It’s not that I don’t have a house. The issue is that the room that I have currently is very small, which would be workable, but it doesn’t have a WINDOW. You may think, as I did, that one can adjust to things, that as long as it’s temporary it doesn’t really matter, that maybe this is part of why we have electricity or even that
Entrance, Calle del Olivar, 8
that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. If you were me and you though those things about living in a windowless room, you would be wrong. It is far more disorienting than you may think. Call me a weenie, I’m ready to move out. I’ve been in there for almost 2 weeks now and even though there is a light switch right directly over the bed I still have this brief moment of frantic waving and groping trying to find it. The bed doesn’t move, but sill I have to think about how I’m laying in order to find the wall.
But enough about that. I am still looking for a house. I go and see houses almost everyday, or at least every other day…and there is frequently something strange. There are many places that have been ill-advisedly divided and subdivided to create more rooms, places where there are no windows, places where they don’t want me for being a student, places where there are unspecified numbers of others living in
Hall, Calle del Olivar, 8
rooms whose doors don’t open, children who tell me not to open the fridge, people who ask absolutely no questions about me at all…there’s a little of everything. This is just some venting, but after three-plus weeks I’m tired!
Really, I would like to stay where I am, the guys that live here, Chema and Alvaro are super great and the location is pretty unbeatable. The neighborhood is Lavapies/Tirso de Molina and it’s very diverse. There are people from all different parts of the world doing all manner of things. There are a lot of artsy things, divey bars, radical bookstore, etc. Also we are really close to the center of the city and only about 15 minutes from the Retiro. In other words, its a winner, other than the fact that it’s a cave.
But, no worries, it’ll happen given enough time…
