I’m officially in the little town of Albatera as of last night. A 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment on the 2nd floor of an orange like building….I saw one apartment on the other side of town a few days ago with no AC but it had a balcony, a view and decent furniture…. I liked it but was feeling pressured to see a 2nd one in a few days that the owner said was larger and closer to the school… My first mistake. The clock was ticking and low and behold I couldn’t see it till the night before I started at the school…. and the day before my famous Padron appointment when I needed a lease in my hand…a recipe for disaster…

Fast forward to hell, I agreed to the 2nd apartment…. So the apt I have is hot as hades. No AC. Not the best place. I agreed as I was tired, worn out, and desperate, as I started school today. I’m a 5 min walk to school but the apt is west facing, and with no AC… did I say that already? And the sun cooks the place like an oven…… I’m ready to die.

The owner said he would split putting in AC when I decided to rent it, but it’s too expensive as it’s an old ass building and God knows what would happen if they open the walls. So I’m looking to buy some kind of portable unit as they don’t have window units here. (As windows are sliders, nor do they even sell such a thing…) or a split unit (they look like a box mounted to a wall)  which is about $500. So while Jorge is here I have to go to the AC store to translate how to install one. That’s right the “AC store” that sells and installs AC units as well as stoves and rice cookers, and cell phones too… how about that…

Anyway, the owner oked it but it’s my cost. The apt also has nothing in it but some stark furniture and nothing in the kitchen. So those empty counters were not from being clean and clutter free. It had nothing… no pots or pans or a lone spoon….Something I missed as all the other apartments I looked for had fully furnished kitchens… so I failed to ask if this one had that as well…another error in judgment. And to add more to the story the cover on the beds was only a cover… over bare mattresses. No sheets, and of course you know where this is going….So at 6 pm we went to the dollar store 3x buying some dishes, knives, forks etc. We slept on the bare mattress the first night as no sheets or towels either…and with the heat, it was brutal. All on the night before I was to be at the school for my first day. I’m exhausted, crusty and irritated. I’m really aggravated at the place as on top of the no AC issues there’s more…. its in poor shape with no balcony, but it has a roof patio.. with a drain that well smells like the sewer, which was not smelly when we saw it but it does now…….And when you come in the building door from the outside.. its all granite floors and walls but apparently sewer smell is prominent there as well… I don’t think the building has any ventilation…. Yea, nice to come home to that….. and I haven’t even reached my own door…which interestingly has no number on the door…like how would anyone find me? because they shouldn’t its not a place to have visitors… If my mother were alive she,d say already the feng shui is bad….bad entry means bad mood…

Poor Jorge he will break up with me over this I’m sure as I’m still brewing a foul mood like the entrance to this place. I think my attitude of prissiness’ will get to him at some point, or the fact he will never get laid if my mood stays this bad.

My apt is also over a British tiny bar, all English speaking older adults playing Stars Wars music and playing  some kind of trivia two flights below my window. Fortunately they end by 11. But they are having a better time than me at the moment…I’m glad someone is. My building also has a big grocery store on ground level also 10 feet from my entrance. Not a bad thing, but not the most important either. I was also told I can’t get delivery here from  Amazon unless I’m here to answer and buzz the person in. But the door buzzer doesn’t work so no way I would know anyone was there anyway. Among that, there’s a bunch of other poop  in the apt that’s messed up. At least that I know of, but I haven’t tested the bidet yet, I’m afraid it will shoot up where it doesn’t belong or something else… But the shower does have hot water, however I’m only taking cold showers for obvious reasons; the heat amd my temper . Speaking of bathing I some how also accepted the fact the aprt has a half tub in one bathroom. Ok… so a hot bath is sitting with my ass in and my legs and feet sticking up in the air will have to suffice…Funny way to start yoga…

The furniture is well… Less than what you find at IKEA and it smells’ of being empty a long time…but I figured that’s ok… its an old building and so what, that shouldn’t stop me…But I got pissy when I sat on the little couches in the living room and they sank to the floor….which I did not do when we saw the apartment either…. I called the owner (actually Jorge did since I couldn’t speak Spanish)and asked to have the couches removed and Ide calculate buying some cheap couches elsewhere. So much for a budget… things are adding up by the second… The owner called and came back and hour later to get them and brought another Ikea type set immediately thank goodness. That was helpful as I was getting close to crying…I think he was desperate to rent this place and because of a HUGE communication breakdown Jorge did not realize I wanted another apartment and questioned this one. But I took it as he and the lady showing it said it was bigger and better and I was as under the gun as my Padrón appt was the next day, and I had to have a lease that night.

I thought I could handle the furniture and no appliances and missing sheet issues….But he’s a guy and thought no AC, a smelly sewer line and butt ugly with fixtures ready to fall apart was not a big deal…. but it sucks as I’m not managing  as well as Ide hoped. Sometimes when your exhausted it only takes the little shit to take you over the top…. and when I had to dry off via air only spread eagled on a bare mattress….no amount of alcohol would bring me back to smiley chif…and on top of it, turns out the mattress sinks as its just a foam thing you could lift with one hand….of course it has no support… and well I woke up with a back ache, sweating and ready to give up…adding buy mattress to my laundry list growing by the 2nd..I think Feng shui wise I allowed my self to take a bad mood place…cause that will be me for a long while till I get some AC and towels….

I want to kick myself a million times for not standing up and saying I had reservations about the place, as I agreed to everything I didn’t want… well its my fault….. and I will suffer for my weakness… I’m not a snob, I don’t need fancy, but the sewer smell and foam mattresses killing my back are not good for anyone and now I will have to make due until I can get out of the lease……So I say to my friends and family, If you visit me, get a hotel. I’m in hell. But there are no hotels in the town fyi..so note to self, never make decisions under the gun…