apartment hunting in Riga

President Dance feels pretty certain that the office will be moving in July to downtown Riga, so I called a realtor to help us find an apartment nearby. That's the way you look for an apartment here, especially if you don't speak Latvian or Russian. This woman, Katherine, has found several apartments for the missionaries and she is very helpful.

We gave her a list of our "needs" and she found two that met the criteria. The first one was nicer than what we have now and we could have been happy with it, but we looked at the 2nd one and it was much nicer and for the same money. The "crisis" here in Latvia has caused rent prices to be greatly reduced. That's one reason we're able to move the office, too.

The apartment has two bedrooms (yeah!!!) and comfortable furniture (double yeah!!!). It is owned, and is currently the home of, a 3 generation family of women: grandma, mother, and 20ish daughter. They are building a home to move into so it's a happy thing for them and a really good thing for us. The daughter will be the landlord and she speaks excellent English.

We will be about 2 blocks from the office, which is a newer office complex, and 2 blocks in another direction from a grocery store that is larger and nicer than the Super Netto we now shop at.

We will move the weekend of the 13th of June and will then commute back to the office until it moves. Our new apartment is across the street and up about a block from the Mission Home, which will also be convenient when we go to departure dinners--no more walking to the bus stop and then riding home afterward.