A little more about where I live
So, I know I've included little descriptions of where I'm staying at, and I decided it was time for a more comprehensive description.
I'm staying in a private residence. I describe it as a pension. Because I've frequently been asked what a pension is, by several of my friends: according to Merriam Webster online, a pension is "a hotel or boarding house, especially in Europe." While I am not in Europe, where I'm staying can be considered a boarding house, as most people are staying here for a longish-term stay.
With that out of the way, the residence is in the middle of downtown, near the Congresso. Congresso appears to be considered the middle of town. The neighborhood is noisy and somewhat dirty, but is very convenient. In the midst of all this sits the residence. A little unassuming door on the street takes you up a long marble staircase. It is then that you arrive at the main floor. Here, there are several of the rooms, including the living room I hook my laptop up to the family's dsl; the kitchen; an outdoor patio with a little garden and a couple bathrooms. At the end of the patio is the kitchen, and outside the kitchen there is a table that everyone congregates at throughout the day. There is also a long table in the kitchen, but fewer people fit in there, so everyone tends to sit outside unless it is raining or cold. In the corner of the patio is a hammock.
At the far end of the patio is another, tiny, staircase of cement, and that leads up to the roof. A German fellow and I have rooms on the roof, and I have a little bathroom immediately next to my room. There is also a little kitchen up next to my room, although it is covered in stuff and is not in a usable state. At the middle of the roof, there is another common table next to the parillo (bbq), and then there is the space where the family who runs this residence lives. Note that their parillo is much larger than any I've seen in the US -- Argentinians take their parillos very seriously. There was a parillo here last week, and the meat was amazing.
My room is dominated by my bed, but I am happy for the luxury. My room has an eastern-facing window, and I wake up when the sun comes up (much to my chagrin, some mornings). I also have a slanted ceiling, made of wood and with partially exposed beams. The rooms on the main floor appear much more spacious, as their ceilings are at least 20 feet high. One room even has a little loft area in it. The ceilings are exposed brick, with strips of metal bracing. While my room has a 'normal'-style door (by American standards), the doors of the main floor rooms are narrow, in the European style.
All of the keys are skeleton keys, which I think is pretty cool.
The space on the roof is still somewhat under construction. The residence of the family is very much under construction/renovation. I believe my room was that of the son, as I have a tv and mini stereo in my room, and noone else does. There is also some specialty lighting, that matches some lighting in the room I'm sitting in, and it's is some lighting fixtures that the son brought back from Germany. I also am the only resident with a double bed -- everyone else has a single and is jealous when they hear about the extra space I lucked in to. I don't watch tv (aside from that month with my roommate) and have only turned on my tv to watch part of the last Presidential debate, and last night to see if I could watch game 7 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees. On over 50 channels (they have cable), I found four, FOUR soccer games, but no coverage of the baseball game. Where is ESPN when you need it?? Argentinians just don't follow baseball. Everyone last night was surprised by my excitement over the game, and how much I know about baseball. I was an avid fan of baseball, and watch every Mariners game for two years, while I was in college. But, I digress.
The family has a little dog named Lucas, who is about 18 years old. He is a small dog (I have no idea which breed, but I suspect a mix), with cataracts forming in his eyes. He has little time for anyone other than the son or the grandfather. In fact, he will go running after where he believes his grandfather is, with much expectation and adoration. He will let you scratch his ears, sometimes, but he will rarely walk up to you on his own.
There is also a little turtle named Damien, who is about 37 years old. I didn't know turtles could live so long. I also didn't know there was a turtle here until this past weekend. I've seen it once or twice since then, and it explains why there is sometimes a saucer of watermelon on the patio, by one of the walls.
So, this is where I live.
I'm staying in a private residence. I describe it as a pension. Because I've frequently been asked what a pension is, by several of my friends: according to Merriam Webster online, a pension is "a hotel or boarding house, especially in Europe." While I am not in Europe, where I'm staying can be considered a boarding house, as most people are staying here for a longish-term stay.
With that out of the way, the residence is in the middle of downtown, near the Congresso. Congresso appears to be considered the middle of town. The neighborhood is noisy and somewhat dirty, but is very convenient. In the midst of all this sits the residence. A little unassuming door on the street takes you up a long marble staircase. It is then that you arrive at the main floor. Here, there are several of the rooms, including the living room I hook my laptop up to the family's dsl; the kitchen; an outdoor patio with a little garden and a couple bathrooms. At the end of the patio is the kitchen, and outside the kitchen there is a table that everyone congregates at throughout the day. There is also a long table in the kitchen, but fewer people fit in there, so everyone tends to sit outside unless it is raining or cold. In the corner of the patio is a hammock.
At the far end of the patio is another, tiny, staircase of cement, and that leads up to the roof. A German fellow and I have rooms on the roof, and I have a little bathroom immediately next to my room. There is also a little kitchen up next to my room, although it is covered in stuff and is not in a usable state. At the middle of the roof, there is another common table next to the parillo (bbq), and then there is the space where the family who runs this residence lives. Note that their parillo is much larger than any I've seen in the US -- Argentinians take their parillos very seriously. There was a parillo here last week, and the meat was amazing.
My room is dominated by my bed, but I am happy for the luxury. My room has an eastern-facing window, and I wake up when the sun comes up (much to my chagrin, some mornings). I also have a slanted ceiling, made of wood and with partially exposed beams. The rooms on the main floor appear much more spacious, as their ceilings are at least 20 feet high. One room even has a little loft area in it. The ceilings are exposed brick, with strips of metal bracing. While my room has a 'normal'-style door (by American standards), the doors of the main floor rooms are narrow, in the European style.
All of the keys are skeleton keys, which I think is pretty cool.
The space on the roof is still somewhat under construction. The residence of the family is very much under construction/renovation. I believe my room was that of the son, as I have a tv and mini stereo in my room, and noone else does. There is also some specialty lighting, that matches some lighting in the room I'm sitting in, and it's is some lighting fixtures that the son brought back from Germany. I also am the only resident with a double bed -- everyone else has a single and is jealous when they hear about the extra space I lucked in to. I don't watch tv (aside from that month with my roommate) and have only turned on my tv to watch part of the last Presidential debate, and last night to see if I could watch game 7 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees. On over 50 channels (they have cable), I found four, FOUR soccer games, but no coverage of the baseball game. Where is ESPN when you need it?? Argentinians just don't follow baseball. Everyone last night was surprised by my excitement over the game, and how much I know about baseball. I was an avid fan of baseball, and watch every Mariners game for two years, while I was in college. But, I digress.
The family has a little dog named Lucas, who is about 18 years old. He is a small dog (I have no idea which breed, but I suspect a mix), with cataracts forming in his eyes. He has little time for anyone other than the son or the grandfather. In fact, he will go running after where he believes his grandfather is, with much expectation and adoration. He will let you scratch his ears, sometimes, but he will rarely walk up to you on his own.
There is also a little turtle named Damien, who is about 37 years old. I didn't know turtles could live so long. I also didn't know there was a turtle here until this past weekend. I've seen it once or twice since then, and it explains why there is sometimes a saucer of watermelon on the patio, by one of the walls.
So, this is where I live.
posted by Shana @ 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
At 4:50 PM,
Rachel Rutherford said…
Great description. I especially love -- well, all of it. From the exposed beams and slanty ceiling, right down to the watermelon for the turtle. Keep these writeups coming, I love visualizing what it would be like to stay there. And, I echo the other commenters -- pix! pix! Adios por ahora. --raquel
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