What a week...

Wow, where do I even begin? I don't have any picture to prove any of this, but I swear it's all true. :) It has surely been one heck of a week. I came home from work on Tuesday to find a key in my lock. Yes, a key. NO, not my key. I tried to take it out, it wouldn't work. Weird, I thought. But, I tried some more and it wouldn't budge at all. Then I was pissed. Who was trying to get into my apartment? Why did someone have a key that they thought opened my apartment? Who is this? So I went downstairs, talked to the guard and he said, oh it was Ruben Ramirez, he signed in, and he was coming to clean the gardens. I said, well that's weird, because I DON'T HAVE ANY GARDENS. (Mind you, this is all happening in Spanish, as he doesn't speak any English.) So, we go up to my apartment and he attempts to get the key out, with a lot worse of an attempt than my own. Of course it still won't come out. So I call my landlord and tell her assistant. She says they will be sending a locksmith over to replace the lock and take the lock off the door. I am telling the guard, that the biggest problem here is that he let Ruben try to get into my apartment without my permission. I mean, the whole key in the door was a significant problem as well, but I was being clear that the BIGGEST problem was this Ruben fellow, who thinks he can come into my house when I'm gone. I kept saying, I don't know him and how the security can't let people up unless I leave a name for them. He kept saying, ok ok ok, and just acting like it was no big deal. So I go upstairs to Stephanie and Laurie's apartment and have a beer to relax, ha ha, and wait. Finally the locksmith comes and I meet him at my door and he proceeds to rip off the side panel on the door frame in order to take the lock/handle out of the door. He puts a new one on and gives me the keys. I make him reassure me that these are the only keys to this lock. He said yes. So, ok then I went to a friend's house to watch the election. I didn't really have much interest, but it gave me something to do rather than be angry with the guards. Apparently is what happened was that this Ruben guy thought no one lived in my apartment (about half of the apartments are still vacant) and was going to go through the apartment to water/clean the plants that are on the outside of the building between the balconies. Whatever, the guard should know I live there.....like for TWO months. And I'm a gringa, it's a double whammy, he should know me. So, get ready to leave for school Wednesday, Stephanie is downstairs and tells me there is water coming into their apartment from the ceiling. She stayed home from school in the morning to wait for the people to come fix it. Another mess. A pipe burst upstairs from them and it all came down into their apartment. Stephanie's bed was soaked, they had a flood on the floor, their ceiling looks like it could cave in, etc. NICE. She and Laurie will need to stay at my apartment Wednesday night. No problem. I get home yesterday after school to no electricity. It was off for about two hours. I couldn't do anything, watch tv, check my email, blow up the air mattress, cook, etc. I had to grade papers. Dang. At least I got them done! The guy came upstairs to fix my bathroom door (the guest bathroom) that gets stuck when you close it. I had to hold the flashlight for him. At least it was fixed. We all go to bed last night, no problem. This morning, I wake up, no water. AT ALL. Not just no hot water, but NO water. I go downstairs to ask the guard if he has called someone or when it will be back on. He said he doesn't know and he hasn't called anyone because he doesn't have a phone. (Again, mind you this is all in Spanish....) At this point, a Spanish swear or two came out of my mouth (remember, also, it's 5:45 AM and I'm not a morning person) and I go back upstairs. Steph and I quickly grabbed some clothes, a towel, our toiletries, and rode the early bus to school in our pajamas and took showers at school in the locker room. WOW, it's been a GREAT week. And on top of it all, my classes were all so bad yesterday. I don't know what had gotten into them. They would NOT stop talking at all. ha ha ha. The good news is that today I have only had one class so far, but they were really good and we had a really good class. Aye aye aye. That's about all I have left to say at this point. What a week.