The New Piso

Two days later I got a text from Pacqui saying that I'm in. She said for me to come by tomorrow and we could exchange money and such. When I got there at 11, guess what? Nobody answered AGAIN. But this time I had a lot more confidence and just kept ringin that buzzer until she finally answered through the intercom.

When I got to the 3rd floor, she was waiting for me at the door. She said the other roommate was going to come over so we could meet each other. In the meantime, she brought me to the big room with the queen sized bed and told me that she had been thinking. She thought it was kinda silly to have me and Tony sleeping in the little single bed when he comes. She said "so, while you're boyfriend's here why don't you have this room and bed and pay 300€ a month while he's here and pay 235€ when he's not here for having the bigger room and bed." Sounded like a pretty good deal to me. But I did feel a little guilty because I didn't know where she would then sleep and she IS the homeowner afterall.

As it turns out she had applied for a job in Granada and had just found out today that she got the position. She is a flamenco dance teacher (how cool!!) and has a secret boyfriend who lives in Granada that her parents don't know about. She's going to stay with him during the week and then he is going to drive her back to Cordoba for the weekends and spend them with her here. This weekend she showed up with a mountain of stuff from IKEA (pronounced EE-KAY-UH). Yes, they have those here too, in fact everywhere. Just about every major city has one. All of us roommates, including Juliana, spent the weekend helping put together bookshelves, lamps, tables, desks, chairs and nightstands from IKEA. I learned lots of new words pertaining to carpentry and building this weekend. She also bought us our own towels, wastebasket, closet organizers, sheets, pillows, and curtains. I feel so spoiled right now. I thought I would have to spend this entire 9 months with my one pink sheet that I brought, my thin white towel from Olympic Medical Center and would have to buy a pillow once I got here. When she advertised her piso as furnished, she wasn't playin. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty in making sure that her roommates have every thing they need in order to be comfortable.

Irene (pronounced EE-Ray-nay) is my other roommate who just moved here from Huelva. She is here in Cordoba studying translation and interpretation in English and Spanish. Her and I go back and forth in both languages which is nice for both of us. I have a feeling she is going to teach me a lot. We are able to practice and learn from each other and when we can't explain something in one language we switch to the other. So, we are able to communicate pretty well. She has a girlfriend from Huelva who visits her here on the weekends.

Tony and I will probably be here on the weekdays and then travel around a little on the weekends. So that should work out pretty well. That way they can have a break from the strange foreigners and the house won't be too crowded with 3 couples in one tiny apartment on the weekends.