House-Less

I haven't written because we've been house-less.  Not homeless, to be sure, but still uncomfortable.  We're staying with some dear friends and enjoying one another's company, but we feel very unsettled.  Unsettled mentally and physically.  
Otto and I have been fighting more because we're stressed.  We almost broke up over something I can't recall right now.  Neither of us has space to work, and as if in cahoots with the demons my computer is also breaking down.

House hunting in Catalunya continues to be an adventure.  People are very bathroom-centric compared to the Americas, always wanting to show off their bidets or fancy sinks.

As I noted in my piece Toilets of Catalunya, online real estate listings always feature the bathroom prominently, often to the exclusion of any other room of the house.


Heating
In the US we generally think of Spain as at an equivalent level of 'development' in terms of everyday lifestyle.  Equivalent leaves a lot of room for variation.  Many many houses and apartments here lack central heating, and despite what you may have heard about the Mediterranean climate, it is in the 40s. 

Heater with butane tank

 It is COLD.  So you have to check and double-check that a house has heat.  I think Franco liked it cold.

Interior Bedroom

Interior Rooms 
 I'm not sure if US building codes require all inhabited rooms to have windows.  But in Spain, they don't.  So a 3-bedroom apartment may have 2 bedrooms with no windows whatsoever, and the third with a small window to an interior air-shaft.  We stayed one night in an interior bedroom in a hostel and I felt like I was going to suffocate.

Beautiful view of mountain with freeway in foreground

Message?  Nothing's perfect, we are used to being extremely comfortable in the US, and not having a stable home can ruin a relationship fast.