And we move again

No panic here, it is more local move, but I have something to tell you

Hola, dear reader,

The time has come for us to move again.

"What the hell?" you might scream. I scream it too, trust me.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve spent almost a year in the most luxurious apartment I’ve ever lived in. We could only afford it through co-renting; we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. I have to say, read on with a certain sense of humor, okay? I’m aware this is a huge privilege and we’ve been fortunate to carve out this life for ourselves, but I’m also not ignoring the challenges we’ve faced.

From the absurdity of living in a three-floor apartment with an elevator inside, three huge balconies, a sea view, two swimming pools, and almost no neighbors, we’re moving into much more modest living conditions. Honestly, it makes me happy, and let me explain why. Also, there will be a house tour—I filmed it, but I’ll work on it later as the packing dread is at my door. I’m also filming a moving vlog. I’m on fire on YouTube, by the way, so check it out if you’re not subscribed. I’m a month into a weekly posting schedule, and I love it.

I’m looking forward to the move, even though I feel a bittersweet sadness about leaving this apartment. I will miss the sound of the sea even more than the view because the whisper of the waves is something I hear whenever I work at my desk or read on the sofa. Science says these monotonous sounds calm humans down.

A pinch of salt was added a few weeks ago, though. Now we have three simultaneous repair projects at the property, so I mostly have to keep the doors closed, which blocks out the sound of the waves, along with the cursed noise of renovation work.

While we enjoyed the sea view and solitude here, we absolutely didn’t love the fact that the closest grocery store is a 40-minute walk away. As much as I love walking, it’s not fun to drag bags up a hill. We bought bicycles to make grocery shopping easier, but it’s still a 1.5-hour quest for day-to-day food. The train station is a 25-minute walk, the school bus stop is 35 minutes, and any café, bar, or shop is at least a 30-minute walk. We don’t have a car, and before we get one, we need to spend time and money to reissue my driver’s license here, and my partner needs to get a license from scratch. Not to mention, buying and maintaining a car is expensive.

We also co-rent, which is intense mental work. We’re four adults, one 8-year-old kid (ours), and a dog (ours). You might scoff and say that this amount of life would easily get lost in such a big apartment. Yes, the size helped, I won’t lie. But when two families try to merge their household habits and lifestyles, it’s not always smooth. I shared, and I learned a lot. Our main tip and life hack: we weren’t just four adults, but eight, as each of us used regular therapy to navigate the complexities of life.

I still think we gained more than we lost with this co-renting decision. We supported each other, shared tasks, and lived with really cool people. Natasha is a wonderfully talented musician and sound producer, and Sasha is an Agile coach and scrum master (just like my partner). He’s also full of the weirdest ideas and has an endless amount of strange humor and stories. We’re all nerds and gamers (my son included), so our life was, and is, far from boring.

Speaking of more people, we’re sociable and I dare say we have some friends. We love hosting, and we often had guests—sometimes one, rarely two, since we had a guest bedroom/study and a sofa in the living room. But one recent realization is that I’m a bit tired of hosting. As much as I love everyone who stayed with us (if you were my guest over the last year and are reading this, I love you, don’t take it personally!), I always mismanaged my resources. Tasks piled up while I spent time with guests, and after they left, I would usually be buried under a huge to-do list when what I really needed was some time for solitude and calm. Of course, I couldn’t just ignore my co-renters’ friends either, because they’re also cool people. Conclusion: two households in one spend double the energy when guests visit.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful; my main goal is to give you the full picture.

Of course, we enjoyed the perks of the apartment—the proximity to the sea, the gym, the huge plasma TV, and the smell of pines mixed with salty air. I mean, how dreamy is it to have a secluded beach as your almost-private backyard?

But let me tell you about our new housing situation.

Our new apartment will be in town, just a 15-minute walk from the beach. The closest big grocery store will be a 5-minute walk, the weekly veggie market will be 10 minutes, the school bus stop 7 minutes, and the train station 10 minutes. The library is 3 minutes away, and potential locations for dance, karate, or gym classes are all within 5 to 7 minutes. We even found a place where people play D&D, tabletop games, and Warhammer FB & 40K. Do you do the math? I hope to use the time to really rest and recharge.

I visited our new home yesterday to prepare for the move, and the first thing that happened was meeting our new neighbor, who’s the mother of my son’s classmate. She and her husband connected us with the landlady. I naturally wanted to talk to her, but alas, she only speaks Spanish. So, I hope this move will help my Spanish skills improve quickly. I really want to talk to people, join a sports class, and frequent the library.

Since our new place is a common, one-floor apartment with no stairs, it’ll be easier to maintain. Hopefully, our dog will be less nervous, as she tends to bark (bork, bork) when she hears sounds from downstairs that she can’t decipher. Also, stairs aren’t great for dogs, especially older ones, and our lady turns 10 in a couple of weeks.

Room-wise, this new apartment is actually more comfortable than the current one. I’m thrilled to finally have my own room with an actual door for my studio and study. I want to scream when I think about it, I will talk about it more, be sure! Throughout my art journey, I’ve had, at best, a corner in the living room to work on my art. Now, it will be a separate room. My partner will also get an office, and we’ll still have two bedrooms for sleeping. I’m really looking forward to this new chapter of our lives. I’m a bit worried about the noise from neighbors and traffic - general urban sounds, as I’ve gotten used to secluded environments, but we’ll see how it goes.

So, it’s time to end this long and overdue letter.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to hear from you.

V.

PS: there is no “curiosity” section in this letter, because it is too long and I don’t want to overburden you, but I just red “Slow Productivity” by Cal Newport and I am obsessing over it. I think of writing more elaborate dispatch on it. Are we interested?