Warning Label: This is not a finished, canonical version. However, I hope by posting it that I shall inspire myself to correct, and, where necessary, expand upon the text.
Allow me to describe my present accomodation: one longer room faces the street. I've not got buildings close to me, so there's a bit of a view. It's not claustrophobic. The window is new, recently put in. I can open it to get fresh air. The curtains covering it are typical flimsy, and, I suspect dusty, Communist-dorm-era curtains.
The other windows, facing a different direction, are sealed permanently shut and are rusty.
Together, all the windows produce enough light. No complaints there.
Alas, since the kitchen windows are permanently sealed, and there is no fan or source of fresh air, the kitchen smells. Or, it did when I first moved in. By now I am used to it.
The radiators are unpainted and rusty, dirty.
The two overhead lights are not naked lightbulbs, but have fixtures, which are dirty and contain insects and other dirt. They were not cleaned prior to my moving in.
There is an abundance of office furniture----two chairs, two office chairs, bookcases, a regular chair, and other items such as a low table which might be used if I had guests.
Both of the office chair are broken. The back doesn't stay in position. The wheels on the bottom are also non-functional. The wheels do not roll as they should. The third chair has a sort of cloth or carpet back that is worn out and looks hideous.
There are two simple beds, typical of commuist-era dorms. The management is obsessed with the idea that I have TWO beds. This is typical of the post-communist mentality which originated during communism. They think everyone now has the opportunity to go into business----and somehow that scares them, as if they feared that I would suddenly start renting out my extra bed.
(Really! What utter stupidity! Do they really imagine that If I've complained about noise and a lack of privacy as much as I have that I am suddenly going to give up my privacy to make a little bit of pocket change?)
Despite all that, I can work here. It's not a beautiful flat, but it is functional. In fact, the kitchen doesn't even have a proper stove. It's got a badly functioning hot plate. And, what's more the wiring in the entire flat is, to say the least, sub-standard---fifty years out of date. I have to be careful. If I've got the hot plate on, I can't run the printer. When I do that, the light go out.
But, it's quiet and I can work here. And it's more than a hundred dollars cheaper than the last awful place I lived.
The other place was awful because it was noisy.
Today I paid rent for last month. I paid for the privilege of living in that "expensive" ("It's our best.") flat. And, to be honest, it really pissed me off when the lady explained my bill by mentioning it was an "expensive" flat-----as if I had chosen to live there. Well, no I actually didn't. And I didn't know how much it would cost prior to moving in..........(But don't want to blame the colleague who helped me. It's really not her fault. There's something else going on here: a mentality which must be at least thirty years old...........not a product of anything essentially communist, not a product of anti-capitalism or especially socialist thought, but a product of the narrowness of mind and meanness which was cultivated during the period called "communism"......a certain narrow bureaucratic mindset.......
Well, as I think of it, that flat didn't have a stove either---Only a hot plate, though one that was more functional than the one I am currently using.
And that flat was NOT luxurious. Somebody made an attempt to make the flat comfortable. And I appreciate that. I appreciated it very much when I first moved in-----before I knew about the price.
In fact, the flat was pretentious and very bourgeoise, to the extent of being downright KITSCH.
There were bits of nice Czech folk art (pottery). Not bad. In addition, the walls had some pictures.
But the furniture and furnishings! Whiskey glasses with the university logo! I don't need that.
And, then there was the stereotypical middleclass china cabinet---mostly empty, but containing variou logo'd whiskey glasses.....
The longer I stayed there, the more that particular piece of furniture seemed like an insult. As if I were expected to leave a certain sort of kitsch and mindless lifestyle. (No thank you.)
Invite my guests to my flat (after my lecture as a visiting scholar) for a drink...
Err, no. I don't live like that. Never have. And, I 'd rather join my students in a cheap pub for a beer.
But, to be fair, they attempted to create something comfortable----according to their (rather limited) imagination.
Nonetheless, while the walls were painted and it did not contain broken furniture (unlike the current place) and it didn't have rusty radiators (unlike the current place) it was NOT luxurious. It was average or normal, Not something to be charged an "expensive" rate for. Moreover, given that there was a hotplate and not a stove, it was sub-standard.
But, I am afraid I have a rather cynical attitude about Central Europeans who go in for "reconstruction". They think because they put in a wood floor (and it seems to be always exactly the same floor) and a new sink or whatever, they can double the price of some small apartment.....(And I do mean "Central" Europeans: I once had a landlord in Austria who had fixed up the "sub standard" flat by putting in a bathroom. And it was not bad as bathrooms go. However, I believe (though I have no conclusive evidence) that on that basis he doubled the rent. The joke is that I once visited a similarly sub-standard flat (bathroom in the hall) where the rent was half of what I was paying. Well, that un-renovated flat wasn't so bad---and, jeez, if the rent is half as much! The bathroom was in the hall, but it was used only by the resident of the flat. And it was immediately next to the entry door for the flat. --So doubling the price!!??? After all, teachers (which I am) are pretty uniformly poorly paid. Don't get me wrong: I understand that renovation costs money, but living costs money and I don't collect rent. And I do work for a living---though my activities don't fit within the capitalist mentality. (But that would require a lengthier and other blog entry. I also hope to someday write about: How Central Europeans love their families and joyously embrace free markets without realizing that free markets are intrinscially anti-family..............someday.............)
Well, today I paid the security deposit on my new flat. What a joke. It's full of broken furniture, rusty radiators, and it has out-of-date electrical wiring, and they think I might do some damage?
What planet are they living on? They are just cheap and greedy. That's what I think.
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