Turkey Day... with complete strangers

About 2 weeks ago, two friends from church and PSR invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them at one of their friend's house. Our friend had known the couple from years ago living in Seattle. Coincidentally, both couples moved to the east bay so that their spouses could attend seminary. One is at PSR with Grant, the other is at the Episcopailian school down the street. So, it's 3pm, the time that our friends said they were going to meet us at the other couples apartment. We knock on the door and a woman answers. "hello! we're Robin and Grant" pause, woman is thinking, pause, "friends of -- and --?" Woman says, "oh yes, welcome in!" This was only slightly akward. Our friends had not arrived yet. We were expected, but it was still humorous that we showed up at complete strangers house, carrying yummy sweet potatoes, and expecting to be let in to share a Thanksgiving feast. The afternoon / early evening went really well. We talked to a bunch of seminarians and their partners (at least we had something in common!). We ate lots of yummy food and we even got an invitation to come back for dinner sometime. Back to the apartment search... we've visited 7 apartments so far in or near the desired neighborhood. We're quickly figuring out that we either need to lower our standards or be ok with paying more for rent, because we haven't been satisfied with any of the apartments so far. PSR and the other seminaries in the GTU subsidize the student housing. If our apartment building wasn't owned by PSR, it would taken care of and be in much better shape and it would cost $200-$300 more a month. It's a good thing that moving is not an emergency, just something we'd like to do soon.