Paco´s Life: Madrid

Diplomatic Crisis

Hello fellas! This is Paco /Stockholm reporting again from the city of bikes. Many things to talk about in this post, most of them good but some others not so much.Let’s start with the second ones, we could say that the relations between the Spanish tenant and the Danish landlady suffered a serious crisis this week. Very complicated diplomatic conflict with almost ended up with me sleeping in Giorgos’s couch. I tell you, the apartment I got has a few not very nice weird things. The one I knew before I came was the attitude of the landlady concerning guests. She likes her apartment so much and she is so afraid it could get some damage that she does not want me to invite friends to sleep there, even if this would only be for a couple of nights. The funny thing is that this rule does not apply as long as the guest pays a fee of around 20 euros. It seems that this nice lady believes that paying guests do not break anything. Debatable at least….and she says she does not want to make profit out of this since I am paying the same rent she will be paying where she is going. If someone understand this please I would appreciate an explanation, from my point of view, and I am also a landlord, if I rent a room I have the right to invite whoever I want as long as the visit is limited to a few days and nothing gets broke. Or I may prohibit all kind of visits but in that case I don’t set a price like if my place was a hotel! Danish landlady 1 – Paco 0.

Anyway, this is something we had discussed by email before I came and I accepted. What really produced the crisis was all the stuff coming afterwards. To get here and find there was no shower was not exactly nice, I believe she should have told me about that but, anyway there is nothing she can do about that now. Danish landlady 2 – Paco 0. And now we get to the stuff which really got me pissed: the other way, when I was happily hanging around without my t-shirt in the apartment (Copenhagen is very hot now), she came to me and very seriously told me that I had to wear my t-shirt all the time in the apartment, specially when the door is open and neighbors can see inside. You may think Danish people is very conservative but the fact is that in the garden I have got next to the apartment entrance, these “shy” neighbors were sunbathing in bikini, yesterday there was even a woman doing top-less. It also happened that the other day when I got into the apartment, one of her daughters was hanging arround without her shirt, just with the bra. Of course I did not feel offended because of that… So… this issue started to make me feel rules were different for tenants but, since I am in a different country and trying to feel integrated, I just put my shirt on: Danish landlady 3 – paco 0. Next issue: after I few days here I was ready to comply with my housewife work and do my first Danish laundry. Did I already tell you that there is no shower in my apartment? The shower is with the washing machine in the basement. So I was about to use this washing machine when the landlady came to me and said nooooooo, we have discussed this between the neighbors and we decided tenants are not allowed to use the washing machine since we all paid for it and we are afraid someone can break it. You have to go to the public laundry at the end of the street… Oh! Nice detail from them, that’s what I call a warm welcome. This is when I started to get pissed… Danish landlady 4 – Paco 0

And the final thing which provoked the crisis, I had spent a couple of days with my computer on the living room, where the Internet connection is. Since by that time I had still not developed much my social life, I spent most of the Sunday there. Something that my dear Else did not like too much, she came to me saying that her daughters were feeling very uncomfortable having someone using a computer in the living room, that they felt her house invaded and they felt like staying in the room. Of course it is, remember!, now there is a person sharing with you! The living room, for those of you who may feel like justifying her point, is pretty big, with the computer in a corner. So I say, ok, the computer will be in my room as long as you are around but when you leave on the 15^th the apartment is mine and I will put my stuff wherever I want. Nooo, it happens to be that one of her daughters is going to use the room a couple of weekends and, of course, the poor girl can not come there and find that terrible screen in the living room… So, the conclusion I got is that, even when alone in the place, I was renting a room and not the whole apartment. That would be ok in some other cases but the truth is that I am paying 4000 krons!! Danish landlady 5 and Paco is definitely totally pissed off. Negotiations start: 1 hour arguing (in a civilized way), she does not give up anything, no chance of agreement and I finally take an impulsive decision: I am leaving the place, from the next day I will start looking for another flat.Mistake Paco!! Think before you act! To find a place in Copenhagen for only 2 months in August is kind of impossible!! I spent two days searching the web, trying to translate Danish posts and calling to people who tell me “sorry but there are already 10 people waiting to view the flat I advertised yesterday”. So I get to the conclusion that I have to stay where I am, when the Danish landlady leaves in 2 weeks I will do whatever I want, I will put my computer where I want, invite people and let’s see if I decide to use the washing machine… Of course, I will not damage the place, she should not worry about the that.

Unfortunately this decision happens at the same time my social life here starts to expand, I spent 2 days without almost showing up in the apartment, beers in parks, Wednesday night going out till very late… By the time I finally managed to talk to her again it happened to be that she already found another person for the apartment!! And of course, since she is Danish is does not matter she agreed with the other person in the morning and I am telling her that I stay in the afternoon, she does not like the idea of telling the other person that she is not finally renting the apartment to her. The possibility of ending up sleeping in the street is now pretty close. And now is when the real cold war starts, I tell her to tell the other person that the flat is not available anymore, I kind of indicate her that is going to be hard to kick me out of the apartment. In conclusion, I start to get ready for fortifying myself there, I have got provisions: 4 big bags of pipas, a handful of chorizos and 19 bottles of rums are my allies… She spends a couple of days trying to get me another room. She does not make it… raising tension that I try to reduce with happy faces and smiles, I fixed a problem in her computer, I allow the daughter to use my bike… Monday is set as negotiation deadline, that means today and aleluya!! We get an agreement. I just got a text from my dear Else, they have decided (apparently she and her daughters) that I stay in the apartment. I knew that allowing the daughter to use the bike would give me the points I needed… Great, no need to go to war, peaceful solution, I am no longer afraid of 4 big Danish guys showing up in the apartment to kick me out.I guess that, as it happens in any conflict, both parts are somehow right. I should not have acted so impulsively saying that I was leaving just to change my mind later but I think she pissed me off quite a lot and she could have been more flexible. I don’t know what your opinion about all this mess is…

I was intending to tell you about the positive things that, believe me, there was also quite a few this week, but after this big bunch of stuff I just wrote I will leave it for another post. I will just say that I love Copenhagen (even with its Danish landladys)!!

Copenhagen

Now is when I think this blog starts to make sense. From now on I will stop talking just about parties and I will start trying to provide some interesting or useful information about the places I am going to be. I believe this is the main utility of a blog, at least for me, it was very useful to read about Ivan (specially those posts named “Denmark, the great unknown”) and Leo experiences to get an idea about what I was going to find here. So I will try to give my personal view about this place for anyone who may be interested.

Let´s start then, I will try to make a summary of this first viking week. First impressions: driving from the ferry which brought me from Germany to Copenhagen. Danish people drive very carefully, they always respect the speed limit and, suprisingly, you must have your car lights on even during the day. So they are quite similar to british people in this. I arrived to the city and very quickly found my apartment thanks to a map I got from the first hotel I saw. Some of you already know this, my accommodation in Copenhage is going to be kind of peculiar. First 2 weeks I will be living with a Denmark woman and her daughters (one is 24 and the other 15), them the mother leaves and I live with the 24 years daugther for another 2 weeks. After that I will be alone in the apartment. The place is OK, 2 big rooms and a wide living room - kitchen, Internet connection, TV in my room, a very comfortable garden for doing barbecues and driking rum with the light of the candles but… there is no shower! Right folks, it is amazing that in this supposedly civilized country you find this. The shower is down in the basement, in a room with the washing machine and it is shared by all the people in the building, like a cheap youth hostel. Anyway, it will only be 2 months and a half and since the apartment is cute and well located I decided to accept the situation. You may be wondering how much this cost, well the figure is 4000 danish krons (arround 540 euros). I have been asking arround and is not too exagerated. The truth is that I did not want to complicate myself too much when I did the searching, I had heard Copenhagen was a very difficult place for finding accommodation and my dates were not too easy so I took it. I dont complain too much…

About the city, I like it very much, plently of parks where danish men and women are laying on the ground taking the sun, areas where you can even have a bath in the river… I even hanged arround in the alternative neibourghood: Christiana, kind of getho withouth law where people live independently, it is allowed to deal with soft drugas and the environment is quite peculiar. What suprised me about the place is that, althought there was many strange people arround, you dont have the feeling of been unsafe, is more like a hippie good vibrations place partially contaminated by the tourists. It is worthy to come over and have a look but you should not expect anything extraordinary. Anyway, I just arrived, there is still plenty too see..

I already got myself a bike which makes me feel a little bit danish. It is amazing how this city is prepared for this, most of the streets have bike lines, cyclists have the priority over cars (I almost killed a couple of them) and everywhere you can find places to park the bike. Whoever knows me a little knows that I am not exactly the best friend of the bike but wherever you go do what you see, so here I am, going everywhere with my bike. It was funny how I got it, it is said that there are 3 bikes per person in Copenhagen, I dont really know if this is 100% true. What happens then with the extra ones? Well, it seems that someone is in charge of controlling wheter a bike has been for a long time parked in the same place withouth anyone paying attention to it. When there are a few bikes in this situation they are grouped together and a piece of plastic is put in their wheels . That means that any non lucky guy like me lacking a bike can have a look to see if there is still something useful in the heap. Usually if people left them is cause they no longer work but oh suprise! yesterday I found a heap of these bycicles in my street and one of them was not locked and it worked. So I took it… However, later on in the afternoon, I found a better one in another heap. Unfortunately this one was locked.. no problem! I just took it home and spent 30 mins breaking the lock with a pliers. Conclussion: a greak bike in perfect condition for free

About the work, so far it looks very good. It seems that finally I will have something to do, in contrary to what happened in Cardiff, here I have a proper project well defined and plenty of people from who I can learn stuff. I still dont see how I can help them but it is sure that I will get a lot of material for that thesis I will write someday out of this. There is a very friendly greek guy in the department who also plays basketball. He is been living here for 4 years and the truth is that he does not look very happy. According to him, there is no way to deal with the danish guys and is even worse with women… Anyway, Iet’s wait to see how it goes, maybe I am more lucky.

Not much else happened this week appart from yesterday, when I met the current ICEX IT guy in Copenhage, a very friendly guy called Leo who took me for dinner to the cementery. Quiet plan for the night, we watched a movie in the place of an also very friendly finish girl who prepared delicious cocktails. Lot of good talking till late 3 and then I went home using my great new bike. Relax fellas, big parties coming soon…

Hit the Road Jack

And the ICEX training is finished, after the last speech offered by the unique Washington this unforgetable Madrid experience is over. It could have not been better, these weeks passed away really fast, with plenty of lectures, parties and a grat environment. I guess this is the same year after year but I can tell you, this one was enormous. Such a meeting of so nice people seems hard to find in the future. Anyway, the thing is that this period is over and now is time to move forward, Denmark is waitting there. Tomorrow is time to drive, 2500 km of solitude until Copenhagen to think about why I have chosen this way of living, always changing friends, keeping distance between my old friends, family, and that person that, after all, is still so important for me… The truth is that sometimes is fucking hard but dude, I think in the end is worthy or, at least, when I am in my thirties and comfortably settled down raising my kids, I would like to look back and remember all those places I lived in and all these people I met. Many times I say this is an issue about opportunity, this is the time for doing these things, is now or never. Which one is the alternative? Finish the degree, get a job and spend the whole life in Madrid? Well, there will be time for doing this, life is very long. If I had done this when I had the chance, I had never met all these people I found in Newcastle, Cardiff, Aachen, at the ICEX. I know that, in the end, I will only keep some of them but all those good moments will never go away. However, the truth is that now I fell sad and I dont pretend to drop all this sadness here but it pisses me off that I can´t have everything, I have to give up some things. Well, I guess you can never be 100% happy, specially in my case. Is it worthy? I dont know, 2500 km to think about it..