At this point I wasn't really considering this one at all, so I offered her $650 with the stove and refrigerator included. The superintendent said she will check with the landlord and get back to me.
So that is about it for the apartments in contention. Feeling finished for the day we headed out to a Chinese buffet and stuffed ourselves silly with francophone Chinese fusion cuisine. It was actually really really good. Especially the creamy mussels. The next day I waited for the call from the second apartment, aka. Downtown. The mother I spoke to had promised me she would call me back in the morning with her decision on my offer. I had went back to the apartment again to speak to the mother who is the landlord and told her I could do the original price she asked for. But she changed her tune and said that electricity was not included now and I need to move in by August the 15th. After some tense negotiations she told me another person was going to check out the place tomorrow and that she would call me back. By 11am, the next morning, she still has not called me back and I was leaning 90% on this apartment. So I called my friend Adam in Toronto and got reassured on my choice. At around 12pm I called them and we negotiated some more with her husband and finally they agreed to August 15th move in with heating and electricity included. I was ecstatic! But they told me I should come by at 2pm so that they can get the contract in English for me. I was thinking: "how nice of them." But as soon as I hung up the phone I realized my mistake - they were probably going to show it to the other prospect.
Sure enough when we arrived the bigger apartment had been rented already. They invited me inside and the dad started to have some back and forth negotiation banters with me. The high light was: "You ask for too much and now you lost that apartment, don't make the same mistake again." Not wanting to be pushed around I retorted back in French: "Oui, c'est vrai, MAIS, MAIS, MAIS (wild hand gestures) mais Je avoir plus de outre options. Par example, il y a un autre apartment juste accouter le Cegep de Sainte foy, c'est 3 1/2 pour juste $650 chaque mois, chauffer plus ecclaire compris." It sounded really boss in my mind. But they probably heard it as: "Yea that is true, BUT BUT BUT, I many options have! Example for, another apartment next to Cegep 3 1/2 for $650 month each! Anyways negotiations went down and they agreed to my initial offer of $600 for the smaller apartment with heating and electricity included. But after checking it again I decided it was way too small compare to the other ones. Since I wanted to have couch surfers over as well I don't think the size of the apartment would have sufficed. So I offered $590/month as my final offer and they rejected and we parted ways.
It turned out I wasn't lying about my other options. We went back to the Motel apartment and signed up right there after we got everything she promised in writing. And I am now the happy tenant of that apartment. I will move in on August 25th. Perfect timing because all Odyssey participants have a 3 day orientation session in Quebec city and I can stay in the hotel they put us in during that time.
Since we finished apartment hunting in just two days. We checked out Cirque de Solei in Quebec city for free. Then decided to make an spontaneous trip to Montreal. It worked out really well because Jonathan was also going there and we gave him a lift.
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| At a Portugese chicken place in Montreal. |
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| Great chicken with Piri Piri sauce. |
Finally after all the traveling we came back to Toronto on July 25th.
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