Flo and I are staying put

Flo and I had discussed the possibility of moving out of our flat and finding a rental. Having one bathroom in an apartment of 12 is a serious challenge. When we get home in the evening, all 12 of us want to shower. The other evening (when our hot water returned), I didn’t get to shower until 2:15 in the morning because I had to wait so long for the people before me to finish. That’s tough when you’ve worked a 16-hour day and need to get up at 7:30 the next morning.

But we are not moving. We love our flatmates already and too much. They are wonderful, warm and make our gross flat feel like a home. We stayed up for a couple hours last night talking in the kitchen, having an English/Spanish session with Wonder, Flo, Amir and Leandro. Wonder is trying so hard to speak English and he is tentative and nervous and always asks me how his pronunciation is (last night he wanted to learn “bad” words, so every time someone walked in the kitchen he said “Hey! A--hole!”). I don’t know if it’s a European thing or what, but our flatmates are incredibly tactile. For instance, Wonder holds my hand or puts his hand on my shoulder when he talks to me. Our flatmates like to be close to you and it has nothing whatsoever to do with any possible attraction (no one in our flat is romantically involved). At the end of our working day, there is a girl named Valentina, from Argentina, who grabs my face and kisses both of my cheeks with hard, deliberate and loud movements before we leave to go home. It’s sweet and very different from how we interact in the United States. It also takes a little getting used to.

Once we decided that we were in the flat for good, Arnoldo took us to the shopping mall to buy some things that make life a little bit easier in the flat, like a small stand to put our bathroom items on next to the sink. I bought a comforter and put it on top of the mattress but underneath the fitted sheet to make it softer and to protect myself from the protruding coils. It made a huge difference. We also rounded up a couple of additional blankets so that I don’t have to sleep in leggings, fleece pants and a running top anymore. It feels a little bit more civilized, even if I have to change in the bathroom or under my covers like I'm a 12-year gold girl at summer camp.

When it got down to it, we chose people over comfort. I think it will make all the difference in the next three months.