Pien'sVisit

In the middle of October Camille’s friend Pien was visiting from Holland. It was a treat to have another

girl in our group of foreigners. We visited several different coastal towns and made meals together and did a bit of shopping in San Sebastian. We took a dip in the Ocean while it rained in Mundaka, hiked a small mountain overlooking the sea in the light of the lighthouse in Getaria, merengue-ed to latin tunes with white wine, had pintxos in Zarautz on our way to San Sebastian, enjoyed a café in Gernika or “Guernica” which had no visible damage left, but looks quite similar to other towns in the Basque Country, and had some good laughs. I picked fresh figs at a house that Pien and Camille have been admiring. The group of foreigners here in the residence has dubbed themselves, myself included, the “O.N.U.” or Spanish abbreviation for the United Nations. They have become good friends and are quite entertaining. We tend to stick together as we are usually the only inhabitants on weekends in the residence.

I have wanted off and on to look at apartments because it is kind of funny to live in a dorm and kind of expensive on my current salary, but it has proved a challenge to find a place in Eibar. I called some phone numbers off of ads posted in the grocery store and on lightposts. Either rooms were already rented “occupados” or it was a creepy situation. I called an advertisement for a “chica” thinking it would be an apartment of female inhabitants… An older man with a raspy voice answered and my first thought was a doubt that I had dialed the correct number. I said that I was calling about the room advertised and he said, “yes” so I asked if it was open and it was. He explained some things about him not being in Eibar for the week, but the thing was, he asked, “Are you looking for yourself?” “Yes” “Are you a woman?” “Yes”, and then he responded as if he were in funkytown “Oh, good” but it wasn’t cool. Then he asked if I could call in a week and I just said, “yes” and goodbye. The next people I called were laughing as if drunk or high and told me that I could have a free room. “Why?” I asked, and she responded that is was because I was a foreigner. She said this in an elevated grammatical register so as to be more polite. I hung up.

I think I will stick to the family I have here in the residence rather than live with a creepy old man.