Apartment Hunting

In general, looking for an apartment is quite challenging in Madrid. Why?
- The price is great but the quality and location sucks.
- The price and quality is great, but the location is horrible
- The price is as expected per the quality and location but the landlords are odd.

Depending on the landlord, the negotiation process can be quite extensive as well. Here is an example from our most recent search:

We found an apartment that is about 40 years old, on the 6th floor (more natural sunlight and less neighbors in front of you), has a terrace, is about 1000 sq ft. The price is extremely good, as long as there are some upgrades in the kitchen. The landlords are the owners and used to live in the house for 20+ years. Most of the rental market in Madrid includes furnished apartments, and these landlords had every intention of completely furnishing the house. We already have our own furniture, so we had to negotiate this with them. Here are the discussions we have had with regards to renting the apartment, in chronological order:

July 13: First time seeing the flat (doorman lets us in).

July 18: Meet the landlords at the house for the 1st time. (2 HRS)
1. Explain that we would be interested if they at least got a new stove. Kitchen was a bit scary.
2. Lots of chit chat so that they feel comfortable with us as potential tenants.

July 22: Filed paperwork with the prop management agency - We're approved!

July 24: 2nd meeting at the apartment with the landlords at the flat. (1HR) Agreed that:
1. they would work on the kitchen (which they decided to remodel!!!!)
2. they would only purchase 2 armoires, 1 twin size bed (they wanted to buy more)
3. we would call them on Aug 16th to see the progress. Target move-in date = Oct 1st.

Aug 17: We call them and they are still on vacation outside of Madrid. The furniture is in the apartment, but the kitchen floor was just finished and the rest of it is still in progress. We agree:
1. we will call them on Sept 1st when they are back in Madrid.
2. we each gave our word to the October 1st date.

Sep 1: We call them, no answer. 3 days of back and forth.
Sep 3: Their "For Rent" signs are taken down. Thank God!

Sep 9: 3rd meeting at the apartment. (1.5 HRS)
1. Kitchen - only the floors are finished. Design plan looks good.
2. Furniture is in place and looks good. They even got a diningroom table w/chairs
3. There was water damage in the main bedroom. They claim there was some work being done on the roof and that it was going to be taken care of. We hope so.

Sep 15: Time to call the landlords to find out if the kitchen has been remodeled so we can sign the contract. They do not want to sign until the kitchen has been finished, because otherwise they have not fulfilled on their side.

And we are 2 weeks away from October 1st...the original target!

El Rastro

I finally went to "El Rastro" today, which is a big outdoor fleamarket every Sunday in Madrid. There are thousands of booths with people selling hippie-like or Moroccan clothing, jewelry, lampshades, etc. Of course you can find a bunch of touristic items too, and in general much of the items there are of lower quality but you can get some good deals on pashmina scarfs and purses. You have to be very careful in this area as you are squished among the crowd to look at the different sales booths -- professional thiefs are looking for the right opportunity. Since I don't have any money, I'm pretty safe!

"Sara Bush"

I'm convinced that one of the best ways to get to know a city and its people is by checking out the hospitals. Unfortunately I've been to quite a few here in Madrid. I think my body is confused as to why I'm in a big city with real weather (4 seasons!). In any case, there is a bright side of these visits. I get to know different neighborhoods of Madrid as I walk all over the place to find these clinics and I now understand the private healthcare system in Spain.

But the best thing is you get insight into the culture as well. I notice that couples are together, young and old, supporting one another for doctors appointments. I have seen entire families waiting with their grandmother/mother/sister in urgent care, knowing that they could be there for hours. I'm sure many of them took the day off work to be there with their loved ones. And I noticed this for patients who didn't necessarily seem to have a life-threatening issue when they were in urgent care - they probably were in pain enough to not wait for an appointment a week later. In any case, the sense of "family" is strong and endearing.

Now that I have you in tears, let me share with you a completely surreal experience I had today. I went to urgent care today (because there aren't openings for an appointment for another week) because my wrist has been bothering me. Anyway, here is what happened:

1. They call me via intercom: "sara yunay ledifora to room 4, sara june ledenega to room 4"
2. I enter the room and see 2 doctors eagerly awaiting me to find out where I'm from (due to the weird name)
3. I explain that I'm American. More smiles and the other doctor now leaves, so it's just me and "my" doctor.
4. "Sara Bush!" he says with a stupid smile like he just made the most brilliant joke in the whole world.
5. I give him my xrays of the wrist and explain everything and he just wants to talk about Bush and anything American. He tells me he spoke rather good English at some time, which I totally believe considering how much he BUTCHERED my name.

Sara Bush. If I only could use my left hand/wrist, I would have put it to good use.