Se Alquila Apartamento

Trying to rent my apartment in Toledo to somebody else has to be one of the most challenging things I’ve done in my life. I know it doesn’t seem like it – how hard can it be to sublet an apartment, right? I’ve only ever rented one other thing in my life, however, and that was a house that I rented with 6 other girls; I wasn’t even the one responsible for figuring out electricity and water and cable… I just paid my rent and that was that. Now I’m trying to do it completely on my own and in a foreign language. I HATE talking on the phone to strangers in Spanish. People talk so quickly that I end up asking them to slow down and repeat everything five times. It’s amazing how much more you understand when you can see a person and their mouth, facial expressions, and hand gestures. On the bright side, I suppose I’ve learned a lot from the experience: I’ve learned how to post a classified add in the Spanish newspaper, how to be an effective salesperson (for example, DON’T tell them that there’s no oven unless they specifically ask), how to convince a landlord that it’s ok to get out of the year-long contract you’ve signed, how to say words that there´s usually no need to know (such as drying rack, shutters, utilities), how to write an effective add to post around the town, how to…

I’ve also met some pretty interesting characters in this process. After a while, you can tell right away if they’re going to like the apartment or not. One woman wanted to rent it – practically sight unseen – and she told me to hurry up and start packing so that she could move her four children and all of their things in right away (keep in mind that I live in this apartment by myself). Most of the people have been very nice, though. It’s just frustrating to hear “well, we’ll call you later to let you know what we think,” which inevitably means that I won’t ever hear from them again.

One thing that I will never get used to, however, is the incredible racism that this challenge has shown me. I hope that I don’t offend anyone by saying this; I can only speak from my own experiences and of course cannot generalize to all people. From my point of view, though, Spaniards are living in an age of race that is perhaps comparable to the United States 60 years ago. It hurts me greatly when I find a very nice Romanian couple who wants to live in the apartment and I am essentially told that the landlord will not rent to Romanians. Period. I assume that the same goes for Chinese, Bulgarians, Somalis, and Moroccans. Never mind the fact that one of these Romanians has residency papers, that both of them have legal entrance into the country, that they’re registered students, and that they’re willing to pay their rent up to six months in advance. Several times I’ve had people call about the apartment and tell me that they can’t find anyone who will rent to Romanians/Bulgarians. I’ve had people that I respect as decent and kind individuals tell me things like “the Chinese are ruining the economy. We should kick them all out right now” or “all Bulgarians are dirty, lying thieves and you can’t trust any of them” or “all Moroccans are backstabbers. Don’t trust them; they’re all dishonest.” Even people who know that my boyfriend is Moroccan say things like that to me. A little tact, perhaps?

When I express my indignation, frustration, or repulsion with these racist mentalities, I am told, without fail, “well, perhaps things in America are different. You Americans are naïve, but this is the way the world works.” Is it the way the world works? And I’m not so sure that we are so easily labeled as naïve. Of course there is racism in the United States; we’ve had our own struggles in the past and we continue to have them today. I’ve heard anti-semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Latino statements from people around me, but I have never heard anyone… well, let me rephrase that: I have never heard an educated person (as are the people here who tell me these things) say “I would never rent to a black person” or “never trust a Mexican; they’re all dirty, lying, cheating, stealing, bums.” Call me sheltered if you’d like. I refuse to believe that this is the way the world SHOULD or MUST work. I don’t consider myself an overly-optimistic person (nor do I consider myself an overly-pessimistic person) but I have to believe that there is a better solution. As I told a 62 year old man here who was trying to convince me that all Muslims are terrible people, “perhaps when I’m your age I will be able to say that the world is intrinsically filled with evil, but what a shame it would be to think that at 22. I still have to believe in the inherent value and goodness of people, even though I know that there are those who are in fact evil. And I refuse to give in to such blatant and uncompromising stereotypes.” How can we, as a generation, expect to advance at all if we don’t fight against such racism and ignorance?