Don't take your eye off the pea.
Well, I said maybe I had gotten lucky, finding another place to live for $160 a month.
And I did.
And I was.
It was in a whole different part of town, not the center any more.
Up fairly high, and even though my new room was at ground level, I was higher up than my original, sixth-floor room.
Along with the view from the sixth-floor room, there was the rent, which, at $12 a day, came to roughly $360 per month, depending on how long any particular month was.
But let's say $360 per month. Which is more than $160 per month.
So I moved. Planning to save money while I continued to search for an apartment.
Problem 1: There were three rooms on that ground floor of the new place, and I got the one with water damage. Which wasn't a problem except for the wall-wide closet fronting the water damage. The closet had a strong moldy smell when opened. Which I didn't do before I decided to rent the place.
But I could have switched to the other empty room. Which brings us to...
Problem 2: I couldn't connect to the internet.
I don't know why, but I tried everything I could think of.
It wasn't enough.
If I went to the top of the stairs (fourth floor) I got a decent signal there, and only there. But the connection would drop every so often, and I couldn't sit on the stairs all day day either.
So I had to bag that.
Good News: I was able to get another room where I was staying before.
Bad News: Unlike the room I stayed in for two months, this one, though it has a window, that window doesn't open.
The room is on a hallway, so I can't leave the door open to get air. And I have to cross the "lobby" to get to the "bathroom". It isn't much of a lobby, but I'm right in front of everyone. And it isn't much of a bathroom either, though it's all I have.
Another room with private bath will be available at the end of the month at the latest. They say. So I'm only stuck for two weeks.
Lessee. Two days so far and I'm going nuts. I'm going nuts here. I tell ya I'm going nuts here.
Hello?
Other Good News: The internet connection in this room is a bunch better than when I was located behind the elevator and had fresh air and a private bathroom.
At least I can work day or night. Although it's hard holding my breath for that long. Send air if you can.
Funny Stuff: I was paying $12 a day for the other room, the one with the fresh air and bathroom.
Now, for $2 less a day, I have no air, no real privacy, and no bathroom. Two bucks, go figure. No towels either. And although they no longer come in to tidy up and sweep the place and force me to go hang out somewhere until they're done, they no longer come in to tidy up and sweep the place.
And continue to not provide me with towels. And the in-public-view bathroom has no soap, although there is toilet paper today.
I can be happy about that. And I am. Happy. I'll take what I can get.
So it looks like I'm pretty well stuck here until I can find an apartment or until I hang myself.
Without a decent internet connection I might as well not be here, so I'm not going to chance it again with another place unless I'm sure about it.
I should have checked, right? Ya, you betcha. But I didn't, so there.
A lot of the places offering temporary accommodations or more permanent lodging are pretty slipshod about the internet stuff. Even sitting in the room behind the elevator I got a good connection at least two thirds of the time. Which is kind of stellar compared to some places.
Not many people here understand internet. It's like a gringo thing, so who cares anyway?
Just say you have it and if not, suggest they have broken computers. Which seems to be a common tactic.
The only thing my two-day landlady could do for me was to tell me that she had a student there once who had no internet problems.
So, I guess, the implication was that I shouldn't have problems either. But that didn't help me too much, being the cranky bastard that I am and all. And my clothes now all smell of mold.
Too bad. You should have seen the place. It was nice. Really was.
The owner lived on the first floor, and the second and third floors were fine. Sweet. Solid and clean. Carpeted all over.
I couldn't have afforded one of those rooms anyway. And then there's the non-internet issue.
The ground floor, where I was, was basically steerage on the Titanic. There was an older guy there (older than even I am) in the other occupied room. Pretty decent guy. I got to talk to him only once and then I vanished. He's probably still wondering. He had no mold. Lucky, happy guy.
My room had an east window, which was OK when there were no morning clouds, but he had a south window, which offered more sun.
The third room had a north window facing a brick wall a close 10 feet off, and was always cold. Dark too. But it didn't stink.
Really a shame overall that it didn't work, but the whole adventure only cost me about $30.
I paid half a month ($80) for the new place (for two days, having promised to pay through the end of each month I was there, regardless). But I also saved two days' rent here, and am paying less for the second half of January in my new, tight, airless room, so the difference comes out to only $30, plus some running around, which isn't all bad.
So, no end in sight.
Wish you were here, etc.
Please send encouragement.
From paradise, this is me signing off.