No Longer Homeless in Seattle

I'll tell you, finding a suitable apartment in Vigo, Galicia, turned out to be a lot harder than I initially thought. I thought that with my standards (some walls, a roof, a toilet, a possibility for an Internet connection and a location within 15 kms from the city and the university), it would be relatively easy to find a place. Boy was I wrong, AGAIN. Most of the places were straight up dumps. Now, it's important that you understand that I'm not actually very picky about where I live, but if the fridge and the washing machine (at least I think it was a washing machine) are OUTSIDE in a country where insulation, both in walls and in electric appliances, is a mostly a bad joke, that's where I draw the line. Moreover, if the landlord, when consulted on the possibility to get an Internet connection replies, "I don't know, it dependds, is it big?!" (Pues no sé, depende, es muy grande?), it's time to move on.

Above are a few examples of our options..

So, after having called all the numbers that the international student coordinator at the university gave us, on a scale from 2 to 7, we were mildly desperate. Either the places were full, lacking vital elements for living, or owned by vile racists (one place dismissed Polacs, Chechs, and Slovacs already in the contact information form). And so, three nights in a row we came back to our faboulous Hotel Nautico (heating works like clockwork, every day, from 7 pm to 11 pm only), only to find the same retarted Cuban (guy, not a cigar), who would stare at us for no reason and keep asking us if we were going to stay for a month. This was because in our anguish we had considered the option for taking the hotel room for a month while trying to find a place and asked the nut-case about lower prices for a longer stay. This was before we found out that his verbal output makes about as much sense as running head first into a wall.

In an unbelievable turn of events we decided, as a "hail mary" type of idea (for those of you who like american football, for the basketball lovers this would be considered "putting up a prayer"), to give an odd-seeming woman another call. She answered, we went to see it, and moved in the next morning. That day Kataya felt an irresistable urge to let out a high-pitched squeal of joy every half an hour or so, and I may have had joined in a couple of times, I'm not sure.

Either way, more on the pad next time, maybe even tomorrow when we hopefully get our wireless Internet installed. And here is your daily TOP 4!! (first one of those actually)

4 Things That Currently ROCK!!!

1. My Fjällräven jacket.

In these rather MOIST and still cool surroundings this water- and windproof bad boy seems to be the best investment since sliced bread. (shut up, it's a perfect metaphor)

2. Sportmania (cable channel)
3 NBA games a week plus the All-Star Game, Play-Offs etc.
(I'm laughing hysterically but you can't hear me...)

3. Cheap wine
I'm talking 1,60 e for a glass of some nice Rioja Crianza, that would cost four times that in Finland. In America they probably think he plays 2nd base for the Padres.

4. Empandillos
These hot, filled pastries come in dozens of different filling-combinations and cost absolutely fuck-all, pardon my French.

P.S. Thanks Nick, You're my first real fan!!

J.