A place to live!!

On Monday we went to Archena to try and find a place to live.  I have received several emails and posts from people in the program looking for a roommate but I wanted to at least attempt to find some local roomies.  So Andres, his mother Sylvana and I all went to Murcia and we parked our rental car and started to walk towards the Cathedral because I had been told it was a nicer neighborhood than what I would find closer to the bus station that I would be utilizing to get to Archena in the mornings. 

A phone is essential to an apartment search so that was the first step.   We went to Movistar which is a name I have seen constantly since arriving in Spain and while in there I decided that this was sort of like the Time Warner Cable of Spain.  Widely available, completely overpriced.  Don’t worry, those of you who knew me in San Marcos know that I prefer companies like Grande. :D  So we went to the Phone House which has a nice conglomerate of companies and I got a cheapie little phone on a prepay plan with YoiGo.   Not bad, but don’t be surprised when all of the plans are more expensive than the states. 

Now, phone in hand, we start walking the walk and calling places to find out what’s available.  It was so frustrating!  My Spanish isn’t that great, I can understand a lot but not everything and being able to spit out what I’m trying to say is really difficult, especially when the person on the other line is losing patience.  Then you add a cheap phone as the medium and I just wanted to throw my hands up and cry.  I could have used a locator, but my good friend Cassie, who lived here last year, told me that it costs 100-200 euros!!  No way José, I’m way too frugal for that.  Besides, I should be practicing my Spanish shouldn’t I?  But after several calls to “se alquila” signs hanging on balconies I realized I had a problem.  Most of these people wanted to rent out the entire floor or “el piso” not just one room.   So we decided to try plan B.  We went to the very close by campus and started looking for roommate signs.  We had much more luck here, though I was still battling the language barrier.  After looking at a couple of places that were do-able but not really what I wanted for some reason we were standing in front of a sign and we had a little godsend. 

We had just called this number and I hung up and told Andres and Sylvana that it was a no go and this older woman with for rent notices in her hand stopped and asked us if we were looking for a room.  Well, yes, as a matter of fact we are!  In the states I might have hesitated to follow someone right then and there but after the last 5 hours that I’d spent struggling there wasn’t even a seconds hesitation.  This was obviously going to be a blessing in disguise.  Andres even called it.  So we’re walking with this lady and she’s asking about us and telling me about the rooms that she has and how much they are and what’s included.  She shows us her posts and I’m listening to her and I’ve never felt so religious as I did in that moment.  This lady was very sweet, friendly, and she was speaking at a pace that I could truly understand!  YES!!!!!!  She has a piso that she rents out and then she also is trying to rent out 2 rooms at her own place and so we looked at hers first and I started to have my doubts.  I really, really wanted to live with people my own age.  She seemed exceptionally easy to live with, it just wasn’t the environment that I wanted.  I think I’ve lived too long without parents (since I was 18) to start again.  But then we went to her other piso. 

And now I have a place to live!  (Pictures later, I'm having camera issues)

Pilar, the sweet older lady who found us is my new landlord.  I’ve met one of my roommates, Jake, who is from England (don’t worry, he avoided speaking to me in English even when I tried to speak to him in English) and the other is from the states and her name is Emily, but I have yet to meet her, she’s out of town right now.  The rent for the room is a little steep and more than I originally wanted to pay.  We tried to talk Pilar down a bit but she felt that it would be unfair when the other two roomies were paying that amount already.  I felt some real sympathy here because I agree that equality is essential but we got creative.  I will now be giving English lessons to Pilar and possibly spending some time with her adorable little dog Tobi who I’m already completely pulled in by (Don’t worry Zinc, you’ll always be the love of my life!). 

There are 3 things that make this room worth the extra buck: 

1.     Pilar doesn’t mind if Andres stays for the next month!  (This was a deal breaker at other places we looked at)

2.     It’s bigger than most rooms we looked at.

3.     I have two twin size beds!!!!!!!!!  So come on ladies and gentlemen, take advantage of me and come see me!   Oh, and they’re pretty comfortable which seems to be a rare and beautiful thing around here.  J