Our new apartment

We've been in the new apartment for a week now, and we're enjoying having a bit more space to run around in.

It wasn't our first choice of apartment block {it's a little further away from work than the one we wanted to move into} and we were going to ask to wait until the other one was ready we're at least glad that we're out of the hotel!

The complex is beautiful - locals here call it the 'Disneyland of Baku' as it looks like a set of Florida holiday apartments all centred around a pool {although it's still to be treated with chlorine, so there's a green tint to the water at the moment}..

We've got two balconies, two bathrooms, our own washing machine, a dishwasher and, finally, an oven! So we have at least been eating some proper meals and getting a few more vegetables and relying less on the Chinese take away!

It's still not overly clean. It's brand new, but we've hovered and mopped the floors twice and still haven't been able to get rid of the builders dust. It'll get there.

The décor leaves a lot to be desired {like some Ikea Hemnes and Liatorp} - I'm not sure if it is the 'Azerbaijani' style or just the cheapest things they could find, but there is a lot of brown and grey, and all of the tables and wardrobes have the strangest fake wood grain I have ever seen. But I'm not as bothered as when I first walked in. I only have to look at it for another eight months...