the spanish apartment

In 2004 when I lived in an apartment in Granada, I was spoiled. My señora took care of everything – the cleaning, the laundry, the groceries. I would come home from class and the floors would be sparkling, a clean pile of clothes would be folded on my bed (underwear ironed) and there would be food on the table. Not so in my piso sevillano. Turns out there are no grocery fairies in this neighborhood so it is necessary to do your own shopping – but remember, you can’t shop on Sundays because this is Spain and everything is closed on Sundays. Same goes for siesta (2 to 4 or 5 pm daily)! You also mop your own floors, and figure out the hot water all by yourself (or with your heat savvy roommates). The adventure begins.

Things to know:

–       Marble floors are cold. Side note: get a bath mat immediately, or risk death after your shower
–       Your gas stove will not work if the propane bottle is not full.
–       Your hot water heater needs to be lit on a daily basis if you want a hot shower. You should probably also give it time to heat up.
–       You need to flag the propane guy down during the week if you need some.

It still doesn’t feel like I live here. I feel as though I’m in some sort of house-sitting limbo and soon I will pack up my suitcase again and fly back to PA. Once I start exploring the neighborhood and operating on some sort of schedule, I imagine reality will hit… a good thing because this wandering around with no obligations does not suit me.

In case you’ve never seen it .. here is the real Spanish Apartment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Auberge_espagnole

Tomorrow … first day of school 🙂