virtual tour

Sooooo...
if anyone is interested in taking a "virtual tour" of my life here... or at least of my piso... I thought I'd post a few pictures of my humble abode. There are a few little quirky things that do not function that I love to bug my roomies about that I will affectionately describe throughout the tour.

To begin... here is a little photo of what you see when you first walk in... this is the foyer. Now, up until about a week ago, it was full of junk (old clothes, small pieces of furniture, etc) to be donated/thrown away that had litterally been sitting there for at least four months... waaaay before I got here. I've been absolutely itching to clean it up, and it had taken every ounce of will power not to just throw it all out myself. I finally succeeded in nagging Mari until she got me the number of the donation center, and I called them to come pick it all up. Then I threw everything else out, hid whatever else she wanted to keep, and then cleaned. She flipped out and said that it has never looked this good and clean in the four years she's lived in this apartment. All of the visitors we have now comment on it. And to think Mari told me that most Spanish people think Americans are dirty. Ha.

Now, walking down the little hallway in the foyer, my room and my little half-bath (with non-functioning toilet - unless you want to dump a pail of water down after usage) are through that little doorway off to the left. Oh, and in my room, the window doesn't completely close, which should be fun as it continues to get a little colder in Andalucia. :)

Then, once fully in the little foyer, the little kitchen is off to the right as well. As I've mentioned, much of our little piso is not completely functional. The kitchen light doesn't work, so we have this lovely lamp in the corner whose lampshade I secured on with my fully functional American duct tape. We have an adorable little fridge with our own shelves, a gas stove which scares me each time I light it myself with a ligher! a microwave, and a microwave oven. I now handwash everything (oooh). And in the unpictured laundry room, our washer only opens with the help of a kitchen knife.

Then, you enter our little dining room/living room which has a little balcony with a precious view and our little racks on which we dry our laundry. In the living room, the cable jack in the back of the television does not hold the cable cord itself well, and it's constantly going out. We use half of a clothes pin to help hold it in. We always have our little computers going with the little wireless hookup or the ethernet cord. People joke that it's like a "locutorio" in our house as we all sit on the couch, listen to music, and read email. We often ghetto-rig up my computer (the only one that plays dvds) to watch downloaded movies that won't play on our dvd player.

Then, off to the left between the dining half and the living half of the "salón" is the where the full bath is located. Our lovely bathroom has wonderfully hot water, but if you don't hold onto the European style moveable faucet when you turn the water off, it WILL fall on your head. (A trick it took me far too long and a few too many bumps on the head to learn.) Also, because Spainards are uber-concerned with conservation, Mari has us make sure to press the flusher twice to ensure that the least amount of water is used.

Then Mari's room is off to the right of the bathroom, and Sylvia's to the left. We all have tiny little beds, but you would be surprised the amount of visitors we have coming through this apartment to spend the night on the weekends, either on our futon in the living room or on the floor in their rooms or wherever!

I am wonderfully blessed by this preciously imperfect piso and furthermore by the two angels that live in these fabulously lived in rooms. I don't know where I'd be without them.