A (semi) permanent home

Well I have moved into the building I will live in until December, but unfortunately not the final apartment.  There are two twin apartments and I had one rented for all of September.  However, it was booked by someone else in November so they gave me the choice of staying in 2A until November, then moving across the hall to 2B, or just moving across the hall as soon as the other tenant moved out (today).  I decided to move immediately and then I can FINALLY really unpack and settle a bit more.  Sadly the cleaner is sick, so I can't move today and have to wait until Monday.  I can't wait!

The apartments are very good and once I am in the final one I will post some pictures.  My favorite part is that they have underfloor heating, which is soooo cozy.  I guess I won't really need heating for the much longer, but it is really nice at the moment.  It's also exciting to have a couch again, since I have spent all of the last two weeks sitting on my bed to do everything.  And lastly there is really cute American-style pastry and coffee shop literally next door which could be quite dangerous!

Classes continue to go well and I am actually able to pick out a few words when I hear people talking on the street, which is a definite improvement.  Once you know what to listen for with the accent it does become a bit easier.  A new person joined our class this week, named Izumi.  She is Japanese, but married to a French guy, and they have been moved here, with their kids, for three years for his job.  Spanish will be her fourth language so it makes me feel quite lazy only really knowing one!  The good thing is that we are at similar levels and learn at the same pace, so we work well together in the class.

I actually socialized twice this week, which was very exciting!  On Thursday some of us from school met up at the apartment of some fellow students.  They are a couple from Norway (the girl) and Sweden (the guy) and conveniently they live around the corner from my new place.  It was really nice to go over to someone's house and have wine and snacks and hang out.  Then last night I went with another classmate named Harmony (hippie parents - her sister is named Sunshine) to a cool Irish pub type place in Palermo Soho and had some Quilmes beers and shared the largest bowl of patatas bravas I have ever encountered.

This week I also attempted to take a photo of the famous BsAs dog walkers, which I see on the walk to school.  Sadly it didn't come out very well, so I've found an example from someone who is a much better photographer than I am, on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/vtveen/404567170/)!  It is amazing how all the dogs walk together and are so well behaved.  Sadly the human owners aren't as well behaved as there is so much dog poo on the sidewalks - no one cleans up!!  There is literally some on every block so you really have to watch your step!