I know you are thinking to yourself “Homeless? Surely she’s mistaken.” Let me put your questions to rest---> I am indeed in the center of madrid in the land of petty thieves and funny languages without a place to hang my hat at the end of the day. I’ve been here for 5 days and I’m finding it just short of impossible to find an apartment to rent under my working conditions. You need to have the following prerequisites in order to sign an apartment contract here: be a legal resident (check), have a working contract with a business in Spain (check), have a bank account that has money coming in due to said job (check), and be here for at least one year (check). So why is this proving to be so stinkin’ difficult?? Because the company that employs me is absolutely impossible and refuses to give me the correct documentation so that I can prove that I qualify for all of these things. Do I have a contract? yes. Do I have access to it? no. They sign the contract and then email it to me. There is nowhere for me to sign it and in turn the emailed copy is void. Am I a legal resident? yes. Do I have a valid card to prove it? no. My NIE (residence card) is expired and although I have an appointment with the government to get a new one which is all I need for the customs officers and the police officers but not enough to get a place to live. Have I got a bank account? yes. Have I been paid in 3 months? no. Because I am a teacher I only get paid October thru June and they need to see that I have had money coming in for the last three months (July, August, and September). Enough to pull your hair out, isn’t it?!?! Oh Spain, all I do is love you and all you do is poo on me. WHAT. IS. THE. DEEEAAALLLL?!?!? I really need to get out of these types of relationships, yaknowwhati’msayin??
However, there is a beautiful silver lining on this one hell of a dark cloud. My spanish family. Belén and Miguel and the girls have graciously opened their house (and their refrigerator) to me once again. I have been staying with them since I arrived and I gotta tell ya’ll: This homeless life really isn’t that bad :) I have my own bedroom outfitted with a great bed and cool air because it’s in the basement (invaluable in this crazy spanish heat). I even have my own bathroom with a shower in it. Not bad, not bad at all. I know this sounds great and all and you’re all wondering why the heck I’m looking for a new place to live and to be honest the idea of staying in the lap of luxury isn’t a bad one. But alas, I am an adult and and they are a family and although my time there is great, all good things must come to an end. It’s like having a slumber party over and over again. Sooner or later they’re going to get sick of me and I’d really like to leave before we get to that point!
So, in order to find an apartment you have the option of searching a few different ways here. First, you can look online at the endless apartment websites that either lead you to dead ends or creepy roommates (seriously, I wont bore you with the details but I will say that last night an ad took us to a great area of town, great building, and a sir creepsalot by the name of Mili). Second, you can walk around the city with your neck strained to look at all the tall buildings because they hang their “for rent” signs off their balconies. I wish there was a map of the city with my footprints showing all the places we have walked. We have walked from Legazpi to Tetuán (that’s like 7 miles) and everywhere in between, and Callie has called literally about 75 people inquiring about apartments and so far all the leads we have are just not making the cut. And if they do we don’t even qualify for the places. I’m over here walking my ass off (like that’s even possible) and all signs point to---> LOSER. Nothing. Nada. Ladies and gentlemen, check back with me in about 2 months but at the moment, this stinks! Although this is rather upsetting, i refuse to be discouraged!! I WILL find a place to live. It WILL be nice. And I’ll post pictures of the beauty as soon as I’ve won it over :) It’s been 5 days and I don’t already have everything that I want with all my things falling into place, what is this world coming to??
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