My house

After four weeks of searching around and sharing a dorm with 3 English guys, I finally moved to my own, single room. No more light suddenly switched on in the middle of the night, drunken roommates, unpacking my suitcase because clean clothes are always hidden between the dirty ones. It was nice for the first few weeks, but he last week was one week to much. My mates Lena and Helge travelled to Melbourne, Sergio found his own room, Cynthia went to Darwin, I was the only one left behind, but luckily it was only for a few days.

My little room is located in Glebe, one of the oldest suburbs of Sydney. It is old but renovated a few years ago. My little room has a huge window, making it nice and sunny inside all day, unfortunately I spend all day in my windowless office and it is dark before 6, but the idea is nice. My bed, which only fits in one corner, prevents the door from opening more than 35cm; the only way through it is sideways, and at least once a day I’m standing in my room, with my jacket and backpack, realizing I should have put them on after I left my room.

Besides that, it is a perfect room. Only 15 minutes to the university and the shopping centre, 20 minutes to Paddy’s market and 5 minutes to the harbor. The kitchen and living room are shared with 6 people, but the others spend all day in their own rooms, resulting in a private couch and television. Most of my time is spend in the kitchen; after 4 weeks of microwave-food it is nice to eat some proper food. Just behind my house there is a meat-supermarket and last Saturday the fridge was suddenly filled with meat.

One of the best things around here is Paddy’s market. The more I go there, the more I start to like it. Especially on Sunday after 5, just before the market closes. At all the stands they try to sell as much as possible. Vendors shout endless (now I know why it is called verdulera in Spanish…), not only praising their own food, but also making fools of the others. It gets so crowded that it takes ages to cross the market. But all this effort pays. At 5, little baskets are filled with fruit and vegetables, and sold for one dollar. Last Sunday I went there, with 5 dollars and an empty bag, half an hour later it was filled with 11 pears, 12 apples, 9 oranges, 19 mandarins and 3 melons. Enough fruit for the next couple of days and a nice exercise to carry it home.