"It's My House and I Live Here - Es Mi Casa y Yo Vivo Aqui"

Here I am, in my new house, in my very own room, freezing my butt off.

Because the one thing missing in this house is warmth. Actually it's two things: the lack of any type of heating system and the aforementioned poor insulation. But I'll live, don't worry. This might sound stupid back home, since it's about -15 Celsius outside, but at least it's warm indoors. Here on the other hand, it's usually warmer outside. For instance, at this very moment it's about 13 degrees outside and roughly 12 in my room, which kinda blows, I might add. Of course I don't mind the coldness too much, being the hairy bastard I am, but I'll tell you, it complicates things when nothing dries, ever. I have to dry my sports stuff and my towel using an "estufa", a very peculiar kerosene-burning contraption. And because the lady who owns the place is as poor as the insulation (she makes 800 e a month, before taxes), she doesn't like it when we use the "estufa". She still hasn't realized that we could keep that thing burning day and night, without it affecting our budget in any way. Negotiations are under way. But enough about temperature, just wanted you to know the general atmosphere.

SO, here I am. Travesía Tomas Alonso 15, tercero piso (third floor). The postal code is 36206, Vigo, Spain, for those of you still believing in old fashion mail. From the outside the place
looks like it should have been torn down a long, long time ago, but the apartment itself isn't actually too bad.


My room has a bed, a window, a closet and a table. Pretty basic, really. Except for the fact that the mattress is so old and soft that it's closer to a hammock than a bed. I feel sorry for anyone who tries to perform any other kind of action than sleeping in a similar bed. I have practised turning around in it for 4 nights now, and my current record time for turning from my right side to my left side is 8,2 seconds. The reverse turn is still slightly slower because usually the cat scares the crap out of me as I'm turning, by staring at me from my night stand, thus bringing my pulse up to about 230 and costing me at least 1,6 seconds. There's also another cat in my room (on my night stand in the picture) but he's not a live cat. It's Jim, my stuffed transvestite cat-friend (he wears a dress).











Other than these rooms, there's another toilet, a living room, Mabel's room (Maria Isabel, our landlord, more about her later..), and a random room, which is probably going to be a home for all of you coming to visit. The location of the house, that you can see in the map of the previous link, is actually very nice. It's right next to Plaza do Eugenio Fadrique, who was apparently a famous blacksmith because his statue is made of iron an is holding a large hammer. There are various cafés, boutiques, a bus stop etc. surrounding it, and Plaza America (with a mall and more bus stops) is only about 500 metres (or 35 cubic litres) away. All in all, not too shabby for The J-Man..

Top 4 Silliest Spanish Words So Far

1. "Estufa"
n. The only source of heat around here.
2. "Esponjoso"
adj. Spongy. Used for example when
referring to a certain type of seafood
3. "Malbitcho"
n. Apparently a really mean bitch.
4. "Ronronear"
v. To purr. As in: El gato está ronroneando.