I can’t understand a word these people are saying. I do understand them on other levels. They stack wood like it’s an art form. I am sure I would do the same, if I had wood to stack. Their toilets have a little shelf so they can examine their poop. I have similar interests. They have a sensitive nose for mustard, which is my favorite condiment, and maybe my favorite food.

The basics are in place. Kids have beds and bed frames. We do too. Everyone has a place to put their clothes. There is a dining room table with some temporary folding chairs. A desk in Zoe’s room and some bedside tables. The bathroom has a new washer & dryer wedged between the sink and shower. They are supposed to stack, but they don’t stack very well, and this works — at least for now.

We put new SIM cards in our phones. The carrier is Hofer Telecom. It’s a grocery store and a cell phone company. The plan is $10 a month for 15 gigs of data and unlimited calls. I am not sure which I enjoyed more — firing AT&T or Comcast. Cable Internet is $39 a month for 100 gigabits, by the way. Now we have these weird (to us) phone numbers that start with +43 — the Austrian country code.