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dustbin posted:No way, where does a bed supposed to go? Sleep on the hideaway couch? There is enough room for a generic bed (this is probably why Susan moved the furniture around, only to give up halfway through when her mom broke her hip) The couch actually unfolds into an ENORMOUS bed for two. Since Mario is very tall at 7ft, this bed is particularly suitable for him. Also, the couch is a lot softer than you'd expect. Awesome kid spent six years sleeping on that couch/bed and I haven't received a single complaint from him.
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 05:00 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 11:55 |
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So if I picked up and moved to Croatia from the US could I rent your apartment? What are some fun things to do in the neighborhood? How many bomb shelters are nearby?
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 07:00 |
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Zymurgy posted:So if I picked up and moved to Croatia from the US could I rent your apartment? Provided that the apartment is vacant at the moment, I see no reason why not. Zymurgy posted:What are some fun things to do in the neighborhood? There's a gym, a small stadium and a large shopping mall with a movie theatre. Coincidentally, that's one of my favorite places to dumpster dive and bum cigs. Zymurgy posted:How many bomb shelters are nearby? I'm not aware of any in the immediate vicinity, but the tower itself is built to survive a bomb shock wave, the thing is literally built like a bunker. Outside walls are 17cm of serious concrete, and the load bearing walls are even thicker. Good luck if you want to hang a picture on the wall, you need a punching drill just to make a small hole for the anchor w/screw, and even then, the concrete will send sparks flying. I paid extra for the AC unit which can both cool and heat the air. The building uses steam heating, being hooked up directly to the power plant. I'm not sure about the details, but for the heating season to start, I think the temperature has to be below 10C for three days in a row before they plug in the heating. This means that literally every autumn, you'll be freezing your bollocks off for a few cold days before the power plant hooks you up with steam. I deliberately bought a heating AC so the tenants wouldn't be tempted to use various rinky-dink space heaters or blowers, as these things range from "questionable" all the way to "a spectacular fire hazard."
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 09:56 |
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That flat would go for about £500 here. What sort of industries are in your area? Where do people work?
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 15:51 |
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It's a great place to live.
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 16:16 |
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You're around Zagreb right?
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# ? Feb 7, 2016 16:41 |
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After everything that ASF has told you guys about the economic and social climate of Croatia, you want to move there?
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 01:36 |
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While economically Croatia is in dumps, it has a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. If nothing else, you could always go sight-seeing.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 02:48 |
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Split and the coast in general was very beautiful and I had a good time there but Zagreb was depressing and I can't even remember what we did there. Thankfully, we were only there for like 2 and a half days.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 03:08 |
quote:...And I don't know why this chair is over here. I bet I do
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 04:53 |
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SymmetryrtemmyS posted:After everything that ASF has told you guys about the economic and social climate of Croatia, you want to move there?
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 05:34 |
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ITT goons discover an interest in geo-arbitrage. "You mean I could move to eastern Europe for almost nothing and have a landlord who lives off beer, bread, scrounged cigarettes, and expired meds?!"Data Graham posted:I bet I do This took me a second. Good times.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 07:06 |
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I'm currently couch surfing at an old East German apartment, and all the kitchen fittings are eerily similar to those in the video.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 08:20 |
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Chas McGill posted:What sort of industries are in your area? Where do people work? Today, most people are employed in small businesses and other white collar jobs. Other eastern bloc countries have long since moved on, but Croatia is still stuck in 1990s economic chaos. Heavy industry took a lot of damage, and metalworking, machine building and textile sectors were practically obliterated. Interestingly, almost the whole railway industry in the former Yugoslavia was located in Croatia - Zagreb has no less than TWO locomotive factories. Another one is located in Slavonski Brod, where among locomotives, they also built T-55 tank clones. We made an absolute fortune building and selling tanks, our biggest customer being the man himself, Saddam Hussein. Zagreb today is a post-industrial hellhole suffering from extreme urban decay. As the town grew in size, old factories - most of which were built before WWII - became engulfed and trapped by newly constructed tenement buildings. The land prices steadily grew - especially during the 90s when they practically skyrocketed - so it was economical to tear down the old factories, fire off a whole army of employees, sell off the land, and then build something else in that plot. This sort of thing wouldn't fly today in 2016, but I suppose everything was possible in the 1990s, when extreme corruption and sleazy business practices were a norm. The factories that survived were located on the absolute outskirts of the town where land was dirt cheap. Examples being "Kraš", a chocolate factory, and "Pliva", a pharmaceuticals factory. Azithromycin, one of the most powerful antibiotics we have today, was discovered and developed at Pliva. HoAssHo posted:Split and the coast in general was very beautiful and I had a good time there but Zagreb was depressing and I can't even remember what we did there. Thankfully, we were only there for like 2 and a half days. You are correct, Zagreb has little to nothing to offer, unless you're interested in urban decay and (decaying) brutalist architecture. Every summer I'm seeing foreign tourists walking around with their maps and backpacks and stuff, and literally all of them look lost and disappointed. I always get this urge to apologize to them for coming to Zagreb. If you ask me, Zagreb is only good to spend a night's rest in a cheap hostel before embarking on a journey to the coast. Zagreb is like a stereotypical annoying water cooler guy who is desperate for 10 minutes of your attention and doesn't realize that he's getting the negative kind of attention. Thus the secondhand shame I feel upon seeing the tourists. Fruits of the sea posted:I'm currently couch surfing at an old East German apartment, and all the kitchen fittings are eerily similar to those in the video. Well there are certain differences in construction quality, but in general terms, commieblocks tend to look the same from Eastern Berlin all the way to Pyongyang, and Zagreb is no exception. Even the trams are the same (Czech-built Tatra T4.)
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 15:23 |
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A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:You are correct, Zagreb has little to nothing to offer, unless you're interested in urban decay and (decaying) brutalist architecture. Every summer I'm seeing foreign tourists walking around with their maps and backpacks and stuff, and literally all of them look lost and disappointed. I always get this urge to apologize to them for coming to Zagreb. Although one thing that Croats are the champions of is negative thinking and incessant self criticism. So, eh I'd take what he says with a grain of salt.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:14 |
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Gmaz posted:Come on, it's not that bad. Have you not visited the city centre in years? I spent 27 years of my life living next door to the Sheraton Zagreb hotel, and I hightailed it outta there at the first opportunity, in 2013. I know what I'm talking about. Within a 5 minute walk from the Sheraton hotel, you can see the following: -Uniformly black buildings from decades upon decades of smog -Collapsing facades, with bits of masonry falling upon the sidewalks from decades of neglect -An abandoned construction site with a huge excavated pit, now full of rainwater and a prime breeding spot for a horde of mosquitoes -In Branimirova street, halfway between Sheraton and the railway station, scaffolding underneath a collapsing balcony. The scaffolding is erected not because the balcony is under repair, but to catch the whole thing when it finally comes tumbling down -Abandoned mom&pop stores, empty since the advent of large shopping malls -To add an insult to an injury, all the buildings in that area are caked with a preposterous amount of graffiti. Since I moved to the suburbs, I feel practically reborn.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:32 |
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That's interesting, and a shame. My only knowledge of Croatia outside this thread is football related.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:38 |
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Oh, forgot to add one thing, there's a railway depot nearby, where they refuel Diesel locomotives every morning between three and four AM. The stink of diesel fuel and sulfur is nothing short of astounding, especially during the summer.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:42 |
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The center and upper city have a nice atmosphere, there's a bunch of parks, abandoned mom&pop stores are now hipster crafty places and graffiti are a pretty normal occurence in many places in the world and contrary to your description it is much much cleaner than even most of the bigger cities in the west. You're looking at it through a very negative lense. Living in the centre isn't the same as tourists that visit some place, it's not like they'll go actively searching for lovely spots. Hell I wouldn't want to live in the center either, but more because of noise than anything. It's really not nearly as bad as you think, living in some place and the negativity that surrounds you can really make you lose the perspective though, so I understand.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 16:48 |
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i watched that video and all I can see is
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 17:36 |
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Gmaz posted:You're looking at it through a very negative lense. Almost like the OP suffers from depression and addiction issues
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 17:37 |
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A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:
I thought we established that Croatia was one big Ponzi scheme.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 17:53 |
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So I wouldn't want to get a job there, but I do have a good amount of $ saved up, and FB here has cheap rent... Are Croatian women attractive? Can I get by speaking only English?
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 19:53 |
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This is really all you need to know about Eastern Europe.
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 20:21 |
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Saros posted:This is really all you need to know about Eastern Europe. That's exactly the scene that came to mind when goons started wondering if they should move to Croatia. Even if you could manage to get a residence permit there (you can't just show up and say "this is my new country now" without work lined up), why would you want to?
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# ? Feb 8, 2016 22:38 |
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Captain Yossarian posted:So I wouldn't want to get a job there, but I do have a good amount of $ saved up, and FB here has cheap rent... Are Croatian women attractive? Can I get by speaking only English? Why not get a job as a janitor? I hear you can get some swag beer/chocolates.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 01:09 |
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hey fatbeard how many square meters is that apartment
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 01:28 |
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Murphy Brownback posted:That's exactly the scene that came to mind when goons started wondering if they should move to Croatia. Even if you could manage to get a residence permit there (you can't just show up and say "this is my new country now" without work lined up), why would you want to? Lowered expectations are a goon's bread and butter.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 01:29 |
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:hey fatbeard how many square meters is that apartment A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:Surface area is 24.83m2, but it feels a lot larger.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 01:36 |
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ASF is that square footage common in croatian apartments? That's quite small where I live in Canada, though ~100 euros per hundred feet is a pretty reasonable I guess, with the place being furnished.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 01:50 |
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Saros posted:This is really all you need to know about Eastern Europe.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 02:01 |
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Saros posted:This is really all you need to know about Eastern Europe. And funny enough, the guy who talks to the group is Croatian actor Rade Šerbedžija.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 02:50 |
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ASF, how many spoiled western goons can you squeeze in 25 square metres? They need to learn how it feels to live in tight spaces.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 07:12 |
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NotAnArtist posted:ASF is that square footage common in croatian apartments? That's quite small where I live in Canada, though ~100 euros per hundred feet is a pretty reasonable I guess, with the place being furnished. Studios generally range from 17m2 to 30m2. When I was buying an apartment, I checked out one 21m2 apartment that didn't have a real kitchen (everything was stuffed in the 'lobby') and the bathroom was so small that you had to squeeze in sideways to get to the toilet. The dealbreaker was the fact that the building didn't have a gas installation, so you had to cook with electricity. I love cooking, so an electric stove was a no-go since electricity is prohibitively expensive. Apartments are generally small in Croatia, because building stuff is expensive. It's easy to build an enormous house in America, but as a rule, they're built out of really lovely materials such as wood, while bricks/cinderblocks are generally reserved only for the foundation. If you want a lot of space in Croatia, you get a house. These are usually built out of bricks. While it's possible to build large, four bedroom apartments in Croatia - and I know of several apartment blocks with such apartments - the price would've been astronomical, due to sheer amount of concrete and rebar being used. steady posted:ASF, how many spoiled western goons can you squeeze in 25 square metres? They need to learn how it feels to live in tight spaces. Back when my aunts came from Germany, there were three of us squeezed in a 25m2 studio. It was borderline okay, provided that none of you snores loudly.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 10:56 |
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A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:It's easy to build an enormous house in America, but as a rule, they're built out of really lovely materials such as wood, while bricks/cinderblocks are generally reserved only for the foundation. I grew up in a brick house in cape town. Brick is great. Since I left , in the places I've lived (I live in the USA now) everything is wood apart from city apartment blocks, in my experience. I'm renting a wooden house right now. It's really, really lovely building material. Sound travels through walls really easily. I agree, brick rules.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 13:59 |
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I like an a town mostly made of granite and it makes everywhere else seem pretty flimsy in comparison, particularly when I'm in the US.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 14:58 |
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redreader posted:Brick is great. You'd be surprised, but brick is considered a not particularly good building material in Croatia - as bricks tend to be rather brittle which means that brick houses tend to fare poorly in an earthquake. Last big earthquake took place in 1880, and half the town was completely destroyed, even the medieval cathedral's bell tower came tumbling down. A new church was built in the place where the former church used to stand, and a new cathedral with two bell towers was completed in 1905. My former tenement building (i.e. the Crackden), which was completed in 1937 used reinforced concrete for the load bearing walls, the bricks were only used for fillings and non-critical inside walls. The floors are cast reinforced concrete, and the funny thing is that the architect presumably wasn't sure how would concrete walls and floors fare in a big earthquake (reinforced concrete was a crazy new thing back in 1937), so he added reinforced concrete support beams below the concrete floors, just to be on a safe side.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 15:25 |
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A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:You'd be surprised, but brick is considered a not particularly good building material in Croatia - as bricks tend to be rather brittle which means that brick houses tend to fare poorly in an earthquake. ... That explains all the wooden houses here in California then.
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# ? Feb 9, 2016 17:03 |
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A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:Every summer I'm seeing foreign tourists walking around with their maps and backpacks and stuff, and literally all of them look lost and disappointed. I always get this urge to apologize to them for coming to Zagreb. The same thing happened to me while traveling through Poland: some old lady on a bus randomly apologized to us about how depressing Poland is. I guarantee tourists have a better opinion of Croatia than you do. The neighboring town where I grew up had a rule that all buildings (maybe just the commercial ones?) had to be brick, but I never noticed the difference. I guess building materials are more important in areas that have natural disasters. Do earthquakes happen a lot there? Or just bombings?
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# ? Feb 10, 2016 15:54 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 11:55 |
A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:Here's the subbed video! I guess I speak more Croatian than I thought. "Thermostat," "couch," "internet." I tried to learn a few real Croatian words from gbut, but mostly he and his wife just laughed at me. I guess my Slovenian blood didn't come with the Eastern European Dialect gene. That place is both much nicer, and a little more cramped, than I was imagining. That stove looks dope. The toilet is in an inconvenient place, though*. Where did the money come from to "rebuild" the bathroom, and how could you afford to buy that television so recently? A SWEATY FATBEARD posted:I love cooking, so an electric stove was a no-go since electricity is prohibitively expensive. How expensive is "prohibitively" expensive? * I don't mean "the bathroom"; that part is OK.
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# ? Feb 11, 2016 03:41 |