Update from BCN - The Key Story
Alright, first off, sorry for the lack of posts.
The apartment I am currently in is very, very nice. The only thing it lacks is an internet connection, so the time to write an post properly has been minimal. I’m actually writing this post offline at night, and will post once I get to work. I’m moving to my permanent place on Sunday, and word is it has WiFi...thank God.
So far, everything has been great...minus day 2 of the job, which was made less than perfect by what I like to consider an unusual lapse in my judgement.
You see, I managed to lock my keys in my apartment after my first day of work. I know, kinda dumb, but as an American I figured it wasn’t a huge deal.
Turns out it was.
My current apartment has a door that is very possibly 400 years old, and a lock to match, as it is about 6 inches long and looks like something that would open a treasure chest, not a residence. I guess it matches the apartment building, which was likely built in the 1400s or 1500s...which is very cool. What is not cool is when you close the door it locks, and without the key, or in my case with the wrong key (grabbed my office keys on accident), you are locked out.
Now being locked out is not such a huge deal in the States, but it turns out in Barcelona, with a 400 year old door, it is.
The owner of the apartment, with the spare key, was in Cairo (yes, Egypt), because he is a pilot, and no one knew of another spare key.
Luckily, a co-worker who made the living arrangement lives 3 doors down from me, so I was able to go to her flat and ask for help. When I explained the situation I learned the following:
- Locksmiths in BCN charge between 300 to 400 Euros for a job like this (that’s like 40 billion US dollars at the current exchange rate)
- Jumping from the level above to the balcony of my apartment was almost guaranteed to kill me
- Lowering a small child on a rope through the window was out of the questions The previous owner of the flat, who lived on the edge of the city, had an extra key (Hooray)
The only issue was that the person with the key would only be able to hand it off in the morning, so I would have to sleep at the coworker’s flat (which was actually a really neat place), and I would have to spend the fist half of my second day of work wearing the clothes I wore the day before (so not cool, especially when you are meeting with 4 people from Google Madrid). Also, jet lag kicked my ass, so I got somewhere around 3 or 4 hours of sleep that night.
In the end, things worked out. Franscec, my hero, was able to go pick up the key and get it to me by lunch time (2 o’clock), so I could at least get changed to go look at my new apartment.
That night, I got a great night’s sleep and had a fantastic third day of work.
Now let’s just hope I can keep my shit together going forward, eh?
Comments
Jeez-o-Pete, man! Apartment adventures aside, I'm glad to hear things are going well. I'm quite confident you rocked your meeting, even in day-old clothes. Isn't that the European thing to do anyway? :)
Posted by: Megan | May 29, 2008 07:11 AM
Good job you, nothing like starting it off right. I'm hoping that it's going better for ya now...Say hi to Spain for me.
Posted by: Cassie | May 29, 2008 08:00 AM
Thanks for the update. Stella is also keeping us up to date and we got your voice message yesterday, so we are happy campers. Glad things are going well. Now if we could just come up with a song for Stella and Niel to dance to. I'd like a waltz.
Posted by: Mini Freak | May 29, 2008 12:17 PM
Hey Jimbo
I had a similar experience in the CZ. Was working on Sunday in a 10th century building with a giant key. As I came out of the building and was locking the door, the KGB arrested me and threw me in the drunk tank. Seems nobody works on Sunday so they thought I must be a robber. Anyway, after many hours got somebody to look at my passport with a diplomatic stamp and was ejected from the drunk tank and jail wth much bowing and scrapping.
Its all part of the fun of working in the old world.
Love,
GP
Posted by: Anonymous | May 29, 2008 05:20 PM
Please post a picture of the lock and key. Gotta see it!
Posted by: Mini Freak | May 29, 2008 06:48 PM