update

hi everyone,

i know it's been a while since i updated. most of you know, i think, that it's because i've been a little preoccupied lately with looking for a new apartment.

basically i came back from my christmas break at home all re-energized and ready to make sort of a fresh start here in palermo. and then within a week i found myself feeling strangely low, totally discouraged. and it took me a bit to realize that it was because of my housing situation.

i mentioned here earlier that before the holidays we'd had a couple of disagreements. but ever since i got back it's been pretty unpleasant. i've made such an effort to appease them... for example, i basically haven't used my space heater in the two and a half weeks i've been back, even if it means i'm forced to huddle up in my bed with three pairs of socks on anytime i'm in my apartment. (forget your sunny visions of southern italy, winter is SO cold here!)

i'm not used to having outright conflicts with people. in fact, this one's kind off caught me off guard, i don't even know how to respond to it. but anyway, i've decided that it's probably best that i move. it's just not worth it to have to deal with roommate tensions after all the stress of being at school all day, planning lessons, dealing with rowdy kids, the last thing i need is to come home to more stress. to an environment where i'm constantly walking on eggshells around my roommates.

and if this were my real life, so to speak, if i were here for the next three or four or five years, i'd probably look at it differently. but i've only got six months left before my official grant period is over (though i may in italy awhile longer), and i want them to be the best six months (or more) they can possibly be. this is a rare opportunity for me; as much as i'd like to, i don't know if i'll ever have the opportunity to live abroad for an extended period again. so i want to make the most of it. if i think i could be happier with a comfier home atmosphere and friendlier roommates, shouldn't i go for it?

last friday morning, alessia blew up at me for something silly that i don't even recall, and i started thinking, maybe i should look for other places. and by saturday, i told my friend italo and we found a bunch of listings, and by monday we'd seen like four places. it just sort of evolved on its own. only that none of them was quite right. well, one of them was great, but a polish girl had been by to see it just before me and they gave her first dibs, and she ended up taking it. as for the others... one was great except it had no internet, another had a slightly overbearing landlady, another had one too many girls (plus live-in boyfriends) sharing one bathroom. i feel a bit like goldilocks, except i'm still looking for the one that's just right. i figure if i'm going to go through all the trouble of moving, it should be for a place that's going to be a significant improvement. which means a washing machine, for sure. and preferably heating.

combing through apartment listings is a pain, and really time-consuming. for every 50 announcements i look at, there'll be maybe 2 or 3 that meet my requirements, and by the time i call, i find out that the room's already been taken, or that the landlord wants a yearlong commitment, or is weirded out by the fact that i'm foreign (just my supposition, not that they've ever actually told me that).

so that's been sucking up a lot of my time, time that i'd rather be spending working on lessons. though if i find something better than this place, i suppose it'll be worth it. by now i don't care what kind of toads i live with, so long as there's a washing machine. washing clothes by hand is officially my least favorite chore of all time...

okay, well this was meant to be a couple of sentences but clearly i'm incapable of writing brief blog posts! so much for not getting into it. anyway, i'll let you know how it all works out.

buonanotte!