I wanted to take a moment to update everyone on my current situation, though do not worry as you read this because I am fine now. My first flat was a fail. As it turns out the guy who I rented from had no right to rent out the room. I found this out on the third day in the flat. Alex, the other guy who moved in the day after me, and I got a visit from the landlady. A very angry visit. She showed up at the door spouting off angry Spanish looking for Adrian, the guy who we rented from. She said she had been calling trying to reach him as he had been avoiding her, I assume he never paid his rent, and that she wanted to see him right away. Alex said that Adrian had left and that we were living there now. This did not help matters. She informed us that Adrian had no right to allow us to live there and that everything had to go through her, and that she had never received our money that we were told she had received. She said we could stay if we signed the lease with her and etc. After she left Alex and I talked, mainly about how stupid we felt for not having doubted that Adrian was anything less than honest. I saw no difference in the way he rented his room than how I rented rooms in Boise, my roommates almost never met their landlords, I was the middle man and took their money, gave them leases to sign and that was that. Alex said the same thing, there was nothing that made him feel like Adrian was going to be robbing us.
This brings us to Diego. Diego already lived in the flat and was roommates with Adrian. He was there when I went to look at the flat and knew that I was going to move in. On my second day he asked me for my deposit and half the month´s rent. I told him Adrian had it (Diego was gone over the weekend and I just assumed him and Adrian hadn´t met up yet) Diego said no problem, he went to call Adrian.
This problem would not be a real issue if I had decided that I wanted to stay in the flat. The landlady had said that I could and she knew Alex and I had been robbed equally as her. Not our fault. The problem is this, the flat turns out to be infested with fleas. Yeah. I don´t think I itched this much when I had the chicken pox. I thought that I got them from the hostel as that can easily happen, but when I woke up to new bites on my face yesterday I knew it was from my lovely new flat. Damn. I was lucky though, I also woke up to an email from Isabel.
Isabel is my new boss. She was welcoming me to Santiago and said she wanted to do whatever she could to help make my time in Spain perfect. I am sure she did not expect the email she got back. Last night she came and got me from my flat. She spoke to Diego and it went more or less like this:
-Hey, you rented this room illegally to Tiffany didn´t you?
-Excuse me? No...I mean we are going to do a lease switch with the landlady...
-The landlady came last night and was furious with you and Adrian, she didn´t know that you were doing this. How is that legal?
-Bueno...pues...nada....she needs to be smarter and realize that she was getting robbed by Adrian, I´m an honest guy and had nothing to do with it, Adrian robbed me too. He won´t answer his phone and I can´t the money from him.
It went like this for awhile, Diego was hurt that I was leaving and said that the reason I didn´t feel comfortable there was because I didn´t even try to be his friend and spent too much time in my room (I lived there 3 days and he was gone 2 of these days, the 3rd day I moved out...) I can´t know for sure whether or not Diego had anything to with this, but I am obviously not the only who needs to ´be smarter' as Diego said he was robbed too. And Alex was robbed. And the landlady. Adrian fooled us all and that´s that. Isabel said that situations like this have become more common since the crisis. People can´t pay thier rent and they do illegal transactions and disappear. She brought me to her home and I am staying here until I find a different place, tonight I am going to a flat of a girl that she knows.
Overall I am lucky that I have spent this much time abroad in my life, studying, traveling, living, and I have never been robbed. It was bound to happen eventually. And it definately could´ve been worse. I consider this a lesson learned. And I fully appreciate the miracle of hydrocortisone cream and a well timed email.
I will get this Spanish lifestyle down sooner or later.
This brings us to Diego. Diego already lived in the flat and was roommates with Adrian. He was there when I went to look at the flat and knew that I was going to move in. On my second day he asked me for my deposit and half the month´s rent. I told him Adrian had it (Diego was gone over the weekend and I just assumed him and Adrian hadn´t met up yet) Diego said no problem, he went to call Adrian.
This problem would not be a real issue if I had decided that I wanted to stay in the flat. The landlady had said that I could and she knew Alex and I had been robbed equally as her. Not our fault. The problem is this, the flat turns out to be infested with fleas. Yeah. I don´t think I itched this much when I had the chicken pox. I thought that I got them from the hostel as that can easily happen, but when I woke up to new bites on my face yesterday I knew it was from my lovely new flat. Damn. I was lucky though, I also woke up to an email from Isabel.
Isabel is my new boss. She was welcoming me to Santiago and said she wanted to do whatever she could to help make my time in Spain perfect. I am sure she did not expect the email she got back. Last night she came and got me from my flat. She spoke to Diego and it went more or less like this:
-Hey, you rented this room illegally to Tiffany didn´t you?
-Excuse me? No...I mean we are going to do a lease switch with the landlady...
-The landlady came last night and was furious with you and Adrian, she didn´t know that you were doing this. How is that legal?
-Bueno...pues...nada....she needs to be smarter and realize that she was getting robbed by Adrian, I´m an honest guy and had nothing to do with it, Adrian robbed me too. He won´t answer his phone and I can´t the money from him.
It went like this for awhile, Diego was hurt that I was leaving and said that the reason I didn´t feel comfortable there was because I didn´t even try to be his friend and spent too much time in my room (I lived there 3 days and he was gone 2 of these days, the 3rd day I moved out...) I can´t know for sure whether or not Diego had anything to with this, but I am obviously not the only who needs to ´be smarter' as Diego said he was robbed too. And Alex was robbed. And the landlady. Adrian fooled us all and that´s that. Isabel said that situations like this have become more common since the crisis. People can´t pay thier rent and they do illegal transactions and disappear. She brought me to her home and I am staying here until I find a different place, tonight I am going to a flat of a girl that she knows.
Overall I am lucky that I have spent this much time abroad in my life, studying, traveling, living, and I have never been robbed. It was bound to happen eventually. And it definately could´ve been worse. I consider this a lesson learned. And I fully appreciate the miracle of hydrocortisone cream and a well timed email.
I will get this Spanish lifestyle down sooner or later.
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